Archive: Issue No. 67, March 2003

15.03.03 'Teken' at Art on Paper
15.03.03 Schütz, Kirkwood and Aiken at the Standard Bank Gallery
15.03.03 'Departure' at PhotoZA
15.03.03 Amalar-Raviv and Yudelman at David Krut Fine Art
15.03.03 'Impact' at The Bag Factory
15.03.03 L'Atelier at Absa Gallery
01.03.03 William Kentridge at The Goodman
01.03.03 'Eye Cons' at The Bag Factory
01.03.03 Opening of David Krut Fine Art
01.03.03 'Right to Wed' at Merely Mortal
15.02.03 Prints and Multiples at Warren Siebrits
15.02.03 'White' at the Johannesburg Art Gallery
16.01.03 Woven Images at the Standard Bank Gallery

15.03.03 Absa L'Atelier at Association of Arts
15.03.03 'Estelle McIlrath Art School Retrospective' Pretoria Art Museum
01.03.03 'earthworksclaybodies' at Pretoria Art Museum
01.03.03 Pretoria Tech at Mind's I
01.02.03 Masters students at the Unisa Art Gallery

16.01.03 Jane Alexander at the Oliewenhuis Museum

Drawings by 15 contemporary artists curated by well-known sculptor, Claudette Schreuders. The artists have been commissioned to make new drawings on A3 size paper using any medium of their choice. The aim of the exhibition is to present a broad spectrum of drawings, a medium that receives relatively little attention in the South African art world.

Participating artists:

Ina van Zyl has been living in Amsterdam since 1996. She has had three solo shows at the Gallerie De Expeditie, taken part in various group shows and has won several awards and bursaries.
Conrad Botes is one of the editors of Bitterkomix and has exhibited his reverse glass paintings extensively in Europe and South Africa.
Retha Bornman completed her Fine Arts degree at the University of Pretoria in 2001. Her organic abstract textile sculptures ensured her a place as one of the 10 finalists in the 2002 Absa Atelier Art Competition.
John Murray is a Cape Town based artist. He has had three successful solo exhibitions in Cape Town and has exhibited his paintings in several group shows throughout South Africa. He also works as a freelance illustrator.
Johann Louw lives in Piketberg in the Western Cape and is well known for his sensual monochromatic figurative and landscape paintings. His work can be found in many private and corporate collections in South Africa and abroad.
Anton Kannemeyer is one of the founding members of Bitterkomix and teaches drawing and illustration at the Wits Technikon. He has exhibited extensively in South Africa and in Europe.
Melissa Visser studied Fine Arts at the University of Cape Town. She majored in sculpture but has been working mainly in animation since graduating in 1995.
Sam Nhlengethwa's collages, paintings and prints are well known in South Africa. He has exhibited extensively in South Africa, Europe and the USA. His work is represented in all the major SA collections. He works from his studio at the Fordsburg Artist Studios in Newtown, Johannesburg.
Garth Blake is Head of the Graphic Design Department at Wits Technikon.
Jacques Coetzer obtained his Fine Art degree at the University of Pretoria. He has exhibited paintings, sculptures and video art in group and solo exhibitions since 1990.
Natasha McConnachie studied painting at the New York School of Painting and completed her MFA degree at the University of Cape Town in 1998. She currently works and lives in Denver, Colorado, USA.
Mark Kannemeyer obtained his MA degree in Painting at Die Hohe Sch�le der Kunste in Berlin. Since returning to South Africa in 1997 he has had a solo exhibition and taken part in several group shows in South Africa. He is a regular contributor to Bitterkomix.
Titus Matyane lives and works in Atteridgeville, Pretoria. He has taken part in some major shows of South African art. His large-scale drawings of panoramic overviews can be found in major museum collections in South Africa and abroad.
Claudette Schreuders completed her Masters degree in 1997 at the University of Cape Town. She has exhibited her wooden sculptures extensively in South Africa and abroad in group and solo exhibitions. For the past three years she has been showing her work primarily in New York.
Clare Menck has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions in South Africa. In 1997 she curated Cyst, an exhibition of works in paint. She is mostly known for her still life paintings. Her work is represented in private and public collections in South Africa and abroad. She also illustrates children's books.

The show is highly recommended by Warren Siebrits, an established Johannesburg art dealer and gallerist.

Closes: March 27

Art on Paper, 8 Main Road, Melville (next to Outer Limits bookshop)
Tel: 011 726 2234
Email: mwartonp@mweb.co.za
Hours: Tues - Sat 10am - 5pm

'Schütz @ 60': Peter Schütz's exhibition spans about 20 years. Works range from symbolic chairs, to landscapes, Madonnas, art deco 'dumb waiter' figures, goddesses and mythological figures. Works from public and private collections as well as a number of new works will be on show.

'Coats and Coverings' is Fiona Kirkwood's tenth solo exhibition and takes place downstairs in the Gallery. Fiona is presenting some of the main works from her exhibition held at the Grahamstown National Arts Festival in 2002. Kirkwood combines fine art and weaving to create monumental, highly textured multi media works. Since 1980, in her exploration of magical, ritual, social, political, environmental and spiritual themes, the concept of protection has been fundamental to her work. In this latest exhibition she has chosen the 'coat' as a metaphor for protection.

'Portraits by Appointment' is a lighter show, also taking place downstairs in the Gallery. Darren Aiken's chess sets have enjoyed wide appeal and include the 2003 ICC Cricket World Cup, actors and actresses, old government/new government and many more. Darren's style varies from realistic rendering of features to caricature, which lends an air of satire to his work.

Opens: April 1
Closes: May 20

Standard Bank Gallery, corner Simmonds and Fredericks streets, Johannesburg
Tel: 011 636 4842
E-mail: SIsaac1@mail.sbic.co.za
Website: www.sbgallery.co.za
Hours: Mon - Fri 8am - 4.30pm, Sat 9am - 1pm

Guy Tillim has received many awards for his photographs since he began working professionally as a photojournalist in 1986. 'Departure', this exhibition of photographs taken on his travels in Africa, is a distillation of his style: portraying harsh realities from a distant, yet empathetic, point of view. The exhibition is accompanied by a book of photographs titledDeparture, published by Bell-Roberts Publishing (RRP: R250).

In an essay from Departure, Tillim had this to say about the photographs on display: "These moments are elusive, alluring for being so. My brand of idealism that had its roots in the time I started photographing in South Africa during the apartheid years of the 1980s has dimmed. There was right and wrong, it seemed clear to me which side I stood. One would forego, what I might now call subtlety, for the sake of making a statement about injustice. The world's press set the tone and timbre of the reportage it would receive, and I for one was bought by it. Perhaps that is why I now look for ways to glimpse other worlds, which I attempt to enter for a while. But one cannot live them all, and usually I am left with a keen sense of my own dislocation.

"Of course, there is always this: to change what is ugly and brutal into something sublime and redemptive. So I have photographs I like for reasons I have come to distrust."

Opens: March 18
Closes: April 12

PhotoZA, 177 Oxford Road, Upper Level, Mutual Square, Rosebank (the old CD Warehouse)
Tel: (011) 880 0833 or 083 229 4327 or 082 533 7143 (Michelle Rock)
Email: info@photoza.co.za
Website: www.photoza.co.za
Hours: Tues to Fri 11 a.m - 5 p.m, Sun 11 a.m - 3 p.m

A selection of photographs, paintings and collaborative works by Cape Town photographer Dale Yudelman and artist Arlene Amaler-Raviv forms the second exhibition at the recently opened David Krut Fine Art.

Speaking about the exhibition, Dale Yudelman said: "It's been sixteen years since leaving the city I grew up in and it's wonderful to be exhibiting here again. This exhibition provides an interesting cross-section of my work to date and gives me the opportunity to include some recent colour photographs as well as to show a few of my early black and white images for the first time in Johannesburg."

Dale Yudelman has been collaborating with fellow artist Arlene Amaler-Raviv for the last four years, combining painting, photography and digital imaging. Four of their collaborative works feature in the exhibition. Amaler-Raviv has worked on numerous projects, such as an installation for the District Six sculpture project, Dislocation Relocation and the exhibition Departure at Mark Coetzee, consisting of large oil paintings on glass. In 2000 Vodacom commissioned Amaler-Raviv to create an installation of 17 oil paintings on aluminium, and in 2002 Spier purchased her 2 x 2m oil on canvas portrait of Nelson Mandela.

Yudelman and Amaler-Raviv have also been invited to exhibit their collaborative work at The Eighth Havana Biennale in Cuba at the end of 2003.

Opens: March 29
Closes: May 15

David Krut Fine Art, 140 Jan Smuts Ave, Parkwood
Tel: (011) 880 4242
Website: www.davidkrut.com
Hours: Mon-Sat 10am - 4pm

'Impact' is an exhibition by artists-in-residence Andreas Kaiser of Germany and Freddy Tsimba of the DRC. Andreas Kaiser creates interactive multimedia works and installations. Among his numerous prizes are two monument awards. Freddie Bienvenue Tsimba studied at the Beaux-Art Academy, from 1982 to 1989. He was awarded the Francophonie Games silver medal for his work The Crying Soul in 2001. His works consist of found objects, welded metal and bronze. The Crying Soul, for example, has a body made from bombshells he found in his war torn city, a head of a spoon and legs from bronze. He has worked and exhibited in Canada, Paris and Belgium as well as other African countries.

Opens: March 19
Closes: March 26

Bag Factory, 10 Minnaar Street, Newtown
Tel/fax: (011) 834 9181
Email: bagfactory@acenet.co.za
Website: www.bagfactoryart.org.za
Hours: Mon - Fri 10am - 3pm, Sat 10am - 1pm

The Johannesburg entries to the prestigious L'Atelier competition, which offers young artists a R70 000 cash prize and a six-month sabbatical at the Cit� Internationale des Arts in France, are on view at the Absa Gallery. The overall winner will be announced at the Absa Gallery on July 23.

Opens: March 13
Closes: March 27

Absa Gallery, Absa Towers North, 161 Main Street, Johannesburg
Tel: 011 350 4588
Email: juliemc@absa.co.za
Hours: Mon - Fri 9.30am - 3.30pm

Hopefully you didn't miss the opening of the year - William Kentridge's 'Zeno Writing'. The Goodman is showing his newest film, 'Zeno Writing', along with drawings from the film, new graphics and sculpture. 'Zeno Writing' was made in conjunction with Confessions of Zeno, a theatrical multimedia performance done for 'Documenta 11'.

This from the 'Documenta 11' catalogue: 'The film piece is based on Italo Svevo's 1923 novel of the same name, Zeno is a prisoner of his own intelligence, who psychoanalyses himself in a fictive dialogue with his analyst, fretting in a stream-of-consciousness narrative about the constant need to take a stance in the politically troubled society that exists after World War I. By resituating Zeno's Trieste in the suburbs of 1980s Johannesburg, Kentridge explores once again the intricacies of growing up and living as a white South African under apartheid. In self-reflecting ventures, the artist experiences the landscapes of the human mind and the spaces and places that are neither neutral nor natural through the medium of drawing.'

Proving his international caliber (if such is needed at this point in his career), it is worth noting that William Kentridge has recently been chosen as the recipient of the Goslar Kaiserring Award. The award is conceived as a way both of recognizing individuals who have 'provided essential impulses in the field of contemporary art'. Previous award-winners include Henry Moore, Max Ernst, Alexander Calder, Joseph Beuys, Richard Serra, Willem de Kooning, George Baselitz, Gerhard Richter, Anselm Kiefer, Ilya Kabakov, Sigmar Polke, Cindy Sherman, and Christian Boltanski.

Opening: March 1
Closing: March 29

Goodman Gallery, 163 Jan Smuts Avenue, Parkwood
Tel: 011 788 1113
Fax: 011 788 9887
Email: goodman@iafrica.com
Hours: Tues - Fri 9.30 a.m - 5 p.m, Sat 9.30 a.m - 4 p.m

Verna Jooste is a new artist at The Bag Factory and the first to hold a solo exhibition there. 'Eye Cons' is a collection of hand-made, mechanical silver toys. The toys contain slides, which evoke memories of childhood. The exhibition is open to 'little people' too - they'll have an area where they can play with large manually movable hardboard slide-viewers.

Verna Jooste was trained as a jewellery designer, but here focus shifted when she began to question the preciousness of jewels and metals. 'What makes a ruby more precious than a piece of wine-bottle lead of the same colour that fulfills the same function? This questioning of what is revered by us as precious, and the combination of my Catholic schooling, brought me to question the value we place on religious symbols and then symbols in general - buildings, cold drink manufacturers and their cans, traffic signs and graphic symbols.' Her works have included beaded images of famous Joburg landmarks and rosaries made of toys.

Opening: March 6
Closing: March 14

Bag Factory, 10 Minnaar Street, Newtown
Tel/fax: (011) 834 9181
Email: bagfactory@acenet.co.za
Website: www.bagfactoryart.org.za
Hours: Mon - Fri 10am - 3pm, Sat 10am - 1pm

Publisher and dealer David Krut recently opened his fine art print workshop with an exhibition of recent monotypes and editions by Colbert Mashile, Amos Letsoalo and Sandile Goje. The range of work on offer presents the viewer with more than a curious glimpse at the evolving practice of print and etching. The small gallery space is a welcome addition to Parkwood's growing number of gallery spaces.

Krut has worked with many contemporary artists through the 107 Workshop near Bath, produced the William Kentridge CD-ROM in 1997 and publishes the TAXI art book series.

Until March 14

David Krut Fine Art
140 Jan Smuts Ave, Parkwood
Tel: (011) 880 4242
Website: www.davidkrut.com
Hours: Mon-Sat 10am - 4pm

Cheryl Gage's 'Right to Wed (Bed?)' explores the rite of passage of marriage. Gage qualified in fine art, but has been working in the advertising industry, which gives her, she says, 'a specific awareness of the use of visual metaphor to communicate ideas.'

The 'ceremony' begins at 7pm on March 6. Janine Starkey (Triiiniiity men's wear) and Tania Riccardi (Tania Riccardi Couture) will be modelling their wedding couture at the opening, where champagne will be served!

Opening: March 6
Closing: March 30

Merely Mortal, 356 Jan Smuts Ave, Craighall
Tel: 011 326 3820 (Heather Greig)
Email: kitework@global.co.za
Hours: Mon-Fri 9 a.m - 5.30 p.m, Thurs 7 p.m - 11 p.m [bar], Sat 10 a.m -1 p.m

"It is sad to note that many South African art dealers and galleries have actively advised clients against collecting prints, reinforcing the perception that graphics are of little value and importance as artworks," writes Warren Siebrits in the catalogue to his first show of 2003. "Thank goodness perceptions are changing, especially due to the success Kentridge's work enjoys abroad."

It is not just Kentridge that is celebrated. This carefully pieced together exhibition presents a selection of work by Alan Alborough, Jane Alexander, Walter Battiss, Hans Bellmer, Joseph Beuys, Elza Botha, Marlene Dumas, Paul Edmunds, Kendell Geers, Barbara Hepworth, Robert Hodgins, John Muafangejo, Thomas Knuna, Cyprian Shilakoe, Penny Siopis, Cecil Skotnes and Andy Warhol.

It's a diverse range, and works such as Robert Hodgins 1996/7 Ubu series will both delight and confound. Look out to for a copy of GIF 2, a collaborative book containing original graphics and multiples by 18South African artists, including Kendell Geers. "PLANT A BOMB WITHIN THE INSTITUTION OF ART, SET TO EXPLODE ACCORDING TO THE LAWS OF CHANCE," writes Geers in a provocative insert, dated 1993.

Opening: February 20
Closing: March 29

Warren Siebrits Modern and Contemporary Art
140 Jan Smuts Avenue, Parkwood, Johannesburg
Tel: 011. 327-0000
Fax: 011. 327-5999
E-mail: seymour23@icon.co.za
Hours: Wednesday to Friday 12 - 6 pm, Saturday 12 - 4 pm

'White is a group exhibition of installations by three young female artists: Helen Bramley, Liza Christofides and Ann Marie Tully.

Helen Bramley shows Body Image Disturbance, a collection of casts of mannequins and photographs: 'Body Image Disturbance puts the discourse of the slender body under scrutiny. By creating an installation of life-size sculptures representing the slender female body as a site of self inflicted violence, brought on by societal demands: I aim to question the 'ideal' of slenderness. '

Liza Christofides exhibits plaster casts of her hands, in Handfulls, with an accompanying video, How Dry I Am, as well as paintings: When it is installed the space resembles a sea of hands. They cover the floor and wall space, leaving little room for the viewer to pass through the gallery...Each casting is the result of a particularly painful process. The idea of being subjected to pain was crucial to this work...My right hand is deliberately used in the moulding process, as it is the hand that I use for writing and creativity...The loss of this precious appendage reinforces the enactment of another's pain by bringing home the reality of the disabled or fragmented body... The formal element of whiteness is crucial to this exhibition as it alludes to a silent trauma.

Ann Marie Tully exhibits old photographs, stitched with thread: 'Thimble Narratives' is an investigation of photography, from the impulse to photograph as prepared mourning to their poignant and frustrating presence in the experience of loss... There is a cynicism present in the puncturing of the photographs. This action is a metaphor for the frustration that the materiality of the photograph has caused in my life.'

Opening: February 1
Closing: March 30

Johannesburg Art Gallery, corner Klein and King George Streets, Joubert Park
Tel: 011 725 3130
Fax: 011 720 6000
Hours: Tues - Sun 10am - 5pm

Woven Images: Four decades of South African art through tapestry includes the works recently shown at the Grahamstown festival as well as older pieces. Presented by the Stephens Tapestry Studio, established in 1963, the retrospective includes woven interpretations of works by Cecil Skotnes, Gerard Sekoto, Judith Mason, Robert Hodgins, William Kentridge, Penny Siopis and Karel Nel.

The studio's philosophy is to encourage the awareness of tapestry through the excellence of technique and interpretation of an artwork. It endeavours to ensure that the tapestries produced are an extension of the original work - that they are an artwork of independent value. Works are executed mainly in hand-spun mohair, chosen for its vibrancy of colour.

Opens: January 28
Closes: March 18

Standard Bank Gallery, corner Simmonds and Fredericks streets, Johannesburg
Tel: 011 636 4842
E-mail: SIsaac1@mail.sbic.co.za
Website: www.sbgallery.co.za
Hours: Mon - Fri 8am - 4.30pm, Sat 9am - 1pm

The Pretoria entries to the prestigious L'Atelier competition, which offers young artists a R70 000 cash prize and a six-month sabbatical at the Cit� Internationale des Arts in France, are on view at the Association of Arts. The overall winner will be announced at the Absa Gallery in Johannesburg on July 23.

Opens: March 16
Closes: March 26

Association of Arts, 173 Mackie Street, Nieuw Muckleneuk, Pretoria
Tel: (012) 346 3100
Fax: (012) 346 3125
E-mail: artspta@mweb.co.za
Website: www.art.co.za/artspta
Hours: Tues - Fri 9.30am - 5.30pm, Sat 9.30am - 1pm

Artworks from the Estelle McIlrath Art School form part of the collection at Permanent Exhibition of Child Art in Tokyo, the Children's Art Gallery in Haifa, Israel and the Children's Art Gallery in Santa Cruz, California. Estelle McIlrath's Art School has won every possible category in the Santam Children's Art Competition. McIlrath's art methodology is based on enrichment of the child's visual perception of his/her environment, exploring a variety of materials, mediums and subjects.

Estelle McIlrath will present a lecture on Visual Literacy: Learning to Look at the Pretoria Art Museum on Wednesday April 9 at 6.30pm. A workshop for children, Looking at Creepy Crawlies, will be presented on Saturday March 27 from 10am - 1pm. Trainee educators are welcome to attend the workshops as observers (R10 per person).

Opens: March 23
Closes: April 29

Pretoria Art Museum, corner Schoeman and Wessels streets, Arcadia
Tel: 012 344 1807/8
Fax: 012 344 1809
Email: LelaniS@tshwana.gov.za
Website: www.pretoria.gov.za/pam
Hours: Tues, Thur - Sat 10am - 5pm, Wed 10am - 8pm, Sun 12pm - 5pm

Last chance to see 'Eco-system of Society', a collection of museum pieces including works by Diane Victor, Tommy Motswai and Steven Cohen. New museum acquisitions include a superbly carved vignette in jacaranda wood by Egon Tania and Joachim Sch�nfeldt's three-headed cow in bright orange resin.

The next exhibition in the North gallery is 'earthworksclaybodies', curated by Wilma Cruise.

Closes March 5

Pretoria Art Museum, corner Schoeman and Wessels streets, Arcadia
Tel: 012 344 1807/8
Fax: 012 344 1809
Email: LelaniS@tshwana.gov.za
Website: www.pretoria.gov.za/pam
Hours: Tues, Thur - Sat 10am - 5pm, Wed 10am - 8pm, Sun 12pm - 5pm

Third and fourth year students of Pretoria Technikon's Department of Fine & Applied Arts show off their talent. The mix includes glass, video, photography, drawing, painting, digital art and installation.

The gallery is also inviting artists and members of the public to create a free-standing cross of 1 - 1.5m to celebrate Easter. '[Crosses] have been used for many centuries predating Christianity as powerful wards against evil spirits. Many believe that nothing evil can withstand the power of the Christian cross.' To participate in this communal installation, hand your cross in at the gallery on April 1.

Opening: March 5
Closing: March 29

Mind's i Artspace, Shop 63 Brooklyn Square, Brooklyn, Pretoria
Tel: (012) 346 5131
Email: minds-i@lantic.net
Website: www.minds-i.co.za

Two students show their final work. Tillie de Gabriele's A Woman's Story and Pieter Swanepoel's Deconfigurations will be supplemented by selected works from the UNISA Permanent Art Collection.

Opens: February 13
Closes: March 28

Unisa Gallery, Theo van Wijk Building (Gold Fields entrance), Unisa
Tel: (012) 429 6255/6823
Email: hattif@unisa.ac.za
Hours: Tues - Fri 10am - 4.30 pm or by appointment

Alexander's DaimlerChrysler Award-winning exhibition, An African Adventure, has it's second showing in Bloemfontein.

Opens: January 22
Closes: March 23

The Oliewenhuis Museum, 16 Harry Smith Street
Tel: (051) 447 9609
Email: oliewen@nasmus.co.za
Hours: Mon - Fri 8am - 5pm; Sat 10am - 5pm; Sun 1pm - 5pm