Archive: Issue No. 89, January 2005

07.01.05 Paul Emmanuel at Constitution Hill
07.01.05 Moshekwa Langa at the Goodman Gallery
07.01.05 Jacki McInnes at Gordart
07.01.05 Illuminando Vidas at the Bensusan Museum
07.01.05 Diana Hyslop at Gallery @ 157

05.11.04 SABC Collection at JAG
05.11.04 Mike Feldman at Bensusan

PRETORIA

07.01.05 Daphne Prevoo at PAM

04.12.04 Fourth Year Students at Unisa

Award winning artist Paul Emmanuel mounts his second solo show, 'After-Image'. The first recipient of the prestigious Ampersand Foundation Fellowship in 1997 and winner of the Sasol wax in art competition 2002, Emmanuel is known for his sensitive and intimate intaglio works.

The highlight of this show is Emmanuel's new monumental work After-image. It comprises an original drawing on exposed colour photographic paper. Here Emmanuel explores the politics of South African militarism, power and patriarchy and their relationship to the male identity. This work has recently been purchased by Hollard for their new head office.

Other recent works on exhibition include Emmanuel's artists' book Cathexis as well as two editioned photographic works from 'The Lost Men', a site-specific memorial installation, launched at last year's Grahamstown National Arts Festival.

Says Emmanuel, 'The war in Iraq in 2003, with its resultant destruction, loss and pain, evoked memories of personal loss ... I am influenced by this war - the futility, the wasted lives... we all are. We suffer the loss of humanity, we suffer the loss of gentleness and vulnerability, the loss of feeling, empathy and sensitivity. We suffer the loss of dignity, we suffer the loss of relationships and potential, we suffer the loss of hope and future... We become defined by ideas of manliness, militarism and patriarchy which confine and define men to live out pre-determined gender roles limiting their emotional expression.'

Opens: January 17
Closes: February 10

Moshekwa Langa mounts his second show at the Goodman Gallery. This exhibition comprises a series of new drawings, photographic editions and video works, created between 1999 and 2004.

Over the past few years Langa has participated in several high profile international shows, including 'Present + Tense' (2004) in Düsseldorf, 'Min(e)dfields' (2004) in Berne, 'Looking Both Ways: Art of the Contemporary African Diaspora' (2003) at New York's Museum for African Art, and 'Fault Lines: Contemporary African Art and Shifting Landscapes' (2003) at the Venice Biennale.

Langa describes his current body of work as 'a series of collages that fuse historical timelines with the present. They evoke issues of social transformation, and abandonment. They take forms of earlier explorers in search of new world, new excitements, and new 'everythings'.

'So all these things are packed into the work to make composites of the current times ... The drawings have a combined childlike quality with sophisticated fine lines. They are also expressive and decorative yet depict social meaning in the same instant. I have used a variety of media to bring my interests to the fore - there is no air to breathe, no space to consider - until you have left the building!"

Opens: January 22
Closes: February 12

Reviewed by Kim Gurney in November's issue of ArtThrob, when this exhibition was mounted at the Bell-Roberts Gallery, Jacki McInnes' exhibition is about the decision to end a pregnancy. Making use of salt, lead, leather and other non-conventional media in her work, 'The Vocabulary of Ambiguity - For Her' is 'an exploration of a complex set of issues that happen to intersect on the issue of abortion'.

Opens: January 16
Closes: January 29

This exhibition of Moçambiquan photography made between 1950 and 2001, curated by Dr. Bruno Z'Graggen and Mr. Grant Lee Neurenberg, features work by Ricardo Rangel, Kok Nam, Rui Assubuji, Luís Basto, José Cabral, Joel Chiziane, Joã Costa (Funcho), Alexandre Fenías, Martinho Fernando, Albino Mahumana, Ferhat Vali Momade, Alfredo Mueche, Alfredo Paco, Sérgio Santimano and Naíta Ussene.

Bruno Z'Graggen will be the guest speaker at the opening event. In addition, some of the photographers will be present at the exhibition openings and will be hosting peer workshops during the run of the show.

Opens: January 23
Closes: February 20

Diana Hyslop, an artist who enjoys permanent residency at the Bag Factory studios in Newtown, Johannesburg, presents new work. In her paintings, relics from the natural world and contemporary urban artefacts frequently co-exist within the same frame, erasing geo-political borders.

'I am interested in freedom, boundaries and space ... In how we limit and expand ourselves at the same time,' she comments. The Yeoville water tower, television sets, angels and aeroplanes have long been part of her visual vocabulary, along with animals, stars, roots and trees. The relationships between these things are determined by a dream-like spontaneity.

Her current exhibition draws on her experience working in film, photography and at Marvel Comics in London, where popular strips like Spiderman, The Incredible Hulk and The Avengers were adapted for a British audience. Using techniques drawn from these industries, she combines photographs, paintings and digital enhancement to create a storyboard sequence of images, like a condensed film clip.

Opens: January 29
Closes: February 26

The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) has been acquiring art works informally for more than half a century. Following the restructuring of the corporation in 1994, the art collection was formalised under a curator and funds were allocated for the acquisition of works representative of South Africa's new democracy. During the past 10 years, a primary concern has been to acquire work by black artists and other artists previously under-represented in the collection. Selected work is regularly displayed at the SABC in public and office spaces. Approximately 180 works will be shown in this exhibition, entitled 'Making Waves'.

The work on show ranges from that of William Timlin and Gerard Bhengu made in the 1920s to that by Santu Mofokeng and Robert Hodgins acquired at their recent solo exhibitions.

Approximately 100 artists are represented. The floor space is divided into eight thematic spaces as indicated in the catalogue to the exhibition. These in part reflect a concern to show work in a range of media from drawing (Julian Motau and Diane Victor), prints (Dan Rakgoathe, Malcolm Payne, Kendell Geers) and painting (Irma Stern, George Pemba, Robert Hodgins, Zwelethu Mthethwa) to sculpture (Ezrom Legae, Peter Schütz), video (Konrad Welz), mixed media (Sam Nhlengethwa, David Koloane) and photographs (Jo Ractliffe, Ken Oosterbroek) amongst others.

A retrospective exhibition of 45 years of photographing South Africa, by Mike Feldman, will be opened by Louis Yudelman.

Opens: November 7
Closes: January 15

Dutch artist, Daphne Prevoo presents 'Boundless', a site-specific installation. Living one half of the year in Swaziland and the other in England, Prevoo makes work fuelled by her compulsive travelling. Relating to the notion of the 'un-placed' and a search for a sense of belonging, Prevoo's work is about in-betweenness, questioning the rigidity of physical, geographical or sexual boundaries.

Prevoo manifests a preoccupation with objects of demarcation in her work. Fences and cages are recurring elements, symbolising a search for personal confines. Fencing as a physical demarcation is used to protect and keep safe, but can also be considered as an infringement on freedom and a limitation of movement, whether physical or philosophical.

The work questions issues of safety and fear, but also the origin of a false sense of security. The aesthetic of the metal work is reminiscent of Victorian birdcages, once used to 'imprison objects of beauty'. Prevoo is interested in the juxtaposition of these contradictory interpretations.

Moving away from strict linear demarcations, Prevoo's current work is more organic. Consequently, the distinction between inside and outside becomes blurred.

Other recurring elements in Prevoo's work are the chair as a disembodied occupant and the clothing sculptures that are within the realm of the uncanny and absurd. Whilst these objects are at first glance instantaneously recognisable, they convey a sense of discomfort and unease.

After completing her degree in Fine art at Central St. Martins (1994), Prevoo read for her Masters at the Royal College of Art (1996). Between 1998 and 2003 she held a senior lecturer post at the Surrey Institute of Art and Design. Since 2003 she has been a senior lecturer at the University of East London. Prevoo has exhibited extensively in Europe, Africa and Asia in group and solo exhibitions.

Opens: January 8
Closes: January 31

This exciting exhibition offers the Unisa fourth year visual art students their first opportunity to show in a professional space. Experimental in nature, the students' work ranges widely in media.

Captions:

Opens: December 2
Closes: January 28