Archive: Issue No. 43, March 2001

Thembi Goniwe snuck into Johannesburg in February this year and has been in residence at the Bag Factory ever since, along with Trinidadian artist Wendy Nanan. Goniwe has been producing work inspired by human traffic across public and private spaces, finding ways of interpreting stories heard. He says, "These visual narratives and traces emanate from exploration and experimentation with the unusual, using experiences and art materials that I found in such places..."

Wendy Nanan has been producing colourful sculptural works from the nylon bags used to pack vegetables and fruit, collected from street vendors, groceries and salvage companies: "Conceptually in these I have continued with former themes of time, the sacred and female sexuality. At the Bag Factory I have been able to work without distractions in the company of professionals in an environment which is similar to my own cultural heritage. The work feels like it has been thrown up from an explosion of self internalisation."

Opening: Tuesday, March 20 at 6.00 pm
Closing: March 24

Each regional collection point for this year's Absa Atelier competition for young artists is having an exhibition of all works submitted for consideration. In Johannesburg, the selections for the final round of judging will be up at the downtown Absa Gallery, and the judging panel consists of Vusimuzi Khumalo, Karel Nel, Ian Redelinghuys and Cobus van Bosch.

If you would like to attend the opening of the exhibition, RSVP to Ronel Eckley on (011) 350 4245 before March 13.

Opening: Tuesday March 20, 5:30pm
Closing: April 07

ABSA Gallery, ABSA Towers North, 161 Main Street, JHB
Tel: Julie MacLiam (Absa Media Relations) (011) 350-4588
E-mail: juliemc@absa.co.za
Gallery Hours: Monday to Friday 9.30 am - 3.30 pm

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Absa regional exhibitions

Works received for the Atelier competition in the regions will be displayed at the venues listed below. The works which have been selected for the final round of the competition will be announced on the dates mentioned below. Please contact Ronel Eckley on (011) 350-4245 for more details.

Port Elizabeth - 13 March (6pm)
Eastern Province Society of Fine Arts, 38 Bird Street.

Bellville - 14 March (6pm)
The Arts Association of Belville, Library Centre, Carel van Aswegen Street

Pietersburg - 14 March (lunch-time)
Pietersburg Art Museum, corner Schoeman & Jorissen Streets

Pretoria - 16 March (6pm)
Association of Arts Pretoria, 173 Mackie Street, New Muckleneuk

Bloemfontein - 19 March (6pm)
Johannes Stegmann Art Gallery, University of the Orange Free State, Sasol Library Building, University Campus

Johannesburg - 20 March (6 pm)
Absa Gallery, Absa Towers North, 161 Main Street

East London & Umtata - 28 March (6 pm)
Ann Brayant Gallery, 9 St Mark Street, East London

The MTN Art Institute and Camouflage join forces to present this exhibition reflecting changing attitudes towards land and people in South Africa, using works from the MTN Art Collection spanning the twentieth century.

Anyone familiar with Clive van den Berg's landscape exhibition, 'Panoramas of Passage' of a few years back may find this an interesting counterpoint. The exhibition is divided into five broad groups: empty landscapes; inhabited landscapes; ethnographic portraits; exotic other and humanist portraits. By juxtaposing these conceptual constructs, the show hopes to open up assumptions about perception and representation, featuring a range of expression from 'objective' nature painting to romanticism, and socio-political realism.

Although one cannot plot changes in a strict chronological fashion, the selection of work visualises the changing discourses of race and place in South Africa, aiming to assert historical agency and humanity. 'Shifts...in consciousness' is curated by Ronel Kellner and Nessa Leibhammer. Walkabouts of the exhibition can be arranged

The exhibition will be opened by Dr Yvonne Muthien (MTN Group Executive: Corporate Affairs) on Saturday March 17 at 6.00 p.m. The show closes on April 21.

Opening: Saturday March 17, 6pm
Closing: April 21

'Landscape' seems to be phrase du jour in Jo'burg. Above the sublime eaterie The Service Station in lower Melville, the lifestyle emporium provides space for short quarterly art exhibitions, organised by Carol Lee. The March show features the themes of city, town and landscape by artists including Walter Meyer, Simon Stone, Jacobus Kloppers, Daniel Mosako, Arlene Amaler-Raviv, Adriette Myburgh and Carl Becker.

Famous trekker Dennis Beckett will open the exhibition on Thursday March 22 at 6.30 p.m. The exhibition closes March 31.

Opening: Thursday, March 22, 6.30 pm
Closing: March 31

Lecturers in the Fine Art department at the University of the Witwatersrand host an exhibition of their recent work titled 'No. 1 Jan Smuts Avenue'. Participating artists include Alan Crump, Clive van den Berg, Jo Ractliffe, Penny Siopis, Colin Richards, Karel Nel, Peter Schutz, Vincent Baloyi, Richard Penn, Walter Oltmann, Natasha Christopher, Joni Brenner and others, forming an impressive group of some of the more established contemporary talents. As Wits prepares to consolidate the departments of Art History, Fine Arts, Drama and Music into one school (the Wits School of Arts), this show serves to demonstrate the unique opportunities students have to work with active, practising artists with international clout. And despite past criticisms, the school does not manage to encourage a 'school style', as the recent student exhibition has shown - the range of interests amongst staff are too diverse to be easily categorised.

Opening: February 27
Closing: April 07

Following up on a fairly active cultural programme (they just hosted a Fritz Lang mini film festival), the Goethe Institute hosts an exhibition of figurative drawings and monotypes by Bonnie Walters.

Closing: March 02

New arts organisation/collective CrossPathCulture present 'Fringe', an exhibition of work "created from" their launch exhibition 'Cross Overs', which showed material produced in workshops between international and local artists. It also includes 'Decoding the Image', an exhibition of photographs also produced as a result of a workshop process. Potentially interesting is work produced through their Art Assist program, in which young artists and interested youth, who received a small stipend for their involvement, worked alongside more experienced artists.

It is a bit of a mystery why they would re-present such similar work so soon. What I saw of the dispersed first show wasn't that impressive and I hope there's something new to look at.

Opening: February 25
Closing: March 18

Don't miss this excellent exhibition of social documentary photography. Alberts' work is at once harrowing and seductive, using the device of the portrait to reveal and critique issues far beyond the frame. He has the enviable talent of speaking universally by paying keen attention to individualistic and particular details of dress and body language. And his technical proficiency is admirable.

Closing: April 01

Like the one in Johannesburg, the Association of Arts presents the Pretoria submissions for a competition that seems to be steadily growing in stature and focus.

Opening: March 16, 6pm
Closing: March 20