Big Wednesday at Whatiftheworld / Gallery
by Tim Gareth Leibbrandt
Viewing this exhibition, it's difficult not to draw parallels to Whatiftheworld's mid-year group show 'Prints & Editions', after all both contain largely the same group of artists, yet the latter is perhaps more unified an exhibition. Attribute this unification to the existence of the 'editions' theme if you like, either way it was difficult to shake-off the feeling that the emphasis of 'Big Wednesday' was on the names of the participants rather than on the work. At times it felt a bit more like an art fair than an exhibition, although these connotations are not necessarily negative.
There is little that co-curators Julia Rosa Clark and Daniel Levi could possibly do to alleviate that kind of impression given the success story that is Whatiftheworld in 2008. Nor did they intend to, evidently, taking into account the coming-of-age film origins of the 'Big Wednesday' title. The contrast between the two shows is somewhat mimetic of the changing nature of the gallery. What began as an assembly of young relative unknowns producing clever contemporary art has burgeoned to the point where even their names denote commodities vying for attention in an internationally-recognised institution. Certainly the gallery has come of age, although that is as far as the show's commonalities with celluloid about Gary Busey and a surfboard go.
An offset of this 'art fairish' impression is that the works are largely resistant to the perennial sub-sect of contemporary curating that is contextual dialogue. They manage to say relatively little to each other beyond the odd visual commonality, be it the inspiration of a James Bond novel (Robert Sloon and Tom Cullberg's contributions) or the humble phallus (Stuart Bird's Traditional Weapons and Avant Car Guard's Gif 3). The aura of the signature hangs in the air, averting inter-work conversing. Again, this is a problem any gallery would want to have, so perhaps my want for contextual dialogue in a curated show is redundant. Many of the works thrive on their isolation: take for example the acrimonious proclamation of Charles Maggs' Holiday #3 (2008), 'The thoughts of you here fill me with revulsion'.
Another (perhaps more legitimate) question of curatorial decision arises from Levi's inclusion of three of his own works in the show. Surely, given the nature of the artist-curator relationship, this paves the way for a conflict of interest. Perhaps if they served a specific function within the context of the show it would be a different story but even then, why three?
The other artists afforded this are the gallery's main draw cards such as Rowan Smith, Avant Car Guard, Andrzej Nowicki and Athi-Patra Ruga, in all instances warranted. The only function served by Levi's Take Me as You Are (2008) is to be the least interesting work on the show by a significant margin.
Curatorial self-service aside, the works produced by the permanent roster are, as always, exceptional. It is remarkable how comfortable these artists have become in the styles that they have developed. Arguably the gallery's first big success story, Andrzej Nowicki's Neo Rauchey watercolours are as alive and vibrantly engaged with their outré existence as they've ever been. Fresh from completing what many consider to be the best debut show of the year, Rowan Smith demonstrates both that 'Future Shock Lost' was no fluke and that he still has plenty of ideas to go around with his stellar (pun intended) 1/2000-of-a-second Supernova (2008). Georgina Gratrix continues her monotype experiments from 'Prints & Editions' with equally impressive results.
The exhibition flyer promised 'new works by both resident and associated artists from Whatiftheworld' and it is from these associated artists that some of the strongest works on the show come. A case in point is Robert Sloon's You Only Live Twice (2008). Sloon provides photographic documentation of a performance recreating a passage from Ian Fleming's book of the same name in which Bond, mourning the death of his wife, consumes '35 flasks of sake, half a bottle of pink champagne, a pint of Jack Daniels and 8 double brandy and ginger ales'.
The resulting image is striking, the spate of bottles translating into a fulfillment of the book's dedication; 'You only live twice, once when you are born and once when you look death in the face'. It is difficult to say which is more perplexing, that the death of a 'Bond girl' could illicit such a response from 007 given the countless numbers that have met an untimely demise over the years with nary an eyelid batted in reaction, or that a recreation of this fictional event matching the enaction without the motive still manages to produce an empathetic reaction from the viewer.
The dilemma of Afrikaner identity in a post-1994 South Africa has been well-traversed, notably in the work of Bitterkomix creators Conrad Botes and Anton Kannemeyer among others, yet it finds the potential for new poignancy in the two photographic contributions by Liam Lynch. Afrikaans alternatiewe culture is only really given serious consideration in its social protest, late-apartheid Voëlvry incarnation. Beyond 1994 the perception is often that Afrikaans music is composed entirely of those 'sokkie treffer' compilations that miraculously occupy prime-time advertising slots.
Lynch's Zeplins, Pretoria, South Africa, 01 December 2007 tells a very different tale, and it's not difficult to see why he has selected Fokofpolisiekar and its offshoot band Van Coke Kartel to be the main focus of his photography. It would be wonderful to see the tensions inherent in Oppikoppi, Northam, South Africa, 01 December 2007 expanded to an entire show.
Hopefully the inclusion of these associated artists hints at their being part of the 'several new artists [introduced] to the programme' for 2009, mentioned in the exhibition's précis. The thought of a solo exhibition by Sloon or Lynch (or Ceri Muller for that matter, whose Pick-up Sticks (2008) is another exhibition highlight) is indeed a tantalising prospect.
Ultimately, this is the show's greatest asset: not only does it demonstrate the quality of 2008 Whatiftheworld, it stoutly affirms that even better things are yet to come. If achieving that means leaving the works' ability to dialogue sans signature by the wayside, it seems a small price to pay.
Tim Gareth Leibbrandt is in his Honours year at the Michaelis School of Fine Art
Images courtesy the gallery and the artists
Whatiftheworld / Gallery
1st Floor Albert Hall, 208 Albert Road, Woodstock
Tel: (021) 448 1438
Email: info@whatiftheworld.com
www.whatiftheworld.com
Hours: Tue - Fri 10am - 4pm, Sat 10am - 3pm
