Archive: Issue No. 31, March 2000

Kevin Brand and Louise Linder
Invitation to the show at the AVA

Kevin Brand, Louise Linder and John Murray at the AVA

In the Main Gallery, Kevin Brand is showing a group of remarkable small bronzes entitled 'Late Afternoon'. The body of work has been taken from his sketchbooks of the last 10 years and represents ideas on a variety of themes, many of which have been realised in other media and on other scales as well as some which haven't made it there yet. Brand has been the recipient of various awards, has exhibited nationally and internationally and his work is included in several important collections

Louise Linder, who has also exhibited widely and is also well represented in public collections, is showing a group of oil paintings entitled 'Encounters'. The works deal with personal history and family memories and are based on small black and white photographs from her childhood in Mozambique.

Upstairs on the ArtsStrip, recent Stellenbosch graduate John Murray shows his mixed media works. He explores themes including violence, sex, religion and consumerism in these works.

Monday March 27 - April 15

The Association for Visual Arts, 35 Church Street, Cape Town.

Tom Culberg
'In Between North and South'
Opens April 3

Tom Cullberg at João Ferreira

An exhibition of paintings by Tom Cullberg entitled 'In Between North and South' opens on April 3. Cullberg, who is from Sweden but who studied and graduated from Michaelis, and is living here at present describes his work as follows- "Each painting is a moment of suspended time - some well-remembered moments, some speedy glimpses, like stripes before my eyes. The paintings form an unplanned story, connecting fiction, fantasy and memory to create a different reality ". The paintings vary greatly in scale and borrow freely from both representational and abstract modes. Capetonians will be familiar with Cullberg's Featherdome, a large, immersive snowdome-like sculpture, which has been exhibited at various events around the city, most recently the Maynardville Community Chest Carnival.

Monday April 3 - April 29

João Ferreira Fine Art, 80 Hout Street, Cape Town.

Invitation to the exhibition curated by Rory Bester
Photo: John Liebenberg/ South Photographers

'Kwere Kwere/ Journeys into Strangeness' at the Castle

A show incorporating film, photography and video opens on Wednesday March 22. Participants include Ernest Cole, Coco Fusco, Jacqueline Mainguard, Zola Maseko Penny Siopis and Paul Weinberg. Artists explore the increasingly xenophobic reactions of South Africans to migrants, refugees and asylum seekers alike. The show provides four points of entry- the making and maintenance of borders, cross-border journeys, the experience of displacement in a strange place and the sense of belonging forged in a strange place. Historical and news footage is included here along with a total of 24 projects by artists. Johannesburg-based Rory Bester has curated the show which will travel to other centres around the country after its run in Cape Town.

March 21 - April 15

B Block, The Castle of Good Hope, Buitenkant Street,Cape Town.
Gallery hours: Monday to Saturday, 9.30am to 4pm.

Angela Ferreira at Michaelis Lecture

Angela Ferreira was born in Mozambique in 1958 and completed a BAFA and MFA at Michaelis Art School in Cape Town, graduating in 1983. She has taught sculpture at Cape Technikon and the University of Lisbon, and has exhibited in South Africa, Europe, America and Australia. She has worked in a variety of media including sculpture, photography, video and installation. Her work explores socio-political and historical relationships between Africa and Portugal.

Wednesday March 29, 1.15 - 2.15pm

Michaelis Lecture Theatre
1st Floor Michaelis Building
Hiddingh Campus 31 - 37 Orange Street

David Riding
New Works can be seen at the 3RD i GALLERY

Paradoxically constructing his figurative works from modern materials, such as fibreglass and urethane, Riding takes inspiration from his natural surroundings and the realm of myth-making and ancient art. Having given up a successful career in commercial design, Riding now practices art full time, creating works which are described as "playful and vibrant".

March 23 - May 5

Stefan Schwerthelm
from 'A Terrain of Memory'

Karen Jay, from Cape Town and Stefan Schwerthelm, from Berlin, have worked together to produce this show, entitled 'Terrain of Memory', which runs until April 1. They met in May 1999 while attending a workshop in Hamburg and realised that despite their disparate backgrounds they shared a similar approach to artmaking. Using diverse painterly and pictorial media both artists explore memory, the discomfort of facing one's past and the possibility of healing through such reflection.

March 6 - April 1, 2000

Bang the Gallery, 92 Bree Street, Cape Town

Cobus van Bosch
'Slag' 2000
Lead,found objects and oil paint
37 x 27 x 7 cm

Critic and artist Cobus van Bosch holds his second one-person show at this venue. The show entitled 'Slag' takes place in both the gallery spaces. This exhibition deals with war and the contradictions inherent in the supposed glory of this activity. Van Bosch looks at the way that euphoria is soon overtaken by horror, which eats a destructive path through individual and collective psyches. The work specifically addresses the military conflict in Angola in the seventies and eighties.

March 15 - April 8, 2000

Mark Coetzee Fine Art Cabinet, 120 Bree Street Cape Town

Lisa Brice
Somewhere over the rainbow 1997 Beanbags
Vinyl, resin, foam
Dimensions variable

Satisfying this rather tall order is a striking selection of work by a number of artists who have shown at this gallery during the three years of its existence. Artists include South Africans Lisa Brice, Beezy Bailey, Steven Cohen, Rodney Place and Roelof Louw and Germans J�rg Immendorf and AR Penck.
The show remains open until April 2000

Inge du Plessis

Opening on February 29 is the Inge du Plessis' first one-person show. Du Plessis graduated from Michaelis Art School and went on to become a qualified cabinetmaker. At the time she was the only woman in the Western Cape to have such a qualification. After some years practising this and a few more years spent designing and fabricating furniture and fittings, she returned to painting. Last year Du Plessis received a Merit Award at the New Signatures exhibition at the Arts Association in Bellville. Her exhbition, entitled 'Subtle Chaos' runs until March 29.

Exhibition runs from Tuesday February 9 - Wednesday March 29

Detail of a Derek Bauer cartoon from the 80's

This exhibition presents an overview of this art-form both here and in Europe. It includes over 200 works by cartoonists, caricaturists and artists, with some works on loan from the National Gallery. Cartoonists and satirists have arguably reached greater audiences with their social commentary than many of our traditionally esteemed and established artists. South Africa has been called a "cartoonist's paradise" because of its unique social and political problems, and in this spirit, the commentary of Boonzaier, Tony Grogan, Fred Mouton and other well known cartoonists is included. The exhibition pays tribute to those who have entertained and enlightened us over the years with their perceptive and amusing visual commentary.

November 12 - March 2000

Nina Callaghan is one of the performers in 'Translations'
Photo by: Christine Nachmann

Iindiza, the Mielie Stalks Theatre Co. in collaboration with artists from Ireland, UK and South Africa will be producing a site specific art piece exploring land, language and identity at the District 6 Museum. The production is a unique fusion of dance, drama, music, photography, film and visual arts and benefits from the distinct artistic visions of Ireland and South Africa to articulate the current changes in both societies. Taking as its' cornerstone Irish playwright Brian Friels' play 'Translations', the project takes advantage of its location to theatrically transport an audience to the centre of rural Ireland whilst surveying the majestic backdrop of Table Mountain. Directed by Caroline Calburn, director of Iindiza, Stacey Sacks and Nelisiwe Xaba perform with amongst others Brian Henry Martin, a documentary film-maker and Sinead McSheffrey from Ireland. Youngsters from District 6's Zonnebloem Arts Centre, Rahmaniyeh Primary School and Azaad Independent Youth Centre also participate. Tickets cost R20

Friday March 3, 7.15pm and Saturday March 4, 7 and 9.30pm

Leon de Bliquy

Leon de Bliquy at the University of Stellenbosch Art Gallery

'Wind, San and Stars' is the title of the latest series of paintings by Leon de Bliquy. The South African artist, who has resided in Belgium since 1993, muses upon the confrontation between human beings and the forces of nature. The works draw inspiration from aerial views of the desert he has experienced and aspects of San storytelling with which he is familiar.

March 10 - 29

A work by Cleone Cull on 'Ha di da'

'Ha di da' at the Ibis Art Centre

The Ibis Art Centre, that cultural oasis of the Eastern Cape, opens a new exhibition on March 20 entitled 'Ha di da' (the common name for the copper ibis) digressions from an ibis, filling an Eastern abyss'. The exhibition features the work of Cleone Cull, Jennifer Ord, Trevor Melville, Graham Jones, Ethna Frankenfeld and Amanda de Wet. Curator Mark Wilby writes: "Six eastern Cape artists present a body of two and three-dimensional work, the diversity of which suggests the idiosyncratic properties of an ibis"
Come again? In any case, there will be painting, printmaking and sculpture, and the Centre does indeed 'fill an Eastern abyss', and for those headed for the Klein Karoo Kunstefees, 'Ha di da' would make an interesting and worthwhile stopover point.

March 20 to April 29

Johannesburg gets its own Art Party - at last!

'Artichoke', planned to take place at the Sandton Civic Gallery and courtyard on April 8, is a multimedia, multicultural event with broad youth and popular appeal, in the spirit of the ever-successful 'Redeye @rt' (Durban) and 'Softserve' (Cape Town). 'Artichoke' is geared towards providing platforms for emerging and established artists of all disciplines. Quarterly productions will focus on one theme, interpreted by artists working in various media. 'Artichoke' takes as its philosophy the importance of arts and culture as alternative and necessary forms of expression and education. 'Artichoke' is fed up with the South African focus on sport-as-recreation and wants art to be lived, breathed, eaten and consumed to the point of saturation. 'Artichoke' is committed to building audiences at cultural events, encouraging plurality and tolerance, extending cultural vocabularies and blurring the boundaries between 'high' and 'low' art. The first 'Artichoke' event is based on the theme of 'catharsis' and includes visual, video, digital and performance art, music, dance and poetry.

'Artichoke' is committed to reaching people and communities who do not have easy access to cultural events of this nature. Dance, drumming and art therapy workshops will be run throughout the day, culminating in the evening's celebrations at 6pm.

The first 'Artichoke' coincides with an MTN Art Institute festival for scholars, who will participate in the workshop programme. Works included in 'Artichoke' are solicited by open invitation. R10 admission fee. A cash bar will be available.

For more information, contact any member of the 'Artichoke' steering committee:

Jeanette Ginslov 083 522 5145 Bie Venter 083 728 5606 Kathryn Smith 082 773 7033

'Artichoke' is made possible through the generous sponsorship of the MTN Art Institute, as well as the Goodman Gallery, National Arts Council and Datrix ( info@datrix.co.za)

'No Name' at the Bag Factory

'No Name' at the Bag Factory

The Bag Factory is presenting work by resident artists Francisco Cande (Mozambique), Jimmy Oganga (Kenya), Jan Vicar (Czech Republic) and Susan Leark (U.K).

Opens Wednesday, March 22 at 6pm. Closes March 25.

Mette Lumsden
Initiates
oil on board
122 x 122 cm unframed
(no date given)

John Alexander O'Donnell presents a collection of paintings called 'Sanctuary', which showed recently at the Jacob Javits Convention Centre in Manhattan. The exhibition will be opened on Sunday March 26 at 11.30 a.m. Danish painter Mette Lumsden presents 'Africa at First Sight'. Her exhibition will be opened by the Ambassador of Denmark, Mr Bjarne H. Sørensen on Friday March 24 at 6 p.m.

Edoardo Villa
Triangular Development2000
steel
(no dimensions available)

RAU's Gencor Gallery in conjunction with Edoardo Villa are currently hosting 'Villa 2000', a 20 year retrospective at the artist's home and studio in Kew, Johannesburg. Although the Gencor Gallery have hosted two prior retrospectives of Villa's work (in 1976 and 1980), it was decided to make his process and working environment accessible to a wider audience. Villa, who is probably responsible for most of the 'public corporate sculptures' in and around Johannesburg, is now 85 and shows no signs of slowing down. His latest solo show was held last year in Triviglio, Italy, and his assistant of 35 years, Luca Legodi, is still with him.

Ends March 25

Users of the Michaelis Art Library in central Johannesburg have mounted an exhibition of their own work, comprising some 41 paintings and 29 pieces of ceramics by FUBA (Federated Union of Black Arts) students, stained glass and sculpture. This is the second exhibition at the library, and is intended to create an awareness of the library as a valuable and under-utilised resource of contemporary and traditional visual art, fashion, design and craft publications.

Underground parking with direct access to the library is available in the Harry Hofmeyr garage in President Street, off Simmonds Street. For more details call 836 3787 (X 217).

Ends March 31

Luan Nel
Invitation image for 'Mnemosyne', Wits University's East Campus and Great Hall in the 1930's.

The character of Mnemosyne, the Greek goddess of memory and the mother of history is the starting point for Leanne Engelberg's curated exhibition taking place on the grounds of the University of the Witwatersrand. Participating artists include Kim Berman, Willem Boshoff, Rookeya Gardee, Mandla Mabila and Siobhan McCusker, who have been invited to produce temporary site-specific works dealing with the both the subtle and more compelling inflections of personal and collective memory. Because the works are dispersed and temporary, a walkabout has been planned as an opening event on March 21 (Human Rights Day) at 2.30 p.m. Drinks will be served afterwards.

Leanne Engelberg can be contacted on 082 853 7089 or Lengelberg@hotmail.com.
'Mnemosyne' is the practical component of her MA(FA) by Coursework degree.

March 21 - 28

Harry Trevor
Self Portrait 1944
oil on canvas
Sanlam Art Collection

Touted as a "radical painter of the 1940's rediscovered", this show comes to the JAG from the Pretoria Art Museum. Johannesburg-born Trevor worked in Cape Town and JHB for a short but intense seven years and is deemed to be one of our greatest expressionists. This exhibition hopes to afford Trevor greater recognition than his name has previously enjoyed. Be that as it may, this project smacks of a grand modernist enterprise, with words like "genius", "non-conformist", "idealist", and "rediscovery" used to describe the 'untrained' artist. Stephan Welz, Chairman of the Friends of the Johannesburg Art Gallery, will open the exhibition on March 22, at 5.30 p.m. for 6.00 p.m.

March 17 - May 15, 2000

Luan Nel
Installation view (detail)
Market Theatre Galleries, 2000

Fresh from a two-year stint at Amsterdam's Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten, Luan Nel presents 'Lost', a painting installation that reassesses the status of painting in very fundamental ways, as well as our relationships to the broad notion of 'space'. 'Lost' takes it's cue from Nel's experiences of dislocation during the initial part of his stay, where the only thing connecting him to 'home' was his past and associated memories.

March 12 - April 1

Ryan Arenson
Mom and Dad, Don't Worry About Me2000
oil, enamel and acrylic on canvas
1,5 x 1,5 m

Regional branches of the South African Association for the Visual Arts are having small exhibitions of works submitted for this year's competition, prior to the final judging. For a competition offering the most money to young artists in the country, the Johannesburg selection looks somewhat lean - but perhaps this method of small regional shows will make for a better understanding of the judging process. Jo'burg judges are Marc Edwards, Clive van den Berg and Lucia Burger. Last year's winner and one of the brightest hopes for the future of contemporary painting, Ryan Arenson, will be showing selected works before he jets off to the Cit� des Arts Internationale in Paris.

The exhibition opens at 5.30 p.m. Parking is available in ABSA Towers North Parking, 63 Polly Street, cnr. Fox Street. For more information, contact Cecile Loedolff on (011) 350-4644.

March 16 - 29

Brad Hammond
De-Tuned Channel # 56 1999
etched wax on board

In exquisitely executed wax etchings and video work, Brad Hammond explores possible points of connection between modes of consciousness and technologised communication. Large fieldworks of television-noise recall moments when signals become scrambled and when structures break down and fail to 'decode' information. The pieces are as much about the physical work of making the images as they are about the work of culture and spiritual exploration. Winner of last year's Kempton Park/Thembisa Metropolitan Council Annual Art Competition and a merit award winner on the ABSA Atelier, a solo show by Hammond has been eagerly anticipated.

March 8 - April 5

See Reviews

Thomasin Dewhurst
Young Woman Listening to an Orchestra (detail) 1996 - 1999
oil on board
122 x 90 cm

A recent MA(FA) Wits graduate, and represented by the Everard Read Gallery since 1995, Thomasin Dewhurst is a young but remarkably mature and skilled painter who focuses on the sensations of flesh and touch. Sculptural figures assert themselves on canvases which, given their over-painted quality, acquire a fleshy life of their own. The exhibition will be opened by Walter Oltmann.

March 14 - April 18

Clifford M'Pai Masuhu 1998 (11 December)
pencil on paper
70 x 87 cm

The Karen McKerron Gallery and Fine Art Consultancy presents recent collage works by Karen Van Aardt-Lasserre and intriguing drawings by Clifford M'Pai.

February 27 - March 22, 2000

Invitation image for Lisa Brice's 'Work in Transit'
See reviews

A much-anticipated show, this exhibition showcases two of the frontrunners of South Africa's younger generation of artists. Van der Merwe explores masculinity, violence and history and their various representational (dis)guises through eerie and evocative photographs of empty military regalia housed in Johannesburg's Museum of Military History. Brice's work deliberately gives over to and explores the effects of a transient existence experienced over the last six months while travelling to London, Trinidad, Cuba, New York and Europe. Anxiety, fear, vice, consumerism, identity and desire come under Brice's incisive spotlight. A must-see.

Hentie van der Merwe is the subject of this month's artbio.

March 4 - 25, 2000.

See Reviews

See also the review in ZA@PLAY.

Robert Hodgins
A Beast Slouches 1986
Acrylic on Canvas
122 X 173cm

To people with any interest, however fleeting, in the history of this country's visual culture, 'Emergence', should need no introduction. Curated by Julia Charlton and Fiona Rankin-Smith in consultation with Marion Arnold, this overview traces 25 years of cultural production underpinned by and dialoguing with major changes in the political, societal and technological fabric. Opening at the Grahamstown National Arts Festival 1999, the show moved from there to the King George VI Gallery in Port Elizabeth, followed by the Durban Art Gallery, and now comes to the Standard Bank Gallery in Johannesburg. Given the scale of the show (in excess of 150 works), achieving comfort and breathing space between works has proven a challenge. But for those wanting a quick fix-speed read of contemporary South African visual arts from the time of the first television broadcast to the embracing of IT, this should do the trick.

Walkabouts with the curators will held on Wednesday, February 9, February 23 and March 9 between 1.00 p.m. and 2.00 p.m.

See Reviews

Visit the very informative but aesthetically disturbing website at www.wits.ac.za/emergence.

Ryan Arenson
Safe Sex Forever1999-2000
enamel on canvas
40 x 50 cm

ABSA Atelier Awards at the AVA

The Pretoria provincial selection for this desirable annual award opens this Wednesday evening at the AVA. Energetic Gauteng gallery-goers thus have the unique opportunity of viewing both the Pretoria and the Johannesburg selections in one week.

March 22 - April 4

Ernst de Jongh Reclining Nude on a Cow Skin (detail) 1999
oil on canvas

"Legendary American-trained" Pretoria favourite Ernst de Jongh presents paintings along the lines of Wild Africa, Exotic Worlds, Erotica and Passage to Norway, with a "Body Beautiful" demonstration by the Gladiator Warrior, thrown in for good measure. A graphic designer/artist since 1958, he's the man responsible for what our South African banknotes look like. Don't sacrifice a trip to Brad Hammond's opening for this one.

March 8 - April 23

The invitation shows details of Linder's and Brand's work

Kevin Brand Dance Little Sister 1999
from ' Late Afternoon' series
Painted Bronzes
120 x 70 x 40mm
See reviews

The ever-ambitious Millennium Gallery continues an interesting streak with this two-person show. Brand presents 'Late Afternoon', a mini-retrospective of bronze sculptures of work that has either previously been realized and exhibited, or that for one or other reasons has never been made. By presenting them as very small scale bronzes, Brand transforms them into new works which he says is "almost like reminiscing at the end of the day". Hence the title. Linder presents 'Encounters', oil paintings based on small, square, black and white photographs taken during her childhood in colonial Mozambique. In this way, she attempts to confer the responsibilities and desires of her childhood voyeurism onto the contemporary viewers of the paintings.

Walkabout: Kevin Brand will be present at the gallery on Thursday, March 2, at 10.30 a.m. to discuss the work on show.

March 1 - 18, 2000

See Reviews

For more information, call Linza on (012) 46-8217.

The State Theatre's resident photographer presents a collection of traditional photographs as well as digitally manipulated prints, that takes a close look at the human form. A true veteran, Meyberg has specialised in performing arts photography for many years and has become something of an institution in the thespian and dance worlds.

For more information, call Katja Hermann on (012) 322 1665 or 082 607 0523, or email katja@statetheatre.co.za..

February 21 - March 25, 2000

Noto Matseke

In a similar vein to the Lucky Sibiya exhibition held towards the end of last year, 'Homage' presents the work and personal art collection of Matseke, a celebrated arts educator and supporter who counted artists Lucky Sibiya and Walter Battiss among his close personal friends. His period of production was brief but intense. A teacher during the early 1950's, he dedicated his attention to children, for whom he initiated an art centre at Central Primary School in Atteridgeville, Pretoria. For Matseke, art had healing, transformative powers which he used to uplift children from the harsh political realities of South African life. When the Bantu Education Act was passed in 1953, transferring control of African education from the Department of Education to the Department of Native Affairs in effect from early 1955, he stopped making art. His art collecting began in the late 1970's, while becoming more politically active. To contextualise the era in which he worked, the work is presented alongside documentary photographs from the 50's and 60's by Ernest Cole, Peter Magubane, Struan Robertson, Jurgen Schadeburg and others, as well as a selection of artworks by Matseke's contemporaries.

February 8 - March 31 2000

Jose Ferreira
Man Friday - the politics of neurosis
multi-track video

First screening in new Video Room at the NSA

The NSA introduces a new venture this week in a recently created Video Room at the gallery. Conceived to establish a platform for new media, the space will be inaugurated by Man Friday - the politics of neurosis, a multi-track video by Jose Ferreira. The piece is an example of Ferreira's ongoing investigations into the colonial legacy; his concerns with the invisible markings and scarring caused by colonisation. Showing a plucked parrot's feathers being stuffed back into it without the final catharsis of resurrection the piece holds a curious pathos. Set to a multi-layered soundtrack consisting of extracts out of the film "Robinson Crusoe" Ferreira, an ex-Durbanite, makes a welcome return with this intriguing work.

March 19 - April 1

More information: Storm Janse van Rensburg

Nuno da Cruz
Milky

The NSA is presenting a double bill of contemporary painting:
Nuno Da Cruz has been making a name in Johannesburg for the past couple of years and is presenting new works for the first time in Durban. The works in 'Barcode' in the Main Gallery are pop-like paintings dealing with consumerism. Using mostly South African, but also global, packaging, branding and advertising, Da Cruz works with actual wrappers, boxes or logos. Inspiration is also drawn from comic books, especially those from the 60s, 70s and early 80s and old local magazines such as Drum, Huisgenoot, and Scope. More on Da Cruz at http://www.nunodacruz.co.za .

André Naudé needs very little introduction in KwaZulu Natal. This well-known artist is visiting again to display recent paintings. His iconography includes various forms of the vessel, twigs, wood and still-life.

March 19 - April 6

See Reviews

Annelieke Grob
Daily Life in a Suitcase
Multimedia installation

"Daily Life in a Suitcase", a multi-media installation currently showing at the Durban Art Gallery, is the culmination of a ten-year project by Dutch graphic designer Lieke Grob. Taking on trust the co-operation and collaboration of two complete strangers, Grob sent two small wooden suitcases to Rev. Nico Smith in Pretoria, requesting that they be passed on to women in or near the city. That was 1989. Each suitcase contained a camera, an empty notebook, a set of pencils, and the story of Grob's own life in Holland and Grob's request was that each woman fill the suitcase with pictures and life stories. Who the women were and how they responded to this challenge may be discovered at the Gallery

Until April 30.

See Reviews.

Jane Alexander
Bomboy with workers and traffic 1999
Photomontage

Jane Alexander at London's Gasworks

One of South Africa's most highly regarded artists, Jane Alexander, is currently presenting her first solo show in London at the Gasworks, under the curatorship of Sunil Gupta of the OVA. Alexander is showing part of the acclaimed body of work first seen at the Irma Stern Museum in Cape Town last year: a series of painted fibreglass sculptures entitled 'Bom boys and lucky girls', accompanied by a series of photomontages.

The sculptures, based on the street children of Alexander's home neighbourhood, are three quarter life-size, strangely stunted, masked, and accompanied by a chimpanzee familiar in a grouping which hovers between pathos and menace. The photomontages which accompany the sculptures place Alexander's piecs in street settings in and around Cape Town, thus creating a niche for them in the social history of the city.

Alexander's work will be seen next in Senegal, on Dak'Art 2000, and the artist has also been invited to participate in the Havana Bienal at the end of this year.

February 25 to March 26

See Reviews

Gasworks Gallery

155 Vauxhall Street, The Oval, London, SE11 5RH
Tel: 0171 582 6848
Fax: 0171 582 0159
Email: gallery@gasbag.org

Lola Frost
Plunge 1999
186 X 133cm

Amanda Williamson
Pretty Baby 1999
Fabric, fibreglass, paint
82x174x110 cm

"Sex has currency in the market and as a woman I am smart enough to enjoy what works for me. What�s new and really valid is that I�m a smart female -- I know how it works -- I wanna play the game so�" The attitude that provokes this kind of "new feminist" quote is the one that comes under the microscope in Amanda Williamson's solo show opening at the Soapbox Gallery in Brooklyn next week.

Entitled 'Pretty Baby', the show will feature the large soft sculpture with the same title seen on "One Night Stand' at the Joao Ferreira Gallery in Cape Town in January, an oversized teddy bear with the lewdly open mouth of a sex toy - a piece which received highly favourable press in the Mail & Guardian and the Cape Times, with M&G critic Chris Roper describing Pretty Baby as "neither euphoric or sordid, but tragic and compelling". Also on show will be a series of digital prints based on media images of pre-pubescent girls presented as sexual objects.

The Soapbox press release describes Williamson's work as "the crazed hallucination of consumer culture�s fetishized child."

Opening reception: Friday March 10 (7-10pm), show runs March 11 to April 9.

Santu Mofokeng

A silkscreened photograph by Santu Mofokeng is the current image on the illuminated billboard outside the house of revered sculptor and printmaker Käthe Kollwitz in Berlin. The billboard project came into being in 1997, when Argentian artist Pat Binder, who now lives in Berlin, won a public competition to honour the site of Kollwitz's home. Her proposal was to erect the billboard, and present quarterly art posters by invited international artists, which would thematically link with Kollwitz's concern with the sufferings of humanity.

Mofokeng's photograph, in soft greys, shows a railroad track. Barely distinguishable on either side, are the towers of Auschwitz. The artist has this to say about his work: "I don't think I exagerate when I say The Holocaust and Apartheid are the two most memorable evils which hypnotized the world, this century.

"The demise of apartheid in South Africa, relatively recent, poses a challenge for the people there. The dilemma is how to deal with the memory of the past. For instance: who owns this memory? what is re-memoried (re/membered) and how? how long is the memory? what do we do with the memory? do we need this memory? who can be trusted with this memory?

"This work is a journal of my exploration of landscapes associated with spectacular events of horror in Europe and Asia in search of answers to some of these questions."

Andrew Tshabangu
Germiston 1998
B&W photograph

Andrew Tshabangu
Brooklyn 1999
B&W photograph

A group exhibition of South African artists purporting to 'mark a distinct break from recent survey exhibits based on the broad category "Contemporary South African Art"' opens at the White Box gallery in the Chelsea art district of New York on February 3. Curated by art historians and curators Lauri Firstenberg and John Peffer with assistance from Sima Familant, the show is entitled "Translation/Seduction/Displacement: photographic and postconceptual art by artists from Southern Africa".

The curatorial concept derives from the combined meanings of the word "translation" across several South African languages.
For example, in isiZulu, humusha can mean to interpret, to mislead, or to seduce. In Afrikaans vertolking is translation as critical or interpretive performance, and verplaas contains the idea of translation as physical displacement. The cross-cultural and cross-linguistic operations of translation as seduction and displacement, as engaged by these artists, frames the exhibition.

The show will feature the U.S. premier of major work by two internationally prominent artists: photographer Santu Mofokeng (a retrospective of work on tragic 20th Century landscapes) and conceptual artist Willem Boshoff (recontextualisations of his visual poetry dating from 1980, titled "Kykafrikaans". The exhibit traces representational practices related to those of Boshoff and Mofokeng in more recent art by Siemon Allen, Gordon Bleach, Abrie Fourie, Kim Lieberman, Senzeni Marasela, Zwelethu Mthethwa, Rudzani Nemasetoni, Joachim Schonfeldt, Marlaine Tosoni, Andrew Tshabangu, and Hentie van der Merwe.

A 30-page catalogue produced by the Artist Press in Johannesburg, with a dedication to the memory of Gordon Bleach who passed away in 1999, and curatorial essays will accompany the exhibition. After the conclusion of the show in New York, the exhibition will travel to Portland, Maine, and finish at the Sandton Civic Centre in 2001.