Archive: Issue No. 45, May 2001

It's called PhotoZA and it's South Africa's first gallery focusing exclusively on art photography. Intending to exhibit work by South Africa's foremost photographers who have gained considerable international reputations, it will show and market both traditional "wet-process" photography as well as digital work with a once-monthly exhibition turnover.

Says owner and curator Michelle Rock: "Photography is undergoing a worldwide resurgence and it is recognised as an art form in its own right. South African photos are underrepresented in this market, even though we have a high percentage of reputable photographers locally who hold their own with the world's best. Fine art photography has also seen an immense growth in the buyer's market with both investors and collectors bidding on escalating prices for these works."

The new space opens with an exhibition of work by Michael Meyersfeld, Jürgen Schadeberg, Victor Matom, Bob Cnoops, Marlene Neumann, Pierre Peters, Sally Gaule and Lawrance Brennon. The opening show will also form part of the Paris Photo 2001 exhibition at the Louvre in November 2001.

Opens: Sunday May 27 at 6.30pm

Well-known for her relief paintings of close-up creepy crawlies, Couldridge now chooses creatures of the deep as her subject matter. She shows selected works in this shop window gallery, opposite Franco's restaurant in Parkview. Winner of a Royal Over Seas League scholarship, the work forms part of a larger collection to be shown in London in July.

Opening:
Closing:

For more information, tel: 082 401 0905.

Yes, so it's a bit twee, but as with most virtuoso-type activities with rather ordinary materials, you do tend to go 'Ooh! How'd they do that?' The First Paper House exhibition of paper sculpture with artists Hazel Buchan and Peter Holliday should be a case in point. Featuring all manner of beasts and humans fashioned from cut paper, the exhibition has a short run in Sandton City, after which it moves to Durban and Cape Town. Its shopping centre location is revealing of the intended target market, but if you happen to be trawling the malls, take a look. It beats découpage.

Without Hodgins and Neethling, the Johannesburg art world wouldn't be the same. So it's a pleasure to look forward to their joint exhibition of recent works on paper, including a series of monotypes produced by Hodgins with Mark Atwood of the Artists' Press.

Atwood and Hodgins will both give talks on May 26 at 3pm and 4pm respectively. Atwood will present 'Lithograph - serial box or work of art?' and show the video Four Stones for Kanemitsu (the drawing and pulling of a lithograph). RSVP if you would like to attend.

Nigerian born painter Ozor-Ejike Ezefuna and South African Selemogo Maleho will present work in the courtyard of the gallery's new location as part of Maitisong's celebratory launch event, styled as a traditional Nigerian 'Omenana' and subtitled 'The Journey of Afrikan Arts through the Ages!'

A major concern of the two-person show is to destabilise xenophobic attitudes in Johannesburg, particularly with respect to Nigerians. Artist Mahelo comments: "The myth that is prevalent in the minds of those of us, South Africans, who are very naíve to an extent that the only word that immediately comes to mind when we think about Nigeria and its people is drugs. Through Ezefuna and his work, we are trying to say there's a lot of beauty in Nigeria, and in being Nigerian, that other contemporary African cultures could emulate."

Ezefuna, who works in surrealistic and abstract styles, has had one previous exhibition in Nigeria. It is Mahelo's first show. Having worked previously as a graphic artist, he holds the dubious honour of having designed the car registration plates for Gauteng and all other provinces.

Ezefuna has taken up the post of gallery curator. Gallery manager Ntombifikile Molobi hopes to raise enough funding to take the show to Nigeria.

Guests at the opening of the exhibition will be entertained by jazz pianist Norman Chauke, a graduate of the London School of Music. Well known on the jazz circuit in Gauteng, he will be teaching music classes from the gallery.

And to live up to the cultural and spiritual demands of Omenana, the gallery is organising mobile exhibitions to various areas including townships, corporate offices, government buildings, community centres and shopping malls.

Opens: May 25
Closes: July 27

For more information, please contact:
Ntombifikile Molobi, Executive Manager
Tel: (011) 487 0937
Cell: 083 528 3090

Ozor-Ejike Ezefuna, Curator/Artist-in-Residence
Cell: 072 283 3597

The photographic exhibition 'Two Days in the Life of the Old District Six', by acclaimed documentary photographer and author John Brett Cohen, has been cancelled due to the unexpected death of the artist. ArtThrob is awaiting more details as to the circumstances surrounding his sudden death.

Twenty new works by paper artist Durant Sihlali have been chosen by the gallery for this new exhibition. Referring to these works as the "blue inspiration works", Sihlali notes that they arise from his early love of classical composers such as Strauss, Handel and Mozart. The colour blue and various music notations become subtle but powerful leitmotifs in the body of work.

Simultaneously the gallery will be showing, for the first time in South Africa, a body of 13 works produced by Sam Nhlengethwa and Zwelethu Mthethwa in collaboration. Mthethwa applies his trademark photographic eye to capture domestic urban interiors, while Nhlengethwa alters and adapts elements of these scenes using collage.

Opens: May 19 with drinks at noon
Closes: June 09

In a one-night only solo exhibition, Stephen Hobbs hosts 'CMMSSNR', a video event showcasing his most recent short film entitled If you can make it here..., as well as multi-media intepretations of other recent works.

The evening is a video and sound collaboration with DJ +27 and Signal. Signal is a recently formed company, described as a "digital conceptual realisation unit". If you can make it here... , a commission by Bogle Bartle Hegarty Ltd for Levi Strauss � Europe, Middle East and Asia, as part of the denim giant's 'Reel Revolution/Denim in the Can' project, blurs the South African musical King Kong with Cooper and Shadsack's classic film of the same name. Hobbs' interpretation unfolds as a photographic journey through the so-called centres and margins of the Johannesburg CBD. The juxtaposition of images, combined with a brooding score by DJ +27, does not support a solid narrative structure, but aims to infuse its own landscape with a range of signs and visual triggers that reference the varying treatments of the city that Hobbs deals with in his practise.

In the past year, Hobbs has enjoyed a range of collaborations with Lucky Strike (who co-financed the Joburg Mirrorball installation for Jo'burg Bar, Cape Town); Andre Pretorius of Stringlite Multimedia in the development of a CD ROM game; and Christian Nerf of Signal on an upcoming media campaign. Now, with the incredible support and encouragement from Dino Conticini of The Original Levi's ® Store in Sandton City, this one-night stand is made possible.

Opening: Sunday, May 06, 7 - 9pm
Drinks will be served and DJ +27 provides fine aural entertainment. The event begins at 7 pm sharp.

This new "venue" is situated opposite well-known Italian eaterie Franco's in Parkview. Not your typical exhibition space, it is simply a shop window that accommodates a few paintings at a time. Being the kind of space it is, it's technically 'open' 24 hours a day.

Sonja Britz is currently showing portraits, rendered in an expressive, painterly style.

You're invited to lurk around this Workers' Day at Spaza Art, at an exhibition featuring work by Dumisane Mabaso, Eausibius Nawa and D Hyslop, as well as "retrenched mineworkers, some rural and urban artistes, a few shirkers and surprises". Provoked to decide whether you are worker, shirker or lurker, the venue promises "affordable, unique contemporary South African art".

Opening: May 01, 2pm
Closing: May 31

Teresa Lizamore launches a new gallery adjacent to her home on May 6. Designed as four separate spaces that flow into one another, she aims to host quarterly exhibitions, featuring four artists "under one roof". A tea garden is on hand for refreshments and light snacks.

The first exhibition features four small shows by Albert Redelinghuys (paintings), Hanneke Benade (drawings), Zonia Nel-Scheffer (paintings) and Cobus Haupt (sculptures). The space will be open throughout the week for the first week of the exhibition and thereafter by appointment.

The project has been in the pipeline for about a year, and hopefully answers a need for private, commercial spaces in Johannesburg. Lizamore's mission is to "maintain the fine balance between making art accessible to residential people in the area as well as to corporates, while promoting quality contemporary art by both young and more mature artists".

The show planned for August will feature more established, older artists, with the November exhibition co-produced by Lizamore and a performance artist. She is also hoping to have social, informal lectures and talks in the gallery space. Watch this space for details.

Opening: Sunday May 06, 4.30pm
Closing: May 31

Camouflage, in conjunction with Billiton SA Ltd strike gold with an exhibition by critically acclaimed London-based artist Yinka Shonibare. Best known for his intelligent critiques of history, society and the politics of cultural colonisation, his work 'A Victorian Philanthropist's Parlour' featured on the 2nd Johannesburg Biennale.

Born in London in 1962, he relocated to Nigeria at an early age, and completed his tertiary studies back in Europe. Focusing on the Victorian era in his production, he styles himself as Victorian dandy and inserts himself into quasi-historical tableaux which are photographed, or creates life-size Victorian mannequin figures whose garments are made from African textiles.

He will be in Johannesburg for 5 days, during which time he will conduct two seminars:

1. Wits University, Senate House, Basement 4, on Wednesday 4th May 2001 from 1pm until 2pm.
Contact: Janet Wilson / Bronwyn de Villiers
Tel: (011) 717 46 06.

2. MTN on Thursday 10th May from 11:30am until 12:30pm.
Contact: Eloise Knoetze
Tel: (011) 301 81 24

For bookings and more information, please contact Camouflage (Sandri Burt or Suzanne du Preez), Wits University Department of Art History (Anitra Nettleton) or The MTN Art institute (Eloise Knoetze)

The exhibition at Camouflage opens on May 11 and closes June 30.

     Yinka Shonibare in conversation with Kathryn Smith ; See News

A student at the Natal Technikon during the 1990's, followed by a Master's Degree at Stellenbosch University, Johan Meyer presents an exhibition called 'Social Sciences' at the under-utilised Alliance Francaise. Specialising in installation, which formed part of his postgraduate thesis, 'Social Sciences' includes paintings, multi-unit sculptures and technology. One of the focal points of the exhibition is the use of images that are available through the latest technology in the field of the living sciences.

Opening: May 7 at 6.45 pm
Closing: May 31

Neither of these artists need any introduction. Alborough is the Standard Bank Young Artists award winner for 2000, and celebrated ceramicist Ntshalintshali is being honoured posthumously for her work. Interestingly, Ntshalintshali was the 1990 Standard Bank Young Artists award winner, with Fee Halsted Berning, her mentor and teacher at Admore Studios in KwaZulu Natal.

Johannesburg audiences have been waiting with baited breath for Alborough's exhibition, a touring show which mutates in each new space.

Opening: April 24 at 6.00 pm
Closing: May 26

     See Reviews

Jürgen Schadeberg's previously unpublished images of white (often white youth) culture, in the 1950's make their debut at a special preview at Norwood's rather silent Crake Gallery before moving to the Bensusan Museum at MuseuMAfricA later on in April. Depicting scenes of vaguely rockabilly, bored Teddy-Boy type characters at social dances or an aerial view of a crowd of pop fans going typically hysterical, this collection of photographs guarantees a different take on a period of history we're more familiar with through our parents' photograph albums.

Opening: Sunday, April 22, 4pm
Closing: June 24

Landscape and its signifiers provide the focus for this exhibition of paintings by Thys Cilliers and Marius Lourens, and sculptures by Wehrner Lemmer. Cilliers' seemingly banal and well-known subjects reveal secret histories beneath the surface. Lourens juxtaposes landscape and interiors, revealing moments of intimacy or quiet reverence. Lemmer uses wood and steel to speak about organic processes of growth as well as landscape's expanse.

Opening: May 20 at 6pm with guest speaker Cecile Loedolff
Closes: June 7

'Tales' is Krams's first solo show in Gauteng for some time. Given focus by her strong personal interest in conservation and environmental issues, this new work continues her commitment to a feminist pursuit and body politic related concerns. As her statement reads: "The frame of reference has extended beyond the self and the body contextualised in a narrative space (important to the artist in the 1980s and early 1990s) to far more diverse and complex allusions to global issues, nature, the environment and the future."

The gallery will be filled with loose table salt and rubber latex sculptures of strange, evocative creatures including tattooed fish, double-headed horses, globes and metamorphosed animals, with an accompanying sound piece playing from loudspeakers. A horse and rider will make an appearance at the opening.

The work is playful and potentially threatening, referencing Dada objects and binary opposites in their quest to create meaning. A good opportunity to introduce your kids to the possibilities of contemporary art.

Opening: Wednesday May 23 at 7pm with guest speaker Lizz Meiring
Closes: Saturday June 09

For those who want to book in advance, this illustrated evening lecture series by the acclaimed Unisa art history professor and vice-chair to the council of Iziko (National Museums of Cape Town) begins on June 21 and runs until November. Booking is essential, and you can choose to subscribe for the whole series at a cost of R250, or pay R30 per lecture. A note to the leaflet designer: the three-quarter angle, studio portrait of Professor Skawran gazing into the middle distance and framed by twee, 'painterly' vignetting makes it look more like an obituary than a lecture series. Which I'm sure is not intended to reflect the expected audience reaction to an art historical tour of both local and international points of interest.

Lectures start at 6pm or 7pm and are divided into the following areas of research:

'Stained Paper: Images in Watercolour'
June 21: Masters of the Art: 19th century watercolour painting in Europe (6pm)
June 28: South African images in watercolour: A historical survey (6pm)
July 4: The 20th century: Watercolours in Europe and SA (6pm)

'Early Christian and Byzantine Art'
July 11: Byzantine art and architecture: An introduction (6pm)
August 1: The cave churches of Cappadocia, Turkey (7pm)

'Early German Expressionism: Two women painters'
August 16: The art of Paula Modersohn-Becker (7pm)
August 29: Kathe Kollwitz: Art as compassion (7pm)

'Two South African artists of the 20th Century'
September 12: Images and Symbols: Walter Battiss (7pm)
September 19: A prophet in his own time: Jackson Hlungwane (7pm)

'Fibre Art Projects in Southern Africa'
November 14: Fibre art in Southern Africa, with reference to the 'Mapula' and 'Kaross' projects in South Africa, and the 'Weya' project in Zimbabwe (7pm)

The World Court for Women Against War, for Peace and the Group of Cultural Documentation Inc present an exhibition of quilting and weaving by women who have survived and resisted armed conflict across the globe. Representing over 35 countries and some 50 ethnic groups, the works are both collaborative and individual productions. The selection features a broad range of work produced by women from South Africa. In addition to the fabric works, photographs, narratives, poetry, paintings and drawings lends additional texture to the exhibition.

Opens: May 08, 7pm
Closes: June 24

Jaco Benade shows 'Objects of Desire', paintings which reference well-known art historical objects and images, as well as objects that seem more banal and closer to home. Errol Westoll, in a debut exhibition, shows a body of work dubbed 'New Horizons'. A painter and photographer, Westoll has always been interested in spatial relationships, usually played out as ambiguous representations of landscapes or land masses that reference the body.

Opens: May 02, 7pm
Closes: May 30

The Unisa Art Collection is currently showcasing new acquisitions at the campus gallery, as well as selected graphic works by omen artists, from the permanent collection. As a counterpoint, curator Frieda Hattingh has selected objects from the university's archaeology and anthropology collections, featuring artefacts that employ skin, fur, wood and natural fibres.

Closing: May 30

'Plastic by Nature (a found title)' is the title of Gordon Froud's latest solo offering, having returned from time spent abroad. An installation constructed from a variety of plastic crockery and cutlery, I caught some of this work at the Cite in Paris last year and it struck me as being badly derivative of work by Alan Alborough. Hopefully this show will prove me wrong.

The exhibition will be opened by Neels Coetzee on April 21 at 2.00 p.m. and Gordelroos Productions will stage a performance.

Opening: April 21, 2pm
Closing: May 26