Archive: Issue No. 100, December 2005

9.12.05 Penny Walker at the TAG
9.12.05 'Treasures from the Dungeon' at the TAG
9.12.05 'The Affordable Art Fair' at artSPACE Durban
9.12.05 'Ukukhanya - Shine' at the DAG
9.12.05 'The 5 M's Exhibition' at the African Art Centre
9.12.05 Lalelani Mbhele at the Bat Centre

4.11.05 Roger Ballen at the DAG
4.11.05 Wim Botha at the DAG
4.11.05 'Women for Children' at the DAG
 

Scottish-born artist, Penny Waller's exhibition 'Personal Spaces' opens at the Tatham Art Gallery this month. The works focuses on interior cum exterior paintings of her intimate surroundings, concentrating on space and texture. Walker trained under Jane Heath and Valerie Maggs and she participated in the Durban Art Gallery's Jabulisa exhibition and the Midlands Biennale exhibition.

Opens: December 8, 2005
Closes: January 12, 2006

Numerous artworks in the Tatham Art Gallery's collection seldom, or in some cases, never see the light of day. The aim of this exhibition is to unearth some of these hidden treasures from the basement storage. This exhibition will focus largely on black and white works, mainly graphic prints that span the whole history of the collection, with an emphasis on the earlier works in the collection.

Opens: December 14
Closes: February 5

'Art's variety is one of its virtues' said Kimmelman, and this seems increasingly to be the mantra of artSPACE durban. The month of December, and part of January, sees the culmination of this year's broad variety of exhibitions shown in the confines of the warehouse-style gallery.

'The Affordable Art Fair' brings a diversity of works by emerging as well as established artists into the space. Notably, the highest selling price is R2000 a piece. This exhibition offers viewers the opportunity to purchase paintings, ceramics, photographs, and prints. Some of the participating artists include Grace Kotze, Mondli Mdanda, Marianne Meijer, Martha Zettler, Hugh Mbayiwa, Heleen Verwey, Joy Savage and Andrew Verster.

Opens: November 30
Closes: December 24

Re-opens: January 4
Closes: January 14

The Umcebo Trust with the National Department of Arts and Culture, the Department of Arts, Culture and Tourism (Ethekwini Cluster), DIT, St Raphael's School and Sinethemba Children's Centre, present their annual end of year exhibition entitled 'Ukukhanya - Shine'.

The exhibition showcases artworks created throughout the year by crafters with (and without) special needs. The exhibition takes the form of a forest of sparkling, luminescent jewels and silvery shining shapes and textures; glass beads crackle and intriguing sculptural hangings and figures embrace you as you wander through an amazing landscape of fantasy creations. The exhibition includes finely handcrafted jewellery and beadwork, spectacular couture gowns made from recycled materials, mosaics, wirework and beaded sculpture as well as the trademark Umcebo tapestries.

For more information contact Robin Opperman on 083 793 3408 or email: robino@telkomsa.net

Opens: December 7
Closes: February 7

'The 5 M's Exhibition' was conceptualised by Durban artists Zamani Makhanya and Sfiso ka-Mkame and features a variety of works by Zamani Makhanya, Leone Malherbe, Anthea Martin, Sfiso ka-Mkame and Marianne Meijer. The exhibition will showcase at least four pieces by each artist including paintings, pastels and mixed media works.

Opens: December 7
Closes: December 21

'Igxathu' is the first solo exhibition of paintings by Lalelani Mbhele. Igxathuis translated as the first step that a child makes when learning to walk, which is fitting for this inaugral exhibition.
Lalelani comments, 'This is my first step to stand by myself and to show the world what appealed to me. This exhibition is a reflection of a life style that makes up my memory of my life. I have managed to accept and live the experience of my surroundings and have found beauty, love and freedom of expression through the canvas.

Lalelani is a Durban-born painter, illustrator and muralist. An African Art Centre student from 1997, he is also a past student of the BAT Centre's Artists In Action Residency Programme. He has furthered his studies at the Durban Institute Of Technology and is currently involved in a number of public art projects with Terry Anne Stevenson from the Community Art Project. Lalelani is also a BAT Centre Resident Artist and has many of his works displayed in the BAT Centre studio.

Opens: December 2
Closes: December 29

Award-winning photographer Roger Ballen, who is known for the social commentary in his previous publications Dorps, Small Towns of South Africa; Platteland, Images from Rural South Africa and Outland, now explores in Shadow Chamber, the underbelly and the shadow chamber of existence.

Ballen's photographs are striking, ambiguous images of people, animals and objects posed in mysterious, cell-like rooms that occupy the grey area between fact and fiction. They blur the boundaries between documentary photography and art forms such as painting, theatre and sculpture. The results are completely abstract and not defined by the origins or specific location of the characters he photographs. Ballen focuses on the interactions between the people, animals and objects that inhabit mysterious rooms - the shadow chamber. The rooms are unsettling and strange: their walls are covered with scribbled drawings, stains and dangling wires, the floors are strewn with bizarre props and artefacts. Dogs, rabbits and kittens wander into the frame or are stuffed into unlikely containers. Figures hide away in boxes, crouch behind overstuffed sofas and squat with their shirts pulled over their heads.

The works from Shadow Chamber and Outland will be exhibited first at the Durban Art Gallery, then move on to the Sasol Museum, Oliewenhuis Bloemfontein, as well as the Everard Read and Heidi Erdmann Galleries.

Opens: November 2
Closes: January 16, 2006

Wim Botha's travelling Standard Bank Young Artist Award exhibition began its year long tour at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown and concludes its run at the Standard Bank Gallery in July next year.

Botha works in multiple media, with sculptures, etchings, paintings and drawings all forming part of his intricate installations. These reflect on and subvert the symbolic imagery of power, religion and art history. By visually interfering with venerated forms of art, artefact and decoration, the artist questions the implications of systems and structures that attempt to define who we are. In several of his installations this subversion alludes to the systemic decay inherent in symbolic representations related to power. This is coupled with a reconstructive desire, simulating found imagery in an altered way that allows the possibility of a revision of our assumptions.

Included in the exhibition is the Mieliepap Pietà, a life-size mirrored replica of Michelangelo's original, modelled in maize meal and epoxy resin. The sculpture was first exhibited at the Cathedral of St John the Divine in New York last year on 'Personal Affects', where it simultaneously commented on western traditions and was appropriated by worshippers as part of the fabric of the church. Botha is also well known for his Christ figure carved out of bibles, titled 'Commune: suspension of disbelief' and 'Commune: onomatopoeia', a complex installation of a suspended room, which is currently touring Europe on 'Africa Remix', a survey of the contemporary art of the continent.

Opens: November 23
Closes: January 27, 2006

Children's rights, like those of the women in South Africa, Africa and large parts of the developing world, remain invisible. To address this, Art for Humanity (AFH) has initiated the 'Women for Children' project. Throughout history, art has acted not only as a form of expression, but also as a means for artists to raise controversial issues, shed light on unspoken topics and has been the source of critical debate. AFH wishes to raise awareness around the issue of children's rights and to inspire a sense of moral ownership and social responsibility towards the rights of children.

Some of the contributing artists include Bronwen Vaughan-Evans, Kim Berman, Gabi Ngcobo, Diane Victor, Lien Botha, Gabisile Nkosi, Judith Mason, Phillipa Hobbs and Bronwen Findlay.

Opens: November 19
Closes: January 16