Archive: Issue No. 37, September 2000

The show, taking up all three of the gallery's spaces, is entitled 'On Style and Seduction'. Scialom Greenblatt was born in Cairo in 1951 and later obtained her BFA and MFA at Michaelis School of Fine Art. Since 1973 she has exhibited widely both in Europe and all over South Africa. She has held numerous solo shows, last year at Jo�o Ferreira Fine Art and at the AVA in 1998. Scialom Greenblatt was the first person invited to be artist-in-residence at SANG. She is well represented in public and private collections both here and abroad.

Of her new show she says, "Since the early 1980s, I have been concerned with the psychosexual drama that informs gender dynamics. Through my relationship to the body, I address culture, both visually and through language, in an attempt to understand the mechanisms of the viewing transaction. I am constantly aware that art is made on a continuum of art-history and read in specific locations by a particular audience." Employing the nude as well as a collection of repeated symbols, she creates images which are at once intimate and grand.

September 26 - October 14

An exhibition of paintings by young Durban-based artist Rhett Martyns opens here on Monday September 18. He is one of a number of well-regarded and talented artists to have emerged from Technikon Natal recently. Contemporaries of him include Simoen Allen and Lidelle Moe.

September 18 - October 7

'Four in One' is an exhibition of works in mixed media by Xolile Williams, Nama-Sun-i, Liza Grobler and Marlise Keith.

Born in Transkei, 28 year old X. Williams, a self-taught artist was inspired by his grandfather, a woodcarver. He moved to the Western Cape in 1990 and enrolled for an art course at CAP (Community Arts Project). He first exhibited with the gallery in 1997 and in the same year had work featured in the lifestyle magazine House and Leisure. He was also featured in the Sunday Independent's Reconstruct of April 1999 and the Cape Times Art and Lifestyle in June 2000. In June 1999 he was selected to attend the 'Women's Memorial Legacy Project' at the Pretoria Technikon and exhibited a sculpture for the competition. Xolile is a multi-media artist working in wood, paints, stone, papier maché, cement and wire. His work explores and deals with contemporary social issues particularly related to our experiences in the country. This series of works comprises of woodcarving, papier maché, wire-work and paintings.

Nama-sun-i has been drawing since pre-school. His training as an artist includes a diploma course in graphic design at the Cape Technikon and part-time classes at the Andrew Owen School of Art. Born in Namaqualand in 1976 he finds his inspiration in the vast natural open spaces and makes regular trips to the area to regenerate his creativity. The works of Nama-sun-i explore man's search for spirituality and identity.

Liza Grobler matriculated (1992) at DF Malan High School in Bellville. She completed the degrees BA Fine Art (1996) and MA Fine Art (with distinction, 1999) at the University of Stellenbosch. During her studies she received the Maggie Laubscher (1997), Stellenbosch 2000 (1997 and 1998) and Harry Crossley (1998) scholarships. In her work she explores the symbols, materials and objects that form part of our everyday life. In short, her work is an exploration of the building blocks and elements that contribute to the (consumer) society in which we live today.

Marlise Keith obtained her senior certificate from Ho�rskool Menlopark in Pretoria in 1990. She worked as a clerk for one year, presented workshops at post-school youth conferences, taught informal art classes to students, managed a coffee shop, was an illustration artist and worked for an interior design company. She obtained her degree in Fine Arts at the University of Pretoria in 1995 and, after a two year break, she commenced with her Masters Degree in Fine Arts at the University of Stellenbosch. During her university career she participated in the Sasol New Signatures, Volkskas Atelier and the Kempton Park Thembisa Fine Arts Awards. She is interested in her own identity - imposed or otherwise and a flux between images introduces the opportunity to explore social patterning. This series of works consists of dress patterns stretched over mirrors in mixed media. The use of dress patterns were initiated by her general interest in alternative or found surfaces instead of canvas or board.

The One City Festival gets going on Thursday September 21. Aside from all the other activities and shows, there are a large number of visual art exhibitions and events. Some take place in gallery spaces, others take place in various places and forms across the city. The core of the visual art, however, is to be seen at The Granary from September 21 - 25, and this remains true in these listings unless otherwise stated. The core of exhibitions fall under the collective title of 'True Stories'. These draw on the diverse heritage and experiences of Capetonians and will contribute to the Festival's aims of building tolerance and appreciation of 'difference' in our society. The shows include work by various trainees and non-professional participants in order to create opportunity for education and empowerment.

For all enquiries about the festival call (021) 488-4025 or visit their website on www.onecity.co.za

     Click here for a more detailed listing of what's on at the One City Festival this year - several other exhibitions form part of the One City Festival, although they don't run only or entirely for the duration of the festival.

     See Reviews

Curated by Carol Kaufmann, this exhibition celebrates the achievements of three satellites of a major trading empire situated along the Limpopo River and the north-eastern reaches of southern Africa. Musuku is the Luvenda word for gold, which was mined, worked and traded over vast distances by the Vhavenda and their ancestors for over 1000 years. Wealthy and powerful trading communities established themselves at sites known as Mapungubwe (c. AD 850 - 1250) Great Zimbabwe (c. 1300 - 1750) and Thulamela (c. 1350 - 1750). The inhabitants built complex stone-walled settlements and traded extensively with Indian Ocean merchants. They imported luxury goods from as far afield as Egypt and China, but most significantly created exquisite prestige objects for their own use in ivory, ceramic, stone and metals including some in gold.

For the first time the South African public will be able to view a selection of these works, including a newly proclaimed National Treasure - the golden rhinoceros from Mapungubwe. The only original soapstone bird from Great Zimbabwe remaining in South Africa will also feature on the exhibition. The opportunity to present these African icons results from a long-standing collaboration involving the SANG, University of Pretoria, the Venda and Shangaan communities, and Anglogold.

From September 24

Cold Front hits Cape Town for one night only on September 14 at the Michaelis Gallery. The screening of experimental and innovative video from Canada includes the work of General Idea, Jubal Brown, Therese Mastrolacovo, Michael Dosfev, Stefan St-Laurent, Kika Thorne, Dennis Day and Ian Middleton.

This exhibition is also featuring a 16 channel video installation by Francois Yordamian, a visual symphony of manic mannerisms culled from countless hours of the 'Young and the Restless'. Canadian chellist Rebecca Foon performs and Adam Liebef spins. Screening starts at 8 p.m. Music and installation start at 9 p.m.

September 14

Michaelis Gallery, Hiddingh Campus, 31-37 Orange Street

Hosted, and printed, by Russell Jones of The Scan Shop, 'Collaboration' is an exhibition of digital prints by locally and internationally well-known artists. These include Jo Ractliffe, Jane Alexander, Berni Searle, Terry Kurgan, Brett Murray, Francine Scialom-Greenblatt, Zwelethu Mthetwa, Jean Brundit, Arlene Amaler-Raviv and Dale Yudelman.

September 20 - October 14

In association with Harris Fine Art, Nicolaas Maritz will open his studio to the public. Maritz is well known for his still life / landscape works, which are rendered in an unmistakeable vigorous and confident way. The show coincides with the Darling Flower Festival.

September 2 - 30, viewing by appointment only

Stephen Inggs' latest body of work is entitled 'Continuum' and follows on, appropriately, from his last 'Stanford Series' which was shown at the AVA in 1999. Inggs uses charcoal, lithograph and photographic emulsion on paper for his latest works. He has once again collected objects, both human-made and naturally occurring, whose depiction forms the core of this work. He depicts these objects as emblems of transience, exploring their history, memory and meaning. The enlargement of these objects grants them a monumental iconic quality and invites the viewer to slow down and rediscover the act of seeing.

Opening on 6 September 2000. Until 30 September 2000.

     See Reviews

Defining identity develops into a complex and often frustrating process for individuals caught between cultures. Although hardly a new phenomenon, it is becoming an increasingly common experience. Susan Hefuna's exhibition examining cross-cultural navigation is the South African National Gallery's (SANG) contribution to the Cape Town One City Festival, whose theme this year is Celebrating Difference. The exhibition is also a part of the German Cultural Weeks as Hefuna is of German and Egyptian heritage. As an artist, she explores her cultural diversity through new media such as digital photography, video and installation, and teaches as Professor of Multimedia at the University of Pforzheim, Germany.

Susan Hefuna's month-long artist residency at SANG is the eventual outcome of a meeting with curator Emma Bedford and Cape Town artist Berni Searle at the Cairo Biennale in December 1998. Since her arrival in Cape Town at the end of July, Hefuna has been teaching at Stellenbosch University twice a week and visiting various Muslim communities.

Navigation Xcultural will include a series of drawings, digitally manipulated colour photographs, black and white images, and an interactive installation. What ties the exhibition together is the recurring grid-like pattern that Susan Hefuna identifies as mashrabiya: Egyptian window screens, intricate and detailed in design. But while the images can be interpreted as studies in abstract pattern, a closer examination hints at a presence behind the screens. The mashrabiya delimit indoor and outdoor space, allowing patterns of sunlight to filter through the grid while sheltering the interior from the unwelcome gaze of strangers. This sense of intimacy is carried over to the series of black and white photographs of village life in the Nile delta and of the streets of Cairo, obtained with an old type of pinhole camera that was once popular in Egypt.

Hefuna has also built a 2 cubic metre grid installation of palmwood, like the smaller structures that many Egyptians use to carry their daily needs. The complex pattern of the grid recalls once again the design of the mashrabiya. The installation is Hefuna's gift to the people of Cape Town, who are all invited to contribute something of personal significance, whether an object or text, which is somehow connected to cultural identity. Hefuna began the process by bringing clay from the Nile delta, the area from which many of her family originate. She then added some herbs acquired from a healer on Long Street. Offerings will be accepted for the duration of the exhibition, after which the "finished" work will remain in Cape Town.

Susan Hefuna is also running a new media workshop in the facilities of the SA Centre for Photography at the University of Cape Town. The participants all stem from different cultural backgrounds, and range in age from early twenties to 78. The premise of the workshop is to initiate an exploration of individual life stories by returning to old family photographs and oral histories, and creating work with new technologies on those themes.

Susan Hefuna's Navigation Xcultural opens at the Annexe, South African National Gallery, on September 23, and runs until November 12.

Wednesdays from August 23, 10 a.m. - 12 p.m. and 2 p.m. - 5 p.m.

'Symbols of the Self' is the title of this exhibition by Kate Gottgens. The paintings portray a dialogue between the ego and deeper layers of the unconscious, acknowledging universal, archetypal forces within us.

September 5 - 23

     See Reviews

The public is being offered the unique opportunity of viewing a selection of the Sanlam Art Collection's most recent acquisitions. Begun in the late 1960s, the Collection has slowly grown to be one of the largest corporate collections in the country. The collection has always striven to build a representative collection of South African art and consequently this exhibition showcases works by acclaimed artists of the present as well as the past.

Stefan Hundt, curator of the collection is hosting a series of walkabouts of the exhibition. These take place, at 12.30 p.m., on the following days:

Thursday September 7, Tuesday September 19, Wednesday September 27 and Wednesday October 3.
August 16 - October 3

     See Reviews

A retrospective of work by Hyme Rabinowitz takes place here. One of South Africa's best-known potters, Hyme Rabinowitz, the South African Cultural History Museum, together with the Association of Potters of Southern Africa (Western Cape Region), will be hosting a temporary retrospective exhibition of pottery by him.

Rabinowitz qualified as a chartered accountant but decided that this was not really the career for him and he turned instead to the making of pots. He started doing part-time pottery in the early 1950s, but in 1962 he set up his own full-time pottery workshop at Eagle's Nest farm which is situated on the slopes of the Constantiaberg. The Rabinowitz Pottery has since become well known in Cape Town and beyond, with many people owning pots made there. During the recent fires that raged in the area, the pottery was nearly burnt down. Rabinowitz's basic credo has always been "to make solid good pots that can give pleasure in the viewing as well as in the using". He still takes a daily walk through the forest to the workshop where he throws a variety of pots for exactly this reason. Judge Albie Sachs will open the exhibition.

July 4 - September 30

Twice International, exclusive distributors of Vitra furniture in South Africa, have brought out an exhibition of 1/12 scale chairs. The collection represents the 100 most famous chair designs of the 19th and 20th centuries rendered in miniature by master model makers at the Vitra Design Museum in Italy. Famous designers, from Rietveld to Gehry, as well as artists such as Isamo Noguchi are represented. Each part of every chair is custom-built including the miniature bolts, handwoven fabrics and unique plastic casts. Even if you have little interest in design, the craftspersonship and labour involved are quite breathtaking and make this show a worthwhile visit.

August 24 - September 14

Gallerist Joao Ferreira gives this week's Michaelis lecture on a subject that should be required attendance for young artists and of much interest to others

Tuesday September 21, 1 p.m. - 2 p.m.

The lecture series will in the future take place on Thursdays instead of Wednesdays, but, confusingly, the following two will take place on Fridays to accommodate some overseas visitors.

Deborah Smith and Kate Fowles are curators from London who will be delivering a lecture on a number of their recent projects. They both have a particular interest in developing opportunities for socially engaged practice in environments where artists can be practically and ideologically supported in the development of new work. While visiting South Africa, they hope to establish networks for exploring potential exchange projects between SA and UK artists who work collaboratively or site specifically, including those that work in inter-disciplinary artforms.

Friday September 15, 1 - 2pm

Taking place uncharacteristically on a Thursday, this week's lecture is entitled 'New Video from Canada' and will be given by Mara Verna and Jason St Laurent. The two have been visiting here for some time working with Public Eye and Zayd Minty respectively.

In the lecture, St Laurent and Verna will discuss issues around Canadian contemporary video practice such as the appropriation of mass media, the current debate on copyright infringement, and the culture of artist -run centres in Canada. In addition, they will talk about their artistic production and the various projects in which they are involved here in South Africa. They are the joint curators of an exhibition entitled 'Cold Front: New Video from Canada' which will be shown at The Gallery at the Michaelis School of Fine Art from September 14. A preview screening of select work from the show, to be seen for the first time in South Africa, will accompany the lecture. This will include the work of General Idea, Therese Mastoiacovo and Jubal Brown.

Thursday September 7, 1 p.m. - 2 p.m.