Gavin Rain, pointillist painter from Cape Town, South Africa. Photo © G. Rain
1.Tell us what you do and your beginnings.
I’m a pointillist painter, having painted in this style for around 15 years. I began thinking about this style about 20 years ago, but it took me a few years to figure out how I could realise it. I had this idea to do a painting that looked like a digital photo close up – playing on the idea of going from digital to analogue – kinda flying in the face of the world trend which was in the opposite direction.
I was trying to point out that with digital we lose something – those gaps between the dots. We sacrifice quality for speed: again, a trend in our society. But once I started planning the painting I realised that a good comment the painting style could make was that things can be hidden in plain sight – and we need to step back to see the full picture – an allegory for our lives.
2.What are your favorite museums in the world? Why?
That’s hard. Obviously I have to mention the Louvre Museum, but in all honesty the museum that had the greatest impression on me is the Uffizi Galleries. I guess I’m partisan to the artists each museum houses, more so than the museum itself.
