The works created for this exhibition display a private devotion to the ideals of beauty as well as the artist’s need to undermine sublime visual harmony. Says Rosin: “My work purposefully mocks the status quo, utilising materials and objects inexorably linked to the subjects they poke fun at. The intention for the work is that it acts as a vehicle to expose this stage show, where manufactured reality and engineered consent have become the norm. By using satire and humour, I attempt to present the ‘truth’ as the lie that it is, hopefully breaking down its perceived and accepted image to show something of the real one lurking beneath.”

Absa art and museum curator Dr Paul Bayliss says: “It is great to welcome Stephen back to Absa since he won the Absa L’Atelier in 2009 and to be able to host his first solo exhibition.”

Rosin was born in 1975 and graduated from the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in 1999 with a B.Tech degree (cum laude) in Fine Arts and has been included in numerous exhibitions and the Absa L’Atelier art awards since 2007. He also has collections of his artwork around the country as well as international private collections in France, Iran, Norway and New Zealand to name a few.

If I told you the truth I’d be lying will be held at the Absa Gallery at Absa Towers North, 161 Main Street, Johannesburg, from 13 October to 4 November. The exhibition will be open from 8:30 to 16:00 daily and entrance is free. Members of the public are requested to bring their ID books along for parking and entry purposes.