Godfrey Setti, John Murray and Masha du Toit at the AVA
In the latest trilogy of shows at the AVA, John Murray shows a series of charcoal drawings, and Masha du Toit has produced handmade puppets. In the main gallery the AVA pays tribute to Godrey Setti, who died recently at the age of 43, showing his most recent paintings.
Setti was born in Kitwe, Zambia, in 1958 and was completing a PhD in Fine Art at Rhodes University, where he obtained his Master's degree in 2001, at the time of his death. He also held an Honours degree in Art from Reading University in the UK, an Art Teacher's Diploma from Evelyn Hone College in Lusaka and a Primary Teachers Certificate from Kitwe Teachers College. He was the author of a book, Art and Artists in Zambia, and spent most of his professional life working as a painter, primary school teacher, art teacher and senior lecturer at Evelyn Hone College in Zambia. His first solo show took place at the Mpapa Gallery in Lusaka in 1988, and he exhibited at the AVA in May 2000.
John Murray's third one-person show in as many years is entitled 'Black and White', referring as much to its monochromatic media as the issues the work explores. The work, he says, "creates a merry mix of notions surrounding visual overload, melancholy, violence, ambiguity, religion and more". Murray has a BA in Fine Arts from the University of Stellenbosch. He has worked as a freelance illustrator for the past five years.
Masha du Toit has a BA in Fine Arts from Michaelis and completed a Higher Diploma in Bronze Casting at the Natal Technikon's sculpture department. At that time she also learned to embroider, which had a significant bearing on her work. Her series of puppets, entitled 'The South Africans', consists of 12 figures, each representing some aspect of what it is to be a South African. The figures include the Street Kid and the Car Guard, the Prostitute and the Story Teller. In these embroidered and embellished objects, Du Toit grapples with serious issues such as our obsession with crime and security as well as the sense that we live in a cruel and unjust world.
Opening: May 27
Closing: June 15
Association for Visual Arts, 35 Church Street, Cape Town
Tel: (021) 424 7436
Fax: (021) 423 2637
Email: estava@iafrica.com
Website: www.ava.co.za
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