Organised and facilitated by Rat Western and Ashraf Jamal, Rhodes Fine Art Department, Grahamstown will be hosting a colloquium which will discuss and examine colour as palette in contemporary South African art.  Moving beyond literal representations of race and gender that have, in recent years dominated post apartheid art practice - but not excluding or precluding colour and its use to demonstrate multifaceted aspects of identity - the colloquium is in essence a celebration of colour and its emotive, cultural and symbolic resonance.

Presenters include Mary Corrigall, Maureen De Jager, Mark Hipper, Ashraf Jamal, Andrew Lamprecht, Brenton Maart, Virginia Mackenny, Matthew Partridge, Sean O’Toole, James Sey, Michael Smith, Vaughn Sadie, Emma Taggart and Jeanette Unite.

Corrigall, Taggart and Maart will discuss the psychological use of particular tones in the work of individual artists - Lawrence Lemaoana’s Pink, Penny Siopis’ Red and Mxolisi Dolla Sapeta’s flattened solid colour. 

De Jager and Sadie consider the philosophy of light and its refraction in the process of producing colour. 

Mackenny and Unite will reflect on their own working methods with a chromatic scale and Hipper will present ‘A Shifting Discolour’, which examines Grey and its subtle changing uses in the work of Luc Tuymans, Gerhard Richter and Zola Toyi. 

Partridge and Lamprecht consider the complexities of the print process in the production of work by David Goldblatt and Vladimir Tretchikoff. 

O’ Toole will discuss Gavin Jantjes’s ‘A South African Colouring Book’ and Malcolm Payne’s ‘Colour Test’ – two works from the 1970’s which O’ Toole will argue differed from, and conceptually outlast many other works created in response to the apartheid context. 

Jamal and Smith advocate a focus on the contemporary and consider current and potential uses of colour in furthering a forward movement in South African artistic production.

And finally, James Sey presents ‘Aesthetics of Disappearance’ in which he contemplates colour in relationship to technology, new media and a globalised context.

The colloquium is accompanied by an exhibition of contemporary South African work sourced in the Eastern Cape.  The show is curated by Zach Taljaard and will be opened at the Albany History Museum at 6pm on March 27.

More information the event can be found at www.frontiercountry.blogspot.com.  The website will also feature video snippets of the event, further considerations arising during the discussions and final papers after the event.

Limited seating is available for the public and booking is essential.  To book please email: n.western@ru.ac.za