24 August 2023
What do you get when you mix Spray and Cook, dust and hairspray? For most people, the answer would be a mess. For Brent Gademan, though, the answer is dust art.
Brent, who is in grade 11 at Maritzburg College, went viral with his dust art after his drawings of wildlife were spotted on the back of the Gademan family’s Toyota Fortuner in the Kruger National Park during the mid-year holidays.
The Spray and Cook, mentioned above, provides the stickiness that helps dust stay on windows, while the hairspray keeps the finished picture in place. The talent, though, changes everything.
Eye-catching
Using a thin stick for detailed work and a finger for shadows, Brent has produced art that is so eye-catching that it has had people in Kruger debating exactly what it is. Some thought his images were stickers, others reckoned they were photos, and some recognised, correctly, that the attention-grabbing pictures had been drawn with the park’s dust.
On one occasion, the Gademans were followed by another car for half-an-hour before they were stopped and asked to settlement an argument about the drawing which had been going on throughout that time.
Brent’s mother, Mrs Debbie Gademan, is the Head of the Maritzburg College Photography Club. Clearly, there is something in the Gademan genes that recognises a captivating image.
Website
Brent has a website – https://brentgademanart.com/.
There, he writes: “I am a South African artist who has a passion for observing the details of the world around me. Too often we do not take the time to truly study these details… texture of sand, tones in a sunset or the ripples in water. We overlook the beauty that exists in the tiniest of fingerprints, the eyelashes of a bird. We miss out on the bigger picture by being blind to the smaller picture.”
The genesis of Brent’s dust art occurred when he was in grade 6, at Merchiston, when he and his brother first tried their hand at creating something on the rear window of the family vehicle.
“We drew random pictures, our names, and wrote on it. A couple of years later, we went to Kruger again. Then, I did a hornbill, also on this window,” he said, pointing out the Fortuner, which currently is home to an illustration of a gemsbok.
“When we drove around the park, people stopped, us asking if it was a sticker, saying it looked so great. I got a lot of attention because of what I had drawn, so I decided I was going to keep doing it.” However, it was a while before Brent again turned his hand to dust art.
“Then, last year, in December, we went to the beach in a different car, and the back was filled with beach sand, because it was raining the day that we arrived there. I didn’t have any photos to work from, so I used a photo my mom had taken of two impalas fighting,” Brent said. “That one turned out really well. It was the best one I had done. I thought I was getting pretty good at it, so I kept doing it.”
Kruger National Park visit
His most recent work required something a little extra, he admitted: “For our most recent holiday, we went to Kruger. In the first week, we hadn’t collected a lot of dust, so I decided to try to put the dust on. Previously, we had collected it over time, and I had drawn with it. This time, I sprayed the car with Spray and Cook, and I threw the dust on. Then, I had a blank canvas to draw on, and I drew a Buffalo.”
After a while, and with the picture having drawn plenty of attention and praise, Brent decided to do a drawing of a zebra. Again, the response was very positive. Again, people were uncertain if they were looking at a drawing, a sticker or a photo.
The Gademans also learned to walk back slowly to their vehicle when they stopped at a shop or at reception in one of the Kruger camps. Invariably, people would be gathered around it, snapping photographs.
When Brent’s grandparents joined the family on holiday, he drew a wild dog on the rear window of their vehicle.
“It blew up!”
After returning from their holiday, photos of Brent’s art were posted on social media – https://www.facebook.com/people/Brent-Gademan-Art/100089467861485/ . “It blew up!” he said.
“It went all over the country and into some other countries. I did some interviews. I went onto Talk Radio 702. I was in the You Magazine and Huisgenoot.”
He had people messaging him, requesting him to produce art. He has also sold some of it. Visit his website and you’ll find paintings and prints for sale at remarkably reasonable prices.
Recognition
At school, there have been instances that have demonstrated to Brent the impact his art has made. He shared: “One day, I was at College for a rugby match, and four families recognised me, asking if I was the guy that had done the dust art. It was quite cool to know that they had seen it.”
A marketing agency commissioned him to produce a dust art piece, which was then professionally photographed in the bush before and during sunset. He liked having wild Africa in the background.
An idea that has been suggested to Brent is to turn his dust art drawings into what so many have mistaken them for: stickers. He’ll have to look into that, he said. He knows how to draw, but he doesn’t know much about stickers.
The future
Considering his future, Brent said he doesn’t want to continue with his art as a career. It would be too inconsistent to live off of it. However, he will continue with his paintings and drawings as a hobby, and he will sell his art on the side.
Dust art drawings take up to two hours, Brent explained, and people will have an opportunity to see him in action when College hosts Family Day on 2 September, which also includes the Nashua Sevens Rugby Festival.
The family Fortuner will be parked alongside Goldstones and Brent will then produce one of his dust art masterpieces. He hasn’t yet decided what it will be. You’ll have to be there to find out.
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