In the Wake of Echoes

By day, Mr. Wallis, a pillar of the state with a smile as starched as his black suit, navigated the labyrinthine corridors of power. But when the sun dipped below the horizon, a cacophony of alien laughter and nonsensical pronouncements emanated from his third-floor chamber. Huddled in the hallway, the maid and the chambermaid took turns pressing their ears against the unforgiving barrier of the keyhole.

from Baie - by Jan Rabie

  • Abstract art piece featuring a sketched figure of a person in motion, with geometric shapes in red, black, gray, and white, including a crown-like symbol and the hashtag #LESFEUX.

    Sovereign Solace (2024)

    Unique monotype with mixed media on Fabriano Tiepolo 290gsm 100% cotton mould made paper
    76x56cm

  • An abstract mixed media artwork with black and white paint, newspaper clippings, and orange paint splashes on a white background.

    In the Wake of Echoes (2024)

    Unique monotype with mixed media on Fabriano Tiepolo 290gsm 100% cotton mould made paper
    76x56cm

  • Abstract mixed media artwork with black, gray, and red elements, including paper scraps, paint streaks, and textured patterns.

    Echoes in the Passage (2024)

    Unique monotype with mixed media on Fabriano Tiepolo 290gsm 100% cotton mould made paper
    76x56cm SOLD

  • Abstract black and white artwork featuring four silhouette-like figures, scattered text, and red and black crosses.

    Chorus of X (2024)

    Unique monotype with mixed media on Fabriano Tiepolo 290gsm 100% cotton mould made paper
    76x56cm

  • Abstract black, white, and orange artwork of two horses and riders in motion, with red and orange accents and a 'We' sticker in the top left corner.

    Waltzing on the Wall (2024)

    Unique monotype with mixed media on Fabriano Tiepolo 290gsm 100% cotton mould made paper
    76x56cm

  • Above the Rubicon (2024)

    Unique monotype with mixed media on Fabriano Tiepolo 290gsm 100% cotton mould made paper
    76x56cm

  • Abstract artwork featuring two vertical wood posts with what appears to be painted or mixed media depictions of animals or figures, with red geometric accents on a white background.

    Ascent Descent (2024)

    Unique monotype with mixed media on Fabriano Tiepolo 290gsm 100% cotton mould made paper
    76x56cm

  • The Memories of Birds

    Mixed media and monotype printing on 300gsm Hahnemühle etching paper 78x56cm

  • Abstract painting with black, white, and red colors, featuring a silhouette of a person with exposed red areas, such as the head, arm, and leg, against a textured background with brush strokes and splatters.

    The Dustless World (2025)

    Mixed media and monotype printing on 300gsm Hahnemühle etching paper

    78x56cm

Enquire Now


Artist notes

This particular body of works - In the Wake of Echoes - takes as its inspiration Baie: a short story by Jan Rabie, a South African Afrikaans writer whose works have yet to be translated into English. Baie - a page and a half in length - is a very short, short story. Short even for a short story. And yet, it is full and complete. Nothing to add, nothing to remove. It fulfils Roland Barthes’s idea that stories complete themselves in the reader. And so Baie ripples outwards beyond its one and a half pages into a haunting novel reminiscent of the existentialism of Franz Kafka and Albert Camus.

The story of Mr. Wallis - who, through the night, alone in his apartment, acts out his many personas between two sets of mirrors wearing only a top hat - reveals itself not as a tale of madness and confusion but as the watchers watch and the city listens, unravels into a tale of urban loneliness; of the new kind of aloneness city life engenders; and the loneliness enforced by outward manners and personas designed to please others. Alone in his room, Mr Wallis plays all his hidden and possible selves, yet none are him.