Archive: Issue No. 47, July 2001
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Johannesburg 24.07.01 Willem Boshoff and Andrew Munnik at Millennium II 24.07.01 Marlene Neumann at PhotoZA 17.07.01 MTN New Contemporaries Award at Camouflage 17.07.01 'Blindspot: Private and public investigations' in Vrededorp 17.07.01 Martienssen Prize at the Gertrude Posel 17.07.01 'Things' at Bamboo 17.07.01 'New Acquisitions' at Gallery on the Square 17.07.01 Bitterkomix at Art on Paper 10.07.01 Absa Atelier Art Awards 2001 at the Absa Gallery 03.07.01 'Move Your Shadow' at the Gertrude Posel Gallery 03.07.01 Artist Proof Studio at Art on Paper 03.07.01 'Johannesburg! Oh! Johannesburg?' at Spaza Art 03.07.01 'Golelanwali' at the Alliance Française 03.07.01 Zwelethu Mthethwa at the Goodman Gallery 26.06.01 'A Special Story' and 'Gathering Light' at the Bensusan 26.06.01 James de Villiers at Gallery 111 26.06.01 Amos Letsoalo at the Alastair Findlay Showcase 26.06.01 Photography at The Art Space 19.06.01 Gustavo Artigas and Behailu Bezabih at the Bag Factory 19.06.01 Launch exhibition at Millennium II 19.06.01 'Fine' photography at the Manor Gallery 19.06.01 World Press Photo and Isolde Krams at the Standard Bank Gallery 19.06.01 Michael Meyersfeld at PhotoZA 05.06.01 Stan Engelbrecht's 'Caution Horses' in Rosebank 05.06.01 Jeremy Wafer at the Goodman Gallery 08.05.01 Omenana at the new Maitisong Pretoria 17.07.01 Sasol New Signatures 2000/2001 17.07.01 Strijdom van der Merwe at the Open Window 03.07.01 'Joburger' by Patrick de Mervelec at the Pretoria Art Museum 26.06.01 'Equus' at the Association of Arts 26.06.01 Karin Skawran lecture series at the Association of Arts 19.06.01 Reshada Crouse retrospective extended
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Willem Boshoff and Andrew Munnik
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Willem Boshoff and Andrew Munnik at Millennium II
'Cracked Up To Be' is the title of what sounds like a suitably meditative and aesthetic exhibition by long-time friends Willem Boshoff and Andrew Munnik. This is the first official show for the newly established gallery, featuring installation and other works by Boshoff in dialogue with the paintings of Munnik. Munnik last showed in the early 1990s and attracted attention as a tongue-in-cheek conceptualist - at a time when artists like Neil Goedhals, Wayne Barker and Boshoff, among others, were breaking their own ground.
Post art world absence has Munnik exploring his experience of the last decade in which he has had to redefine himself - politically, philosophically and psychologically and simultaneously engage in a process of accepting his own mortality. A phrase often used by an ex-wife and close friend becomes the leitmotif: "the crack that is always there".
Munnik states: "These works are not intended to be nostalgic - they are about an intrigue with the accident of living in a particular time at a particular place and the schizophrenic experience of simultaneous states of both anger and grace."
Boshoff's installation ostrakon is the first manifestation of a far larger long-term project , but the work is also a synchronistic response to decay and entropy, the endless cycles of history repeated in every generation - the rise and fall of power and the things that are (not) as they are 'cracked up to be'.
The title ostrakon refers to the Greek noun for a shard of pottery, which like the Phesos (the pebble) was used to vote in society's first democracy. With one significant difference, the shard was used not only to appoint but to expel - to vote in and to vote out - the rejected representative often being physically the target of these shards which would be hurled by the angry mob. 'Ostrakon' is the root of the modern English word ostracise.
The focus of Boshoff's new project is the Boer War. At the core of this piece is his fascination at the fact that it was the generation of children that survived the atrocities of the concentration camps (where more than 22 000 of their brothers and sisters died) that became the architects of apartheid. Like their ancestors they have in the historical process again been ostracised.
The installation incorporates the names of all the white cabinet ministers from 1910-1995 inscribed on "ostrakon" and strewn in the gallery space. There are about 2 000 fragments that can be stored in a specially made rosewood box.
In addition a large work referring to and extending the morphology Boshoff explored in the Blind Alphabet series entitled BELEMNOID will be exhibited. This piece measures more than 3 metres and the production of this work in black and white marble has been a mammoth task undertaken by stonemason Frans Haarhoff.
Opening: August 2 at 6.30pm
Millennium II, 19 Jellicoe Avenue, Rosebank
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Marlene Neumann at PhotoZA
East-London based photographer Neumann is a graphic designer by profession and currently head of the Art and Design Department at East London College. She holds a Masters diploma in technology, specialising in photography. She has exhibited widely, showing fairly recently at Pretoria's Millennium Gallery. She treats the photographic process in a rather painterly way, drawing from memories of travel, domestic objects and nature. The work carries a strong sense of the ephemeral, but can border on the nostalgic and melancholic.
Opening: August 5
PhotoZA, The Mews, Rosebank
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Usha Seejarim
Thembinkosi Goniwe |
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MTN New Contemporaries Award at Camouflage
The nominees for our newest contemporary art prize have been announced. Usha Seejarim, Shannin Antonopoulou, Marlaine Tosoni and Thembinkosi Goniwe will be showing a selection of recent work with a view to walking off with the R20 000 first prize. Interrogating issues of time, ritual and reality, Usha Seejarim will be showing a new video projection and several paintings from the video, documenting shadows of cars in the early morning traffic on the M1 South into Johannesburg. Shannin Antonopoulou, a recent Wits Tech graduate, fills architectural spaces with patterns reminiscent of textile and wallpaper design of the 1960s and 1970s - the stuff of her generation's childhood in suburban South Africa. The patterns fill the walls and ceiling, becoming vaguely threatening but ultimately aesthetic. Antonopoulou will be making a new site-specific installation for the exhibition using similar strategies. Marlaine Tosoni, who we don't see quite enough of, will be showing three new video works, Party, Infrapsychisme and Personal Pronownz. Drawing references from family history and her immediate environment, she creates deliberate tensions between the real and the fictive. Thembinkosi Goniwe will be presenting a video projection entitled XYZ as well as two inkjet poster works from the 'Face Value' series - Born in 1971 in Cape Town and Thembinkosi in North Wales. Goniwe's work is an attempt to hold traditional rituals (ulwaluko, ukuchaza and ingqithi) up for contemplation and to examine the influence of contemporary art and culture on them. In turning them into subjects for creative investigation, he attempts to present them as visible and consumable as opposed to hidden and secret. The work is intended to have a social conscience - in 'Face Value', popular magazines Drum, Bona, Pace and Thandi are reworked to critique imposed stereotyping. The judging committee who will select the final winner has also been announced. It comprises Zwelethu Mthethwa, artist; Kiren Thathiah, head of Vaal Triangle Technikon's Department of Fine Art; Rudi Matjokana, MTN Corporate Affairs Manager responsible for the education portfolio; Coral Bijoux, MTN Art Institute's head of education; and Ronel Loukakis, director of the MTN Art Institute. The judges will also be responsible for selecting the curator for 2002. Says curator Clive Kellner: "The award goes beyond the prize money of R20 000. It is a valuable mechanism for the construction and promotion of a new identity in South African culture. "The MTN New Contemporaries Award is about defining a moment in the development of contemporary art in South Africa today. The MTN New Contemporaries Award is a curator-driven award that explores relations between curator and artist. The award will offer an opportunity for museums, corporate and private collectors to invest in the next generation of South African artists. It will also be a useful tool for researchers, curators, critics and journalists. "Each of the artists, although representative of their generation, are not individually preoccupied with major political concerns. They understand their roots and traditions but are comfortable with extending beyond their traditions. "Their tradition forms a comfort zone from which they explore new media, identity and existence. The notion of 'home', telling stories, being and daily life are predominant themes that recur in the respective artists' works. Theirs is a world of information, transformation and experimentation." Hopefully the show delivers. See you there.
Opens: Friday July 27
Camouflage, 140 Jan Smuts Avenue, Parkwood, 2193
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The Blow-up Gods |
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'Blindspot: Private and public investigations' in Vrededorp
Presented by Christian Nerf, 'Blindspot' is a one-night event featuring video and digital art, subliminal interactive performance, coffee and a well-stocked cash bar in a huge, renovated bakery in Vrededorp, Johannesburg. Organised in conjunction with The Trinity Session, Gundane, Y-Fronts, Levi Strauss and Signal, Blindspot's premise, according to Nerf, "will come out of Blindspot. If it's successful and people like what they see, we'll do another one, and an artists' screensaver CD-ROM." Simple As That. The premise, for those who seek Answers, probably has something to do with Nerf's suspicion that art is in fact pointless - in the "real world". An artist turned art director turned artist (or "street situationist", according to Sean O'Toole), Nerf isn't one to get too preoccupied with the philanderings of the artworld. He does assert, however, that the work on exhibition, all of which gets projected from a single video loop on a large screen, is concerned with "insane investigations" - insane in the sense that few people (unless they're artists) would find this kind of (often obsessive) creative research worthwhile. So it follows that this is what sets artists apart - "they reveal things you wouldn't have discovered if you thought about it rationally." To artists, this is excruciatingly obvious, but it's so easily forgotten. Participating artists include Gustavo Artigas, Brad Hammond, Stephen Hobbs, Rhett Martyn, Christian Nerf, Marcus Neustetter, Robin Rhode, Kathryn Smith and the Blow-up Gods. 'Blindspot' commences at 6pm on Wednesday July 25, 'til late. Secure parking is provided. Top floor, No 38, corner Delaray and 8th streets, Vrededorp
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Invitation to the show
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Martienssen Prize at the Gertrude Posel, Wits
It really blows my mind that all our major art competitions must happen within weeks of each other. The Martienssen, however, is not corporate or open to public entries. Equally coveted and sneered at by the senior Wits Fine Arts students, all of whom are obliged to enter, it is probably the most popular student show of the year.
Opens: Thursday July 26 at 6pm
Gertrude Posel Gallery, University of the Witwatersrand, Braamfontein
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Albert Redelinghuys |
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'Things' at Bamboo
Recent works by South African painters and draughtspeople are brought together by art lover Carol Lee in an exhibition called 'Things'. Ostensibly, the show features works about or representing objects. Artists include Hanneke Benadé, Sonja Britz, Benjamin Coutouvidis, David Langmead, Amos Letsoalo, Judith Mason, Clare Menck, Leon Müller, Adriette Myburgh, Jan Neethling, Hermann Niebuhr and Albert Redelinghuys.
Preview: July 27 from 12pm to 3pm
Bamboo, corner Rustenberg Road and 9th Street, Melville
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'New Acquisitions' at Gallery on the Square
This commercial space is showing a collection of recently acquired works. In addition to Henry Moore, Marc Chagall and other international names, they have added a few Irma Sterns to their portfolio.
The works are on view, along with other represented artists and portfolios, from July 28.
Gallery on the Square, Shop 32, Sandton Square, corner 5th and Maude streets, Sandown
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Invitation to the Bitterkomix show
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Bitterkomix at Art on Paper
After a hugely successful show in Durban exhibiting with i-jusi, the Bitterkomix team are back in Gauteng with an exhibition of original artworks from the magazine, artists' sketchbooks, colour works, recent silkscreens and glass paintings by Joe Dog, Konradski, Lorcan White and others.
Purveyor of political and personal iconoclasm, satire and seriously funny comics, it's no wonder that the publication has established itself as a significant aspect of the South African (not to the mention Afrikaans) cultural landscape. Back issues and other Bitterkomix publications will be on sale, and Anton Kannemeyer gives a lecture and slide presentation on July 25 at 6pm. Booking is essential.
Opens: Friday July 20 at 6pm
Art on Paper, 8 Main Road, Melville (next to Outer Limits bookshop)
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Brent Meistre |
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Absa Atelier Art Awards 2001 at the Absa Gallery
The work of 83 young artists - finalists for the awards from all regions of South Africa - will be on display at the Absa Gallery from July 19. This year's winner of the coveted six-month residency at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris and R60 000 cash will be announced on the evening of July 18, as will the names of the four runners-up (see News).
Opening: July 19
Absa Gallery, Absa Towers North, 161 Main Street, Johannesburg
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Members of the Artist Proof Studio
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Artist Proof Studio at Art on Paper
Community printmaking centre the Artist Proof Studio currently presents a selection of recent work in its annual exhibition, described as "vibrant, topical, nostalgic and essentially 'African' reflecting the spirit of the African renaissance".
The studio, which is dependent on grants to subsidise artists and the studio itself, boasts over 50 members and students, who are emerging or established professional artists. They offer courses in a range of printmaking techniques including etching silkscreen relief printing, collography, alternative photo processes, papermaking and lithography, and host a dynamic visiting artists programme. They are currently developing income-generating activities and offer skills workshops to educators. The annual Paper Prayers Campaign, raising awareness of AIDS through art, is an Artist Proof project.
Opening: June 30
Art on Paper, 8 Main Road, Melville (next to Outer Limits book shop)
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'Johannesburg! Oh! Johannesburg?' at Spaza Art
This will be the first in a series of shows celebrating/lamenting Johannesburg. What constitutes the energy and edginess that is this city? Who contributes to its ceaseless transformation and turmoil? How are our perceptions of it constantly being redefined and regenerated? Artists whose work will be featured in this first exhibition are Jo-Anne Bloch, Sue Kaplan, Simon Mafutsana, Obed Mbele Jacob Ramaboya and Sam Thoka, Jeffry Lok and Lourens Cilliers.
Artists, photographers, writers, poets and storytellers whose inspiration is the city of Johannesburg can bring their work to be included in the next exhibition.
Opening: July 1
Spaza Art, 19 Wilhemina Street, Troyeville
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Avhashoni Mainganye with his work
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'Golelanwali' at the Alliance Française
The Alliance features an exhibition of new work by seven well-known Northern Province artists, curated by Kathy Coates. Coates recently co-authored the Taxi monograph on the work of controversial sculptor Samson Mudzunga, published by David Krut Publishing. Mudzunga is a featured artist on this show, along with the inimitable Noria Mabasa and Jackson Hlungwane, Avhashoni Mainganye, Phillip Rikhotso and Albert Munyai.
Opening: Tuesday July 24 at 6.45pm
Alliance Francaise 17 Lower Park Drive, Parkview
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Zwelethu Mthethwa
Zwelethu Mthethwa |
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Zwelethu Mthethwa at the Goodman
After his recent collaborative exhibition with Sam Nhlengethwa, Zwelethu Mthethwa returns to the Goodman with a three-screen video projection entitled Crossing, and a new series of colour photographs entitled Private Spaces, continuing his exploration into the aesthetics of South African urban living.
Crossing, which sets up the audience as "participants" in a baptism ritual of the Apostolic Free Melita Zion Church of God, uses a symbolic time frame based on the human gestation period of nine months to acknowledge the regeneration of South Africa as a nation and concept. In this video, months have been compressed into minutes, and viewers "stand" in the water (projected onto the floor) and watch the process, accompanied by singing and prayer, on facing screens.
Preview: Saturday July 14 from 9.30am to 4pm
Goodman Gallery, 163 Jan Smuts Avenue, Parkwood
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Huck Orban |
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'A Special Story' and 'Gathering Light' at the Bensusan Museum of Photography, MuseumAfrica
In 'A Special Story', Eastern Cape photographer Heidi Saayman gently explores the lives of mentally handicapped children as shared with their minders and families in the Port Elizabeth area, while 'Gathering Light' showcases the luminous handpainted photographic landscapes of Huck Orban.
Opening: July 1, with opening function on July 22 at 3pm with Jurgen Schädeberg
MuseuMAfricA, 121 Bree St, Newtown, JHB
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James de Villiers |
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James de Villiers - 'The Architecture of Air' at Gallery 111
James de Villiers shows a series of oil paintings depicting "the essence of skies and the flow of air ... a meditation on the changing qualities of the sky and the philosophical connotations of the way we relate to clouds historically, physically and spiritually". To these rather ephemeral investigations, De Villiers attempts to conjoin issues like cattle culling in Britain and Buddhist philosophy. The entrance area of the exhibition will include an installation entitled cubic metre. De Villiers also promises interesting music at the opening.
Opening: June 30 at 7pm
Gallery 111, Don Building, 414 Commissioner St / Cnr Grace St,, Fairview, Central Johannesburg
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Amos Letsoalo at the Alastair Findlay Showcase
Amos Letsoalo, who is based in Johannesburg but hails from the Northern Province, will be exhibiting paintings and drawings in this window space for a month from June 26 onwards.
Opening: 26 June Alistair Findlay Showcase, 54 Tyrone Ave. (opposite Franco's), Parkview
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Patrick de Mervelec
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Photography at The Art Space
Jurgen Schädeberg, Patrick de Mervelec, Pascual Tarazona, Eleni Neocleous, Arlene Amaler-Raviv and Marietjie Kumst are the featured artist-photographers in the second exhibition at this new space. Schädeberg and Amaler-Raviv are names that need no introduction. French photographer Patrick de Mervelec should be familiar to Cape Town audiences as he recently had a travelling exhibition in the region. Pascual Tarazona is known as a designer and abstract painter, but this time shows a series of images focusing on waste on South African beaches. Eleni Neocleous is an MA student at Wits University and Marietjie Kumst is an associate of the PPSA. All the work is available for purchase.
Opening: June 22
The Art Space, 3 Hetty Avenue, Fairland, Johannesburg
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Gustavo Artigas |
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Mexican and Ethiopian double header at the Bag Factory
Gustavo Artigas and Behailu Bezabih, hailing from Mexico and Ethiopia respectively, have been the most recent artists in residence at the Bag Factory. Bezabih is a painter, and has titled his exhibition of worked produced during his residency 'Yebo'. David Koloane comments on Bezabih's work: "At a glance Behailu's work bears the deceptive appearance of a children's storybook with its vibrant and daring palette and abstract figuration. A closer examination, however, reveals an unfolding of kaleidoscopic associations and layerings bound together by a magical painterly technique and complex compositions, which sing about life's simplicities. The zest for life permeates Behailu's work. He is widely travelled and yet modest about his stature as a painter in the continent." Artigas is one of the most important young artists on the contemporary Mexican scene and certainly one of the most interesting artists I have come across in a long time. The title of his exhibition (or rather one-day event) takes its cue from a local newspaper headline, 'Locals Hate Us'. Described as a ceramics and jewellery project, this one is not what it seems - don't miss it. In terms of how Artigas negotiates and interrogates his immediate environment and manages to transform seemingly banal events into aggressive and often poignant observations of broader socio-political and cultural mores, he has much to offer young South African practitioners. Staging most of his interventions/performances around potentially threatening or conflict situations that play out as games, Artigas was included on this year's Aperto at the Venice Biennale.
Opening: June 20 at 6.30pm (one-night view for Gustavo Artigas)
The Bag Factory, 10 Minnaar Street, Newtown, JHB
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Recent work by Abrie Fourie |
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Launch exhibition at Millennium II
Pretoria's Millennium gallery gets a big sister in Johannesburg. The launch exhibition features work by some 40 artists, rotating on a weekly basis. Artists include Abrie Fourie, Bonita Alice, Braam Kruger, CJ Morkel, Clifford Charles, Doris Bloom, Fatima Fernandes, Ian Waldeck, Jackson Hlungwani, Joachim Schönfeldt, Johan Moolman, John Anthony Boerma, Kathy Coates in collaboration with Azwhimpeleli Magoro, Kevin Brand, Luan Nel, Marcus Neustetter, Marlene Tosoni, Minnette Vári, Nhlanhla Xaba, Norman Catherine, Pat Mautloa, Retha Erasmus, Robyn Orlin, Samson Mudzunga, Sandile Zulu, Stephen Hobbs, Steven Cohen, Terry Kurgan, Walter Oltmann, Wayne Barker, Willem Boshoff, Wilma Cruise, Wim Botha and others.
See News
Opening: Saturday June 23 at 7pm (address by Willem Boshoff)
Millennium II, 19 Jellicoe Avenue, Rosebank
Provisional gallery hours from June 26: Tues to Fri 9am to 5pm; Saturdays 10am to 2pm
Tel: 880 5270
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'Fine' photography at the Manor Gallery
Usually home to the Watercolour Society of South Africa, the Manor Gallery hosts an exhibition of "fine" photography (read technically accomplished and more commercial than cutting edge), including work by Bob Cnoops, Michael Meyersfeld, Elizabeth Olivier-Kahlau and Helga Kohl. The selection of work looks good and the show is co-hosted by Prolab and the PPSA. Roger Ballen is the guest speaker at the opening.
Opening: June 22 at 6.30pm
The Manor Gallery, Norscot Manor, Penguin Drive, Fourways
Tel: (011) 465 7934
PPSA: (011) 482 4399
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Isolde Krams |
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World Press Photo, Isolde Krams and African art at the Standard Bank Gallery
It's three for the price of one at the Standard Bank Gallery during June and July, with the awesomely big annual World Press Photo exhibition, Isolde Krams's 'Orb' and 'From Person to Spirit' all opening simultaneously.
The World Press Photo show, featuring the best of the world's photojournalists, is something I hate and anticipate with equal measure. I hate the fact that the exhibitions seem to get bigger every year and I hate the fact that, at the opening, you never have a chance to see a thing - which is good for two reasons. Firstly, this is probably the best-attended opening with the fewest well-known art faces in the calendar year. Secondly, the amount of carnage so far outweighs the glory moments, it's difficult to remain either hopeful or sensitive to global violence. But it's usually damn good photography that makes you wonder more about the (mad) genius or spectacular timing of the person behind the lens than what is imaged.
'Orb' is Isolde Krams's latest exhibition, following her recent show in Pretoria. This one features Miss World.
'From Person to Spirit' includes Eagle Coffin by Ben Sowah as well as objects from the Standard Bank Collection of African Art, housed at the Wits University Galleries.
Opening: June 27 at 6pm
Walkabouts:
Standard Bank Gallery, corner Simmonds and Fredericks streets, JHB
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Michael Meyersfeld at PhotoZA
Award-winning photographer Michael Meyersfeld hosts an exhibition of his "fine art" work. Working as a practising advertising photographer, Meyersfeld has been exhibiting since 1975 and has been published in The One Show Annual and the Art Director's Club (New York, 1999) and The Association of Photographers 16th and 17th Awards (London, 2000).
Opening: July 1
Gallery hours: Mon to Sat 12pm to 7pm
PhotoZA, The Mews, Rosebank
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Stan Engelbrecht |
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Stan Engelbrecht's 'Caution Horses' in Rosebank
'The Caution Horses' is an exhibition of photographs of the feral horses of the Namib Desert by Cape Town based photographer Stan Engelbrecht.
Engelbrecht grew up as a teenager in Namibia, but only later learned of the presence of these horses, which apparently strayed away from German soldiers stationed close to Garub circa 1910. The herd he has come to know through his lens has been living in the desert in small family groups since then. He says: "I was so intrigued by their story that I decided to visit Garub in the hope of seeing the horses, perhaps at a watering hole in the vicinity. I was fortunate: I saw one lone horse and it was an image that was to haunt me for over a year."
Taking a three and a half month sabbatical in June 2000, he travelled to Garub, where the work of zoologist Talane Greyling and authors Monty Roberts and John Lyons influenced Engelbrecht's methods of interacting with the animals.
The first 'Caution Horses' exhibition was held in an unused parking garage in Bree Street, Cape Town. Engelbrecht has since returned to Aus to produce material for this exhibition, which will take place in a vacant shop on Tyrwhitt walkway at the Zone@Rosebank. The rough walls, double volume space and natural light of the venue work well with the scale of the images. The images consist of black and white handprints (1m x 1.3m); panoramic handprints (1.2m x 0.5m) and lith prints (0.5m x 0.6m).
Bell-Roberts Publishing will launch Engelbrecht's limited edition, signed and numbered book entitled The Caution Horses at the opening of the exhibition. The foreword to the book was written by Sean Wilson, a Cape Town based photographer and friend who has followed Engelbrecht's work with the horses very closely over the past year.
Opening: Tuesday June 12 2001 at 7pm
Tyrwhitt Walkway, The Zone@Rosebank, 177 Oxford Road, Rosebank
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Jeremy Wafer |
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Jeremy Wafer at the Goodman Gallery
I was lucky enough to get a small preview of some of Jeremy Wafer's new works at his home in Durban, and if you thought his last Goodman exhibition was a knock-out, be prepared for more of his intensely considered, intimate forays into geographies, seriality, form and observation. Educated under the typical Modernist "truth to materials" maxim, Wafer has always positioned himself slightly outside beyond or peripheral to this, with modular, minimalistic work replete with the metaphorical possibilities contained within his "imagery" or chosen media. Inching ever closer to the complex territories of culture and identity, this new body of work is monochromatic and deceptively simple in form, consisting of coats of arms doubled and quartered, digitally manipulated photographs, glass paintings and sculpture. And although it may not appear so at first, it is without a doubt the logical next step from his pocked and striated sculptural forms.
Opening: Thursday June 14 2001
Goodman Gallery, 163 Jan Smuts Avenue, Parkwood
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Omenana at Maitisong
Nigerian born painter Ozor-Ejike Ezefuna and South African Selemogo Maleho will present work in the courtyard of the gallery's new location as part of Maitisong's celebratory launch event, styled as a traditional Nigerian 'Omenana' and subtitled 'The Journey of Afrikan Arts through the Ages!' A major concern of the two-person show is to destabilise xenophobic attitudes in Johannesburg, particularly with respect to Nigerians. Artist Mahelo comments: "The myth that is prevalent in the minds of those of us, South Africans, who are very naíve to an extent that the only word that immediately comes to mind when we think about Nigeria and its people is drugs. Through Ezefuna and his work, we are trying to say there's a lot of beauty in Nigeria, and in being Nigerian, that other contemporary African cultures could emulate." Ezefuna, who works in surrealistic and abstract styles, has had one previous exhibition in Nigeria. It is Mahelo's first show. Having worked previously as a graphic artist, he holds the dubious honour of having designed the car registration plates for Gauteng and all other provinces. Ezefuna has taken up the post of gallery curator. Gallery manager Ntombifikile Molobi hopes to raise enough funding to take the show to Nigeria. Guests at the opening of the exhibition will be entertained by jazz pianist Norman Chauke, a graduate of the London School of Music. Well known on the jazz circuit in Gauteng, he will be teaching music classes from the gallery. And to live up to the cultural and spiritual demands of Omenana, the gallery is organising mobile exhibitions to various areas including townships, corporate offices, government buildings, community centres and shopping malls.
Opens: May 25
For more information, please contact:
Ozor-Ejike Ezefuna, Curator/Artist-in-Residence
Maitisong Art Gallery, Kopanong Centre (ex-Bizarre Centre), Corner Rockey and Raymond streets, Yeoville
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Motseokae Klas Thibeletsha
Mark Wilby
Richard Letsatsi Bollers
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Sasol New Signatures 2000/2001
The Sasol New Signatures award is extended this year to include a tour of the Sasol collection at the fuel giant's headquarters in Rosebank, workshops and walkabouts and, as they have done for the last couple of years, an exhibition by last year's winners.
Klas Thibeletsha, Richard Bollers, Mark Wilby and Engela Olivier show work produced subsequent to their respective awards at the Association of Arts, Pretoria, opening July 21. Veteran artist Mike Mmutle also shows a collection of recent paintings.
This year's award show opens at the Pretoria Art Museum on July 25. The selection committee, responsible for selecting approximately 100 works for the exhibition and choosing the overall winner who receives R10 000, comprises Erna Bodenstein, Daniel Mosako, Jo Ractliffe, Simon Stone, Clive van den Berg and Helen Weldrick. After selection two independent judges are invited to select their winning works which are awarded R5 000 each. This year's independent judges are Frank Ledimo and Ronel Loukakis. A walkabout and the announcement of the People's Choice prize will be held on August 16 at 6pm, hosted by Barbara Ann Kinghorn.
A guided tour of the Sasol Art Collection at Sasol's headquarters in Rosebank is being offered by members of the company's art committee. The tour takes place on Saturday July 28 at 9.30am. A bus is booked to transport Pretoria residents from the Art Museum to Johannesburg at a cost of R50 per person.
For more information on workshops and seminars for people of all ages, or to book for the tour, call Nandi at the Association of Arts, Pretoria, on (012) 346 3100.
Sasol New Signatures 2000 - exhibition by last year's winners
Association of Arts, 173 Mackie Street, Nieuw Muckleneuk, Pretoria
Sasol New Signatures 2001 exhibition and prize-giving
Pretoria Art Museum, corner Schoeman and Wessels streets, Arcadia
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Strijdom van der Merwe
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Strijdom van der Merwe at the Open Window Art Academy
'Land Art Works' comprises a small installation, photographs, drawings and silkscreen prints that document Van der Merwe's usually site-specific works in the landscape that have included commissions in France, Korea, Belgium, Turkey, the United Kingdom, as well as South Africa. He works with natural and organic elements that are often, but not exclusively, process-based.
Opens: Wednesday July 25 at 7pm with guest speaker Lucia Burger
Open Window Art Academy, 10 Rigel Avenue, Erasmusrand
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Patrick de Mervelec
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'Joburger' by Patrick de Mervelec at the Pretoria Art Museum
'Joburger' is an exhibition of photographic portraits of some Johannesburg residents by French lensman Patrick de Mervelec, who has been in living in the country for around two years. A selection of his work is also currently showing at The Art Space in Fairland.
Opening: July 11
Pretoria Art Museum, corner Schoeman and Wessels Streets, Arcadia
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'Equus' at the Association of Arts, Pretoria
Focusing on the horse as a recurring motif in visual art, especially with reference to historical visual culture, the gallery has curated an exhibition of contemporary artists who reference this theme and associated qualities in their work. Exhibiting artists include Minette Zaaiman, Philip Badenhorst, Wim Botha, Margaret Gradwell, Carl Jeppe, Wendy Malan, Elizabeth Riding, Henk Serfontein, Nicolene Swanepoel, Marie Vermeulen-Breedt and Diane Victor.
The exhibition will be opened by former police commissioner George Fivaz.
Opening: July 1 at 5.30pm
Association of Arts, Pretoria, 173 Mackie Street, Nieuw Muckleneuk, Pretoria
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Karin Skawran lecture series at the Association of Arts
This illustrated evening lecture series by the acclaimed Unisa art history professor is underway and runs until November. Booking is essential, and you can choose to subscribe for the whole series at a cost of R250, or pay R30 per lecture. Lectures start at 6pm or 7pm and are divided into the following areas of research:
'Stained Paper: Images in Watercolour'
'Early Christian and Byzantine Art'
'Early German Expressionism: Two women painters'
'Two South African artists of the 20th Century'
'Fibre Art Projects in Southern Africa'
Association of Arts, Pretoria, 173 Mackie Street, Nieuw Muckleneuk, Pretoria
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Reshada Crouse retrospective extended
The Pretoria Art Museum's retrospective on the work of Reshada Crouse has been extended by popular demand until July 8 2001. Reshada Crouse, mistress of the photo-realist portrait that sometimes falls on the wrong side of kitsch, is currently the subject of a retrospective at the Pretoria Art Museum. On show are 88 works including portraits, the 'Icons' series (Madonna and Child works) and Passive Resistance, her mural commission for the Civic Theatre. Crouse's work purports to offer hints of subversion through parody that speak to social and historical contexts. The Tshwane Art Kids will be involved in workshops with Crouse on Saturday mornings, and the artist will be in residence from June 1 to 9 during which time she will paint a portrait of a chosen sitter.
Opening: May 2
Pretoria Art Museum, corner Schoeman and Wessels Streets, Arcadia
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