Funny Weather: Cheryl Traub-Adler’s New Exhibition at Nel Gallery
Cape Town’s cultural calendar continues to offer inspiring events throughout the year, and one of this season’s highlights is the new exhibition by the South African multidisciplinary artist Cheryl Traub-Adler. Opened at Nel Gallery on June 27, 2026, Funny Weather runs through July 31 and presents a captivating collection of paintings and drawings that blur the boundaries between abstraction and figuration. Through intuitive mark-making and symbolic imagery, the exhibition invites visitors to explore alternative ways of seeing, sensing, and understanding the world.
About Cheryl Traub-Adler
Born in Cape Town in 1959, Cheryl Traub-Adler studied at the Michaelis School of Fine Art at the University of Cape Town. Throughout her career, she has developed an interdisciplinary practice that combines painting, drawing, performance, and embodied research. Her work often examines the relationship between the body, memory, spirituality, and the natural environment.
Alongside her artistic practice, Traub-Adler explores the healing potential of creativity through projects such as Humanizing Healthcare, which investigates how the arts can contribute to more compassionate healthcare environments. This ongoing interest in movement, perception, and human experience forms the conceptual foundation of her latest work.
The Philosophy Behind the New Exhibition
The new exhibition presents a series of paintings and drawings inspired by observation, imagination, and everyday experience. Rather than depicting reality directly, Traub-Adler assembles dreamlike compositions from visual fragments, gestures, and memories, creating poetic landscapes that encourage reflection instead of explanation.
For the artist, drawing is not simply a technique but a way of thinking through the body. Every line and gesture becomes part of a process that captures emotions and experiences beyond the limits of language. Body mapping, intuitive movement, and spontaneous mark-making all contribute to works that remain open to multiple interpretations.
Throughout Funny Weather, symbolic imagery and layered surfaces invite viewers to slow down and engage with uncertainty. Instead of offering fixed narratives, the works encourage personal responses and suggest that intuition can be as valuable as rational analysis. Some paintings even evoke a ritualistic or shamanic atmosphere, reflecting Traub-Adler’s fascination with unseen forces, human consciousness, and the interconnectedness of people and nature.
About Nel Gallery
Nel Gallery is a contemporary gallery in Cape Town, dedicated to promoting both emerging and established artists from South Africa and beyond. Founded by Luan Nel and Neil Pendock, the gallery has earned a reputation for presenting thoughtful exhibitions that encourage dialogue between artists, collectors, and the wider public.
With Funny Weather, Nel Gallery once again demonstrates its commitment to showcasing innovative contemporary art, offering visitors an engaging exhibition that celebrates creativity, intuition, and the power of visual storytelling.