ART La Mouette

It has been quite some time since ART La Mouette launched!

We (actually it was my incredible business partner Mari) had the idea of curating fine art with care to promote professional artists from Cape Town. There was a real synergy between art and food that enriched the restaurant experience.

Some might say we were the first people to curate a show in line with gallery standards in a dining space... many popped up after us in wine farms, and we loved seeing the idea take flight as bigger partnerships between galleries and wine farms were established.

It was such a great time, we were so proud each time a new painting was shipped abroad.

Magic happens when you buy art........
Because you feed an artist and then they make more magic.

Sometimes its food, like actual food, because some artists cant make regular sales, and yet, they devote themselves to their profession, spend thousands investing in education, materials and never stop learning. Most artists exist outside the regular income bubble and live from month to month, painting to painting sale to sale.

This is why some of the great masters of art history died pennyless and unawarded.

Sometimes when you buy an artwork, you feed the artist positivity!

To them, the sale is an indication of their value, their confidence soars and the questions of integrity of the work are answered. The artist feels their work has connected with and enriched someone's life.

Sometimes when you buy an artwork you feed the artist's inspiration.

If you meet an artist, if you visit them in the studio, if you attend an opening and you compliment the artist, and you share your experience of the art with them, you can ignite a world of creativity, connectivity, energetic vibrations that expand into a space where the best art is made...

When an artist is fed, healthy, inspired and secure, they are then able to stand in front of a canvas as the best versions of themselves. That's when the magic happens and they paint, sculpt, carve or conceive of the greatness of the universe!

Delighted for Godfrey Makopa that his pair of ‘MonoMask’ artworks are going to be shipped to a collector in Japan!

Art can often be a reflection, of so many things, to so many people. Our paintings have whispered to so many people over the past two years. Diners become art collectors and the circle of life for the artwork continues.

The artist is empowered, the viewer is enriched and the artwork finds a new home to whisper to all who visit it.

The latest seascape by Louis Nel


La Mouette Restaurant

Almost 2 years ago;

Godfrey Makopa and I invited to talk about our newly launched art encounter at La Mouette Restaurant with ever glamorous Tracey Lange at Heart FM

Congratulations Luan Nel on 'The Poseidon Adventure: S.O.S'

South African artist, South African painter, Luan Nel, Fried Contemporary Art Gallery, Pretoria, Johan Thom, Shenaz Mahomed, Nolene Ge**er, Poseidon Adventure, Wits University, JMW Turner, Caspar David Friedrich, Cape Town, Brooklyn, colonialist... South African artist, Luan Nel, shows a new body of painting and installations which deal with colonialism and shipwreck.

“May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears.” - Nelson Mandela

Mono Mask 1 & 2 Styling out in their Madiba Shirts!
By Godfrey Makopa

Surely these are the shape and color of optimism?

We hope these two artworks are treasured and bring Madiba energy to their homes!

The trajectory of young artists from humble origins make rich stories. Themselves, often becoming storytellers.

A Young Artist and Disrupter Plants His Flag for Black Lives With his art rooted in poetry and history, Adam Pendleton has work in major museums, collectors’ homes — and flying over the Frieze fair.

Luan Nel
‘Nautilus at Navy Base Simon’s Town’
Oil on Canvas
61cm x 12.5 cm

On show in the ground floor dining room of La Mouette Restaurant in collaboration with ART La Mouette

Contact us for availability and pricing.

The work of Luan Nel (b.1971), though in recent years characterised by masterful paintings of the natural world, in fact varies widely in medium and content. His practice is primarily idea-driven: The symbolic potential of his subjects in combination with ambiguous titles serve as structure within which Nel conveys a message (or multiple messages), employing whichever medium best carries the concept. With this expansive framework, Nel is free to explore themes of transience, identity, the significant of the everyday and the aesthetic - both on a personal level and on a wider, collective scale. His work has remained compelling for over two decades, earning him awards, international residencies and representation in numerous collections.
Nel was born in Gauteng, but relocated to Cape Town where he currently lives and works. He received his BA Fine Arts degree from the University of Witwatersrand (1993) and went on to complete a Higher Diploma in Education (1994) at the same institution. Nel was a participant for two years in the artist's residency program at the world renowned Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten (Amsterdam) and at the Dutch Institute (Rome). In 1993, he won the Judges Prize in the Sasol New Signatures Competition. Nel has had various solo exhibitions with Diction at Everard Read CIRCA Gallery, Cape Town (2017) and most recently at The Toffee Gallery in Darling, Western Cape. He’s participated in group exhibitions locally and internationally - his latest was Orchids in Art, a charitable auction in aid of the replanting of endangered orchid species in the Western Cape. His work is represented in a number of collections including The Johannesburg Art Gallery, WITS University, Gauteng Legislature, SABC, SASOL, Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten and numerous private collections.
La Mouette RestaurantART La Mouette

Another delivery from Louis Nel.

Landscapes of quiet contemplation.

Seem to be favorites of La Mouette Restaurant guests

So proud to show and sell these fine paintings.

In this mornings Cape Times

Congratulations to La Mouette Restaurant for this serious accolade - 10th Best Restaurant in Cape Town !!

Outstanding!

https://www.tripadvisor.co.za/TravelersChoice-Restaurants-cFineDining-g6 #10-a_m.54468

Best Restaurants in Africa - TripAdvisor Travellers’ Choice Awards TripAdvisor - Travellers' Choice Awards. Find out what the best restaurants in Africa are as awarded by millions of real travellers.

A wonderful moment captured with Frans Smit Artist who has had a fantastic year!

Looking forward, Frans Will be having 2 solo exhibitions next year. Antwerp in May and Denmark in October.

Come and see his beautiful work La Mouette Restaurant

Frans Smit's style and skill is varied, painter and fine art photographer this artist is kept busy by his creative pursuits.

For our 'Winter/Spring '16', Frans submitted two fine art photographs that whisper to me of the still life paintings of Jacob Bogdani, Antonie Monnoyer and other old masters, in the delicate nature of the petals that wilt and fade into the dark background.

These are the last of a very few editions left from his series ‘Debitum Naturae’, (The Debt of Nature). Included are specifications of both artworks and their pricing, framing seen in the first photo with the artist on the left.

Frans will be leaving for Beirut next Wednesday where he will represent contemporary South African art at the Urban Dawn II exhibition.
https://www.artsy.net/show/mccaig-welles-beirut-lebanon-urban-dawn-ii

Frans actively exhibits at international shows, and in doing so help to reframe new interest in the art from South Africa, we wish him well for the up coming shows!

La Mouette Restaurant ART La Mouette

ART @ La Mouette La Mouette

We were delighted that so many people connected with this seascape from Louis Nel. Chef Henry found this work very agreeable, so did Kia Johnson pictured alongside the artwork at our launch a year ago.

It was no surprise that this piece was acquired by a private collector and now resides in Edinburgh.

Such positive feedback from guests who attended our launch a year ago - Thank you Kia Johnson, come visit again soon!

Good morning beautiful people! What a wonderful night indeed. Thank you to La Mouette Restaurant for such a great display of artists. Loved the work of & many others. Opening my eye to what art is all about xx

Still a young concept with a few references by music creatives, Afrofuturism is an entirely fresh theme explored by Godfrey Makopa making his work so interesting.

Black to the Future: OkayAfrica's Introduction to Afrofuturism We take a look at the history, aesthetic and philosophy of Afrofuturism.

Thomas paints urban landscapes on handmade gesso panels. His works embody a tension between the quest for order – in the concise geometric forms of the humanmade world and his flat painted surfaces – and expressive freedom, as evidenced by the scratched gesso substrate that sometimes breaks through the layers of paint, the occasional looseness of the brushstrokes and the organic shapes of the natural world. This quest for balance is also illustrated in his composition, in which figurative realism struggles with abstract composition. His work is held in collections in Cape Town, Johannesburg, New York, London, Toronto and Mexico City.

Currently on show at La Mouette Restaurant and available to acquire for your collection. These two Afrofuturistic artworks are everything that is exciting about contemporary African art at the moment.
These two Mono Masks draw on rich tribal themes and collide with future 'tubular' beings.

See Image detail for full artwork detail and pricing.

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Congratulations to Peter van Straten on his exhibition in The Netherlands.

Peter Van Straten

The Obsession of Art - During Spots On Peter van Straten De galerie tijdens de expositie van Peter van Straten. The Gallery during exhibition Peter van Straten.

Celebrate the creative talent of Africa by visiting the Cape Town Art Fair this year at the ICC.

If you can't make it to the CTAF 2017, you can 'virtually' visit artworks, read features and learn about exhibitors by connecting here:

Cape Town Art Fair 2017 at your finger tips! Download our Artsy App for a personal mobile guide to : bit.ly/2kXYhxf

The latest addition to Cathy Layzell's 'Coral Garden' series on show at La Mouette Restaurant

Visual & culinary delights !!

PEACE STORM - MADIBA TRIBUTE by Peter van Straten

'Madiba must have looked up at table mountain and thought about one day standing on top of it, a free man. So I conceived of a sculptural tribute on table mountain, looking down on Robin Island, of a "peace storm" : a long distance runner running off the mountain into the air and dissolving into a flock of doves.' - Peter van Straten

An exciting, contemplative and poignant addition to our current body of work from Cape Town's finest local artists.

Come, be delighted and inspired by the visual and culinary delights on offer in this collaboration between food and art at La Mouette restaurant.

For more information about this incredible artist, the artwork, or any of our pieces, contact me on [email protected] or call me on 0727197737

La Mouette Restaurant
ART La Mouette
Peter Van Straten