Archive: Issue No. 89, January 2005

07.01.05 Willie Bester and Zwelethu Mthethwa at the AVA
07.01.05 Mark Hipper at João Ferreira
07.01.05 Paul du Toit at Erdmann Contemporary
07.01.05 'South African art 1840' at MSCG
07.01.05 Philip Barlow, Raymond Smith and Lize Grobler at the AVA
07.01.05 Dani Le Roy at VEO Gallery
07.01.05 Jeanette Unite and Lynne Lomofsky at Oude Moulen Estate
07.01.05 'Ilifa Labantu Heritage of the People' at SANG

04.12.04 Stanley Pinker, Peter Clarke and Hylton Nel at MSCG
04.12.04 Clementina van der Walt at Irma Stern Museum
04.12.04 Jan Verboom at Photographers Gallery ZA

05.11.04 'The Muse of History': Helmut Starcke at the Old Town House
05.11.04 'Voice-overs': Wits brings African artworks to the SANG
05.11.04 Guy Tillim - DaimlerChrysler Award winner at the SANG
05.11.04 'Sacred Geometry' by Sharon Peers at 3rd i Gallery
05.11.04 'Curiosity CLXXV' at Hiddingh Hall, Michaelis School of Fine Art
05.11.04 'Democracy X' (extended) at The Castle of Good Hope

STELLENBOSCH

07.01.05 Adriaan van Zyl at the US Art Gallery

PLETTENBERG BAY

07.01.05 Lizza Littlewort's portraits at Small Miracles Gallery

This show promises to provide an intriguing synergy between two consummate artists and good friends, each with highly individualistic styles and approaches.

Bester's mixed media collages and grand sculptures are immediately recognisable, with their social statement and township context. Bester says his latest work will exude a softer tone with a trip back in time to memories of his youth.

Zwelethu Mthethwa has exhibited his photography to great acclaim internationally. His April show at New York's Jack Shainman Gallery was completely sold out to four major museums and private collectors.

In this exhibition, he will examine issues around tension using a combination of pastel and acrylics on cotton paper. According to the AVA's press release, his working class subjects reflect the change, growth and development of culture: 'Tradition and modernity are juxtaposed. Gender roles invert. Excess highlights inequality and deprivation. Religion is challenged. And consequently, personal, social and cultural identities are in flux.'

Opens: December 15
Closes: January 22

Mark Hipper returns to João Ferreira Gallery after an August exhibition of paintings but this time with a show of ceramics entitled 'Cast offs'. They are described as more akin to discarded garments than vessels made of clay in their reference to distorted membranes like 'the sloughed skins of snakes'.

According to João Ferreira's press release, Hipper is exploring discarded identities and beings that retain their image and associations ... 'a melancholic residue similar to photographs that capture the moments of the recording. This hollowing out of being, of the body, becomes the inadequate vessel that it is.'

Opens: January 5
Closes: January 29

Paul du Toit, who had his last solo in Cape Town three years ago, is back. This exhibition, entitled 'Off the Wall', is a mixture of paintings, sculpture (including works in resin) and works on paper that represent the culmination of ideas stretching back over seven years.

Du Toit mostly exhibits internationally. He recently had a well-received solo exhibition in New York, followed by another in Holland in September. He also represented SA in Athens at the Artiade (Olympics for Visual Arts) in August, where he exhibited sculptures made from found industrial steel objects.

Opens: 26 January
Closes: 19 February

This annual show of South African art includes a wide range of pieces, from objects of late 19th century south-east African art, through work by major artists of the 1950s and 1960s to leading contemporary artists like Hylton Nel, David Goldblatt, Guy Tillim, Jeremy Wafer and Willem Boshoff. Young and emerging artists are also well represented, including new video stills from Berni Searle and Churchill Madikida, portrait paintings by Tollman Award winner Mustafa Maluka and a large canvas by Sandile Zulu.

Two catalogues accompany the show. Both curious and valuable: African art from late 19th century south-east Africa includes an essay on the acquisition of such objects by European soldiers, missionaries and travelers and the shift in the social significance that occurs along with the shift in ownership.

Highlights of the fine art catalogue include a previously unpublished Namaqualand landscape by Hugo Naudé, a 1932 painting of harvesters by Maggie Laubser, a large and important Johannes Meintjes portrait, and works from the 1950s and 60s by Dorothy Kay, Simon Lekgetho, Robert Hodgins, Gerard Sekoto and Douglas Portway.

Opens: January 19
Closes: February 5

Philip Barlow takes up the main gallery at the AVA with new oil paintings in his personal style of 'hazy, blurred backgrounds contrasting with colourful moving figures in the foreground' that appear almost abstract. This will be Barlow's second solo at the AVA.

In the Long gallery, Raymond Smith uses mixed media for his sculptural installation called 'Armchair Traveller'. It comprises eight pieces in cast aluminium, bronze and sand.

Lize Grobler is upstairs exhibiting her latest drawings in a show called 'Play with me'. Grobler has always embraced drawing but usually as part of her preparation for sculptural pieces. Here, the drawings function as artworks in their own right.

The series can be roughly divided into two: experiences at a recent international artists' workshop in New York and the development of the artist's relationship and subsequent wedding.

Opens: January 24
Closes: February 12

Le Roy, who runs her own furniture design business called Yu, has been experimenting with texture and colour to produce abstract paintings for her first solo exhibition, 'The Spaces Between', at VEO's newly opened Art Warehouse.

The exhibition includes larger-scale works and smaller collections of panels with quirky use of colour and a variety of media. She says: 'My style is accident driven. I love the unexpected merging of various mediums and experiment with varnish, spray paint, plaster of paris, marble dust, enamels, glitter and resin.'

Le Roy is a young artist and designer and has also been involved in a wire jewellery business. She is currently working on a new range of jewellery incorporating silver, perspex and horn components.

Opens: January 25
Closes: February 5

Both Jeanette Unite and Lynne Lomofsky are painters who engage with the viewer through the surface of their work, and they explore this in their joint exhibition 'Surfacing'.

Unite's work is described as a psychological space in which she has explored healing and a range of gestures towards wholeness. She recently held a solo exhibition at Irma Stern Musuem of fused glass pieces encrusted with minerals. The project started as a response to diamond exploration on the west coast of South Africa and has developed into an exploration of chemicals and minerals that map South Africa's history.

Lomofsky's work explores the mental, emotional and physical effects of the experience of cancer and its medical treatment. According to the exhibition invitation, Lomofsky's figures represent the vulnerable and transient body while the paintings reflect the struggle with mortality - serving both as a memento mori as well as a memento vivre, reminding us of the preciousness of life.

Opens: December 16
Closes: January 20

This exhibition, which opened on Heritage Day (September 24), showcases 150 African artworks acquired by the gallery over the past decade. 'Ilifa Labantu Heritage of the People' is curated by Carol Kaufmann, Iziko's African art expert. She says: 'The post-1994 sense of freedom has encouraged South Africans to look to the north to rediscover cultural affiliations with the rest of the continent.'

'Ilifa' includes textiles from Ghana, beaded crowns and gold-weights from Nigeria, Kuba ceremonial beadwork from the DRC and 'repatriated' works like engraved Nguni cattle horns depicting scenes from the Zulu war of 1879.

The show reflects Iziko SANG's post-1994 policy of purposefully collecting and purchasing African art. Traditional beadwork, basketry, textile and ceramics, carvings in wood, leather and other materials now form a significant part of the Iziko Art collections.

There will be a series of organised tours. Contact Carol Kaufmann on (021) 467 4672 or email ckaufmann@iziko.org.za

Opens: September 24
Closes: April 2005

This exhibition promises to be a visual treat of synergies between three very different artists who all have formidable talent and expertise in common.

Stanley Pinker, who turns 80 this year, shows work from his private collection. According to MSCG, the work shows his distinctive blend of humour, metaphor and subversive allusion that has marked his paintings throughout apartheid days and into the present. 'Pinker engages with the characters and contradictions of South African life as well as the history of European easel painting. He uses a visual vocabulary unequivocally South African to explore issues of colonialism and capitalism.'

Peter Clarke is a highly accomplished and versatile visual artist as well as a writer and a poet. He has recently turned his attention from printmaking to collage. About four years ago, Clarke began making collage books that fold up into boxes of various shapes and sizes, which he handcrafts from leather.

This exhibition showcases a series of Clarke's fan-shaped collages that commemorate a combination of literary, historical, Biblical or actual characters drawn from his life. Each fan is accompanied by a few paragraphs of beautifully written text that describes the person's thoughts - either spoken or imagined.

Hylton Nel, the artist-potter, returns to the MSCG after his solo exhibition a year ago. Nel has for the past four decades been producing distinctive plates, bowls, vases, figurines and ornaments from his Karoo studio. He has kept a fairly low profile in this country, with rare South African exhibitions.

MSCG will also launch a book about Peter Clarke and a monograph on Stanley Pinker.

Opens: December 1
Closes: January 15

Clementina van der Walt explores mystery and ritual in her latest show at the Irma Stern Museum. She creates portraits that are inspired by pots and masks used in traditional African cultures. Her spontaneous style includes gestural marks in colourful slips and glazes in her range of masks, vases, bowls and plates that have spiritual suggestions.

The show also includes an edition of etchings on the same theme, and a series of platters commemorating 10 years of democracy.

University of Stellenbosch's Professor Sandra Klopper writes in her introduction to the show that Van der Walt's work explores a sense of 'the in-between' in various ways, including some that resonate with African masking traditions - 'Like death masks, these faces are curiously unsettling for although at one level they seem to record particular individuals, there is often a haunting distance between the image and the person.'

Opens: 6.30pm, December 7
Closes: January 14

'Journey', an exhibition of images from the semi-arid landscapes of the Northern Cape and Namibia, are on show alongside photographs taken in Cuba by Jan Verboom. This is Verboom's second solo exhibition. His work has been included in several exhibitions locally and abroad. He lives and works in Cape Town.

The show comprises silver gelatine prints, in stark contrast to the current fad for digital prints, taken on a Mamiya M7 camera. All images are numbered and part of a limited series of 20, archivally printed and toned to collectors' specifications.

Opens: December 14
Closes: January 15

Helmut Starcke, a former lecturer at Michaelis School of Fine Art, shows a series of reworked celebrated Dutch masterpieces in this exhibition at the Old Town Hall. He juxtaposes classical figures from the Golden Age of 17th century art with characters and artifacts from Africa.

According to the artist, the show comprises 'mediations and meditations on the Dutch colonial adventure, with specific reference to Africa and the history of the Cape of Good Hope, colonised by the Dutch in 1652'.

The Old Town House, which houses the famous Michaelis Collection of 17th Century Netherlandish art, is therefore an appropriate exhibition context and setting. According to curator Hayden Proud, many of the interiors evoked in Starcke's works resonate with the proportions, lighting and architectural details of the venue itself.

Opens: November 17
Closes: April 2005

This exhibition comprises exceptional pieces chosen from the Standard Bank Collection of African Art at the University of the Witwatersrand Art Galleries. Curatorial responsibility lies with Wits experts Anitra Nettleton, Karel Nel, Julia Charlton and Fiona Rankin-Smith.

The collection from west, central and southern Africa includes a wide range of media and includes classical to contemporary techniques. The 120 items were chosen by 53 specialists with strong connections to Wits University. Each selector has also contributed a text in the form of poetry, short stories, artworks, narrative writing and traditional academic research.

Items on show include Jackson Hlungwane's Gabriel from the Altar of God, a Chokwe figurative staff from Angola, Sam Nhlengethwa's commentary on the death of Steve Biko It Left Him Cold, and a rare southern African beadwork panel dating from the 19th century.

Opens: November 20
Closes: February 6, 2005

Photographer Guy Tillim is no stranger to Cape Town gallery enthusiasts. Michael Stevenson Contemporary Gallery hosted in June a series of works called 'Leopold and Mobutu' from the Congo region.

Tillim's reputation, however, extends way beyond the Mother City. He is the most recent recipient of the prestigious DaimlerChrysler Award for Photography and this month the SANG exhibits his photographic work.

Tillim began taking photographs professionally in 1986 and has built up a strong reputation for his documentary-style work. In this show, Tillim turns his photographer's gaze from conflict-ridden sites in Africa to the inner-city life of Johannesburg. A catalogue accompanies the exhibition.

Opens: November 27
Closes: March 21, 2005

Later this month, local photographer Sharon Peers exhibits 'Sacred Geometry: Language of Light' at 3rd i gallery. This exhibition of lithographic handprints is inspired by the concepts of sacred geometry and archetypal shapes and forms in nature.

Peers says of her work: 'I am motivated to inspire people through my images, to draw them into the creative process involved in appreciating nature's beauty. It touches my heart how perfect nature is .... to the minutest detail.'

Peers is co-owner of Framing co. inc. 3rd i Gallery as well as an emerging photographic talent.

Opens: November 13
Closes: January 29, 2005

Curated by Pippa Skotnes, Gwen van Embden and Fritha Langerman, this exhibition, part of the University of Cape Town's 175th anniversary celebrations, seeks to 'celebrate curiosity and scholarship, and the symbolic and narrative power of objects.' Historical treasures, curious paraphernalia of bygone days, teaching equipment, unique research materials and academic vestments will all be brought together in a vast installation at UCT's original campus, currently the home of its Art School.

The curators have scoured every old cupboard and every nook and cranny of the departments that make up the University. From these sometimes neglected and dusty locations they have taken objects that resonate with historical importance or are unusual, bizarre or are simply curious or strange. 175 cabinets fill Hiddingh Hall, echoing the 'cabinets of curiosity' of adventurous collectors and researchers of the past. According to Skotnes, who heads the Michaelis School of Fine Art, 'Objects have an extraordinary mobility of meaning. We hope that this act of curatorship will generate new ideas about UCT collections.'

Numerous staff members, artists and academics of the University have contributed objects or even 'curated' an individual cabinet. The exhibition promises to draw attention to the way in which material objects are intimately entwined in the creation of other forms of knowledge.

Opens: Tuesday November 23
Closes: April 1, 2005

This exhibition, in South Africa's oldest colonial building, brings together over 300 artefacts, contemporary artworks, documents, photographs, sound and film. Most of these are from Iziko's own collections but the exhibition also includes items on loan from public and private collections throughout South Africa.

The exhibition spans seven rooms, beginning with the early traces of the human past, the first farmers and early southern African states, and leading to colonial dispossession and African resistance. Mining, urbanisation and apartheid precede the turning points of the 1970s until democracy in 1994. A special room is dedicated to the Truth Commission.

Interviews with and self-portraits of 28 year-old South Africans conclude the exhibition. Sue Williamson's Messages from the Moat, a permanent installation piece on slavery at the Cape, looks right at home in the basement of the Castle's Block B.

Opened: April 21
Closes: January 15 2005

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The main theme of this exhibition is the mysterious Namibian landscape and architecture. Van Zyl, who lives and works in Stellenbosch, is well known for his Karoo landscapes and houses, graveyards and lighthouses. He has lectured at several universities and exhibited internationally.

Van Zyl says the exhibition is an extension of a previous series of paintings of the Karoo and the West coast. The old electrical works in Lüderitz reminded him of the old power station in Cape Town (a former painting subject). This served as the starting point for the series, which can be read as a stroll through the town.

Factory chimneys and buildings reappear time and again from different perspectives, as do dams and reservoirs in the desert landscape that become loaded symbols.

Opens: December 7
Closes: January 15

Lizza Littlewort's exhibition of 10 portraits of conceptual artists makes for easy holiday viewing for those who might be taking a trip up the coast over New Year. The show, called 'What were they thinking?', is an extension of Littlewort's April exhibition called 'I want to be famous', which comprised portraits of emerging young artists.

This time, Littlewort turns her attention to artists who eschewed the figurative in their work and, in the case of Marcel Duchamp, laid the foundations for 'conceptual art'. Memories of Paris shows the self-reflective, inward gaze of a traditional Frenchman in beret and knotted tie.

Opens: January 1
Closes: January 7