Complex Systems

Born in Johannesburg in 1991, sculptor Driaan Claassen first studied 3D animation before apprenticing with Otto du Plessis, artist and founder of Bronze Age Foundry. Claassen is currently based in Cape Town, where he opened his own design and fine art studio, Reticence, in 2015.

Claassen works primarily in bronze, wood, and wire. Inspired by technology from a young age, he elevates the materiality of his sculptural mediums by merging cutting-edge machinery, traditional craftsmanship, and deep introspection.

For Claassen, manipulating the physical world has psychological implications. Through the abstracted forms his sculptures take whether solid or fractal, geometric or organic he reflects on the structure of the human mind and thought. He explores the intersection of our consciousness with the outside world, where light and dark meet, positive and negative space, the defined and amorphous, order and chaos. Claassen has created a visual language that juxtaposes shape, colour, texture, and pattern to offer insight into his search for self-knowledge. Claassen’s work has been exhibited locally and internationally, including at Design Miami, Design Miami/Basel, GUILD Design Fair, PAD London, and Intersect Chicago.