[03.06.07] Nomthunzi Mashalaba at blank
In her simple but carefully pitched installation, Nomthunzi Mashalaba questions the 'institution of mark-making in art', reflecting on the social and industrial processes whereby objects accrue meaning - meanings that sometimes contradict their origins and escape repressive histories. Tavish McIntosh reviews.
[03.06.07] Bruce Nauman and Charles Atlas at the Michaelis Galleries
Linda Stupart ponders the relevance of old video work by Bruce Nauman and Charles Atlas in a university-based gallery in South Africa. The value lies, she concludes, in the fact that the work has not been seen by this audience before and it is seminal in its field. Its importance for artists dealing with gender, queer theory and performativity in particular, is notable.
[03.06.07] 20 Smells
Paul Edmunds was lucky enough to score a Press Pass to Andrew Putter's '20 Smells'. He took his marginally famous sense of smell along and came away with a lot more than he bargained for.
[03.06.07] Deborah Poynton at Warren Siebrits Modern and Contemporary
Deborah Poynton's 'The Grip of Circumstance' comprises four paintings in the artist's highly naturalistic style on her characteristically large scale. Here, however, suggests Michael Smith, the 'scale on which these images exist speaks less of "showmanship" than of the intensity of the emotions and psychological states Poynton wishes her viewer to explore.'
[03.06.07] 'Collaborations: An Exhibitions of Young Artists' at The Wolmarans Gallery
'Collaborations: An Exhibitions of Young Artists' featured collaborative productions by fine art students and their peers from other parts of Wits University. While Michael Smith feels that many of the works did not quite match the promise of the curatorial brief, he states that 'the organisers and curators are to be lauded for the initiative they have shown and their willingness to engage in a logistical task that would scare off most established gallerists'.
[03.06.07] Jabulisa 2006: The Art and Craft of KwaZulu-Natal at Durban Art Gallery
'Jabulisa 2006: The Art and Craft of KwaZulu-Natal' has certainly provoked responses from supporters and critics alike. This is an important achievement, argues Elizabeth Perrill, however, the unending art/craft debate is addressed rather shabbily here and along with the rather overblown size of the whole exhibition, serves only to complicate things further.
[05.06.07] Robin Rhode at Perry Rubenstein
Sue Williamson reviews the exciting Robin Rhode at Perry Rubensteins.
BOOK REVIEWS
[03.06.07] Beautiful/Ugly - African and Diaspora Aesthetics, edited by Sarah Nuttall
Carol Brown reviews Beautiful/Ugly - African and Diaspora Aesthetics, edited by Sarah Nuttall, a prizewinner of a recent Arts Council for African Studies Association book award. The book examines notions of beauty within Africa, and also its imposition from the outside, resulting in a document which successfully straddles the academic and the popular.
