Archive: Issue No. 80, April 2004

01.04.04 'Staged Realities' at Michael Stevenson Contemporary
01.04.04 'Old Masters, New Perceptions' at SANG
01.04.04 Heike Davies, Nkoali Nawa and Committee Work at AVA
01.04.04 Art of Africa: 'The Bushmen Experience'
01.04.04 'Kalligraphos' at Sanlam Art Gallery
01.04.04 Henri Roberts and 'Venge' at Bell Roberts
01.04.04 Stephen Inggs at João Ferreira
01.04.04 Paschke's 'Cosas del Corazon' at João Ferreira
01.04.04 Lizze Littlewort, Lien Botha and other artists at AVA
01.04.04 Tracy Payne and 'Post Tokyo'at the Irma Stern Museum
01.04.04 Hugo Maritz at The Rossouw Gallery
01.04.04 Hanneke Benade and 'Passage' at Chelsea on 34
03.03.04 Borders and Beyond at Photographer's Gallery ZA and Guga S'Thebe
03.03.04 Staged Realities at Michael Stevenson
03.03.04 A Decade Of Democracy at the SANG
15.02.04 Jenny Parsons at Irma Stern
15.02.04 'Koeksisterhood' at 3rd i Gallery
03.02.04 10-year democracy exhibition at SANG

This exhibition aims to expose 'the soul in African photography' by comparing early portraits taken in sub-Saharan Africa from the 1860s by European photographers with more contemporary images. The juxtaposition traces the transition of an ethnographic and stereotypical view of African people entrenched by colonialism and supported by early photographic images to a more vibrant, life-affirming and individuated view generated by African photographers themselves through repositioning the photographic portrait.

The line-up is diverse and includes interesting portraits by David Goldblatt of amongst others, Robert Mugabe. A definite highlight is the inclusion of Samuel Fosso, the Cameroonian photographer who for three decades has practiced the art of self-portraiture. Dave Southwood is represented by two photographs from his studio series, and audiences interested in Sue Williamson's Dak'Art work will get an opportunity to see it here.

Opens: March 24
Closes: May 8

This exhibition brings a fresh lens to restored and newly acquired pre-20th century European paintings, sculptures and art works on paper. The major highlight is a new arrival, Antonin Mercié's Gloria Victis (Glory to the Vanquished) of 1875, described as a tour de force in bronze casting. Pietro Calvi's marble and bronze bust Othello (1868), now retitled Portrait of Ira Aldridge as Othello, is unveiled as an actual portrait of the internationally famous black American Shakespearian actor.

Opens: March 2004
Closes: December 2004

New works in mixed media by Heike Davies are on show in the Long Gallery, with paintings by Nkoali Nawa from Bloemfontein upstairs. In the main gallery, a group exhibition of works in diverse media by members of the AVA's committee reflects a diverse spectrum of styles, techniques and interests.

Opens: March 29
Closes: April 17

This exhibition comprises body maps produced by Bushmen (San) at a memory workshop at Platfontein, a communal farm in the Northern Cape. They are described as "visual narratives that express the relationship between memory and imagination in a collage of colour, picture and pattern, or simple marks on cardboard".

Closes: April 30

An exhibition of calligraphic art entitled 'Kalligraphos: Beautiful Writing' is being held at the Sanlam Art Gallery. The show has been put together in collaboration with the Cape Friends of Calligraphy to celebrate the organisation's 20th anniversary.
Opens: April 5
Closes: May 21

Henri Roberts studied graphic design, and this is quite evident when viewing his beautiful sketches of superhero characters he has created. The exhibition consists of original drawings for his first comic book Venge, which is to be launched at the show, as well as an animated feature film starring his self-styled superhero characters.

Opens: 6pm, April 7
Closes: April 30

In this body of work, Inggs hand paints with silver gelatin emulsion onto BFK Rives large-scale photographic paper. He works with the relationship between photographs and objects from material culture that embody aspects of the ideological and social context in which they were produced, reflecting on both past and present.

Opens: April 8
Closes: April 24

Varenka Paschke sees painting as a kind of freeze-frame of life, a way of exerting control. Playing with both the abstract and the figurative, infused with colour, Paschke 'Cosas del Corazon' explores the balance between nature and technology as the essential modern challenge.

Opens: April 15
Closes: May 1

In the main gallery Lizza Littlewort shows a series of painted portraits of figures from the young Cape Town art scene, mostly connected in some way to UCT's Michaelis School of Fine Art where she has been completing her Master's degree. A collaboration between Lien Botha and Italian artist and photographer Mariella Poli claims the long gallery, while upstairs Timothy Zantsi shows new works in mixed media on board.

Opens: April 19
Closes: May 8

Inspired by 'Kinbaku', the erotic art of rope bondage, and 'Sakura', the cherry blossom, Payne's sensual canvasses paint the story of a girl in bondage and her desire for liberation. Payne uses the bound nude to symbolize the Buddhist idea of samsara, a conditioned existence of superficial habits and compulsions and negative addictive patterns. The cherry blossoms remind us of the cyclical nature of life, death and rebirth and offer redemption.

Opens: May 4
Closes: May 25

Hugo Maritz is exhibiting 'The Mortal Coil' first at Gallery No. 10 in Hermanus and thereafter at the Rossouw Gallery in Cape Town. Maritz enjoys painting myths, which he describes as personifications of themes that have a bearing on human nature. His style has developed through realism towards a more abstract and cubist work. The gallery also shows work by Tay Dall, Richard Scott, Cobus van der Walt, Susan Mitchinson, Mariette van den Heever and Vanessa Berlein.

Opens: April 5 in Hermanus; April 16 in Cape Town
Closes: April 11 in Hermanus; April 23 in Cape Town

An exhibition of pastel paintings titled 'Passage' by Hanneke Benade opens this month at Chelsea on 34 in Darling. Benade last year won top honours in the painting category at the inaugural Brett Kebble Art Awards.

Opens: April 17
Closes: May 15

'Borders and Beyond' is an international travelling exhibition comprising a selection of 10 photo stories. These take us to places around the world where opposites collide - surfeit and misery, belonging and exclusion, inside and outside. At Photographer's Gallery ZA will be Jodi Bieber, Thomas Kern, Joachim Ladefoged, Don McCullin, Valeri Nistratov, Meinrad Schade, Randa Shaath and Roger Wehrli. At Guga S'Thebe are Manuel Bauer, Jodi Bieber, Juli�n Cardona and Valeri Nistratov.

At 2pm on March 13, Jodi Bieber will conduct a walkabout of the exhibition at Guga S'Thebe and on March 16 will run a workshop there entitled 'Ten years later...'.

Opens: March 11, at 6pm
Closes: April 17

'Staged Realities' is a group photographic exhibit showcasing African photography from the period 1870 to 2004.

Opens: March 31
Closes: May 15

To celebrate the tenth anniversary of the first democratic elections Iziko: South African National Gallery is showcasing a comprehensive exhibition featuring works of art made and acquired between 1994 and 2004. This exhibition presents an astonishing visual record of the hopes and aspirations, the fears and concerns of ordinary South Africans in this extraordinary decade of transformation.

Works of art produced during the decade by over 150 South African artists will be on view in nine rooms throughout the Gallery. In addition, a contemporary site-specific work on slavery at the Cape by Sue Williamson will be installed at the Castle of Good Hope. Works by major artists such as Jane Alexander, Willie Bester, Marlene Dumas, Kendell Geers, David Goldblatt, William Kentridge, Moshekwa Langa, Zwelethu Mthethwa, Malcolm Payne, Johannes Phokela, Berni Searle and Tracey Rose will be shown alongside the work of emerging artists including Thembinkosi Goniwe, Thando Mama, Colbert Mashile, Robin Rhode, Usha Seejarim, Mgcineni Pro Sobopha and Doreen Southwood.

The accompanying book, co-published by Double Storey Books and Iziko, is lavishly illustrated, includes a comprehensive listing of all works and features discursive essays by authors, curators and critics including Emma Bedford, Rory Bester, Joe Dolby, Ashraf Jamal, Andrew Lamprecht, Moleleki Frank Ledimo, Marilyn Martin, Zayd Minty, Andries Oliphant and Liese van der Watt.

Exhibition enquiries should be directed to Emma Bedford on email: ebedford@iziko.org.za.

Opens: April
Closes: August

Advance Notice: Parsons is a contemporary landscape painter, whose works are described as an intuitive response to Cape Town - the city in which she lives. Her work is a personal interpretation of her environment, described with expressive use of paint and colour, with compositional structure that evokes landscape at once real and imagined. 'Oil on Canvas' is her first solo show in the Mother City.

Opens: 6 April
Closes: 24 April

Advance Notice: Barbara l'Ange pays homage to women in the form of stitched and found objects, sculptures and paintings. They all come together in a rich tapestry of images and colours. Her work is both dark and light-hearted, serious and humorous, connected by the central theme of womanhood.

Opens: April 8
Closes: May 15

Advance Notice: In one of a spate of exhibitions to mark our decade of transformation, SANG is hosting a comprehensive show of works of art made and acquired over the past decade. They include major artists like Jane Alexander, Willie Bester, Marlene Dumas, Kendell Geers, David Goldblatt, William Kentridge, Zwelethu Mthethwa, Malcolm Payne, Johannes Phokela, Berni Searle and Tracey Rose.

Emma Bedford, head of SANG art collections, says: "It will be an interesting survey of where contemporary South African art is at the moment and offering insights on the decade." In addition, Sue Williamson is exhibiting a contemporary site-specific work on slavery at the Castle of Good Hope. An accompanying book, with discursive essays by local and international authors is due for publication early March. It is expected the exhibition will open at a similar time.

Opens: March 3