Archive: Issue No. 107, July 2006

7.07.06 James Webb at blank projects
7.07.06 Anita Van Tonder at Bell-Roberts
7.07.06 Portrait Exhibition at the AVA
7.07.06 Laurina Paperina at Erdmann Contemporary
7.07.06 'Multiplus' at 34Long
7.07.06 'Spit II' at the US Art Gallery
7.07.06 Cape Institute of Architects at the AVA
7.07.06 Koos de Wet at 3rd i Gallery
7.07.06 'About Face' at Bell-Roberts
7.07.06 'kinder künst' at what if the world...
7.07.06 'Second to None' at the SANG

2.06.06 Joke van Katwijk at The Photographers' Gallery za
2.06.06 David Lurie at Bell-Roberts Contemporary

11.04.06 'Facing the Past' at the SANG
 

In his new untitled work, James Webb has used the blank projects space to create a winter intervention in the neighbourhood. While the gallerists are away for six weeks, the empty space will be haunted by faulty electricity resulting in the gallery lights flickering in Morse code. The message, known only to the artist, will be broadcast all the time but it is best viewed at night through the space's shopfront window.

Opens: June 7
Closes: July 15

This month Bell-Roberts hosts 'Bennie's Games' by Anita Van Tonder, a finalist for the Kanna award at the Klein Karoo Nasional Kunstefees earlier this year.

'Bennie's Games' comprises seven sculptural pieces each either accompanying a typical video arcade game or transformed to become such a game. By creating detailed and luridly kitsch renditions of notions of the ideal and stereotypical, van Tonder uses notions of play and competition to expose issues such as abuse of power and substances, media-induced obsessions with food, physical appearance, sex and excess.

Opens: July 19
Closes: August 9

At the end of this month the AVA hosts an exhibition of selected portraits in all three galleries. This exhibition is open to the public and artists are invited to submit entries in any media, using the theme of portraiture as a starting point. A selection will be made by the AVA panel. Works can be submitted on July 26 and 27.

Opens: July 31
Closes: August 18

Erdmann Contemporary hosts the first South African solo exhibition of accomplished young Italian artist, Laurina Paperina, this month. The exhibition, entitled 'Hot Drawings' will feature the artists darkly whimsical drawings and work on video.

Opens: July 19
Closes: September 2

'MultiPlus', an exhibition of editioned works, opens at 34Long this month. Like its forerunner last year, the show will contain works by established South African artists and some celebrated international artists like Takashi Murakami and Yoshitomo Nara.

A special feature on the show will be an edition of William Kentridge's Atlas Confession, originally published for Documenta XI in Kassel. Kentridge's Black box/Chambre noir, a stereoscopic representation in an edition of 100 commissioned by the Deutsche Guggenheim in 2003, will also be available to, what the gallery describes as, the 'discerning collector'.

Opens: July 18
Closes: August 5

'Spit II', the second in the Spit series of artefactual journals, is a print portfolio published by the teaching staff of the Visual Art Department at the University of Stellenbosch. Each of the 15 contributors has created two original prints for the portfolio.

An exhibition of these prints will open at the US Art Gallery this month as part of the international conference titled 'Forging the Local and the Global', hosted by the university's English Department.

Opens: July 11
Closes: August 5

In all three galleries at the AVA, a group of approximately 20 professional architects from the Cape Institute of Architects will exhibit selected artworks in several media, highlighting their personal interest in artmaking across a variety of themes and styles. Opens: July 10
Closes: July 28

The 3rd i Gallery exhibits new paintings by Koos de Wet in a show titled 'Keep It Together!'. De Wet's work presents bittersweet snapshots of everyday life in the Western Cape, constructing free-floating narratives embroiled in the area's histories and cultures.

Opens: July 26
Closes: August 26

Bell Roberts too holds a portrait exhibition this month. 'About Face' focuses on the particular genre of portrait painting. The portrait has become the gateway to the exploration of the relationship between identity, consumption, commerce, mass media, and contemporary culture.

Artists Cameron Platter, Nigel Mullins, Norman O'Flynn, Paul du Toit, Sanell Aggenbach and Tanya Poole were invited to use the genre both as form of self- and societal reflection. Exhibiting artists explore and interrogate that most hallowed of genres, from the frivolous and potentially disjunctive practices of consumerism, to the nostalgic celebration of history and tradition.

Opens: July 19
Closes: August 12

what if the world... is hosting its first annual exhibition of art and design for children in a show titled 'kinder künst. All works will be produced by local contemporary artists and designers, including Heather Moore, knolc, Jesse Breytenbach, Francesco Nassimbeni, Gabby Raaff, Meu, Marna Hattingh, tokyo beach, Leigh-Ann Matthews, neonblack, Hannah Morris and others.

Opens: June 28
Closes: July 15

Curated by Virginia Mackenny and Gabi Ngcobo, this large show of (mainly) women's work commemorates the spirit of the Women's March to Pretoria in 1956, and celebrates the power of women, while examining issues of gender, race and identity. Artists include Penny Siopis, Diane Victor, Tracy Payne, and rising young artists like Lolo Veleko and Zanele Muholi. See Linda Stupart's review.

Part of the show but in its own exhibition space are the arresting large scale black and white photographic portraits of some of the 75 women featured in Karina Turok's newly launched book, Body and Soul (Doublestorey Publishers).

Opens: June 24
Closes: September 3

The Photographers' Gallery za in association with Galerie Van der Straeten in Amsterdam hosts the first South African solo exhibition for Dutch photographer Joke van Katwijk.

Van Katwijk was born in Holland in 1953 and studied photography in Den Haag and Haarlem. Since 1988 she has worked as a full time artist specialising in lens- based work and more recently also video. Van Katwijk has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions throughout Europe. She is an award-winning photographer and is represented in many private and corporate collections in Holland. 'Hereabouts' comprises a series of images from dreams, utilising a new etching technique which allows her a continuous flow of images onto one sheet of paper.

Opens: June 5
Closes: July 15

This month Bell-Roberts Contemporary hosts a photographic exploration of Cape Town by renowned photographer David Lurie. The works comprising Lurie's 'Images of Table Mountain' apparently capture Cape Town's diverse socio-economic and cultural sectors through the use of black and white image stills. Each of Lurie's images depicts Table Mountain as a backdrop seen from a range of different perspectives, at times as an image of beauty from Camps Bay Beach or a bleak sight peeking out between shacks. The exhibition will be accompanied by the launch of Lurie's book of the same name at the Cape Town book fair.

Opens: June 21
Closes: July 15

A decade after the country's Truth and Reconcilliation Commission was established, an exhibition at the Iziko South African National Gallery recognises and reflects on its achievements. The show includes often iconic works by artists such as Steve Hilton-Barber, Rose Kgoete, Kevin Brand and Zwelethu Mthethwa as well as works which 'look to the future' by Given Makhubele and Vuyisani Mgijima among others. All works are from the permanent collection of the Iziko South African National Gallery.

Opens: April 4
Closes: end 2006