Archive: Issue No. 45, May 2001

Marc Shoul takes portraits of individuals and their surroundings. By situating his subjects in environments that are familiar and comfortable to them, he introduces the observer into private spaces while at the same time making them aware of the subject's broader social context. Such a play allows the unfamiliar to become familiar, as well as introducing a sense of displacement and voyeuristic discomfort in the viewer.

Shoul graduated with a B Tech degree (cum laude) from the Port Elizabeth Technikon in 1999. Currently based in Cape Town, he freelances for several national magazines.

Opening: Tuesday May 29 at 6pm
Closes: June 16

'Bandhini' is the Indian technique of dyeing fabric with patterns of minute dots using a tie and dye process. The word "bandhini" means, literally, tiny knotting from "bandh" meaning "knotting" and "ni" or"tiny". Today mass-produced bandhini fabric is machine printed. Speaking of his new works Durban artist Andrew Verster says "I am fascinated by the idea that the subject of a painting may not reveal itself immediately. You may see other things first. There is no background or foreground. It is all one. That is not to say that everything is equally important, just that everything is important".

Verster continues to develop and explore a contemporary visual language based on the conflation of Western and Asian pictorial principals - investigating notions of 'abstraction' and the contradictions between diverse influences and elements that collide, cajole and nestle together in one canvas. He says "I take fragments from here and there that have never until then met and now have to spend their lives together comparing notes. My paintings are like an arranged marriage".

The exhibition is a testimony to his ever-intensifying love affair with India. Speaking of this, he says "When I talk about India I mean the big one across the sea and Durban, my India. In my mind they are the same thing. When someone called Durban 'the suburbs of India', I knew exactly what she meant. Living in these suburbs for thirty-five and more years, India has invaded my mind and my thinking".

The exhibition will also include a component created by Marklyn Govender and Clint Singh. Designers of Indian marriage ceremonies (from selection of garments to styling and mendhi rituals) they are sensitive to the need to preserve tradition and yet to be innovative and are constantly experimenting with new ideas. An installation foregrounding their exceptional eye for colour, style and unusual combinations of materials will occupy part of the exhibition space.

The exhibition will be opened by Ajit Kumar, Consul General for India.

Free walkabouts to be conducted by Andrew Verster on Tuesday May 15 at 12.30pm; Saturday May 19 at 12.30pm; Tuesday May 22 at 10am; and Sunday May 27 at 11.30am.

Opening: Tuesday, May 08, 6pm
Closing: May 26

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James Olmesdahl has produced a series of oil on canvas paintings over the past five years, all executed in blacks, grays and whites. The work deals with seemingly innocent subject matter: flowers, some jugs, vases and shells. However, these mostly fragile components are set into robust and stark surroundings, generated by rich paint and mark-making.

Olmesdahl states "there was part of me (when making these works) that intuitively sought to explore the kinds of meaningfulness that could be generated by the unusual and unfamiliar sonorities of black and white. I became engrossed in seeking out the boundaries of this self-imposed limitation and in so doing created works that, paradoxically, are highly colourful. On a spiritual level what these works reflect, I think, is a persistent and uncompromising search for truth".

Each canvas has been reworked numerous times, developing and assuming its character over a period of time. This reworking included numerous applications of paint, the removal and scraping of other layers and incisions into the paint surface. The result is an intense body of work.

'Icons of Transfiguration' is Olmesdahl's first solo exhibition.

The exhibition will be opened by artist, critic and teacher Dan Cook.

Opening: Tuesday, May 08, 6pm
Closing: May 26

The month of May sees Red Eye @rt celebrating its third birthday with a sizzling line-up of events guaranteed to entertain and enthrall all who attend. The festivities will continue until 10 pm and include a street party directly outside the entrance to the gallery with two lanes of traffic being closed off specially for the event.

The evening will feature a visual feast with offerings from the likes of talented Durban artist Langa Magwa, who will present his much awaited Butterflies made of cowhide, an exhibition completed during his Masters year at Technikon Natal. Jo Ractliffe, the 1999 Vita Art Prize winner, will showcase a multi-screen video installation as well as the launch of her monograph in the Taxi series on contemporary South African artists of note. The current exhibitions at the gallery include 'Jabulisa', a huge collection of selected works from across the province.

Hardcore, Hip Hop sounds prevail when Durban band Sideshow take the stage,with DJ Tira from Gauteng - winner of the Smirnoff Young DJ for 2000 award - spinning the decks inbetween. Also hailing from Gauteng are the two luscious ladies Maselo and Lebu, who will display their talent in the form of funky, Hip Hop poetry. If you_re a slave to fashion, then be sure to check out the latest designs on display before moving outside to indulge in some "street cultcha". You can catch local tag artists battling it out in a graffiti competition while breakdancers and fire performers set the night alight to the Breakbeat tunes of local DJ_s. The Natal Playhouse will also join in the fun with a performance geared towards creating awareness about their up-coming show 'Seeing Red'.

The Red Eye @rt third birthday bash begins at 6pm sharp on Friday May 4.
Entrance is R15 for the general public or R10 for members and students.

Don't forget to renew your membership at the door (if you haven't already done so) to continue receiving publications.

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'Ethwekeni' (the correct Zulu name for Durban) is an exhibition of multi-media works produced during a one-month interactive workshop by artists Gabi Ngcobo, Langa Magwa, Thando Mama, Zamaxolo Dunywa, David Haigh and Sharlene Khan. Graduates from UDW and Technikon Natal, the artists have formed a collective called 'Third Eye Vision'. They have specifically chosen the name 'Ethwekeni' because it embodies "much of our country's convoluted history, its remembrance and erasure, what is hidden and what has been recovered". Legend has it that in the days before the arrival of white people in the bay of Durban, there was a clan just South of Durban called amaQadi. Then there was no Durban or even eThekwini. There was, however, eThwekeni. As the stories tell it the fertile soil around the bay provided ideal grazing grounds for the amaQadi king's cattle - the same king who observed that the shape of the bay bore a resemblance to that of a bull's testicle. He therefore named the area iThweke (testicle) - eThwekeni contains the prefix 'e-' and the suffix '-ni' to denote 'the place of ...'. The name was lost when the white settlers mispronounced eThwekeni and called it eThekwini or eThekweni. Similar instances of mispronounciation led to 'uthoNgathi' becoming 'Tongaat' and 'eMbokodweni' became uMbongotwini'.

'Third Eye Vision' have chosen to use the name 'eThwekeni' because it relates to location - geo-politically, temporally and ideologically. The term 'eThwekeni' contains with it ambiguity and multiple identities within the city - Zulu, Xhosa, South African, black, African, female, male, artist, white, Indian, Durbanite... The legend of iThweke, whether true or not, expresses according to the group "our collective and individual consciousnesses".

During the workshop phase, which ends on Friday May 10, members of the public are invited to watch the artists at work and view their progress. The artists will be working in painting, printing, sculpture, collage and many more disciplines/media. The exhibition's focus is Durban and its environment and in particular how artists can use the items they pick up around their city to make art.

Public discussions and an open day are planned for both the workshop and exhibition periods. 'Third Eye Vision' hopes to make the workshop and exhibition an annual event.

Opening: May 10
Closing: June 04

'From Now' is Port Elizabeth artist, Lushan Mansell's first solo exhibition. A Port Elizabeth Technikon graduate, Mansell's says: "For me, the creation of art has become an act of surrender and trust: of my muses, who decide what has to be expressed, and of my skill that has been developed over the period of my life. What has transpired is a collection of images on paper that express in line, tone and composition, the inner landscapes".

Opening: May 11
Closing: June 05

A collection of paintings and an installation by young Durban artist Sharlene Khan will go on display as part of Kwa Muhle Museum's Workers' Day celebrations. The collection, entitled 'Durban at Work' depicts life and work on the streets of the city and reflects the vibrancy and challenges of street trade.

Andrew Verster, always of a keen supporter of new talent, says of the work, "Sharlene Khan takes the most ordinary of things and turns them into poetry. In doing this she opens our eyes. With her paintings as a guide, a walk through Durban's unglamorous streets becomes an experience. She makes us notice people and incidents, landscape and pattern which we otherwise might miss".

Also at the Kwa Mhule Museum in partnership with The Workers' College
'Working Women'

'Working Women' is the collective effort of a number of photographers and the images were collated by photographer Rafs Mayet. The motivation for the collection was to highlight the different work that in which women engage. The collection focuses on women's work in both the formal and informal sector but more importantly it focuses on the nature and range of work these women do. It also illustrates women's unpaid work in the form of housework and child rearing thus concluding that women are the most exploited of the working class. Despite this, or perhaps because of this, women are always located at the forefront of the struggle for basic human rights, like access to water, education, housing, health care, better wages. A presentation by Kuki Ndlovu, Provincial Manager of DENOSA, readings and performances will accompany this exhibition. Guest Speaker: Nise Malange

Opening: Thursday April 26 at 6.00pm

Friends of the Durban Art Gallery have organized a visit to Andrew Walford's Studio and the Mariannhill Monastery on Sunday the 22nd April, 2001. Andrew Walford, one of the country's top ceramicists has exhibited in London, Amsterdam, Hamburg and Washington, D.C. His work is firmly situated in the Eastern tradition and he was the first South African to be invited to exhibit his work in Japan in 1969. A visit to the studio will allow visitors to view his ceramic work as well as the spectacular vista over the Shongweni area. Please bring a picnic lunch to have at the studio. The journey will continue after lunch with a guided tour of Mariannhill Monastery. Built by the Trappist monks, the buildings are a veritable lexicon of the many decorative uses for brickwork and the inventive and ingenious solutions that the monks came up with to build a self-sustaining community.

The bus will leave from the City Hall (Smith Street) at 10.00 a.m. for Andrew Walford's Studio.

Previously seen at the Tatham Art Gallery in Pietermaritzburg 'Jabulisa 2000' now travels to Durban. From here it will be broken into smaller units to travel to regional shows so this is the last chance to see it in its entirety.

This is the second 'Jabulisa' exhibition, the last one touring to the Standard Bank Grahamstown Festival and Johannesburg in 1996. 'Jabulisa 2000' offers visitors a chance to see a range of contemporary KwaZulu-Natal art in one venue. Paintings, graphics, sculptures, ceramics, installations and pieces, as the publicity says, 'that defy traditional categories'. The show will take up half of the Durban Art Gallery and on one level is certainly extensive. Whether it fully and effectively engages the spectrum of contemporary art production in KwaZulu Natal is an open debate as many major artists of the province are represented by small pieces and the show seems to lack curatorial direction. There is, however, much to be seen and the show seems to have popular appeal - its run was extended by public demand in Pietermaritzburg.

Each year at the African Art Centre a real treasure trove of an exhibition occurs - a show of historic and rare traditional African art. Over 800 pieces cover everything from Zulu beer pots from the Pongola area dating from the 1920s, bead work from 14 areas in Kwa-Zulu Natal as well as particularly rare items from the Thembu people of the Cofimvaba area, beer baskets, spears, ceremonial dancing sticks and headdresses. This is a real collectors' show with pieces for sale to museums and public collections on March 6 from 10 a.m. to 4.30 p.m. and to private collectors on March 7, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The exhibition will be open to the general public March 7 at 6 pm by Professor Ptika Ntuli

Opening: Tuesday March 07, 6pm