‘Come Cycle with Me’

There isn’t a single bicycle in Trudi Dicks’ ‘Come Cycle with Me’. No streamlined mountain bikes, no bulky BMXes. Instead, the single track vehicle exists as allusion. As wheels hung from the ceiling, circular artworks strung like medals along the back wall and car spring sculptures mimicking arduous cycling routes.

A celebration as well as an abstraction, in ‘Come Cycle with Me’, Dicks presents her affinity for cycling in a collection of collographs, linoleum prints and an installation at the National Art Gallery of Namibia.

Chronicling the stages of a race or route in jagged black and white, Dicks offers some insight into a cyclist’s psyche in successive pieces titled ‘Puff to Get There’, ‘Speed’, ‘Oh What Fun’, ‘Will Make It’, ‘I am Trying’, ‘Sweating’, ‘Swearing’ and ‘See Me Not’

All quite similar save the subtle tilt of a head and the opening of a mouth, Dicks’ phases of a cycling excursion are underscored through the placement of her canvasses. Embossed prints featuring wheel cogs and ‘Three Wheeler’ akin to bright red poppies which rise and fall on the gallery wall much in the way of hills and valleys during a particularly challenging cycle.

The result of many years of cycling first with a few friends, some of whom have come, gone or left cycling altogether, and then as a seasoned cyclist content to bicycle out to Otjihase mine alone but not too far from other cyclists so she feels safe and happy, Dicks’ relationship with the sport is one that has clearly given her much joy and inspiration.

A striking display of Dicks’ passion filtered through explorations of texture, patterns and installation in the wake of three enlightening episodes of Tulipamwe, ‘Come Cycle with Me’ rides straight past obvious depictions of the vehicle to present something delicate, diverting and conceptual wrought in recurring notes of red.

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