Archive: Issue No. 63, November 2002

15.11.02 'White Like Me' visits the DAG
15.11.02 'Male Order' at the DAG
15.11.02 Buzzart at the NSA
15.10.02 'Eye Operation' by Siphiwe Zulu at the BAT Centre
01.11.02 'Zip Zip My Brain Harts' - Angela Buckland at the NSA
01.11.02 DIT Third Year Fine Art Students Final Portfolios at D.I.T. Gallery

Currently featured in an article by Hazel Friedman in the new contemporary South African arts magazine Art South Africa, Brett Murray, winner of the 2002 Standard Bank Young Artist Award, is travelling the country.
Once referred to as "The Dark Prince Of Pop", this Cape Town-based sculptor believes in bringing pop icons into the hallowed precincts of serious art and getting serious art out onto the streets. Irreverent and gutsy, Murray takes the mickey out of the arrogant, using visual satire to show up the absurdities within the South African psyche. He wants, as he says, to "entertain critically", to "hit the funny bone rather than to tickle it", in his off-the-wall comments on post-apartheid society.

Opens: November 20 at 6:00 pm

Durban Art Gallery, 2nd floor, City Hall, Smith Street
Tel: 031 311 2262
Fax: 031 311 2273
Website: www.durban.gov.za/museums/artgallery
Hours: Mon - Sat 8.30am - 4pm, Sun 11am - 4pm

Last few days to catch 'Male Order' at the DAG. Carol Brown, Director of the Durban Art Gallery, curated the show for the Grahamstown Festival and now it is touring the country. Drawn from the permanent collection of the gallery, it highlights the place of the masculine in our society. The show is contextualised historically with works by Pierneef whose views of virgin territory are well known for emphasising white masculine domination in South Africa.
Signals of the early crumbling of apartheid are addressed through the damaged male body in Paul Stopforth's Elegy and contemporary artists such as Moshekwa Langa, Hentie Van der Merwe, Langa Magwa, Zwelethu Mthethwa, Andrew Verster, and Wilma Cruise engage with less determinate masculinities. Issues such as identity, violence and sexuality are highlighted.
The catalogue accompanying the exhibition features essays by Carol Brown, Andrew Verster, Chris Diedericks and Vulindlela Nyoni, and is available online at http://www.durban.gov.za/maleorder/.

Closes: February 2003

Durban Art Gallery, 2nd floor, City Hall, Smith Street
Tel: 031 311 2262
Fax: 031 311 2273
Website: www.durban.gov.za/museums/artgallery
Hours: Mon - Sat 8.30am - 4pm, Sun 11am - 4pm

This year the NSA's annual festive season exhibition has been considerably upgraded, and the exhibition occupies the entirety of the NSA Gallery. Particular care has been taken with the display of the work with special fittings designed by architects Eerhard Huizenga and Jane de Rand. The gallery has been divided into zones with themes, such as 'work', 'grow', 'dream', 'play' and 'eat'. With a myriad of specially sourced items this is definitely the place to stop and shop this Christmas.

Opens: November 24, at 4:00 pm

NSA Gallery, 166 Bulwer Road, Glenwood
Tel: 031 202 3686
Fax: 031 202 3744
Email: iartnsa@mweb.co.za
Website: www.nsagallery.co.za
Hours: Tues - Fri 10 a.m - 5 p.m, Sat 10 a.m - 4 p.m, Sun 11 a.m - 3 p.m

Well-respected photographer, Angela Buckland opens her first solo exhibition of new work at the NSA Gallery this week, occupying the entirety of the gallery space.
Divided into two parts, Buckland takes the opportunity to fill the main gallery with a series of images entitled Dysmorphic Series. Focusing on parents coping with children with disability, the series was initiated through Buckland's own experiences with her son Nikki. Where is Nikki? uses the insights of psychoanalysis to articulate the submerged, concealed and silent emotional anxieties that parents of disabled children experience. These images are constructed narratives, each reflecting different families' experiences. The aim is to provide parents with a chance to "re-frame" their experiences and to reach spaces of healing through considered exposure.
In another new work, The sticky tape juice collection, Buckland photographs articles of clothing adapted by parents in an attempt to create an appearance of normality and disguise their child's "handicap". The photographs attempt to convey the abiding love that parents feel for their children, and the lengths they will go to in order to protect them from stigma and prejudice.
The other half of the exhibition is dedicated to beds. The Sleep Series was begun in 1995 and completed in January 2002. Consisting of 17 images of people in bed, it explores the idiosyncratic nature of sleeping spaces, as well as personal issues of intimacy and privacy. The images are of a broad spectrum of people, some of whom are immediate family and close friends of the artist, while others are strangers.
Buckland's newest bed series is a tribute to the residents in the oldest men's hostel in Jacobs, Durban. Buckland has documented the complete complement of 561 sleeping spaces in the hostel. In some cases a single family has used the same bed for generations and, though rudimentary, the spaces have been personalised and adapted in an astonishing variety of ways. The exhibition provides a fascinating and sympathetic look at a world seldom seen.

Both a freelance photographer and part-time lecturer, Buckland has works in local and international, public and private collections. A national tour is planned for the exhibition for 2003.

Opening: October 29
Closing: November 17

NSA Gallery, 166 Bulwer Road, Glenwood
Tel: 031 202 3686
Fax: 031 202 3744
Email: iartnsa@mweb.co.za
Website: www.nsagallery.co.za
Hours: Tues - Fri 10 a.m - 5 p.m, Sat 10 a.m - 4 p.m, Sun 11 a.m - 3 p.m

The Durban Institute of Technology (previously Technikon Natal) showcases the end of year portfolios of its Third Year Fine Art Students. Engaging with a range of media, from traditional disciplines such as painting, printmaking and ceramics, to newer media such as video and computer-generated animation, the work promises to excite and challenge.

The students are exhibiting at the Institute itself and at various venues around town. Maps will be given at the opening for the traditional evening 'art trail', which moves from venue to venue. The opening will take place at the D.I.T. Gallery, which is on the first floor above the Library.

There will be second viewing (at all venues) on Saturday 2 November from 10 a.m to 1 p.m.

Opening: Thursday October 31 at 6 p.m

Siphiwe Zulu's exhibition 'The Eye Operation' at the BAT Centre has been extended until November 20.

The title of this exhibition refers to a persistent and degenerative eye problem, which has made it increasingly difficult for the artist to see properly and for which he needs a corrective operation. Zulu, however, also sees the exhibition as an "eye operation" because the artist is inviting the viewer to see beyond the visual surface of the works in order to sense the emotional feeling behind the images.

Zulu is a daydreamer and likes to fantasize and his works, whilst often engaging the subject of daily life, are infused with a mythic quality. The more he is involved in art, the more he feels possessed by the spirit of art - as if intoxicated. Having survived four near-fatal accidents, Zulu's works are a celebration of life. He says that he wants his paintings to "radiate, vibrate and resonate. If I can be able to achieve that in a painting, it would make me happy all the time and beyond".

As a Christian, he says that being an artist is like taking a cross and following Jesus. He feels as though he carries the aspirations of his community and he has to do his best to reflect the communal spirit. He feels his life has been a sacrifice and that a strong faith and a practice of art are closely related.

Zulu has previously exhibited at the Durban Art Gallery (1996), the Standard Bank Festival of the Arts, Grahamstown (1996), the BAT Centre (1997). African Art Centre, Durban (2000), the NSA Gallery, Durban (2002). His works are in the Carnegie Art Gallery, Newcastle and the Durban Art Gallery and the Kwa-Muhle Local History Museum in Durban.

BAT Centre, 45 Maritime Place, Small Craft Harbour
Tel: (031) 332 0451
Fax: (031) 332 2213
Email: info@batcentre.co.za
Website: www.batcentre.co.za
Hours: Mon - Fri 9am - 5pm, Sat - Sun 9am - 4.30pm