David Brits’ practice spans printmaking, drawing and video, but over the last three years he has, in his own words, “devoted his time solely to formal investigations in public-scale sculpture”. 

The Ouroboros 5.1 Drawing Concertina shows the process work for his Ouroboros series. Visi magazine described the series as an “exploration of the integration and assimilation of opposing forms”. The word Ouroboros, derived from Ancient Greek, describes the symbol of a snake devouring its tail. The title makes explicit that these are works in process, with no clear beginning or end, while also pointing towards the artist’s interest in form, shape, and symmetry.

The concertina features test sketches and collages that delve deeper into the series, with accompanying comments and ideas written by the artist, as well as a 3D-printed model of the Ouroboros sculptures. These tests provide insight into the artist’s practice, as well as the process through which the works move from idea to execution. 

135 x 40 x 55 cm | variable edition of 3

Cape Town artist David Brits (b.1987) graduated from the Michaelis School of Fine Art at the University of Cape Town in 2010. In 2019 he released his first public sculpture commission for the Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation in Masiphumelele, Cape Town.