AFRICAN GIRL
One of the biggest art collectors in the world, Lawrence Graff, has invited the Cape-Town based painter, Lionel Smit, to contribute one of his paintings to be auctioned at Christie’s in London. The auction will be held during London Frieze week in Oct 2009 and the painting will be auctioned for the F.A.C.E.T. charity. The auction will be presented by members of F.A.C.E.T. , supermodel Naomi Campbell and actor Matt Damon. Other artists included in this auction and event are Damien Hirst, Jeff Koons and others.
Lionel was asked to contribute a commissioned work and so created “African Girl”, an oil on canvas, 2400mm X 1650mm. The painting scales larger than himself and Lionel leaves for London on 16 October with his wife, Vasti Wilkinson, also a painter. We hope he does not get held up at customs for luggage, Christie’s might have a problem.
Lionel Smit is represented by UCA GALLERY, recently taking part in the group show Nuance. The UCA Salon showcases some of his more intimate works
African Girl, oil on canvas, 240 X 165cm, 2009 Lionel Smit
Once was funny, Gouache on board, 20cm X 20cm, 2009
the art of illustration, graphic design and figurative work, display qualities that attract the more established as well as the younger art aficionados. He has in fact already become a firm favourite among the younger collectors.
As an artist Taylor is particularly intrigued with the interplay between the visual image and the title: “I regard this as entry-point into the work of art, from where the viewer proceeds to create meaning. However, for me the image-making process precedes naming or labelling of the image. In most cases I deliberately choose titles which evoke something entirely different from what the image represents.”
Taylor describes his work as self-reflexive, with humour serving as a tool to mask the more serious sides. He “reveals and conceals” at the same time, which could be described as a key element of his work. This ambiguity not only arrests the attention, but draws the viewer into a playful engagement with both the image and the artist’s train of thought - while bringing the viewer’s imagination into play. And as artists and art lovers very well know, the fun element is often linked to the “truth”!
With his latest works, Taylor enhances his impressive record as a young artist. Since 2001 he has participated in numerous exhibitions at leading galleries. In 2003 he was the winner of the ninth International Competition for Illustration in Italy. He has already produced a fine list of publications, while being actively involved as an artist, lecturer and freelance illustrator.
This stimulating series of works by a well-trained and dedicated artist deserves to be experienced by an even wider public. Taylor is not only upwardly mobile; he has in fact arrived with a bang.
Michael Taylor exhibited in the group show Pigment on Paper at UCA GALLERY in February 2009 and the UCA GALLERY salon holds contributions of Michael Taylor’s work.
HUMOUR TAYLORED TO CONCEAL AND REVEAL
The Plot Thickens, Michael Taylor.
Michael Taylor is a young artist who is causing a stir in contemporary South African art. Over the past ten years he has rapidly progressed from a talented student to a highly successful artist and lecturer. A collection of his latest works, sporting a decidedly personal flair, will soon be on show at the Worldart Gallery in Cape Town’s Church Street. This small but enterprising gallery is steadily becoming a hot spot, drawing a keen following of international clients who are au fait with current trends on the arts scene.
Taylor is fond of exploring the space between text and image. His often humorous works, touching on both
Drink from a green coconut to feel refreshed, 33x26cm, mixed media, 2009
Através do olho mágico (through the peephole) is a show produced from an artist’s residency Hannah Morris participated in from mid-August through mid-October 2008 on the island of Itaparica, of the northeast coast of Brazil. In fragments of an artist’s book (pages) and animated moments (a short stop-frame animation) created from deconstructed print materials found in Brazil, she uses drawing, painting, collage, writing/hand-lettering, and movement to explore moments captured in the blink of an eye (peering through a peephole.) The show is a quirky, humorous, and contemplative stroll along a surreal travel route of a physical but fantasized place.
AVA Gallery, 28 September - 11 October 2009
35 Church Street, Cape Town
Tel: (021) 424 7436
Fax: (021) 423 2637
Email: avaart@iafrica.com
www.ava.co.za
Hours: Mon - Fri 10am - 5pm, Sat 10am - 1pm
Através do olho mágico (Through the peephole) - Hannah Morris
Opening tonight: Sue Williamson at The Book Lounge and at the Young Blackman
2009-09-29
Not to be missed tonight is the launch of the highly anticipated book by Sue Williamson, South African Art Now as well her video installation Better Lives showing next door at the new project space the YoungBlackman.
In what is a show of force Sue Williamson will launch both her new book as well as being the first artist to exhibit at the YoungBlackman, a project space by Ed Young and Matthew Blackman.
Located next door to the Book Lounge the project space is perfectly located to show Williamsons video installation and opens strategically together with her new book. With the publication featuring over eighty artists, this event is sure to pull a crowd and is definitely a highlight on the local arts calendar.
The recent opening of History curated by Andrew Lamprecht at the UCA GALLERY was very well received with a large turnout. Lamprecht has paired well known artists Wayne Barker and Gavin Younge with relatively unknown artists, namely Lauren Palte, Richard Chauke, Cat Ocholla, Alan Taylor, Maria van Rooyen, Brett Shuman and a video piece by Charles Maggs.
Richard Chauke’s sculpture, Winner Takes All, which consists of three sculptures carved in the likeness of Nelson Mandela, Cecil Rhodes and Jan van Riebeeck, offer a distinct and interesting perspective as these three historical figures are pitted facing each other.
Another work highlighting a historical moment is by artist Gavin Younge (Bonnie and Clyde, remix) where the artist can be seen together with Marlene Dumas (1975-6) posing for a photograph where they solemnly commit to misbehaving on a specified date, as part of a series of resistance pieces that Younge was working on at the time.
History will be open until the 16th of October 2009.
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History Opening Night - 23 September 2009
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Gavin Younge and Bruce Gordon (l-r)
Lionel Smit, Veronica Blaine and Andrew Lamprecht (curator) (l-r)
Veronica Blaine, Charles Maggs (aka Ron T Beck) and Wayne Barker (l-r)
History : 23 September - 16 October 2009
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Visitor opens at the Irma Stern Museum (Rondebosch, Cape Town) 11 am on 3 October 2009.
This solo exhibition includes work in a wide range of media and is structured around visits from friends and acquintances. Over 20 local and international artists are involved in various projects and collaborations.
Among the artists involved in the one day residencies are Adrienne van Eeden, Barend De Wet, Francisca Sanchez (Chili), Lien Botha, Abri de Swardt, Lynette Bester, Johan Thom (Britain/South Africa), Niklas Zimmer, Seth Harper, Jacques Coetzer, Michael Taylor, Ruben Gutierrez (Mexico), Sonya Rademeyer and Katherine Bull.
Other events:
Monday 5 October (by invitation only) - Life drawing session with Johann Louw, Clare Menck, John Murray, Nomthunzi Mashalaba, Wonder Marthinus, Norman O’Flynn, Conrad Botes, Marna Hattingh & Marlise Keith.
Saturday 24 October - The closing event (11h00) is a collaborative monumental lace making performance with Liza Grobler and Pierre Fouché and a picnic in the garden (bring your own picnic basket)
Walkabout: Saturday 10 October at 11am
Liza Grobler Solo Exhibition - Visitor
South African artist Greg Streak will show a selection of object-based work in October 2009 at the Soledad Senlle Gallery. Streak, resident at the Rijksakademie in 1997-1998 is also the founder and coordinator of PULSE – an artist initiative producing relevant and crucial international projects within the South African context. His recent solo exhibition at the Bank Gallery in South Africa (July 2008) titled Accumulative Disintegration received critical acclaim and heralded as “a psycho-minimal snapshot of our times.”
Streak has said of the work – “… it deals with the interstitial space between conflict and resolution. It’s about trying to pull things towards a whole whilst they disperse around us. It looks at our need and at times failure, to control the chaos of our everyday lives.”
The show at the Soledad Senlle Gallery will carry traces of the work from Accumulative Disintegration but will also reveal further explorations.
Greg Streak - Soledad Senlle Gallery - Amsterdam
SEX, POWER & MONEY
18:30 08.OCTOBER – 21.OCTOBER
EVERARD READ, CAPE TOWN
Strikkie, Marlise Keith, 2009
If ‘Sex, Drugs & Rock ‘n Roll’ typified the 60s and 70s, then it is fair to say that more recent decades will be remembered as the time of ‘Sex, Power & Money’. The world is in the grip of an economic meltdown which has perhaps ended this age as we know it. So, just as the ‘Sex, Drugs & Rock ‘n Roll’ era is perceived to have ended, as hippies donned suits and fostered the Baby Boomers, so inevitably we will look back at this time as having prospered and foundered. What comes next remains to be seen.
These and other premises were considered when deciding to invite artists to participate in this group exhibition. However, we deliberately did not relay this premise, as we wanted to present a snapshot of how artists responded to these emotive words, at the zenith or the end (depending on your view) of the era they describe. Artists, as filters of public and private opinion, distill this into works that may illustrate, glamorize, satirize, criticize, eulogize and immortalize our times. Tempting though it may be to try and control the outcome, we believe that our job is to present icons of our time and let history contextualize the works.
Everard Read, Cape Town, is delighted to invite you to ‘Sex, Power & Money’, a multiplicity of perspectives on a threesome of potent forces that have unquestionably had a hand in shaping our world - how we perceive it and engage it.
Exhibiting emerging and established artists include:
Sam Allerton, Heike Allerton Davies, Ardmore Ceramics, Beezy Bailey, Stuart Bird, Anton Brink, Melissa Dreyer, Guy du Toit, Ricky Dyaloyi, Brad Gray, Kim Gurney, Sasha Hartslief, Diana Hyslop, David Jackson, Marlise Keith, Jillian Lochner, MJ Lourens, Denby Meyer, Medina Morphet, Fikile Mqhayi, Caryn Scrimgeour, Frans Smit, Helmut Starcke, Simon Stone, Egon Tania, Shany van den Berg, Peter van Straten, Claire Walker, Donovan Ward & Florian Wozniak, and introducing Torsten Warmuth from Berlin and Tony Scullion from Glasgow.
Marlise Keith - a Solo Exhibition at Art.b 7-28 October 2009
For this exhibition, Dr☆l op 'n Dreskas, Marlise Keith would like to invite the viewer into an intimate discourse about passion, vulnerability, and more particularly, admissions of truth. Dreskas translates to 'vanity table', which suggests an intimate space that is immediately at odds with the huge dimensions of art.b. Dr☆l op 'n Dreskas is an Afrikaans colloquialism meaning something which one does not necessarily want to discuss. It is a “spanner in the works”, or the thing that messes everything up
Art.b is situated in the Bellville Library Centre in the heart of the Tygerberg.
Tel: +27 (0)21 918 2301 / 2287
