New editions at David Krut
by Suzie Copperthwaite
David Krut Arts is a diverse and comprehensive initiative which operates, and is located within, a wide international arts and culture network. David Krut, has himself, been publishing and dealing in limited edition prints and works on paper since the early 1980s. His program and objective is to actively promote the work and careers of artists both locally and aboard, which has manifested itself in several ongoing projects and endeavors.
Established in Johannesburg at the end of 2002, his print workshop is one dimension of the initiative that provides an exclusive, professional printmaking facility, for emerging and recognized artists alike - invited to collaborate with David Krut. The studio now also functions as a 'gallery' space too, where, of the work produced there, chosen prints are framed and exhibited.
For the space's third exhibition, 14 works have been exhibited: a selection of etchings, photogravures and monotype prints by South African artists Bonita Alice, Willem Boshoff, Wim Botha, William Kentridge, Colbert Mashile and Colin Richards.
Boshoff's Neve I and II images celebrate Nelson Mandela's 85th birthday (earlier this year). Boshoff has worked pictorially in text with the complexities of the anonym (a word that reads backwards) 'neves'. Inverted in printing, the work requires mirrored reading, and is, in his words, "therefore a vague mirror, held up to acknowledge, in a small way a great man's perplexing life."
Based on Italo Svevo's 1923 novel Confessions of Zeno, the gorgeous photogravures/ drypoint Kentridge editions make up the final group of images of his Zeno Writing multimedia project.
The David Krut Project encourages artists to experiment and work in print media as a means to expand on existing oeuvres. Bound by conceptual threads, Colbert Mashile's visual vocabulary has been appropriated across media into printmaking. I remember Colbert from university. I have always felt awed by the ease and clarity of his aesthetic, and the monotype method here appears to lend itself to the kind of freshness and sincerity with which I associate his production.
Directly and indirectly involved in a range of collaborative ventures related to the arts, there is also a Krut base in New York to assist in the South African art crusade. The Johannesburg publishing office, printmaking studio, bookshop and gallery all share the same modest space, so, practically; there are some viewing constraints.
The space functions as a potentially interactive resource, and provides access to books, publications and various other materials. Published by David Krut, the acclaimed Taxi Art Book series (and its educational supplements) is not only concerned with the documentation of contemporary local artists, but also with the promotion of our critical writers, including Ashraf Jamal and Shaun de Waal. And the staff is helpful and knowledgeable too. So, I think that the David Krut Project space is always worth a visit.
The David Krut Project space is situated on 140 Jan Smuts Ave in Parkwood, Johannesburg. Telephone (011) 880 4242 or email Siobhan@davidkrut.com.
