Archive: Issue No. 139, April 2009

16.04.09 Penny Siopis and Nandipha Mntambo at Michael Stevenson
02.04.09 'Nation State' at Goodman Cape
08.05.09 Justin Brett at the AVA
16.04.09 Sam Nhlengethwa at SA Print Gallery
16.04.09 'In Black and White' and 'Tales from the Mantlepiece' at Bell-Roberts
07.03.09 Norman O'Flynn at Erdmann Contemporary
20.04.09 Gabrielle Raaf at Muti Gallery
14.04.09 'New Painting' at João Ferreira
05.05.09 David Brown at João Ferreira
02.05.09 Bronwen Vaughan-Evans and Deanne Donaldson at Erdmann Contemporary

26.02.09 Claudette Schreuders at Michael Stevenson
28.03.09 Nontsikelelo Veleko at the Iziko SANG
01.04.09 'The Tropics' at Iziko SANG
06.04.09 'Dis-ease' at Iziko SANG
26.03.09 Avant Car Guard at Whatiftheworld/Gallery
23.03.09 'Social Pattern' at the AVA
01.04.09 Christopher Slack at UCA Gallery
10.03.09 MOTEL7 at 34 Long

26.02.09 David Goldblatt at Michael Stevenson

Penny Siopis exhibits new paintings in oil, liquid ink washes and glue, the unpredictable materials used to deal with themes of 'colapse, disorder, decay and formlessness'.

Nandipha Mntambo exhibits concurrently, showing installations using her trademark cowhide as well as bronze sculpture, video and prints. The work expands Mntambo's concerns to include meditations on bullfighting, classical mythology and the Hindu legend of Nandi the bull.

Opens: April 16
Closes: May 30

As South Africa prepares for general elections on 22 April 2009, Nation State brings together local and international artists that dwell on questions of citizenship, nationalism, politics, propaganda and security. Curated by Liza Essers and Storm Janse van Rensburg, the show marks a local democratic moment, but also intends to foreground global perspectives on these issues. Participating artists include: Kader Attia, Taysir Batniji, Stuart Bird, Adam Broomberg & Oliver Chanarin, Kudzanai Chiurai, Doing it for Daddy, Peter Friedl, Sigalit Landau, Sam Nhlengethwa, Mikhael Subotzky, Gavin Turk, Hank Willis Thomas, Hentie van der Merwe and Sue Williamson

Opens: April 2
Closes: May 2

Comprising watercolour, pencil drawing and installation, Brett's solo show, 'Out of Site' uses the now-demolished Graaf's Pool in Greenpoint, as an entry point to examine the body, physical architecture, memory and myth.

Opens: May 8
Closes: May 22

'Tributes: Sam Nhlengethwa and Friends' comprises Sam Nhlengethwa's Tribute Series, featuring selected works by Peter Clarke, Marlene Dumas, Dumile Feni, David Koloane, Judith Mason and William Kentridge.

Opens: April 16
Closes: May 16

'In Black and White', a group show, includes works by Pierre FouchÈ, Carol Ann Gainer, Nigel Mullins, Cameron Platter, Kevin Brand, Wayne Barker, Mxolisi Sithole, Stuart Bird, Dianne Victor, Cara vd Westhuizen, Justin Fiske, Donovan Ward, Minnette Vari, Jane Eppel, David Brown and Lynette Bester.

Running concurrently, is 'Tales from the Mantlepiece', a collaborative exhibition of works by Philippe Bousquet, Geraldine Fenn and Marchand van Tonder, whose small-scale sculptures deal with domesticity, family, tradition and fairytale.

Opens: April 16
Closes: May 16

'The world needs me' continues O'Flynn's interest in the idea of the superhero with large-scale painted collages, based on current events.

Opens: March 7
Closes: April 11

A solo show of watercolours, 'In Our Midst', deals with the city of Cape Town, imaging it through portraits of its citizens, buildings and Google Earth profile. Raaf's watercolours of the city's roofs were previously selected for Spier Contemporary 2007

Opens: April 20
Closes: June 1

'New Painting' includes work by Anthony Scullion, Louise Linder, Mark Hipper, Michael Taylor and Sanell Aggenbach.

Opens: April 14
Closes: May 2

'Two men and their dogs and other works', a selection of smale-scale works in bronze, sees Brown revisit the iconography of work he produced in the late 70s and 80s, in the 'Dog of War' series.

Opens: May 5
Closes: May 29

'Left of November' deals with loss and desperate human attempts to archive love. Vaughan-Evans exhibits new works in gesso, while Donaldson's examination of the theme makes use of a cellphone camera.

Opens: May 2
Closes: May 30

'Recent Prints', a collection of new lithographs by Claudette Schreuders, opens in February at Michael Stevenson.

Opens: February 26
Closes: April 9

Nontsikelelo Veleko, Standard Bank's Young Artist of 2008, presents her travelling show 'Wonderland', a collection of photography and mixed media at the SANG.

Opens: March 28
Closes: May 10

Curated by Prof. Dr. Viola König, Dr. Peter Junge and Alfons Hug, 'The Tropics: views from the middle of the globe' examines the myth of the Tropics, through a range of artworks from the past and present.

Opens: April 1
Closes: June 14

Curated by Greg Streak, 'Dis-ease' is a collection of recent video art drawn from the Rijksakademie archives. It debuted last year at Durban's Bank Gallery.

Opens: April 6
Closes: June 28

Avant Car Guard will be presenting a new body of work entitled 'Volume III' in March, consisting of large-scale paintings, photographic works, prints and a limited edition publication called Volume III.

Opens: March 26
Closes: April 25

Curated by Kirsty Cockerill, 'Social Pattern' presents artwork which not only utilizes repetitive processes, but reflects a social pattern/practice/dynamic.

Participating artists include Lynette Bester, Kevin Brand, Paul Cooper, Paul Edmunds, Justin Fiske, Carol-anne Gainer, Bronwyn Lace, Fritha Langerman, Kim Lieberman, Vaughn Sadie, Fabian Saptouw, Rowan Smith, Greg Streak and Cobus van Bosch.

Opens: March 23
Closes: April 3

In April UCA will host a solo show by Christopher Slack, including paintings and prints from his Chicks with Guns series.

Opens: April 1
Closes: May 2

Opens: March 10
Closes: April 11

Goldblatt's photogaphic essay, 'In Boksburg', was shot from 1979 - 80 on the East Rand of the Witwatersrand, and the book published in 1982, but this will be the first time that the full series has been shown in the 30 years since the photographs were taken.

The spread of Boksburg's new suburbs across the veld and the daily life of the town encapsulated - to Goldblatt's eye - the intricacies of the lunacy of ordinary white middle-class life in the years of apartheid. As he wrote in the foreword: 'Boksburg is shaped by white dreams and white proprieties. Most of its townspeople pursue the family, social and civic concerns of respectable burghers anywhere, while locked into a deep and portentous fixity of self-elected legislated whiteness. Blacks are not of this town. They serve it, trade with it, receive charity from it and are ruled, rewarded and punished by its precepts. Some are its privileged guests. But all who go there, do so by permit or invitation, never by right.'

Goldblatt photographed life on the streets, in shops and businesses, the sports and social clubs, the churches, the municipality, the homes and gardens and the cemetery. As he recalls, 'Literally for days on end, I stood rivetted to street corners, parking lots and sidewalks. I was completely engaged by what I saw and tried to penetrate and hold with the camera, of the wholly uneventful flow of commonplace, orderly life.' With his characteristic intimacy and dispassion, he dissected the social structures of this town to remind us of the ironies and hypocrisies as well as sincere gestures that were entwined in daily life in this town.

For this exhibition Goldblatt has returned to his negatives of the series and, in addition, has printed several previously unpublished images. He has also returned to Boksburg to photograph the town in its present incarnation, and a selection of these large-format colour prints will be included on the show.

Opens: February 26
Closes: April 9