Archive: Issue No. 76, December 2003

20.12.03 New prints by Judy Woodborne at Art on Paper
01.12.03 Creative Inner City Initiative showcase at the JAG
01.12.03 Sharlene Khan at the Goethe Institute
01.12.03 'The small stuffed Christmas show' at Gordart at the Thompson Gallery
15.11.03 Clementina van der Walt at Krut Art Projects
15.11.03 DaimlerChrysler Arts Award at Museum Africa
15.11.03 Johannes Phokela at Gallery Momo
15.11.03 'Small Things Bright and Beautiful' at the Goodman

PRETORIA

01.12.03 Johan Thom at Outlet
01.12.03 'Break the Silence around HIV/Aids!' at Minds-I

Judy Woodborne presents six new etchings based on the idea of "theme and variations". The plates were prepared to be printed in various combinations, so that the final image is created during the process of printing. This is a technically complex process and subsequently the editions are kept small, five for some, 10 for others.

The Creative Inner City Initiative (CICI) is an exciting poverty alleviation project dedicated to supporting, developing and training artists and crafters. Its aim is the regeneration of the Hillbrow, Berea and Joubert Park communities through creative arts. The project has been funded by DAC (The National Department of Arts, Culture) since 2002.

The CICI'S core management team is formed by three organisations: Lapeng Child and Family Resource Service, The GreenHouse Project and the Joubert Park Public Art Project. In recognition of its success in uplifting and empowering artists of the inner city community, CICI won the 2003 ACT (Arts & Culture Trust) Award for cultural development project of the year.

Strategic coordinator Carol Liknaitzky says, "CICI's arts training is multifaceted. We teach a range of skills, and integrate our training so that visual artists, crafters and performers work together on joint projects. That makes us quite unique."

The project has been very effective, with close on 600 participants having benefited from the free, hands-on training workshops. Craft courses are inundated with prospective participants and the demand for training keeps growing. Specialist arts organisations have been subcontracted to enhance the skills and marketability of artists and creative collectives. Participants can choose to learn from a wide range of skills, which include sign writing, performing arts, mural painting, papermaking, embroidery, pottery, beadwork, graphics, woodworking, portraiture, video, framing, silk-screening, mosaic, business administration, marketing and entrepreneurial forums, as well as attending writing workshops.

"I believe that it's given people the hope that they can make a living out of what they love doing, which is art," says Bie Venter of the JPP, "They are obtaining the skills to develop small businesses and become self-sustainable."

Its impact has been profound and far-reaching, leading to income-generating opportunities, especially for youth and women. It's also led to the enhancement of existing arts and cultural initiatives, the revaluing of cultural heritage, and the establishment of a renewed identity for the area.

Liknaitzky explains: "It's key to make the area a safe and human place to live - it's become a prime cultural hub in the inner city." In addition, the project has resulted in increased pride, self-esteem and quality of life of the participants. "The building where the training takes place is filled with this amazing bubble of electrical energy and incredible enthusiasm," says Venter.

Leon Mdiya of Lapeng says, "Through CICI, we've created a family of artists who can now get support and form networks to be able to take on more work. We've also helped them uncover other artistic talents. They are being inspired to create businesses and products to sell to the community at large."

The welders have been commissioned to produce work, generating income through their involvement in the COPE building project, and the sign writers regularly produce signs for the Johannesburg Art Gallery, as well as fliers, directional signage and a banner for the Ziyabuya Spring Parade.

Five visual artists have worked in collaboration to produce a cover for a research book for the Ford Foundation. Many of the embroidery women now earn an income from filling orders for corporate gifts - beaded felt angels, books and Paper Prayer products. One bead worker has developed her own product and is currently employed at the Hillbrow Recreation Centre. The papermaking group have completed an order of handmade paper invitations for the Sandton Civic Art gallery.

Currently, you can find their products marketed in the Inner City at The Bus Factory, Artist Proof Studio Gallery, Kim Sacks Gallery, Unity Design Gallery, The DAC Poverty Alleviation Crafts Fair, and The Gauteng Crafts Fair. The CICI Exhibition and Performance offers an enhanced opportunity to view the wonderful visual and performing arts resulting from this inspiring initiative.

Says Liknaitzky: "This will showcase the work of CICI. People can experience the cultural hub and vibrancy of Joubert Park." The exhibition will reveal the practical nature of the skills that the artists have developed. "The role of arts and culture in urban renewal is a vital one, an investment in South Africa's future. An improved quality of life is essential in developing a humane and healthy society.

Opens: December 5
Closes: December 7

'Two for One Rand' is the title of Sharlene Khan's show at the Goethe Institute, which is jointly organised by the institute and the Johannesburg Art Gallery.

Opens: November 25
Closes: December 11

Gordon Froud recently inaugurated his curatorship of the Thompson Gallery with a show called 'No Agenda'. The exhibition featured work by 35 prominent Gauteng artists, including Abrie Fourie, Andre Naude, Angie Banks, Angus Taylor, Berco Wilsenach, Carla H Crafford, Cecile Heysteck, CJ Morkel, Colin Richards, David Koloane, Diane Victor, Diek Grobler, Durant Sihlali, Guy du Toit, Hanneke Benade, Ian Marley, Jan van der Merwe, Jo Ractliffe, John Moore, Kathryn Smith, Kim Berman, Leora Farber, Marco Cianfanelli, Michael Matthews, Moses Seleko, Norman Catherine, Paul Emmanuel, Peter Schutz, Retha Erasmus, Robert Hodgins, Sam Nlengethwa, Walter Oltmann, Wayne Barker, Willem Boshoff and Wim Botha.

Not to be outdone by the sheer volume of artists on his first show, Froud has collected the works of over 100 artists, all of whom present small and affordable works, off the wall and ideal for Christmas gifts. Also on show are some unusual craft items too.

Opens: December 6, at 2pm

Clementina van der Walt's ceramic objects present a symbiosis of the utilitarian and the metaphorical. Meaning is constructed both by the action in the mind of the maker and by the user of the item in its daily context.

In much of this current body of work on exhibition at Krut Art Projects, van der Walt has extended the metaphorical element by drawing on the poetry of Cape Town poet, Karen Press, in particular her collection of poems entitled Home (2000, Carcanet Press). Van der Walt has attempted to evoke a sense of her own interpretation of Press's poetry by combining fragments of text with form, colour and surface marks.

While all the items begin within the format of utilitarian function, they also exist as independent art works. Yet part of their meaning refers back to that initial function. Other works on show reveal a somewhat painterly "abstract expressionist" approach to surface, using bright coloured glazes and spontaneous splash and brush marks. The shapes are all either press-moulded or wheel thrown, allowing the clay to naturally dictate irregularities in form and texture, emphasising their handmade status.

Opens: November 10
Closes: December 23

The 2003 DaimlerChrysler Arts Award focused on creative photography. Offering the largest purse of its kind (in terms of overall monetary reward), the award was won by Guy Tillim. The public can however view the works of all eight selected finalists.

The eight nominees for this year's prize were Angela Buckland, Stephen Hobbs, Jakob Doman, Brent Meistre, Zwelethu Mthethwa, Jo Ractliffe, Guy Tillim and Andrew Tshabangu.

Angela Buckland is currently an independent freelance photographer, running her own business and studio. Her personal practice focuses on private stories of seemingly ordinary people and the lived experience, how we interact with friends, lovers, our families and even with strangers; how we desire 'connectedness' and a sense of belonging.

Stephen Hobbs lives and works in Johannesburg, which he views as "an African metropolis of perplexing contradictions and unpredictable developments in the social, urban environment." Hobbs draws on urban vocabularies of images and signs to point to cities transformative qualities, which are often invisible and ineffable.

Brent Meistre is a young Grahamstown-based artist explores photography as a language to be "read". Throughout his different projects, he continues to investigate the possibilities of single and multiple images as cinematic and thereby plays with the veiling of narrative.

Zwelethu Mthethwa uses the camera in natural light to make concrete statements, the dispassionate relationship between sitter and photographer a tangible thing, alluding to voyeurism of sacred homes and spaces.

Jo Ractliffe works with the photographic medium as a research tool, constantly exploring the theory and issues of why we make pictures, pushing the boundaries of how audiences should look. In 2003 she produced a video for choreographer Jay Pather's project Cityscapes, at the Johannesburg Art Gallery.

Guy Tillim's documentary reportage is best known for moving beyond the boundaries of conflict in respect of aesthetics and poetry, effectively capturing the space in between and allowing the viewer to become part of the scene.

Andrew Tshabangu expresses his vision of photography by often using the lower light registers, which most photographers avoid. His photography is inherently spiritual, showing remarkable detail, capturing moods and evoking emotion within the viewer.

Jakob Doman's personal photographic projects focus on the social construction of identity and space. In 2000 he entered the professional marketplace, specialising in fine-art advertising photography, receiving D&AD (London) and One Show (New York) awards in 2001.

Opens: November 13
Closes: January 30, 2004

   SEE NEWS

Johannes Phokela will be holding his first comprehensive solo exhibition in South Africa, at Gallery Momo.

Born in Soweto in 1966, Phokela now lives in London, where he graduated from the Royal College of Art, London, gaining a Masters Degree in Painting in 1993. He has won several awards including a John Moore painting prize and a BP National Gallery Portrait Award. His work is represented in the South African National Gallery and in the Smithsonian National Museum for African Art.

Amongst his numerous accomplishments, Phokela was selected for the large-scale exhibition, publication and symposium project, curated by Salah Hassan for Rotterdam Cultural Capital of Europe 2001, titled 'Unpacking Europe'. He completed an IADSPIS residency programme in Stockholm 2001.

Phokela is best known for his polemical use of iconography as a resource base from which to transcend the burden of cultural myths. The Baroque images of the 17th century, as well as old Flemish painting particularly fascinate him. He takes on what he perceives as being Europe's 'grandiose' history of art as a medium to convey values and ideals represented within a global context of cultural elitism, an approach primarily chosen as a diversion.

Hw masterfully reworks iconic masterpieces and, in doing so, offers a much more complex rendition or parody, in works often consisting wholly or chiefly of motifs, forms or techniques borrowed from different sources. Phokela's paintings and use of elaborate pastiche, are a striking force and compelling creative insurrection, often endorsing oblique, idiosyncratic views on the human condition, ahead of trends and stylistic mainstreams.

Opens: November 20
Closes: December 20

'Small Things Bright and Beautiful' is an unashamedly commercial show showcasing a wide range of the venerable gallery's artists. Robert Hodgins, Cecil Skotnes, Sam Nhlengethwa, William Kentridge, David Koloane and Clive van den Berg are just some of the artists on show.

Also on show are Penny Siopis' new Shame series, Mathew Brittan's painting works, Norman Catherine's Juju Bazaar series of wood sculptures, Kagiso Pat Mautloa's miniature paintings of Zoloton in Switzerland, and Dr. Alistair Mundy-Castle's fantastical imagery made with whimsical fine line detail.

Opens: November 22
Closes: December 20

Commenting on his new show 'Here/ Now', artist Johan Thom has this to say: "My work is never concrete. It may be invested in certain moments, spaces or even objects, but it is always about refuting what it is I think I know. Possibly, at source, my work is about the relationship between different entities - bodies, identities, objects, spaces - and how this relationship is maintained as being one of knowledge and of power".

Thom further states: "The oldest dichotomy in western thinking, between the subject and the object, the inside and the outside, is at stake here: a dichotomy that can only be maintained if one is ready to admit that despite the vastness of the experience of life, there are limits and that these limits are somehow real, and therefore also somehow meaningful".

"When I create actions/ performances/ artworks I am always motivated by thoughts of the outside: a space that exists purely because I have willed it to be so. I am not willing to accept this dichotomy as being a natural aspect of life or of the structure of knowledge in general. In any way, the experience of things refutes any attempt to bestow on them the sureties of our knowledge without destroying them in some way".

Thom's current works from his 'Here/ Now' show form part of a two and half year titled the 'exorcism series'. The works focus on the power of transgression (the violation of the limit, the taboo, the unspoken fear or desire) and experience to disrupt the seeming coherence of our everyday.

Opens: November 26, at 7pm Closes: December 3

'Break the Silence around HIV/Aids!' is an exhibition of graphic prints to mark World Aids Day. The exhibition is an attempt to embark on new ways of creating awareness for HIV/AIDS.

Works by the following artists will be on display: Yusuf Arakkal, Giselle Baillie, Kim Berman, Kanuge John Bosco, Tinus Boshoff, Chris Diedericks, Alex Flett, Bronwen Findlay, Sister Sheila Flynn, Penny George, Deryck Healey, Nyaniso Christopher Lindi, Joseph Madisia, Trevor Makhoba, Osiah Masekoameng, Judith Mason, Sipho Mdanda, Martin Moratillo, Gabisile Nkosi, Daniel Ohene-Adu, Carmen Perrin, Sthembiso Sibisi, Vukile Teyise, Dominic Thorburn, Yusuf Vahed, Diane Victor, Amira Wasfy, Sue Williamson, Judy Woodborne, Nhlanhla Xaba and Mduduzi Xakaza.

The event is sponsored by the German Development Service (DED) and Art for Humanity (formerly Artists for Human Rights). Art for Humanity is a non-profit voluntary association that advocates humanitarian issues such as human rights and HIV/Aids. The German Development Service (DED) is a non-profit organisation funded by the German government. Around 1000 professionals are working in 45 countries and assist people in improving their living conditions.

Opens: December 1, at 6pm
Closes: December 13