"My work has always been equally concerned with the visible and the invisible. I spent the last decade exploring identity and the human condition or experience primarily through portraiture in search of a deeper understanding of what it entails to be human. Over the last few years and especially during the COVID-19 crises, I have become more acutely aware of the fact that humans do not exist in an isolated void and that to understand and portray the human condition, I have to acknowledge our integration and dependance on the environment. This new awareness led to much reading and research on everything from natural biological systems to quantum entanglement and wave particle duality, with the profound conclusion that all things can be reduced to energy."

In broad terms these new works by Corné Eksteen represent his newfound awareness of how the physical world, including our own bodies are built and connected to the rest of the universe. They acknowledge that everything is built from energy and that all matter, even the hardest metal, vibrate. "Most people are probably subconsciously aware of this fact. Even in popular culture, we have sayings like "Good vibes" which subtly refer to the idea of good vibrations. By extension, these ideas also touch on the law of conservation of energy, stating that energy cannot be destroyed or lost - only transformed" the Durban based artist says.

Visually, the vibrating "ilding blocks" of all things are often represented as sinusoidal waveforms. It is these mathematical representations that from the fundamental visual starting point in the new paintings by Eksteen. The subject matter is not only celebrated for its physical form and colours, but also acknowledges its hidden or invisible nature. This approach to painting the vibrating energy in the artist's subject matter, has opened a whole new world of visual representations and conceptual ideas in these vibrant works. Eksteen is currently exploring everything from portraits to still lifes with this approach and the results are expressive and enticing.