2006 in Review
Sue Williamson, Editor:
The three best shows in 2006
William Kentridge's 'Black Box' at the Johannesburg Art Gallery
I made a special trip up to Jo'burg to see this one, and it was worth it, in every way. 'Black Box' is dazzling. It is still with me. Commissioned by the Deutsche Guggenheim, Kentridge constructed a model of a theatre to play out in old film clips, video animations and interventions by automated figures moving across the stage, the harrowing account of the decimation of the Hereros by the German colonists. Philip Miller is the composer who collaborated with Kentridge, and the 14 minute viewing experience is intense.
Nicholas Hlobo's 'Intente' at Michael Stevenson Contemporary
The marriage of form and content - to use materials and concepts in such a way that the end result transcends both and satisfies on every level - is the struggle of every artist. It's a marriage which often comes only with maturity, and to find it in a young artist is exceptional. Such an artist is Nicholas Hlobo.
His installations address issues of gender, and his own identity as a gay man, and, constructed out of such materials as black rubber and pink ribbon, are both rough and tender. His works on paper, which combine these materials along with the most delicate stitching are quite exceptional.
Brett Murray's 'Sleep Sleep' at João Ferreira
'Sleep sleep' is a typical Murray title - in its child-like and double use of the verb, very South African, but also a little ominous - a population is being fed a desirable but addictive drug in order to blur its view of reality.
Murray is here to help out. Using the widest variety of media seen yet - masterly bronze sculptures of a pig, an ape and and a donkey, paintings, large scale works of sleeping heads constructed from engraved Perspex, lines of gilded steel reading 'I am an optimist', the artist entices at every turn.
Three South African artists making the most interesting work in 2006
Clive van den Berg
Like many South African artists, Clive van den Berg doesn't see any need to restrict himself to any one particular medium, but it is far from a case of a jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none. Van den Berg is commended here for his continuing community art projects, but also because the wooden sculptural pieces he made for his solo show at the Goodman expressed so succinctly his concept of the porosity of skin in a time of Aids. In one, funnel shapes burrow into the flesh of the arms and legs of a diving figure like a horde of attacking parasites.
Lisa Brice
After years of object-making, Lisa Brice returned to painting this year, using a camera's night vision palette of greeny greys to investigate the difficulties and fears of a young girl growing up.
Robin Rhode
I came across a picture of a Robin Rhode performance in the Netherlands entitled The Storyteller in which the artist appears to be falling out of a tree bent over by his weight. The drawing of the tree is a marked development on Rhode's early drawings, which were always graphic, but often dead simple, and the image shows again how Rhode continues to develop his themes and skills along his chosen path.
Best newcomer in 2006
Dan Halter
Quite often, a show that really deserves a review doesn't get one because too much else is on, and Dan Halter's show 'Take Me to Your Leader' at João Ferreira in September was one of those. I'm not going to go so far as to say Halter is 'Best Newcomer' in my opinion but this show, about the artist's growing up in Zimbabwe had lots of promise. I particularly liked his Typeface for a revolution - the alphabet constructed from glued matches and matchbox covers displayed on a wood veneer board, an aesthetic one might describe as Rhodesian barroom. I also very much liked his maps of Zimbabwe deconstructed by being interwoven with the names of farmers who had had to leave their farms.
Most important art event
Hmmm... most important art event... couldn't have been 'TransCape', since that didn't happen... I'll nominate the opening of the Red Museum, in Port Elizabeth, a museum approachable and approached along dusty streets rather than set down in the middle of a city. Can't wait to visit.
Former Cape Town Editor, current International Listings Editor Linda Stupart:
The three best shows in Cape Town in 2006
Nicholas Hlobo's 'Intente' at Michael Stevenson Contemporary
At the beginning of 2006 I knew Nicholas Hlobo to be a dynamic and fantastical performer after viewing his unexpected interventions at both the VANSA conference and Sessions iKapa. His first solo show at Michael Stevenson, however, has quickly cemented his status as one of the country's top sculptors and, with his sly and beautiful interrogations of sex, gender and culture in South Africa, one of the most interesting artists around last year.
Dan Halter's 'Take Me to Your Leader'
Dan Halter's breakout first solo show was funny, clever and often exceptionally sad. The work dealt with the current political situation in Zimbabwe, often drawing parallels between Zimbabweans' fight for political freedom and the freedom sought by young 90s ravers. Who could forget the disturbing chant of Everybody's Free (To Feel Good) as a backdrop to angry protesters in Halters Untitled (Zimbabwean Queen of Rave)?
The Cape Town Biennale at blank projects
In the wake of the non not-a-biennale, Andrew Lamprecht's 'Cape Town Biennale' at blank projects did a great job of diffusing some of the fury felt by much of the Cape Town artworld, particularly those who had been planning work for the not-a-fringe, 'X-Cape'. Instead of brandishing pitchforks at Gavin Jantjes' office, people filled blank project space with their works and got drunk. The exhibition was an irreverent and necessary response to the chaos of 'Trans Cape', with a despairing sense of humour that often seemed to characterise the general mood in Cape Town last year. Also, the person dressed as a duck was there and she/he is always fun.
South African artists making interesting work
Candice Breitz
Across international art publications' lists of 2006's most important artists, Candice Breitz is consistently found in the top 100, cementing her status as an international art star. In 2006 Breitz continued with her video portraits of musical icons including Working Class Hero (A Portrait of John Lennon) which displayed a community of Lennon fans performing Plastic Ono Band in studio. These pieces, both witty and tragic, make for a fascinating exploration of the culture of fanatic in contemporary culture.
Roger Ballen
Firstly, I should point out that my general feeling towards Roger Ballen is that he is an archetypal exploitative photographer, and that he should leave the folk of the Platteland well alone. That said, however, 'Shadow Chamber', which was shown across the world in 2006, was an altogether more subtle, complex and interesting collection of images than any we have seen from this veteran thus far. Of course, I'm still not entirely sure that I like them...
Bridget Baker
Bridget Baker's 2006 Cape Town show 'But being a sensible woman, she subdued her terrors and turned over and went to sleep again' only just missed my list of Cape Town's best shows. In this exhibition Baker constructed a fantasy world of heroic maidens and embroidery seas, eloquently deconstructing the history of the passive woman stuck forever in the dilemma of the domestic.
Best Newcomer
My answer here has to be the art gossip blog that everybody loves to hate, ArtHeat. Before I (once again) get accused of nepotism, I admit that although those involved are my friends, this is not why the publication has made my list. Rather, I think that ArtHeat has filled a valuable niche in South African (or, more honestly perhaps, Capetonian) art criticism. With comments on the almost daily posts sometimes reaching over 30, ArtHeat has become a much needed space for actual discussion and argument as well as uncensored, unafraid and humourous discourse that isn't scared of offending everyone in our microcosm of an artscene.
Most Important Art Event
The most important art event, I feel, would have to be the lack of 'Trans Cape'. Although many of us had our doubts about the exhibition, the late cancelling of this mega event still had an huge effect on the art community. Artists, critics and curators throughout Cape Town were unified in their unhappiness and there were also a few interesting shows to fill the gap, as well as some interesting visitors who had unwittingly already booked their tickets to Cape Town for the event.
Cape Town Editor Kim Gurney:
My selection is qualified by the fact that I only took over the editorship in August of 2006. Nonetheless, here are my somewhat jaundiced choices:
The three best shows in Cape Town 2006
Nicholas Hlobo's 'Intente' at Michael Stevenson Contemporary
It was a big year for Nicholas Hlobo. He won the coveted Tollman Award, which supports a promising young artist, then held his first solo at Michael Stevenson. His art makes bold visual statements but these are underscored by a rich theoretical compost. Viewers prepared to spend a little more time looking are rewarded by layers of more nuanced meaning. This adept balancing act between accessibility and complex discourse is admirable, as is Hlobo's inventive use of materials with associations integral to his concerns. His confrontational style is also refreshing: 'People often feel that sensitive issues need to be left alone but we need to confront them, face challenges openly and speak about them and even celebrate some of these things that make us who we are - not just turn a blind eye.'
William Scarbrough's 'Reclamation' at Michaelis Galleries
William Scarborough's insightful critique of the media age, through the lens of an American perhaps wrongly convicted of murder, was brilliantly executed - from the ultra-slick presentation that mimicked the superficial gloss of a manipulative media machine to the relentless ambush of the viewer by endless footage (photographs, two video installations and an interactive web-based installation). It seemed made for the Michaelis Galleries. Scarbrough's engagement with the ills of a media-obsessed society and related perils was not limited to a far-flung case in North America, however. He apparently hired out-of-work individuals from his residential area to work as gallery attendants for the show's duration. It seemed like a gesture of integrity, which is very evident in his work.
Chris Diedericks' 'Secrets and Lies: Her Majesty's Ivory Tower' at the KKNK
Artists at the 2006 KKNK were primarily concerned with gender issues. The metaphor of choice was the body and painting the most commonly employed medium. This had much to do with curator Theo Kleynhans, who brought painting back to centre-stage. There were a number of excellent new media works by Adele Hamblin, Franci Cronje and Fred Viljoen among others, but I was most impressed by Chris Diedericks' use of the Victorian age and contemporary echoes of colonial legacies as a battering ram in 'Secrets and Lies: Her Majesty's Ivory Tower'. His tightly curated mixed media show deliberately unsettled with smart, subversive juxtapositions.
Three South African artists making the most interesting work in 2006
I have been struck of late by an emerging trend of artists working in a kind of pointillism style: usually two-dimensional, the works appear from a distance to be resolved and reognisable - often figurative. But this unity breaks down on closer inspection into a series of smaller units with a discreet identity all their own. There is something larger being communicated here, something about the way the individual fits into the greater whole and that perception in general is dependent on perspective. As VEO Gallery stated with regards to Gavin Rain, whose pattern-like art is comprised of small images of people, this technique 'reinforces the notion of stepping back in order to recognise the role of people in our lives and in the composition of the fabric of our society'. Other artists working in this way include Pamela Stretton and Pierre Fouché.
Best newcomer in 2006
Taking a pick from the graduate shows seems one way to take a stab at answering this question, although it problematically gives preference to artists coming from tertiary institutions. I must also declare a personal connection to Michaelis School of Fine Art, where I have just completed a BAFA. That being said, Michaelis prizewinner Fabian Saptouw (who writes a review for us this month) deserves special mention. His laborious de-threading and re-weaving of a painting canvas on a specially constructed loom was supported, with no lack of irony, by two painting easels. His work asked serious questions about the very art of painting while at the same time creating an art object of great beauty. At Stellenbosch, Wynand Saayman is a name to watch with his compelling investigation of masculinity through documentary techniques together with a performative approach.
Most important art event
The continued burgeoning of new exhibition spaces seems to me the most significant development and a sign of confidence in the contemporary art scene. The Goodman Gallery is in March extending its reach to Cape Town with an opening group exhibition called 'Lift Off II'. The Old Biscuit Mill creative hub has also added a lot of spice, with new galleries like Exposure and Old Biscuit Mill Gallery alongside a second exhibition space for what if the world...
New Kwazulu Natal Editor Carol Brown:
The Best Shows of 2006 in Durban
'New Painting: A selection of contemporary South African Painting' at the KZNSA
The last few years have seen a proliferation of international exhibitions and debates about painting, so it was no surprise to have a show on this topic curated by Storm Janse Van Rensburg (former Curator of KZNSA and currently curator of the new Goodman Gallery in Cape Town). The definition of what makes a painting has expanded and this was reflected in the show which featured works by young artists who are pushing the boundaries. Johannes Phokela's Chocolat reinforced his reputation as one of our most intriguing artists whose work subverts the Western tradition while making expert use of the traditional medium. Dineo Bopape, on the other hand, erases the paint surface with her tongue using the medium of video to make her comment about painting and its former exclusion of women. The show was fascinating in its choice of works which cross-referenced the traditions of the medium and opened up new avenues of exploration.
'30 years: A World of Small Things' by Omar Badsha at the Durban Art Gallery
Omar Badsha's exhibition at the Durban Art Gallery showed 30 years of his photographic work, from Letter to Farzanah(a book which was banned in 1978) to his recent project 'Imperial Ghetto'. His works cover the socio-political history of the country concentrating on images of the ordinary people in contrast with the more spectacular images of famous events and people made familiar by photographers such as Magubane. Badsha concentrates on the ordinary in an extraordinary period of history. The works are small in scale, black and white and intimate. They present a vision of how history affects the ordinary person and we empathise with the subjects' despair, anger, frustration and other emotions so poetically expressed and under-stated.
'Young Artists Project 2005/6' at the KZNSA Gallery
I choose this exhibition aware of the possible accusations of favouritism towards a certain gallery and curator, but if it is one of the best, so be it. I found this show one of the most stimulating and fresh exhibitions held in an otherwise somewhat bland year of art in Durban. It was curated by abovementioned Storm Janse Van Rensburg at the KZNSA and supplemented by a seminar where the artists gave presentations on their larger bodies of work. Much lively debate and discussion ensued. The artists represented included Dineo Bopape, Peter Van Heerden, Colleen Alborough and Bronwyn Lace, all of whom are movers and shakers in the contemporary art scene. The exhibition brought a fresh perspective to the gallery and was notable in promoting and giving space to artists who were funded to produce work of an experimental and non-commercial nature. We need more initiatives like this.
3 artists making the most interesting work
Pieter Hugo
Pieter Hugo's sheer guts to take photographs of subjects which make us uncomfortable has resulted in powerful work which has made him a worthy recipient of the Standard Bank Young Artist award for this year. His series The Bereaved showing portraits of corpses prepared for burial in their coffins is both chilling and hauntingly beautiful. He focuses directly on the face from above and concentrates on the lighting in the same way as a portraitist. However, these are portraits which, although restful, have a chilling emptiness beyond the closed eyelids. They hit hard and bring to attention the ravages of today's epidemics of HIV/Aids and Tuberculosis and the ubiquity of young death. His series of judges, albinos and Kaizer Chiefs supporters are equally powerful.
The Keiskamma Art Project
Although made shortly before last year, the magnificent Keiskamma altarpiece blew my mind when I first saw it and made arrangements for it to travel to various venues in North America. It began its tour at the Toronto Aids Conference where it was shown in the Cathedral to great acclaim. It also unwittingly showed up our Health Minister's 'exhibition' of garlic and potatoes. This is a remarkable work modelled on the 15th century Issenheim altarpiece by Matthias Grunewald and re-interpreted in embroidery and beadwork with the same dimensions as the original (4 x 6.8 metres) and a truly co-operative project involving over 100 women living in the small town of Hamburg in the Eastern Cape which has suffered intensely from the Aids pandemic. Eunice Mangwane accompanied the altarpiece on its tour which received rave reviews in major international publications. She was even photographed with Richard Gere who participated in the 'unveiling' of the work in Toronto. The altarpiece has been shown in Chicago and is currently in Los Angeles.
Mikhael Subotzky
I visited the much discussed exhibition 'Snap Judgements' in New York earlier this year and was immediately drawn to Mikhael Subotzky's photographs of Pollsmoor Maximum Security Prison from the series Vier Hoeke. The photograph Reception, Pollsmoor Maximum Security Prison emphasises the dehumanisation of the prisoners who are being brought into the prison environment and caged like animals where they can be watched by the passerby who is seen as a shadowy, intangible image, emphasising the lack of real contact which they will encounter for maybe the rest of their lives. His work has gone from strength to strength in the two or so years he has been exhibiting and he is undoubtedly a force to be reckoned with.
Peter Van Heerden
Peter Van Heerden's performances of Bok at the KZNSA gallery during the Young Artists Project as well as 6 minutes at Red Eye's 'Access Denied' in May were among the most talked-about art events in Durban. His collaborations with Andre Laubscher ('social activist, performer and pig farmer') challenge our stereotypes of South African masculinities in an attempt to unpack our history. They are often brutal and violent and expose much of the cruelty in our society. The 6 Minutes performance was held at night in the inner passages or bowels of the Durban City Hall which provided an ideal space for the performance. It began with the chopping of carcasses, went on to the raping of babies and ended with a gob-smacking flagellation leaving the audience in a state of shock which has lingered in many minds.
Most important art event
It's a sorry state of affairs that, looking back on 2005's roundup of the most important event, it was evident that the demise of the Kebble awards was a popular choice. This year again I can only suggest that another non-event, the 'postponement' of the Cape not-a-biennale, was the biggest disappointment and one which did our international reputation no good. All eyes were focussed on the anticipated event, airtickets were booked and cancelled. But, we are ever hopeful that it will appear shortly as promised. However, if it is going to happen, shouldn't we know a bit more about it by now?
Gauteng Editor Michael Smith:
Three Best Johannesburg Shows of 2006
This is an entirely subjective process, so no apologies will be given for my choices, neither should they be expected. My choices are limited to shows seen in JHB, as a paucity of shekels dictates my continued absence from international departure lounges. Remedial donations can be sent in the form of cash, cheque or EFT to ArtThrob's offices.
Johannes Phokela at the Johannesburg Art Gallery
All too often, South African painters exhibit little awareness of the medium's exhaustion and neurotic level of baggage, and continue to work in the field with no metacognitive sensitivity. Johannes Phokela's career to date has revealed that he is immune to this criticism. I like his work because it answers the major question that Charles Saatchi would prefer no-one asks - 'Why still paint?' Phokela's work for this show provides an answer infinitely more convincing than many on Saatchi's endless 'Triumph of Painting' shows, and to an extent proves that the periphery to Europe's centre can be a privileged position from which to make art. This sense was made all the more acute by the hanging of this show in sections of the JAG which, until the arrival of Clive Kellner as chief curator, seemed destined to house works by pale males.
Phokela takes impertinence in the face of Western art's hallowed 'values' to a new level, streets ahead of the urban ethnographies of artists like Mustafa Maluka and Kudzanai Chiurai, which the art fraternity seems intent on rewarding. He occupies figurative painting like an elaborate parasite, mutating and subverting its power in a manner akin to Yinka Shonibare. Phokela's secret weapon is a two-punch of versatile and accomplished technical skill, and a conceptual rigour that goes beyond the satirical. This show proves how far he has developed his process since his inclusion on Colin Richards' 1997 curatorial contribution to the Johannesburg Biennale, 'Graft'.
Mikhael Subotzky 'Die Vier Hoeke and Umjiegwana' at Goodman Gallery
I saw lots of photographic shows in 2006, and thought and wrote a lot about the politics of representation. Yet one show stood out for me, on an emotional level more than anything, and that was Subotzky's 'Die Vier Hoeke and Umjiegwana'. It kept me thinking for months about my own gut response to crime versus the humanising images in Subotzky's incarcerated men, a simple dichotomy where reason and emotion struggle against one another. And though it left me with no answers, it remained the most socially relevant show I saw all year. That may not be enough for some critics, but as a viewer, that's enough for me.
William Kentridge's 'Black Box' at the Johannesburg Art Gallery
The fact that an image painted and drawn directly onto the wall of the JAG, presumably as a temporary introduction to this show, seems to be remaining semi-permanently long after the show is gone, tells you something of the reverence reserved for Kentridge in South Africa. Years ago some guy I was speaking to about SA art tried to explain away Kentridge's success by saying his father's involvement in the defence of the Rivonia Trialists ensured he had a virtual 'credibility gold card'.
Inevitable jealousy has prompted others over the years to tell me they thought his work was too Goya, too Hogarth or too Anselm Kiefer. To my mind, the reality is that Kentridge is our most authoritative artist. Self-implicating where he could be preachy, aesthetically restless where he could be formulaic, Kentridge's career serves as a benchmark of articulation, professionalism and consistency that is hard to rival. The element from 'Black Box' that lodged itself in my memory, more than an appreciation for his reworking of the archive or reinterpreting history, was how Kentridge managed to coax an unexpected dimension of abjection from the cute officiousness of the show's robotic protagonists. This ability to characterise and give depth to the players on his Brechtian stage, marks him as an artist and storyteller who is first of all sincerely interested in humanity; all other interests seem to radiate from there. That is what keeps me interested in his work, and what made this such a powerful show.
2 Artists making the most interesting work
Brett Murray
I have no geographical allegiance to JHB as it is, hell, I wish I lived in Laguna Beach; so why shouldn't I name a Cape Town artist in this section? Brett Murray's show at Goodman this year confirmed my opinion of him as having exactly the populist impulse that SA art needs right now to balance all the sophistry. Murray's is a maxim of believing that if the artist truly wants to affect some level of social change, that artist needs to at least meet his broader audience halfway.
US Conceptual Art stalwart Richard Prince once said about his 'joke paintings' that the jokes were funny, but the paintings not. I think that sums up much of Murray's approach: the recurring trait is his biting wit, yet he refuses to let the humour anaesthetise his interest in heavy content (violence, delusion, rampant acquisitive capitalism). 2006's show even saw Murray giving himself permission to 'not be funny', extending his oeuvre beyond mere satire into more speculative modes of artmaking. But it was still fun to stand in front of his Portraits of my favourite politician's arseholes and try to guess which belongs to whom...
James Webb
For his contribution to the MTN New Contemporaries, shown at the JAG in 2006. In her Art South Africa review of the show, Kathryn Smith rightly identified Webb's as the most compelling work present, despite Durban-based Mlu Zondi winning the award. Webb was robbed. It's that simple.
Most promising newcomer
Is Julia Rosa Clark a newcomer? If so, she's my choice for this section. Trash aesthetics rule Clark's output, as she operates somewhere between Arte Povera and scrapbooking. If Jonathan Meese had a kid sister who also became an artist, it would be Clark. Opting for gleefully girly glitter and polystyrene instead of the usual loaded objects and images favoured by installation artists, Clark nonetheless tackles global aggression and propaganda, her comments all the more compelling for their lack of earnestness.
Most important art event
I'm stuck between 'eKapa' and the 'Picasso and Africa' show at the Standard Bank Gallery. 'eKapa', because apparently a whole bunch o' Jozi artists made their names a bit gat by, variously, arguing stupid points, essentialising issues of race and representation, and bum-rushing the stage a la Jarvis Cocker at the Brit's. It's sometimes important for a mirror to be held up to exactly how inarticulate artists can be in expressing exactly what they mean or believe, especially when their audience is expected to buy into the alleged sophistication of their artistic statements. Id 1 - Art 0.
'Picasso and Africa', because besides being an important show, it galvanised debate about art across the SA electronic and print media. The details of the debate are now not that interesting: Sandile Mamela's generalisations predictable for a party man, the hysterical protestations from mainly white sectors of the art fraternity equally predictable. That people were talking about art, like the British public spoke about the demolition of Rachel Whiteread's Ghost (1990) in the 90's, is interesting and significant, proof that we're capable of talking about something other than crime and the moral flexibility of our politicians for a bit. The absence of high-minded debate in this country is arguably one of the things that art could begin to remedy, and to that end hopefully 'Picasso and Africa' is the start of many more big-draw shows.
Former KwaZulu Natal Editor, Francesca Verga
3 best shows in Durban, 2006
Peter van Heerden's 'Bok' in Bulwer Park
Peter Van Heerden's 'Bok' performance held in Bulwer Park, adjacent to the KZNSA Gallery, in February 2006, was a compelling depiction of masculinity and identity. The cathartic nature of Van Heerden's performance results in a brutally honest and direct engagement in the abject and grotesque parts of South African History. Reenactments of assassinations and executions of Boer warriors by British Soldiers during the Anglo Boer War act as a historical framework for the narrative. The voyeuristic nature of the performance leaves one reeling after witnessing the artist's mock-execution and burial.
Peter van Heerden's 'Six Minutes' performance
In Six Minutes, another of Peter van Heerden's harsh critiques on society, he delves into the darkest recesses of an abuser's psyche. Six Minuteswas performed at Red Eye, May 2006, presenting a blatantly shocking depiction of infant rape (and possible consequence) in contemporary South Africa. Six Minutes is one of the most powerful and gut-wrenching performances that I have witnessed to date. The performance was so incredibly brutal, that unwilling onlookers were left nauseated and disturbed after witnessing a naked Van Heerden performing simulated intercourse on an infant (doll) and the real whipping of the artist orchestrated by the Butcher (Andre Laubscher).
'New Painting: A selection of contemporary South African Painting' at the KZNSA
'New Painting: A selection of contemporary South African Painting', curated by former-KZNSA curator Storm Janse van Rensburg, opened at the KZNSA on April 23, 2006. The exhibition featured South African artists who are both active locally and internationally, including the likes of Ryan Arenson, Conrad Botes, Moshekwa Langa, Tom Cullberg and Johannes Phokela. The exhibition successfully negated the stigma attached to medium of painting as a dying practice, combining the more traditional style of painting alongside the innovative use of painting in the digital works of Dineo Bopape and Tanya Poole. I was particularly impressed by the technical genius of Deborah Poynton's Safety and Security.
3 artists making the most interesting work
Peter Engblom
'Zululand's eminent exhibitionist' Peter Engblom's (of Zulu-Sushi fame) redecoration of the Durban Art Gallery's toilet facilities is a real contender in this department. Engblom, renowned for his witty, sometimes strange and realistically unlikely associations, was commissioned to give the art gallery toilet facilities a face-lift. The DAG's toilets are now an exhibition of the history of the W.C., providing a bit of contemplation for the unsuspecting visitor! Testament to Engblom's success is the fact that the publication of Zulu-Sushi series is currently being undertaken by the Phansi Museum.
Vulindlela Nyoni
Vulindlela Nyoni's offerings on the 'Five Artists/Five Directions' exhibition shown at the KZNSA Gallery, in June 2006 deserve a mention. The exhibition provided a long-overdue insight into recent works from UKZN Pietermaritzburg's Centre for Visual Arts Staff. Work from Nyoni's Untitled, Seven Heads series was subsequently purchased for the Durban Art Gallery's permanent collection. Nyoni lectures in printmaking at the Centre for Visual Arts and has recently completed an MAFA.
Peter van Heerden
Peter van Heerden's brutal and powerful offerings (discussed above) have definitely earned a place in my top three! I look forward to seeing what he produces next.
Most promising newcomer
Lindsay Phillips' exhibition 'Little White Lies', presented as part of her final year exhibition at DUT, was professionally executed and the works were of an exceptional standard. The exhibition presented a visual, physical and emotionally stimulating environment incorporating ceramics, found objects and video installation. Phillips was pronounced winner of the Emma Smith Scholarship for 2006 in recognition of her artistic talents and has since taken up employment in the DUT Fine Arts Department.
Most important art event
The KZNSA's Young Artists' Project (YAP) initiated in 2002 provides a platform for new and experimental artwork in the city of Durban. The annual project, not only presents an exhibition of the invited artists, but also produces a project catalogue and hosts seminars debating topical issues in South African art.
To date the project has showcased the work of Thando Mama, Mlu Zondi, Vaughn Sadie and more recently that of Bonwyn Lace, Dineo Bopape, Colleen Alborough and Peter van Heerden. The project, under the curatorial guidance of Storm Janse van Rensburg and funded by the Royal Netherlands Embassy, has also produced the 'Critical Voices' writing and editing workshop facilitated by Sean O'Toole.
The project facilitates experimental arts creation and provides a much needed public forum for the discussions around contemporary art production. In my opinion, it is a very successful venture.
