Exhibition by Cicil Skotnes

20 July-1 August 2011. This exhibition entitled the Epic of Everlasting displays the most famous works on the origins of wine by the acclaimed South African artist Cecil Skotnes.

Inspired by The Epic of Gilgamesh, one of the oldest stories of humankind, Skotnes translated the Origin of Wine into a series of wood-carved panels, which celebrate the complex heritage of the wine-making industry in the Cape.

This series was commissioned to Skotnes by the wine industry KWV, for which Skotnes has been creating art calendars and landscapes since 1979.

This Cape Town-based icon was born in South Africa in 1926. At 17 he travelled to North Africa and Europe in service of the South African Artillery.

In Europe he received his first introduction to art and was fascinated for Greek mythology and the Renaissance. He later returned to South Africa, where he had together with the Amadlozi group a great pioneering role in the art education of this country.

Among his best known works are his large, coloured wood-panels that grew out of the making of blocks for relief printing, portfolios of prints, murals and public commissions, oil paintings, ceramics, tapestries and sculpture.