Archive: Issue No. 26, October 1999

Jean Brundrit's Lavender Menace

The invite for '(Re)figuring Abstraction'

Continuing their series of truly monumental exhibitions, the Sandton Civic presents '(Re)figuring Abstraction' a group show by Regi Bardavid, Jenny Stadler and Pascual Tarazona. All three artists tackle a complex and loaded abstract expressionist heritage head-on, producing huge works that should be complemented by the architectural setting of the Sandton Civic. And we say farewell to temporary curator Michelle Kriek and welcome back to curator Natasha Fuller.

Barend de Wet
presents a one-night performance
on 24 October

Cape Town artist Barend de Wet will give a one-off performance at the Rembrandt van Rijn Gallery, Market Theatre complex ,on Sunday October 24 at 6pm. The invitation, with its bland photograph, gives little indication of what this performance might be, but patrons are given this sartorial advice: "Dress code: smart".

William Kentridge
Stereoscope and palimpsests

Stereoscope and Palimpsests is William Kentridge's eighth film in a decade of animated gems featuring his ubiquitous alter-ego, Soho Eckstein. This is the first chance for local audiences to catch the film which has previously been shown at MoMA (New York), the 48th Venice Biennale and the Kunstforeningen (Copenhagen).

A stereoscope is a device that was popular at the turn of the century, a visual "toy" making images appear three-dimensional by presenting each eye with a slightly different view of the same scene. Kentridge deconstructs this by presenting us with a split-screen device, such that the 3D "reality" becomes unsynchronised, chaotic and a metaphor for Soho's "split self". The film will be shown alongside the drawings used in the animation which allows audiences a certain insight into this labour intensive process.

This show should further entrench Kentridge's unshakeable reputation as SA's greatest art export and gain him a plethora of new fans.

See review.

'Fireworks!!' is an art exhibition which will use fire, drive-ins and roots as subjects in an investigation of "aliveness", and with a nod and a wink to "The End". Facilitated by young,Pretoria-based artist Alastair McLachlan, the show takes its cue from Jung: "only that which can destroy itself is truly alive". McLachlan has been working with fire for over two years and his recent incorporation of "drive-ins" consolidates his interest in that which is fleeting, ephemeral, spontaneous and open to projection. He says: "This exhibition is about my personal and public journey. I'm not promising anything life changing, but I think it is an amazingly textured venue, and a really good excuse for ... something."

No-budget short film/video makers/animators are invited to fly in the face of current avant garde aesthetics and "broadcast quality" censorship and submit works for special screenings starting Friday October 22. These evenings are planned to coincide with the launch of www.drive-in.co.za. If you want to contribute anything or need information, contact Alastair Mclachlan on 083-294-2704 or mail him at firengin@hotmail.com. Postal address: PO Box 428, Halfway House, 1685.

Danford Mpofo
Untitled
Black and white photo
15 x 20cm

Jacklynne Hobbs
Untitled
Black and white photo
40 x 50cm

The Market Theatre Photoworkshop scored a double-bill this month as their work is the focus of the main exhibition and the gallery's latest newsletter. The visual and textual work well together - providing some poignant, funny and private images that are installed in the most refreshing way I've seen for a while. Very simple but effective, a wide black stripe has been painted at eye-level, wrapping the gallery and creating a field on which to put images. The newsletter augments this experience with anecdotal stories penned by the student photographers themselves, recounting workshops held in Diepsloot, Eldorado Park and Sekhukhunuland. Photography demonstrates its ability to narrate, educate and support.

Alf Khumalo
She cures with bath and a prayer
St John's Apostolic Faith Mission

Image © Bailey's African History Archives
PO Box 37
Lanseria 1748 Johannesburg
(011) 659-2615

Gerard Sekoto
Cape Town Women 1944
Pencil

Not much of an introduction is needed for this powerful series of exhibitions presented by the Standard Bank Gallery. 'Gerard Sekoto Repatriated' presents a selection of works from over 2 000 returned from France in 1997, following the resolution of many logistical, legal and tax issues and much negotiation between the Sekoto Foundation and the French and South African governments. Sekoto, who died in Paris in 1993 after almost five decades of self-imposed exile, bequeathed his work to the South African public. On the annual Gerard Sekoto Day for Children, galleries around the country carry out his wishes that the work be used for the upliftment of historically disadvantaged children through the arts.

'Waste into Beauty' is the title of Richman Buthelezi's exhibition. The artist recently received the Mail & Guardian Greening the Future Award for his social conscience and creativity. His work is created (after researching and consulting with the Plastic Federation for safety reasons) predominantly from the reconstitution of waste plastics found in the dumping sites behind his house in Dobsonville, near supermarkets and on streets and pavements. The artist melts these onto stretched roofing plastic with a heat gun, then shapes and controls with a wet cloth. The result is ingenious: visually stunning, complexly textured figurative and abstract studies that are directly informed by his environment, both technically and conceptually.

'The Beat of Drum: Reliving the '50s and '60s from Drum magazine's archives' features images from Bailey's History Archives. For the first time, top-class magazine and newspaper photographs are presented as autonomous images, in conjunction with supporting text which conveys the important historical role Drum magazine occupied in anglophone African countries in terms of social documentary. The number of now-famous writers and photographers who contributed to Drum's rich heritage reflect this importance and make this show one that anyone living, or who has lived, in South Africa should make a point of seeing.

These two sections of the world's largest canvas were completed on
October 5 by
Fiona Couldridge, Usha Prajapat, Stephan Erasmus, Alex Trapani, Senzeni Marasela, Mphonyana Taulele, Antoinette Murdoch, Naeem Bismilla, Justine Lipson, Leanne Engelberg and Michael Smith

In conjunction with Global Images, Australia, the Johannesburg Civic Gallery is currently involved with a project to produce the "World's Largest Canvas". Twenty-four artists in each of a number of cities around the world, including Los Angeles, Dublin and Johannesburg, will be working on a canvas 3m x 2m, depicting their vision of the future. All the canvases will be combined to form the "World's Largest Canvas", which will then be exhibited in Sydney, Australia, for the duration of the Sydney Olympics in 2000. Following the Olympics, the work will travel to, and be exhibited in, all the various cities that contributed a segment.

Artists in each participating city will simultaneously paint a huge canvas divided into 24 frames, with the entire event broadcast live on the internet where possible. Finished pieces will then be exhibited throughout the host cities. An online cyber gallery will also be created to allow a wider audience to view the works.

In Johannesburg, artists will gather at the Civic Gallery from 9am on Saturday October 2. Each artist will be given one hour to paint his or her vision of the future on a section of a massive canvas erected at the venue. Some of the artists participating include Kathryn Smith, Stephan Erasmus, Mandla Mabila, Melissa Goba and Kendall Petersen.

The public is invited to watch the artists in action at the Civic Gallery from 9am on Saturday 2 October. The completed canvas will be exhibited at the gallery for three weeks in October. During the exhibition period, October 5 to 26, the public (school groups, creative groups, individuals etc) will be invited to spend an hour in the gallery, creating their own vision of the future. Please phone Justine Lipson at (011) 403 3408 to book a time.

Agbali Kossi, Togo
Mami Wata Legba
Wood, paint
1973

The invitation to
'Tribute to Lucky Sibiya'

A South African artist well respected both locally and internationally, Lucky Sibiya sadly passed away earlier this year. In tribute to this great man, the UNISA ART Gallery hosts an exhibition curated by the Everard Read Gallery, of works produced just prior to his death and pieces from Sibiya's private collection, including work by Bill Ainslie, Nicco Putti and Thami Mzimba. Although best known for abstract paintings and richly carved sculptural pieces, Sibiya also experimented freely with mixed media and found objects derived from his immediate environment. A collector and teacher, Sibiya made a lasting contribution to South African art and now features in the Matric syllabus, which makes this show an important educational resource.

Spring has sprung, the jacarandas are out and for this reason, the State Theatre Gallery decided it was a good time to celebrate the strength and "increasing prominence" of women in South Africa. Curator Pieter van Heerden comments: "South African art seems to be emerging into focused creativity, giving birth to innumerable changes in our culture." Yes, well, we know that, so hopefully 'Femina 1999 - An Accolade to Women' will give us something else to contemplate, and hopefully that something is not our collective navel.

Angus Taylor
Tas en Alwyn 1999
Bronze
Ht: 30cm

A specialist in metal casting and recipient of the PPC Young Sculptors Award (1994) and Eduardo Villa best sculptor student bursary, Angus Taylor presents us with about 30 bronze and mixed media pieces dealing with the condition of being "here" in South Africa, pre-millennium and post-freedom. The right quantities of angst and neurosis are in place in an attempt to reformulate and understand his particular subjectivity. Past and present "ethnic exotica" elide and overlap in work that ackowledges "a new (yet so old) South African identity", whatever this means.

See review.

Heleen Verwey
at the NSA

An image by Jacobus Kloppers

The Museum for African Art
Broadway, New York City

Recent work by William Kentridge