Those on the correct mailing lists were greeted with the news early this month that Linda Givon has sold the Goodman Gallery. Both The original Johannesburg venue and its Cape Town incarnation, Goodman Gallery Cape, have been bought by art world mover and shaker Liza Essers. Essers is the veteran of numerous curatorial and commercial endeavours in the realm of fine art and film. Notably, Essers curated the 2007 show 'Shift' in conjunction with the Goodman Gallery, an exhibition which featured work by William Kentridge, Sam Nhlengethwa and Kagiso Pat Mautloa. She was also a co-executive producer of the 2005 film
Tsotsi.
Givon began the Goodman Gallery 42 years ago, and has been instrumental in establishing and launching some of SA's most stellar art careers. ArtThrob applauds the mighty legacy she has gathered, and wishes her all the best. See NEWS for more.
This month ArtThrob presents a review by ex-pat Amy Halliday now resident in Siena, of a show of SA art at London's Haunch of Venison gallery, entitled 'Home Lands - Land Marks'. The presence of Halliday's review on our site reflects the breadth of ArtThrob's footprint.
Back at home, Johannesburg editor Cara Snyman tries very hard to engage an in-transit Pieter Hugo on the complex nature of the photographic medium, and ends up doing most of the talking. SA artists are a busy, globetrotting bunch...
On a very sad note we run an obituary on young artist and cultural activist Gabsile Nkosi whose life was cut tragically short late last month.
Once again, check out our Short Cuts which, though much smaller than last month's, are better travelled, with a quick look at a Durban show.
MICHAEL SMITH
MANAGING EDITOR
NEXT UPDATE: July 6.
CAPE
Woodstock is the place to be this month: Bell-Roberts follows the exodus of galleries from the city centre and hosts its inaugural exhibition 'Between Meaning and Matter' at the new premises adjacent to Michael Stevenson and below the Goodman. Whatiftheworld / Gallery packs a powerful punch with their exhibition of prints and editions, and the Goodman Gallery Cape enters the fray with 'Power Play'.
GAUTENG
June brings David Koloane at the Goodman Gallery, and numerous intereresting smaller shows, such as Reshma Chhiba at Art Extra and Mimi Cherono Ng'ok's timely photo essay on African immigrants entitled I am Home at the Market Photo Workshop. The Mercedes-Benz Award exhibition warrants a trip out of the city limits to the Pretoria Art Museum to see Kevin Brand's winning work.
KWAZULU-NATAL
Bank Gallery continues to bring a new vision to Durban with its forthcoming show of videos from the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam, challenging some of the more established galleries and providing a platform for more experimental art. Wilma Cruise's 'Cocks and Asses' opens at the Kiso Gallery, and the Dutch project Cascoland presents a gallery-sized view of the work produced during their recent stay and collaborative efforts in Durban.
INTERNATIONAL
Pieter Hugo presents three series at the Open Eye gallery in Liverpool, and Lolo Veleko takes part in 'AFRICALLS?' in Spain. In the US, Mustafa Maluka participates in the Des Moine Art Center's 'World Histories'. In New York David Krut hosts 'The New Spell', which features work by young South Africans Themba Shibase, Michael MacGarry, Nandipha Mntambo, Maja Maljevic, Nina Barnett and Robyn Nesbitt.
INTERVIEW
On occasion of the final opening of his Standard Bank Young Artist Award show in Johannesburg, Cara Snyman interviews Pieter Hugo.
FEATURE
In Short Cuts Editor Mike Smith sums up a few shows he visited this month.
CAPE
In his first major curatorial project at Michael Stevenson's impressive new gallery space, Joost Bosland manages to infuse the space with a fresh and youthful take on the act of personal and social representation. However, in spite of outstanding individual contributions by Candice Breitz, Pieter Hugo, Nandipha Mntambo, Rotimi Fani-Kayode, Yto Barrada, Wim Botha and others, Tavish McIntosh feels that the show is 'somewhat directionless', its theme both too wide and too narrow.
GAUTENG
'Ars Moriendi', curated by Jeanine Howse and Clive Kellner of the Johannesburg Art Gallery, features works from both the historical and contemporary permanent collections of the Gallery, which through clever choice and juxtaposition, explore both the nature of death and its depiction in visual art dating back to the 15th century. Jacki McInnes reviews. Also in Jozi, Cara Snyman looks at 'Anima', a show hosted by Resolution Gallery.
KWAZULU NATAL
In three unrelated but simultaneous exhibitions at the KZNSA, Stephen Hobbs, Dineo Bopape and Johan Thom manage in completely diffenent ways to reflect on urban life in the 21st Century. Carol Brown reviews.
INTERNATIONAL REVIEWS
Thrown into relief by the recent xenophobic violence in South Africa, 'Home Lands - Land Marks', curated by Tamar Garb, while 'Firmly rooted in the contemporary South African landscape, it not only traces the legacies of the past... also maps the diverse present, one in which the idea of "home" emerges as a shifting sign in and of itself'. Amy Halliday reviews the show featuring work by Guy Tillim, David Goldblatt, William Kentridge, Santu Mofokeng, Nicholas Hlobo, Berni Searle and Vivienne Koorland.
Sculptor and cultural activist Isaac Makeleni has died in Cape Town. Sue Williamson writes an obituary. Linda Givon sells the Goodman Gallery to Liza Essers. The SA Arts community responds to the country's recent xenophobic attacks with the formation of Artists for Africa. The finalists of the Sasol Wax Art Awards 2008 are announced and Carol Brown tels us about Andrew Verster's show to commemorate his 70th birthday which opens in Grahamstown this year. On a very sad note, we mourn the loss of KZN artist and cultural activist Gabisile Nkosi. Nominees for the 2008 MTN New Contemporaries Award announced
For a while now the ArtThrob editorial staff have felt that the Diary was descending into a mire of region-specific bear-bating. This month, we introduce the first in a more fluid series of engagements with the format. Original pranksters Avant Car Guard been given carte blanche in the Diary for a six-month stint, and announce their arrival with a series of friendly, cheerful information graphics and images. Stay tuned in the next few weeks as more gems from these cheeky lads arrive.
'The long-awaited Zander Blom ARTBIO is here!'
Chad Rossouw visits www.artspeakafrica.blogspot.com and www.aachronym.blogspot.com, two of the very scarce contemporary African art blogs.
We feature www.sowetouprisings.com, an interactive net art project by Ismail Farouk and Babak Fakhamzadeh which commemorates the 1976 Soweto Uprising with a clever integration of Google Maps and Flickr images, with anecdotal and factual text.
Entries open for the 2008 Sasol New Signatures Competition, and the Vermont Studio Center offers full fellowships for their residency programme. In Spain, the Gran Canaria International Festival of Arts and Digital Cultures invites submissions. Big Fish School of Digital Filmmaking presents a multi-camera directing short course in Johannesburg.
Managing Editor Michael Smith thought May's 'Short Cuts' would ruffle some feathers, but we received no tirades. Get typing, ye scorned artists and gallerists!
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Next print up will be from Lisa Brice. Watch this space for her stunning new print, made especially for ArtThrob.
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