Archive: Issue No. 75, November 2003

On March 9, earlier this year, Newtown woke to an inferno. The Artists Proof Studio (APS) burnt down to the ground taking with it a prolific artist, co-founder and mentor, Nhlanhla Xaba. His death shocked the entire art community. Six month on, despite ongoing trauma, pain and uncertainty, students, teachers, artists and friends of the studio are exhibiting new works at the Rand Afrikaans University art gallery in Auckland Park, Johannesburg.

The works on offer vary in technique and style, all of them somehow reminiscent of the APS printmaking tradition. The show includes two colour lithographs that Xaba made shortly before his untimely death. They are titled The Dusk and Dawn of Humanity: The Kigali genocide and Children of Foreign Dream". Both show Xaba's concern with issues taking place on the African continent.

Another outstanding contributor to the exhibition is by Paul Molete, a former student of Xaba and presently a teacher at the studio. Molete, who won a merit prize for printmaking at the inaugural Brett Kebble Art Awards, exhibits four lino-prints depicting child abuse. The works are titled Incest I & II, and are powerful reminders of the unprecedented violence done on innocent children.

One print shows two pigs wearing human masks watching a human-like form raping a young child. The inclusion of text in the print (the child is five-months-old) articulates a shocking truth about the deterioration of human standards. Molete's other two works positively portray young children who appear to have survived abuse; they are full of gusto. Molete's work shocks and at the same time heals the wounds.

Other participants in this commemorative exhibition included Diana Victor, Kim Berman, Walter Oltman, Shiela Flynn, Mandy Canidaris, Sheryl Page as well as a grouping of Belgian friends who over the years visited and gave demonstrations at the studio. This latter grouping produced a limited edition series of postcards and a portfolio made of nine prints. Oltman's print, titled Portrait is a very imposing work. Rendered life size, the print shows Oltman staring blankly at the onlooker. The print does not intimidate or cause you to react. Its strength lies in Oltman's patience, and the immaculate manner in which each mark balances his tones.

Two outstanding student contributions merit praise. Philemon Hlungwani comes from the Limpopo region, Trevor Thebe was born in Soweto; both exhibited works on drypoint. Hlungwani's work deals with traditional rural scenes showing different rituals being performed. Thebe's print depicts an embryo buried deep in the ground with a long thin passage that protrudes to the ground. It is a powerful and conceptual print.

The range of the prints on this exhibition bears ample testimony to the rich variety of printmaking skills being honed at the Artist Proof Studio. By all accounts, the studio is again abuzz with activity, professional and occasional printmakers maintaining the hopes and aspirations of the studio's staff and students - both past and present.

November 5 - 19