Avant Car Guard

Skull with boobs 2012, Mixed media on paper,

Fuck the World is Doomed 2012, Mixed media on paper,

AVANT CAR GUARD, Jaco + Z-dog and Friends, Part III 2012, Installation View,

Still from Gif 2009, DVD video, 7’ 20’’

Protected by theory 2008, Digital print,

Installation shot ACG at Brodie/Stevenson , photograph by Bhavisha Panchia,

Still from ‘Gif’ 2009, DVD: colour, stereo, 7 min 20 sec

Resistance Art in South Africa 2009, enamel paint, industrial foam, epoxy, bought objects, 60 x 45cm

Robin Rhode. Not alone 2009, acrylic on canvas,

Untitled 2009, enamel paint on aluminum, 75 x 120 cm

The Battle of Art vs. Philosophy 2009, acrylic on canvas, 200 x 150cm

Current Review(s)

'Scuse us while we kiss da sky (as in, we've hit the ceiling)'

Avant Car Guard at STEVENSON in Johannesburg

Four years after its inception, Avant Car Guard (ACG) has made Art South Africa’s seventh Bright Young Things for 2009.

Zander Blom, Jan-Henri Booysens and Michael MacGarry, are a trio of white middle-class young men who throw plastic knives at anything and anyone in the South African art world. These three vanguard ‘scene kids’ that make up Avant Car Guard are known for their brash, seemingly crass, attitude towards the participants and processes of the art world. Given the source of inspiration, it is not surprising that distinguished members of the South African art clan would take offence to this direct line of attack. This, however, is of no concern to ACG. They take no prisoners – in fact they might prefer a public hanging. The trio feed off the vaguely annoyed and dismissive responses from the viewing public, and the young and impressionable, who are easily seduced by their delinquent antics and witty, succinct one-liners.

The approach of the works shown in ‘Scuse us while we kiss da sky (as in, we've hit the ceiling)’ is confrontational, direct, noisy, even menacing. Their satirical content and their ‘don’t give a fuck attitude’, has it moments and is likely to induce laughter, or at least a slight grin. Consisting of large scale paintings, sculpture, video installation and photographic prints, their target is obvious. Their visual ranting exposes this ‘enemy’ from the onset in works such as Untitled from the 'All we are saying is give peace a chance series’ (2009) (Note to ACG: 'parochial' not 'perochial') and its adjacent piece Untitled (Fuck This Fuck That). Another work titled Open Call (2009), blatantly confronts the standard of art production in South Africa in a way that is reflective of its own questionable art practice – ‘An open call to all South African artists: If you assholes worked a little harder you would put us out of business’, the work announces.

04 June 2009 - 04 July 2009