Born in Johannesburg, 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 and traditional craftsmanship.

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.

His work has been exhibited locally and internationally, including at Design Miami, Design Miami/Basel, GUILD Design Fair, PAD London and Intersect Chicago.

Group Exhibitions

2021 ‘Annual Winter Exhibition’, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa 2020 ‘Solace’, Southern Guild, Waterfront, Cape Town, South Africa
2017 ‘Natural Selection’, Southern Guild, Waterfront, Cape Town, South Africa
‘Stellar’, Southern Guild, Waterfront, Cape Town, South Africa
2016 ‘A New Wave’, Southern Guild, Waterfront, Cape Town, South Africa
‘Graphica’, Southern Guild, Waterfront, Cape Town, South Africa 2016 ‘Tasseography’, Cavali, Somerset West, Cape Town, South Africa

Solo Exhibitions

2021 ‘Chaos and Order’, EBONY/CURATED, Bordeaux House, Franschhoek, South Africa