Art Times March 2022 Edition by SA ART TIMES

MARCH 2022 ARTTIMES.CO.ZA

31 Project (Paris) • 193 Gallery (Paris) • 313 Art Project (Seoul, Paris) • Gallery 1957 (Accra, London)* • Galerie 8+4 (Paris) • A&R Fleury (Paris) • A2Z Art Gallery (Paris, Hong Kong) • AD Galerie (Montpellier) • Alzueta Gallery (Barcelona) • Galerie Andres Thalmann (Zurich) • Galerie Ariane C-Y (Paris) • Art to Be Gallery (Lille) • Galerie Arts d’Australie - Stéphane Jacob (Paris) • Backslash (Paris)* • Galerie Bacqueville (Lille, Oost-Souburg) • Helene Bailly Gallery (Paris) • Galerie Jacques Bailly (Paris)* • Galerie Berès (Paris) • Galerie Claude Bernard (Paris) • Bernier / Eliades Gallery (Athens, Brussels)* • Galerie Bessières (Chatou) • Galerie Binome (Paris) • Galerie Boulakia (London) • Galerie Brame & Lorenceau (Paris)* • By Lara Sedbon (Paris) • Galerie Chevalier (Paris) • Galleria Continua (San Gimignano, Beijing, Boissy-le-Châtel, Havana, Rome, São Paulo, Paris) • Danysz (Paris, Shanghai, London) • Dilecta (Paris) • Galeria Marc Domènech (Barcelona) • Double V Gallery (Marseille, Paris) • Gilles Drouault galerie/multiples (Paris)* • Dumonteil Contemporary (Paris, Ivry-Sur-Seine, Shanghai)* • Galerie Eric Dupont (Paris) • Galerie Dutko (Paris) • Galerie Les Filles du Calvaire (Paris) • Galerie Jean Fournier (Paris) • felix frachon gallery (Brussels)* • Freijo Gallery (Madrid)* • Galerie Christophe Gaillard (Paris)* • Galerie Claire Gastaud (Clermont-Ferrand, Paris) • gb agency (Paris)* • Galerie Louis Gendre (Chamalières) • She BAM! Galerie Laetitia Gorsy (Leipzig)* • Gowen Contemporary (Geneva)* • Galerie Alain Gutharc (Paris) • H Gallery (Paris) • H.A.N. Gallery (Seoul)* • Galerie Max Hetzler (Berlin, Paris, London)* • Galerie Ernst Hilger (Vienna) • Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery (Berlin, London, Nevlunghavn, Schloss Goerne)* • Galerie Hors-Cadre (Paris) • Galerie Houg (Paris)* • Huberty & Breyne Gallery (Brussels, Paris) • Ibasho (Antwerp)* • Galerie Catherine Issert (Saint-Paul-de-Vence)* • Galerie Jeanne Bucher Jaeger (Paris, Lisbon) • rodolphe janssen (Brussels)* • Galerie Kaléidoscope (Paris)* • Ketabi Projects (Paris) • Galerie Carole Kvasnevski (Paris)* • Galerie La Forest Divonne (Paris, Brussels) • Galerie La Ligne (Zurich) • Galerie Lahumière (Paris) • Alexis Lartigue Fine Art (Paris) • Irène Laub Gallery (Brussels)* • Galerie Le Feuvre & Roze (Paris) • Galerie Lelong & Co. (Paris) • Fabienne Levy (Lausanne)* • Eric Linard Galerie (La Garde-Adhémar)* • Galerie Françoise Livinec (Paris, Huelgoat) • Loevenbruck (Paris) • Loft Art Gallery (Casablanca)* • Gallery M9 (Seoul)* • Magnin-A (Paris) • Galerie Marguo (Paris) • Galerie Martel (Paris) • Maruani Mercier (Brussels, Knokke, Zaventem) • massimodecarlo (Milan, London, Hong Kong, Paris) • Mayoral (Barcelona, Paris) • Galerie Kamel Mennour (Paris, London) • Galerie Marguerite Milin (Paris) • Galerie Mitterrand (Paris) • Galerie des Modernes (Paris)* • Galerie Modulab (Metz) • Galerie Lélia Mordoch (Paris, Miami) • Galerie Eric Mouchet (Paris)* • Galerie Najuma - Fabrice Miliani (Marseille) • Galerie Nathalie Obadia (Paris, Brussels) • Oniris.art (Rennes)* • Opera Gallery Hernando Gallery (Madrid)* • Perrotin (Paris, New York, Hong Kong, Seoul, Tokyo, Shanghai) • Pigment Gallery (Barcelona, Paris) • Galería Fernando Pradilla (Madrid)* • Praz-Delavallade (Paris, Los Angeles)* • Galerie Rabouan Moussion (Paris) • La Galería Rebelde (Guatemala City, Los Angeles) • Red Zone Arts (Frankfurt am Main) • Galerie denise rené (Paris)* • Galerie Véronique Rieffel (Abidjan) • J. P. Ritsch-Fisch Galerie (Strasbourg) • Galerie Guido Romero Pierini (Paris)* • School Gallery Olivier Castaing (Paris) • Eduardo Secci Contemporary (Florence, Milan)* • Septieme Gallery (Paris) • Galerie Sit Down (Paris) • Galerie Slotine (Paris) • Galerie Véronique Smagghe (Paris) • Galerie Sono (Paris)* • Michel Soskine Inc. (Madrid, New York) • Galerie Pietro Spartà (Chagny)* • Stems Gallery (Brussels) • Richard Taittinger Gallery (New York)* • Galerie Taménaga (Paris, Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto) • Galerie Tanit (Beirut, Munich) • Galerie Suzanne Tarasiève (Paris) • Templon (Paris, Brussels) • Galerie Traits Noirs (Paris) • Galerie Patrice Trigano (Paris) • Galerie Univer / Colette Colla (Paris) • Galerie Vazieux (Paris) • Galerie Anne de Villepoix (Paris) • Galerie Wagner (Paris, Le Touquet-Paris-Plage) • Galerie Olivier Waltman (Paris, Miami) • Galerie Esther Woerdehoff (Paris, Geneva) • Xippas (Brussels, Paris, Geneva, Montevideo, Punta del Este)* 70

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List of the 2022 exhibitors / *first time participants

(Paris) • Galerie Pact (Paris) • Paris-B (Paris) • Galerie Pauline Pavec (Paris) • Rafael Pérez

Johannesburg Auction 22 & 23 March 2022

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Art Times March 2022 Edition

CONTENTS Cover: Zanele Muholi, Mahone II, 2021, Galerie Carole Kvasnevski, Art Paris 2022

10. M.O.L 27 - SHOOTING DOWN BABYLON Ashraf Jamal Column 18. ART PARIS 2022 A Sustainable Approach to Organising an Art Fair 32. StART+ The UK’s most International Art Fair 38. BIG SKY Janet Dirksen Paints Intuitively 44. MORPH New works by Helena Hugo 50. SHIFTING NARRATIVES Pan African Contemporary Photography 54. A VERY GRAND TOUR By Jessica Bosworth Smith 58. IN-MOTION: ART OF THE SPACE AGE The Opportunity to Respond Creatively 62. BORROW TO BEAUTIFY: A JOURNEY OF BECOMING By Gemma Hart 66. HERMANUS FYNARTS 2022 FynArts Festival Celebrates Tenth Anniversary 70. SKARRELBAAN A Solo Exhibition by Igshaan Adams 74. BUSINESS ART Fine Art Auction highlights 86. ARTGO Exhibition Highlights Adele van Heerden, Orgues de Flandre I, Ink and Gouache on Film, 2021, 131 A Gallery

Editors Note

or an Arts editor of over 16 years, the last week has been a near-death experience. After 3 years of no Art Fairs, to then be thrown into the best ever attended Investec Cape Town Art Fairit was a rush! It felt that many galleries had literally died in terms of lockdown separation and alienation and now are all re-united, like Heaven- in one huge art fair, artists, buyers, and galleries all together greeting one another with love and kindness. Having chatted face to face with one incredible guy who was instrumental behind the funding of the ICTAF, I was humbled by his attitude towards art. Not once in his conversation was money or profit mentioned. In fact the conversation started off by the funder being touched that one of his favourite artists had approached him to say that they had not sold a work in 2 years, that he then convinced his investment bank board to take on the risk of restarting the ICTAF- thereby helping to put food on his artist’s table and many more. This conversation left me pretty much speechless, one assumes so much that rich people hold the strings of power, influence, and taste but also maybe not, maybe they do have hearts after all. Maybe art is the great humanity equalizer, you can own a great piece of art while the artist is on their way up, and kicking like a 10 month baby in its pregnant mother’s tummy giving its world Hell. However maybe when finally recognized and taken up in the mainstream, is then institutionalized and given a sell-by date. What I am trying to say is that great art energies come from the peripheries, the surprises the smaller galleries, by the time they get to the larger galleries they are recognized and dare I say institutionalized. We as the Art Times are thrilled to say that many if not most great artists have appeared in these pages before they appeared on the walls of the likes of the few ‘top’ galleries. As a small independent Print Magazine, we love what we do and are driven by instinct and passion, our unique free model provides us with the ability to carry new artists and thought into the community on a daily basis. All I can say after 16 years is that we are fortunate through our advertisers, and are blessed to bring you the best of SA art on a daily basis, and we thank you for this.

Gabriel Clark-Brown

SOUTH AFRICA’S LEADING VISUAL ARTS PUBLICATION

CONTACT ART TIMES Tel: +27 21 300 5888 109 Sir Lowry Road, Woodstock, Cape Town PUBLISHER Gabriel Clark-Brown editor@arttimes.co.za ADVERTISING & MARKETING Eugene Fisher sales@arttimes.co.za DIGITAL MEDIA & EXHIBITION LISTINGS Jan Croft subs@arttimes.co.za ART DIRECTION Brendan Body ARTGO CONTENT info@artgo.co.za Rights: the Art Times magazine reserves the right to reject any material that could be found offensive by its readers. Opinions and views expressed in the sa art times do not necessarily represent the official viewpoint of the editor, staff or publisher, while inclusion of advertising features does not imply the newspaper’s endorsement of any business, product or service. Copyright of the enclosed material in this publication is reserved. Errata: Hermanus FynArts - would like to apologise for omitting the name of Karin Lijnes from the list of artists who are exhibiting at Sculpture on the Cliffs - 2020. Her work, Freedom Tree comprises of a large steel mobile of five ceramic bird forms.

@ARTTIMES.CO.ZA

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SHOOTING DOWN BABYLON M.O.L 27

Ashraf Jamal

racy Rose’s long protracted retrospective at Zeitz MOCAA has finally arrived, and like her legendary performance piece, ‘TKO’, it’s a technical knockout. Since the opening of Zeitz, it is surely the most brazenly daring show to date. Why? Because it capitalises on a deep-rooted psychic unsettlement that is peculiarly South African, because it pivots and twists about a body which resists singular definition, be it gendered or raced, and all importantly, because it is a celebration of an explosive, inflammatory, provocative, outrageous artist. In one film she sits astride a mule, trots and heaves through a jungle, her head bedecked with a papier mache hat that resembles a cock and balls. Like much of Rose’s work, this graphic distillation of colonial power and masculinity – and the artist’s tenuous relation to it – embodies, and performs, a driving concern throughout her work – the fact that History Hurts. Rose is that rare creature, someone who never hesitates, who galvanizes the corrupted paradox of creative expression. In her introductory speech for the show, Koyo Kouoh, the executive director of the museum, isolated a single word to define Rose’s work – Rage. Rose, she says, is an ‘enraged artist … a South African citizen, a woman, in rage’. Hers is ‘a cry for respect, for liberation – a productive rage’. The politics of the body and nationhood are inextricably bonded, Rose’s ‘productive’ anger understood as a potent reckoning, because as Kouoh understands it, Rose’s anger is never merely reactive, she does not fight against a problem but produces the possibility for its correction and transformation. In a country like ours, built on reactive rage, immune to criticism, violently absolutist – indeed nihilistic – what Rose offers is a mechanism and means through which to

thread human complexity. If history meets the body-politic, so does ‘conspiracy, dream and desire’. In Rose’s world the material and psychological, conceptual and emotive are one. That Koyo Kouoh and Tracey Rose have a relationship spanning two decades and more – they first met at the Dakar Biennale in 2000 – further underscores the depth of their collaboration. That Kouoh is adamant in her focus on in-depth individually fuelled exhibitions is, in this regard, a vital wager. For what troubles Kouoh is the perception of black artists as a collective. Why, she asks, are group shows devoted to otherness ubiquitous? Why is it so difficult to recognise a black artist as a singularity? Furthermore, Kouoh strives to produce a more integrated – integral – vision of Africa, by ‘bringing the continent into the focus of this country’. If exceptionalism troubles her, singularity does not, which is why we have the first major retrospective on the continent of one of South Africa’s leading innovators in the spheres of performance, photography, and film. Rose’s dealer, Dan Gunn, deserves praise for his unflinching and exacting focus, because this solo show bares all the markings of a refined and austere eye, heart, and soul. True, the root of this brutal, ruthless, yet purifying vision, is the artist, however it could never have been realised without the joint effort of others – namely Gunn and Storm Janse Van Rensburg – who together with others asked how, in this toxic clime of righteousness, one could allow for radical critique. Because, of course, Rose is never one to endorse righteousness, or quietude. She will not be an ideologue or a fence sitter. Her role, rather, is to inhabit the cracks in a system, the explosive and implosive paradoxes that force one to rethink all divisive or contrarian logic. For her, the world is never so simplistically rendered or understood.

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Above: San Pedro V The Wall, 2005 Opposite Page: The Kiss

For Koyo Kouoh, Rose’s art practice is ‘unparalleled amongst her peers’. If theatrical satire is key, it is because Rose, like Bertolt Brecht, understands the power of a deeply felt yet alienated and alienating performance. It is the airgap she allows, a vexed point and place between thought-feeling-action that affords both reflexive critique and a suspension of belief. In other words, we are always both inside and outside Rose’s stunts. Detachment allows for awe-horror-circumspection, connection allows for an immanent grasp of the psychic complexity of the undertaking. But not all the works – like ‘TKO’ – are as exacting, as obtuse, as gripping. Sometimes Rose chooses, after Nietzsche, to bludgeon us with a hammer. The graphic depiction of a black woman, dressed in the colours of the Union Jack, her shaved vagina exposed to the world as she straddles the dome of St Pauls, when seen, cannot be unseen. The ravages of colonialism persist – they distort what we see, feel, how we understand ourselves, how others see us. It is none other than a perversion. This is Rose’s point. Decolonisation, however, is not the answer. Not only is it dangerously naïve, it fails to grasp the inextricable paradox that defines us.

Rose ‘refuses ‘to simplify reality for the sake of clarity’. This resistance runs against the dominant dogmatic culture. Her satirical strategy, mired in calculated paradox, resists ‘the narrative of struggle and reconciliation’. Two enshrined values are contested here – the belief that sequential constructs lead to truth, and that, through this discursive process one can reconcile the wounds of history. That Rose is critical of Nelson Mandela’s reconciliatory politics, underscores this pervasive doubt. We remain arrested, intestate, appallingly broken as a nation. That said, Rose is careful to remind us that she is no nationalist. Her vision echoes that of Kouoh, for whom ‘South Africa is a name to understand the world and the human condition’. Their shared vision is global yet local, all-encompassing yet ruthlessly particular. ‘As long as we can keep talking, we are not killing each other’, says Rose. The sentiment is salutary, but it is also dangerously at risk, precisely because we no longer speak each to each, because we have chosen to inhabit silos, and to isolate ourselves through cellular systems defined by Group Think. It is against this culture, rife today, that Rose holds

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Above: Die Wit Man, 2015 Opposite Page: Lucie’s Fur Version 1-1-1 – The Messenger, 2003

Venus Baartman, 2011

fast to ‘Freedom of Expression’. I jokingly asked Storm Janse van Rensburg if Zeitz had installed a sound-proofed room for the ‘Karens’ who would very likely be outraged by the show, but Van Rensburg’s answer was more understanding – that as a museum, as a retrospective, they would have to accept the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. Van Rensburg is correct in stating that Rose’s solo show is ‘an emotionally charged space’ which, doubtless will spur outrage. But then, as Lesego Rampolokeng presciently noted, ‘we don’t have a culture of criticism, only a culture of bitching’. Against this reactionary drive, Rose presents us with a world vision that is as personal as it is general, one which compels us to absorb paradox, to weather the raw rub of human difficulty. Rose speaks personally of ‘an ancestral bitch slap’, the realisation that cultural inheritance is in and of itself corrupted and corruptible. Of the more recent past, the 1990s – surely the South African art world’s first great defining moment – Rose notes that then ‘the art world was more progressive and messy’.

This is an apt description of Tracy Rose’s world, even today. The tension which underlies progression and evolution is, for her, invariably ‘messy’. This is as it should be, given that Rose is a wild card, a Fauvist, a beast, as exacting as she is perverse, as reassuring as she is enraging, as confident as she is profoundly wracked by doubt. It is for all these paradoxical reasons that I strongly recommend that you see Rose’s show. Titled Shooting Down Babylon, it is, as the title suggests, a Nietzschean tour de force, a rage against the machine, a denunciation – through autocritique – of all forms of idolatry, all unquestioned values and beliefs, all rearguard certainties. Apart from the depth of the creative works on show, spanning decades, there is the added delight one experiences when entering a bling sparkly emerald-green corridor, which suggests a mirror ball, or Rose’s many-sided refracted personae. We enter worlds within worlds, the richly complex and protean world of Tracy Rose, which, for Koyo Kouoh, remains ‘unparalleled’.

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George Milwa Mnyaluza Pemba, In the Bus (detail), R 300 000 - 500 000

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ART PARIS 2022 Grand Palais Éphémère on the Champ-de-Mars 07 – 10 April artparis.com

2022 edition of very high calibre that builds on the success of the 2021 edition. A strong commitment to the environment with two themes - Natural Histories and Art & Environment - combined with an innovative and sustainable approach to organising an art fair. The high-level 2022 selection reflects the growing momentum of this major spring event for modern and contemporary art. Boosted by the success of the September 2021 edition that inaugurated the Grand Palais Éphémère on the Champ-de-Mars with a record-breaking 72,745 visitors, Art Paris is back from 7 to 10 April 2022 with a strong selection of 130 modern and contemporary galleries from some 20 different countries.

Both regional and cosmopolitan, this 24th edition counts 30% new exhibitors. Returning heavyweights Continua, Lelong & Co., massimodecarlo, kamel mennour and Perrotin are joined by Max Hetzler (Berlin, Paris, London) and Bernier Eliades (Athens, Brussels). As far as French galleries are concerned, gb agency, Christophe Gaillard, Catherine Issert, Pietro Sparta, PrazDelavallade and denise rené will be exhibiting for the first time at Art Paris alongside international newcomers such as Fernando Pradilla (Madrid), Rodolphe Janssen (Brussels) and Xippas (Brussels, Geneva, Montevideo, Paris, Punta del Este). This edition also sees the arrival of Brame Lorenceau, Galerie des Modernes and Galerie Jacques Bailly who will be enhancing the modern art offer. The African art scene takes root at the fair with 1957 Gallery (Ghana), Loft Art Gallery (Morocco) and Véronique Rieffel (Ivory Coast), who are joined by Parisian galleries 31 Project, Magnin-A, Templon, Anne de Villepoix and Carole Kvasnevski. The latter will be devoting its stand to South African artist Zanele Muholi.

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Mathieu Cherkit, Implication, 2021, oil on camvas, Xippas Gallery

Above: Sarah Trouche, Arctic action, Svalbard, 2021, photography, Galerie Marguerite Milin. Opposite Page: Zanele Muholi, Liyema, 2021, acrylic on canvas. Galerie Carole Kvasnevski.

Focusing on discovering and rediscovering artists, Art Paris puts the spotlight on independent and emerging galleries such as Backslash, Félix Frachon, Ibasho, Eric Linard, Irène Laub and Oniris.art, which will all be joining the fair in 2022. Art Paris also encourages the presentation of monographic exhibitions, whilst supporting young galleries and emerging artists in the “Promises” sector that brings together around ten exhibitors. In 2022 and with two complementary themes, Art Paris presents a new approach to art that focuses on the living world. Natural Histories: A Focus on the French Scene by Alfred Pacquement. Since 2018, Art Paris has consistently supported the French contemporary art scene

by inviting curators to lend a subjective, historical and critical eye on a selection of specific projects by French artists presented by participating galleries. With Natural Histories: A Focus on the French Scene, independent exhibition curator Alfred Pacquement will share his perspective on the French scene with a selection of 20 artists from different generations, whilst considering the way in which these artists see the natural world and how plants and animals have once again found their place in the contemporary aesthetic. According to Alfred Pacquement: “From exploring, observing and taking stock of nature, to noting how it is transformed or endangered, showcasing it and recounting its every aspect… today, the interest of artists in the plant and animal kingdoms never ceases to confirm its vitality.”

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Gilles Aillaud, Coatis jaunes, 1982, oil on canvas 130 x 195cm, Loevenbruck (Detail)

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Shagha Ariannia, Janey’s Hair, Janey’s Chair, 2020, acrylic on canvas. SEPTIEME Gallery

Alia Ali, Magenta Leaves, 2021, sculpture, photography,193 Gallery

Steve Bandoma, Papotage, 2016., acrylic, ink and collage on paper, Magnin-A Gallery (Deatil)

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Selected artists; Etel Adnan (1925-2021), Lelong & Co. • Gilles Aillaud (1928-2005), Loevenbruck • Dove Allouche (1972), gb agency • Carole Benzaken (1964), Nathalie Obadia • Damien Cabanes (1959), Eric Dupont • Philippe Cognée (1957), Templon • Johan Creten (1963), Perrotin • Marinette Cueco (1934), Univer / Colette Colla • Hugo Deverchère (1988), Dumonteil Contemporary • Edi Dubien (1963), Alain Gutharc • Eva Jospin (1975), Suzanne Tarasiève • Jacqueline Lamba (19101993), Galerie Pauline Pavec • Guillaume Leblon (1971), Nathalie Obadia • Jean-Michel Othoniel (1964), Perrotin • Anne et Patrick Poirier (1941 et 1942), Mitterrand • Eric Poitevin (1961), Dilecta • Armelle de Sainte Marie (1968), Jean Fournier • Barthélémy Toguo (1967), Lelong & Co. • Tursic & Mille (1974), Max Heztler • Justin Weiler (1990), Paris-B. Art & Environment by Alice Audouin. Independent exhibitor curator, environmental specialist and Art of Change 21 founder, Alice Audouin, will orchestrate a selection of 17 French and international artists (selected from amongst the exhibiting galleries), whose work tackles environmental issues such as global warming and the loss of biodiversity. According to Alice Audouin: “A new generation of artists born into the period of ecological crisis puts environmental issues at the heart of its practice. For these artists, ecology is not just a theme, but rather an expression of their relationship with the world. They are reinventing both ways of living together and the collective values of society. From ecofeminism to post anthropocentrism, they are asserting their role as the avant-garde to the full and optimistically initiating a future where cooperation prevails over competition”. Selected artists; Elsa Guillaume (1989), Backslash • Noémie Goudal (1984), Les Filles du Calvaire • Romuald Hazoumé (1962), Magnin-A • Suzanne Husky (1975), Alain Gutharc • Fabrice Hyber (1961), Nathalie Obadia • Tadashi Kawamata (1953), kamel mennour • Vincent Laval (1991), Sono • Douglas Mandry (1989), Binome • Lucy+Jorge Orta (1966 and 1953), Marguerite Milin • Michelangelo Pistoletto (1933), Continua • Pia Ronïcke (1974), gb agency • Recyclegroup: Andrey Blokhin (1987) and Georgy Kuznetsov (1985), Suzanne Tarasiève • Lou Ros (1984), Galerie Romero Paprocki • Lionel Sabatté (1975), 8+4 • Pascale Marthine Tayou (1966), Continua • Sarah Trouche (1973), Marguerite Millin • Capucine Vever (1986), Eric Mouchet.

Marinette Cueco, Entrelacs, 2019, Galerie Univer, Colette Colla

Art Paris adopts a sustainable approach that’s a first in the world of art fairs Art Paris, organised by France Conventions, is a regional art fair that gives pride of place to proximity, drawing local visitors and favouring local transport solutions. In 2022, the fair commits to developing an environmentally responsible approach to organising an art fair. Karbone Prod, founded by Fanny Le Gros, will join forces with environmental consultants Solinnen and Art of Change 21 to assist Art Paris with the implementation of a life cycle assessment-based sustainable approach in what will be a first for an art fair*. This pioneering initiative is supported by French environmental agency ADEME. In the longer term, the aim is to develop a tool for designing environmentally friendly art fairs. “Solo Show”: seventeen monographic exhibitions 17 solo shows spread throughout the fair allow visitors to discover or rediscover in depth the work of modern, contemporary or emerging artists: Alia Ali (193 Gallery) – Shagha Arianna (Septieme Gallery) – Jean-Charles Blais (Catherine Issert) - Marion Boehm (Loft Art Gallery) - Julien Colombier (Le Feuvre & Roze) - Thomas Devaux (Bacqueville) – Alina Frieske (Fabienne Levy) - Philippe Hiquily (Patrice Trigano) - Vincent Laval (Sono) - Carlos León (Fernando Pradilla) - Antoine de Margerie (Eric Linard) - Zanele Muholi (Carole Kvasnevski) Ernest Pignon-Ernest (Art to be Gallery) – Rao Fu (Vazieux) – Hala Schoukair (Bessières) - Tyler Thacker (Pact) - Tony Toscani (Stems Gallery). Julien Colombier, Red Hot, 2020, watercolor and grease pencil on paper mounted on canvas. Galerie Le Feuvre (Detail)

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Jacques Monory, Exercice de style no. 3. 1967, acrylic on canvas, Richard Taittinger Gallery

“Promises”: a sector supporting young galleries and emerging artists “Promises”, a sector focusing on young galleries created less than six years ago, provides a forward-looking analysis of cutting-edge contemporary art. In 2022, this sector will play host to nine galleries around half of which are new for this edition: Double V Gallery (Marseille, Paris), Galerie Felix Frachon (Brussels), Hors-Cadre (Paris), La Galería Rebelde (Guatemala City), Fabienne Levy (Lausanne), Gallery M9 (Seoul), Septieme Gallery (Paris), She BAM! Galerie Laetitia Gorsy (Leipzig), Galerie Sono (Paris). Paris is in the midst of an exceptional period of cultural and artistic renaissance illustrated by

the opening of new galleries and venues, the renovation of existing cultural institutions and the inauguration of new ones. More than ever before, the City of Light is asserting its role as the place to be for contemporary art. The activities on offer as part of the VIP programme, reserved for collectors and art professionals (by invitation only), bear witness to the transformation of Paris’s art scene, whilst showcasing the sustainable initiatives of its cultural stakeholders. For an extensive 2022 Art Paris exhibitor list and more information, visit artparis.com.

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SALO N NI NE TY O NE PRE SE NT S KIRSTEN BEETS. WHEREVER YOU GO THERE YOU ARE, 2022. OIL ON BOARD.

Wherever You Go There You Are

Kirsten Beets 16 .03 - 09.04.22

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StART+

The UK’s most international art fair brings StART+ to Cape Town to spotlight contemporary South African art 131A Gallery, Woodstock, Cape Town 8-12 March 2022 www.startartfair.com

Zubair Mahomed, Fade away, 2021, Leather, acrylic on Louis Vuitton Pochette Voyage, Client commision.

tART has become synonymous with introducing the work of emerging international artists to a global public. From its annual fair at London’s prestigious Saatchi Gallery, to its new digital platform StART.art, StART showcases works from those beginning to break into the global consciousness to both established collectors and those starting out on their collecting journey. This March, their latest initiative - StART+, comes to Cape Town to put the spotlight on emerging South African artists. Christiaan Conradie, Ferdi B Dick, Conrad Botes, MJ Lourens and two artists (Olivié Keck and Michael Amery) who have incorporated AR technology into their physical artworks creating an entirely new visual experience for the viewer will exhibit at independent space 131A Gallery in Woodstock, Cape Town’s main arts district.

Above: Zubair Mahomed, Hey! Arnold, 2019 Leather acrylic on Nike Air Force 1 Client commision. Opposite Page: Marie Jordan Sun in the Bathroom, 2013, Matt Diasec photograph, 100x150cm

Gallery 131A’s co-director Brett Bellairs says, “We’re incredibly excited about this collaboration with StART as we embrace any opportunity to gain further exposure for our talented artists internationally, and in the current economic climate in SA we see this as an absolute necessity.” Joining the local South African artists is photographer Marie Jordan, who, with her husband Irish businessman and former motorsport team owner, Eddie Jordan, divides her time between Ireland, Monaco and Cape Town. Her haunting photographs of Namibia’s sand-filled ghost town, Kolmanskop, were first exhibited at StART in London during Frieze Week 2021. A favourite with the fashionworld, Zubair Mahomed, also a StART art fair exhibitor last year, has collaborated with the likes of Dolce & Gabbana, customizing sneakers and bags with his audacious Pop Art approach.

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Top: Zubair Mahomed, When someone asks for a favor, 2020, Digital illustration, on canvas, 100x100cm. Above: Christiaan Conradie, Pictures Of Your Saints Hanging Crooked From The Drywall, 2021, Oil on canvas, 175cm x 140cm. Opposite Page: Marie Jordan, Zebra Room, 2013 Photograph, back-lit acrylic, 100x150cm.

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Marie Jordan, Off the Hook, 2013, Matt Diasec photograph 150x100cm (Detail)

StART founder David Ciclitira says, “We’re thrilled to be bringing our latest venture, StART+, to Cape Town. We launched in London’s Knightsbridge last October as part of our promise to keep seeking out and supporting new art. There’s nowhere more interesting to us at the moment than the contemporary South African art scene, so here we are!” Capetonian and StART CEO Nicola Gross says, “We’re a UK company yet a significant number of our staff are South African, so we’re incredibly well-placed to shine a light on emerging local talent and then take that talent overseas.”

To that end, one exhibiting artist will win the chance to exhibit at StART art fair at Saatchi Gallery in London this October, an ongoing feature of StART+’s work to support emerging artists with both physical shows and digital presence. Viewing Time: 10am-4pm and Viewing By Appointment. For further information please contact: Amy Mac Iver, amy@brookebuckland.com +27 82 884 6233

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Ashley Walters, Dinner, Lantana Road Uitsig, 2013, c-print, Sanlam Art Collection.

Interiority

Space, Invention and the Self Sanlam Art Gallery 2 Strand Road, Bellville

18 January - 11 March 2022 Viewing by appointment Monday – Friday 09:00 – 16:00 Guided tours of the Sanlam Art Collection and exhibition by appointment with the curator. Tel 021 947 3359 Email stefan.hundt@sanlam.co.za Web https://blog.sanlam.co.za/

BIG SKY

Prince Albert Gallery 15 April until 15 May 2022 Words by Bren Brophy www.princealbertgallery.co.za

“If I create from the heart, nearly everything works; if from the head, almost nothing.” Marc Chagall.

anet Dirksen paints intuitively. Her new body of work is a reflection on her time spent over the years in the small Karoo town of Prince Albert. She is drawn to the sometimes harsh landscape and it is fitting that her second solo exhibition returns ‘home’ to the Prince Albert Gallery. Dirksen offers a multi-layered interpretation of her subject. On the surface she is interested in the sky, the landscape and the quintessential, often derelict, Karoo houses and structures that occupy it. There is a conspicuous lack of any human figures or activity. Yet the works speak to human memory, nostalgia and identity. The buildings serve as an archaeology of the history of the region together with a profound sense of longing for that which has passed. It is this emotional and atmospheric quality that infuses her work. The structures mark space whilst simultaneously creating space beneath the vastness of the desert skies that are her primary subject. The works capture the innate loneliness of the landscape but also of the human condition. The titles of the works allure to this - ‘Distant Solitude’, ‘Silent Spaces’, and ‘Be Still’. “The greatest art always returns you to the vulnerability of the human situation.” Francis Bacon. Dirksen’s interest in the landscape is driven by her exploration of man’s connection to nature and enriched by her empathy with human spirituality. The works create space for meditation and contemplation. Her intentions are amplified by her technical ‘language’ . Working in oils, the multi-layered abstracted areas of the Karoo skies are juxtaposed with the more detailed areas of the manmade structures. “I paint poetically, instead of simply realistically”. Not surprisingly her inspirations include William Turner.

Distant Solitude, oil on canvas, 1020mm x 760mm

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Silent Spaces, oil on canvas, 560mm x 420mm

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New Horizons, oil on canvas, 760mm x 380mm

Be Still, oil on canvas, 760mm x 380mm

The artist is motivated by her interest in the power of human emotion and how it is triggered by the imagination. As such her chosen subjects, the sky, the earth and built structures are metaphors for the human psyche. She provides space for the human spirit to reflect and respond to the dreamlike qualities of the landscape. Echoing throughout the works is a sense of belonging as well as a struggle against the elemental forces of nature. The houses and structures are often abandoned and she gives voice to their presence as archetypes and symbols of man’s occupation through time. At first glance the ‘Big Sky’ artworks are a collection of land and ‘skyscapes’ that document the vastness of the Great Karoo. Dirksen digs deeper into man’s relationship to the land and to natures elements. She chooses to record

the ‘left- behind’ structures that litter the harsh landscape as memorials to the history, identity and intentions of early and present settlers. Rustic roads become monuments to the passage of time and broken structures remind us of fragile pioneer dreams and aspirations. Dirksen’s intention is to give voice to otherwise silent spaces. She uses her chosen abstract impressionistic style to compose a guttural interpretation of the familiar. The works are neither idealistic or romantic. They remind us of the timelessness of man’s relationship to the land, at once nurturing and relentlessly challenging. The works uplift us and root us in our environment, a relationship borne of perseverance and toil.

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MORPH

New works by Helena Hugo at Gallery@Glen Carlou 20 March–1 May 2022 By Peter Machen www.glencarlou.com

Femme Fatale I, 75cm x 60cm, Pastel on wooden board.

elena Hugo’s latest exhibition ‘Morph’ offers a fragmented portrait of a fractured period of time, both in the artist’s life and that of the planet. But it is also a time of transformation, as fragments of the personal and political past rearrange themselves into new constellations of power. ‘Morph’ comprises a collection of figurative pastel and charcoal drawings, relief prints and mixed-media artworks that are unified by their diversity and the delicate empathy that is key to Hugo’s work. All the works were made in the course of the pandemic period, during which new frameworks began to emerge, both in terms of representation and broader reality, including, for example, the heightened presence of the Black Lives Matter movement, the rise of the movement for trans rights, and an increased recognition of both animal sentience and the impact of biodiversity loss.

Above: Silence. 80cm x 60cm, Pastel and oil on wooden board Opposite Page: Daphne IV, 122cm x 88cm, Pastel, lino print and acrylic paint on wooden board.

But while the works reflect the political and cultural shifts and schisms of the pandemic and the period that immediately preceded it, the show is essentially an interior journey for Hugo – although the point of separation between the self and the world is one that is itself in a state of shift. It is, says Hugo, the first time that she has made a show about herself (previous exhibitions explored, for example, the environmental impact of our urge to leave a legacy, the pseudoscience of physiognomy, and our relationship to work). In her artist statement, Hugo quotes Ovid’s Metamorphosis: “I intend to speak of forms changed into new entities.” In the poem, Daphne, the mythological nymph of Arcadia, becomes a universal symbol of imperial power through victory – but not her own. She is transformed into a laurel tree in order to escape Apollo’s advances, but loses her sense of self and her autonomy. She is henceforth

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Pose as a Windswept Tree I, II, III, each 42cm x 30cm, Woodless charcoal on paper.

Pose as a Rock I and II, 21cm x 15cm, Woodless charcoal on paper. Pose as a Bird I, 30cm x 30cm, Woodless charcoal on paper.

Above: Deconstructed Skeleton, 50cm x 86cm, Oil on wooden board. Opposite Page: Gaia, 160cm x 122cm, Pastel, acrylic paint and wallpaper on wooden board.

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Falling dove I, 50cm x 45cm, Pastel on wooden board.

paraded as a symbol of Apollo’s victory and her name is not mentioned in the poem again. “It all began with an incident in 2019, where my face was rearranged and I was almost killed by a burglar at my house/studio,” says Hugo. “Lots of people saw it as a gendermotivated crime. But I disagree. I was just in the guy’s way and, a month later, a young male was killed, in his own home, just a few blocks from my house.” Hugo subsequently began to notice many other incidents of violence against men. She decided to begin with a series of vulnerable men, because, as she says, “these kinds of violent acts can happen to them too” and, at the same time, encourage women, “who can and should protect themselves”. The exhibition includes these vulnerable male nudes, as well as other nudes, portraits of women, a series of plant and animal drawings, and abstract de-constructed works. The portrait drawings are for the most part depictions of Daphne, a weak and tragic figure whose transformation gave her transgressor an even stronger hold over her. Yet, at the same time, the body of work celebrates the strength of women.

‘Morph’ investigates the ambiguous and changeable nature of power. It considers our perceptions of power over and in relation to the other, whether it be another person, an animal, or the environment itself. The show also explores the temporality of power and how it can shift or invert, depending on random and unstable circumstances. Listening to Helena talk about her personal experience and the transformation it has engendered, both in her life and her work, it’s clear that the process is still ongoing. Like the changing nature of power and representation, transformation is something that is never complete but always part of a broader process that takes place in a wider and uncertain world. ‘Morph’ opens on 20 March 2022 at 11 am at Gallery@Glen Carlou and closes on 1 May. The gallery is open from Monday to Sunday – 10.00 to 17.00 For further details or to RSVP, please contact gallery@glencarlou.co.za

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Image: Helena Hugo - Daphne II

Morph A Solo Exhibition by Helena Hugo Opening at the Gallery at GlenCarlou 20 MAR - 1 MAY 2022 enquire or rsvp to gallery@glencarlou.co.za

SHIFTING NARRATIVES

A Pan African Contemporary Photography Exhibition www.themelrosegallery.com

The Photography Legacy Project and The Melrose Gallery present ‘Shifting Narratives’, an exciting group exhibition of photographic works from across the African continent. Over 40 photographers are participating in the exhibition which is to be presented online on a viewing room on www.themelrosegallery.com from 1 March to 3 April.

This exhibition follows on from the well received inaugural PLP auction last year. The exhibition brings together an exciting diversity of subject matter ranging from social and physical landscapes to the private interiors, from gender-based issues to surfing culture. The exhibition reflects the ingenuity and commitment of African photographers who continue to practice their craft despite extreme challenges. Award-winning Zimbabwean, Tamary Kudita’s project, African Victorian that won the Open Photographer of the Year, at the 2021 Sony World Photography Awards is featured. Her work explores and disrupts stereotypical representations of African identity. “Subversion is implicit in my elected mode of practice and my choice of representation demonstrates a subject position congruent with that of Santu Mofokeng, who seeks to tell a transparent narrative about black lives by constantly unsettling the comfort zones of racial and cultural memory,” she told Contemporary Art magazine. Its self-evident and well documented that photography in Africa has had a troubled past. It fluctuated as the late Okwui Enwezor has pointed out between ‘Afropessisim’ to ‘Afroramanticism,’ both intrinsically related, and flip sides of the same coin. The tropes of Africa as a warzone, famineridden, breadbasket or a place where ‘natives’ continue to practice ageold traditions, devoid of any social or political context, as if time has stood still, have been well and truly disavowed. Since the 1990’s and the exposure of African photography to an international audience through a number of seminal exhibitions and publications, a flood

Above: Diabaté Fatoumata. Opposite Page: African Victorian series, Tamary Kudita, winner of the Sony World Photography award, 2021

of imagery has found its way to countless international (and some African) bienalles, galleries and museums. What exactly is ‘African photography’, remains an ilusive, multifaceted and engaging meditation. The enduring concept suggested by Sabrina Zanier that African photography is a laboratory of collective consciousness remains appealing. Added to this, author Ekow Eshun in his recent book, Africa State of Mind:Contemporary Photography Reimagines a Continent (2020), observes a new movement while speaking back to their colonial past, “…African photographers claim the creative freedom to look inwards.” One of the highlights represented is the creative response of photographers to the Covid 19 pandemic. The inventive portraits and theatrical performative imagery of Raissa Karama Rwizibuka are tempered by Lindokuhle Sobokwe and Marc Shoul’s social documentary interventions.

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Micha Serraf, Kukura (Detail)

A large group of emerging photographers share their photographic endeavours. Selfreflexive imagery on Youth culture range from the documentary works of Nigeria’s Etinosa Yvonne’s and Algeria’s Abno Shanan. Gordwin Odhiambo is a photographer born and raised in Nairobi. His photography critically explores the lives of young people and how they navigate the realities around them in one of Africas’ biggest cities. His work nuances reductive stereotypes, offering alternative images from Kenya’s urban slum communities. An older generation of established names like Alf Kumalo, Michael Meyersfeld, David Lurie, legendary Drum photographers like Bob Gosani and a host of award-winning photographers rub shoulders with the past. A rare collection of endangered and disappearing South African vernacular photography is also represented by studio portraitist Ronald Ngilima and William Matlala. While this genre from West African has been widely seen in recent times, less exposure has been given to the South African version and its contribution to this part of world visual heritage. Sales of images will go towards supporting the PLP whose mission is to digitize endangered and significant collections across

Ernest Cole

the continent. Last year through sales, the PLP was able to digitize a new group of photographers from South Africa, Sudan and Kenya, some of whom are represented in the exhibition. The archive of Ralph Ndawo, a peer of Peter Magubane and Alf Kumalo who worked for Drum and the Rand Daily Mail has been kept by his daughter Rachel for decades since his untimely death in 1980. It is now digitized and available for the world to see. Henion Han, a Chinese born South African who documented the Chinese community, as well

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work from the archive of Lindeka Qampi are in the auction. The efforts of photographers and the archives represented underlie the vision and spirit of the PLP to continue the digital preservation of photographic heritage much of which is perilously endangered so that African photographic collections and archives may remain on the continent, be accessible and researchable for future generations. The virtual exhibition links the archive with contemporary practice and cumulatively it is a celebration of the continent’s creative imagery.

For more information contact : Craig Mark Director The Melrose Gallery +27 83 777 6644 craig@themelrosegallery.com www.themelrosegallery.com

A VERY GRAND TOUR By Jessica Bosworth Smith www.salon91.co.za

A Very Grand Tour is a debut solo exhibition by Jessica Bosworth Smith. “I first lived overseas in 2012 working as an au pair in Paris. During my year abroad, I extensively explored the city. And, while inhabiting the role of both tourist and Parisian local, learnt of a very interesting phenomenon, Paris Syndrome. This syndrome is characterized by an overwhelming sense of disappointment that reality does not match up to expectations that tourists sometimes hold of the city. Throughout my many trips to famous monuments, I felt that, yes, I could very easily see the burst bubble of romance in some tourist’s faces as they attempted to capture the perfect vista of the Eiffel Tour while trying to ignore other tourists attempting to experience the magic of the city at the very same time as they were. Despite the reality often falling short, I still took immense delight in discovering the city; the magic that seemed to lie in unexpected places, and the welling up of emotions that often took me by surprise. The sudden stumbling onto a scene that unfolded like a tableau that felt like I had discovered a more real version of the city than the actual city I had been experiencing. This encountering of the whimsically unexpected began to change the way I interacted with the places around me. Over time, I began using a camera less, preferred travelling alone, and would purposefully lose myself in a place to reflect on things that can only be truly examined when your comfort zone has been stripped away. For me, travel became about self-examination. I’ve done much travelling since then and I’ve wondered about the nature of being a tourist. To tour a place is to create the tourist attraction. I have my own very complicated feelings about this simple fact. I want to inhabit, to experience, to take pictures, but I begrudge my own presence there. The early photos from March 2020 of monuments completely deserted was like glimpsing into a strange place where there was no such thing as a tourist.

Somebody’s Home, 2022, Gouache on board, 480 x 360mm

In Cahoots, 2021. Gouache on board. 345 x 285mm

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The Jardin Marjorelle, 2021, Gouache on board. 875 x 620mm

We Really Need to Make Friends with Someone with a Pool, 2022, Gouache on board, 875 x 620mm

These attractions which are defined by being visited now could only be viewed from a window, a screen, or relived in a memory. Suddenly, digital visitations to global destinations began to fascinate me. I started stockpiling images that were less about the place itself, and more about the feeling they evoked in me; those feelings I got and could examine honestly when I travelled, especially when I did so alone. So, I turned to painting. Firstly, with gouache on board and then to the three-dimensional realm in ceramics. With my sculptural works, I explored the desire to collect and to find keepsakes; like little souvenirs from the places I’ve captured in my paintings. I want collection as a whole to come alive with the

delight of feeling like you know this place, but I can’t be sure that you’ve seen it before. A Very Grand Tour centers around my desire to teleport myself to new and wonderful places rather than to recapture the cities I had already visited. I wanted to create parallel worlds which were reality-adjacent. Through painting and ceramics, I could circumvent the plane ticket and travel restrictions and use the pictorial plane to go elsewhere. A place where only I can go, which is mine alone, where there is no reality to compare it to, that tells me everything I need to know about myself.

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WITH THE

CAPE TOWN PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA C O N D U C TO R : B R A N D O N P H I L L I P S S O LO I S TS LY N E L L E K E N N E D L U VO M A R A N T I L AU N C H O F

FYN

P 10

RO GRA

MME (10 - 19 JUN E) adults

R200 under 16

R100

SATURDAY 12 MARCH 2022 AT 18:30 TICKETS AT

, FYNARTS GALLERY & CHANTEL LOUSKIT T (060) 957 5371) HERMANUSFYNARTS.CO.ZA

CPO.ORG.ZA

NEW EXHIBITION AND OPEN CALL TO THE PUBLIC IN-MOTION: ART OF THE SPACE AGE

Rupert Museum On show till 27 November 2022 www.rupertmuseum.org

he Rupert Museum is proud to present the public with the opportunity to respond creatively to a new exhibition, IN-MOTION: Art of the Space Age.

Following the Rupert Museum’s first OPEN CALL in 2020 on Michele Nigrini’s Colour Symphony, they are excited to present the opportunity for works of art in various shapes, forms and sizes, to be submitted for possible inclusion in a selling group exhibition. Drawing on the playfulness and founding principles of art, the IN-MOTION exhibition gives the public, from any creative industry, platform or profession, the opportunity to respond to these works, their movements and/or creators. The exhibition is set to open at the Jan Rupert Art Centre in Graaff-Reinet during September of this year and the closing date for electronic submissions is Friday, 8 July 2022.

The OPEN CALL’s aim is to inspire and activate engagement with the permanent collections managed by the Rupert Museum as well as presenting upcoming artists and creatives the opportunity to exhibit and sell their work. About IN-MOTION: Art of the Space Age The launch of Sputnik 1, the first artificial earth satellite, in 1957 truly set the Space Age in motion. This notion captured the popular imagination and was expressed in different fields such as architecture, fashion, film and design. The Space Age was no less celebrated by visual artists. Inspired by all things space travel, this fascination with the new placed pure line, movement, form and colour at its centre. The advances in technology and industry, especially after the Second World War, gave artists access to new materials such as plastic, moulded glass, Perspex, transparent screens and electric motors.

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Richard Allen (British, 1933 - 1999) Black and white composition, 1965

Detail of Auguste Herbin (French, 1882 - 1960) Untitled, 1959

Yaacov Agam (Israeli-French, 1928 - ) Structure, 1977

Detail of Jesu-Raphaël Soto (Venezuelan, 1923 - 2005) Sotomagie series, 1967

This grabbed artists’ attention and was quickly adapted as a new form of expression which led to multiple innovations by individuals and artist groups in creating moving images, distortions and illusions. IN-MOTION explores the work of 27 late 19th and early 20th century international artists, including studies, designs and artworks typically categorised as Futuristic, Optical or Kinetic Art. The biggest section and focal point upon entering the exhibition is the vibrant installation of Giacomo Balla’s Futuristic Garden. Other artists include Marcel Duchamp, Victor Vasarely, Jesu-Raphaël Soto, Yaacov Agam, Alberto Biasi, Edoardo Landi, Auguste Herbin, Toni Costa and Francois Morellet, to mention a few. The selection forms part of the permanent collection of the Huberte Goote Foundation which is managed by the Rupert Museum.

The artworks on show are experimental, engaging and entertaining and sometimes demand a close inspection by moving or observing. This may push the viewer to a state of doubt as to what is really ‘seen’ either by chance or deliberate design. More details on the requirements, judging process and submission guidelines for the OPEN CALL are available on www.rupertmuseum.org. Not possible for you to visit IN-MOTION: Art of the Space Age? Not to worry, visit the exhibition online: https://my.matterport.com show/?m=KysU6KdF6d4

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BORROW TO BEAUTIFY: A JOURNEY OF BECOMING By Gemma Hart www.nasmus.co.za

magine if you could curate your space with just a click of a button. That you could convert any blank wall in your lounge, dining room or even office into a mesmerising show-piece. Whether you want to immerse yourself in a space that evokes feelings of joy, tranquility or reverie - there’s an artwork for you. The key to finding a work of art that you’ll love, is discerning what resonates with you. Cater to your own taste and cultivate contemporary culture through a tailor-made experience. You can browse an extensive catalogue of original artworks from the comfort of your own home. Collecting work doesn’t have to be a lifetime commitment. You can ring the changes with each new season or to suit your unique specifications. Breathe life into your living space. At a fraction of the sale price, leasing work offers the same gratification but without the financial burden. Whether you have a loft with a view, cozy cottage or a postmodern mansion, Art Bank of South Africa, the national art leasing initiative, has a turnkey solution for transforming your space. A recent client of the ArtbankSA who leased several pieces from the collection described how “all of them spoke to me for various reasons”. The first one that caught his eye was a large-scale oil painting by Asanda Kupa. Chained in Blue (2017) “is a big painting of women in blue overalls and you can’t actually make out their faces, you can’t even make out their form, but if you stand far enough back you can see that these are people in uniform”. For him, both the mood evoked by the piece as well as its scale, were crucial factors in selecting the work, “I had quite a big wall to fill, but also what it depicted was these unseen masses of women in overalls. These marginalised black women are invisible, but they are everywhere. You walk past them, you drive past them, they work in your house, but you never see them. So that really blows my mind. Even now, sometimes I just look at it and it sort of entrances me”.

Asanda Kupa, Chained in Blue, 2017, oil on canvas, 136 x 280cm

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Previously, finding works of art to collect had been an “odyssey”. In stark contrast, this client’s experience with ArtbankSA was swift and smooth. Once he had made a selection of work online, ArtbankSA Project Manager, Nonto Sheryl Msomi, reached out to him.

Thalente Khomo ‘Umnikelo’ (2019) Digital Print. 59.4 x 42 cm and Cassian Garrett Robbertze ‘Wanting’ (2019) Bronze Sculpture. ArtbankSA Collection. Opposite Page: Asanda Kupa ‘Chained in blue’ (2017) Oil on canvas. ArtbankSA Collection

“She is a very delightful person. She was very helpful, she told me how the process works… She asked me about the space that I had, but she never influenced my choice”. After completing the loan agreement and signing on the dotted line the works were shipped across the country to their new home for the year. Assistant Project Manager, Nkosinathi Gumede, and his team arrived to execute an expert installation. “You know they are very knowledgeable guys, in terms of how to hang up the artwork…They engaged my wife, putting the stuff where it needed to be, as well as how to mount it. It was just a very seamless process.” Another long-standing client of the ArtbankSA echoed many of these sentiments, also mentioning that the dedicated ArtbankSA team “have woken up a love for art that is within me, and I never knew it existed”.

Thematically connected, Thalente Khomo’s Umnikelo (2019) takes pride of place on his red dining room wall. “It’s red-on-red. I like that. Again, the strong woman who is everywhere but nowhere, but on Sundays she really comes out in her regalia. Ironed and starched, just the outfit alone is striking enough”. The third piece on loan from the ArtbankSA’s collection is a bronze sculpture by Cassian Garrett Robbertze featuring a man reclining against a bench - the crevice concealing his hooded head is empty. “That resonates with me because as a person who regularly meditates, we always try to look for the ‘I’. Who are you? Where does your ‘I’ or being really reside? Is it in your head? Is it in your heart?” The artwork evokes some contemplative and deeply philosophical questions. He chuckles and says, “I like the sculpture because it is actually sitting right next to me here in my study and I always refer to it. It tempers my ego”.

Every year the ArtbankSA’s panel of tastemakers acquires a new selection of works, keeping abreast of the latest innovation in the South African art scene. You can peruse many of these offerings at your own pace online. Although the full catalogue of works is not yet available, recent appointments by ArtbankSA have been made to expedite uploading the inventory for your greater choice. In the next few weeks substantial additions will be made to the virtual catalogue. The digital catalogue is easy to navigate, and works are categorised by medium, artist and price. The artworks span a variety of styles and techniques from dramatic large-scale paintings to petite works on paper, scintillating sculptures and multi-media masterpieces. Each work on the website has its exact dimensions - so that you can effortlessly assess where it might fit in your space. Finding the perfect piece has never been so simple.

“Cater to your own taste and cultivate contemporary culture through a tailor-made experience.” 64

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HERMANUS FYNARTS 2022 10 – 19 June 2022

www.hermanusfynarts.co.za

aunched in 2013, the Hermanus FynArts Festival celebrates its tenth anniversary from 10 – 19 June 2022. To mark the occasion, the programme booklet and tickets sales will be launched at a concert performed by the Cape Philharmonic Orchestra in the iconic Old Harbour in Hermanus on Saturday 12 March. Achieving a milestone offers the opportunity of looking back as well as planning for the future - and it is therefore fitting that the conductor and soloists for the Sunset Concert, previously performed at the festival.

Ceramic Exhibition, There is no Ordinary, Bianca Whitehead

In celebration of FynArts10, the exhibition of the Festival Artist will feature all seven past festival artists that include: Diane Victor and Gordon Froud (2015), Louis Jansen van Vuuren (2016), Willie Bester (2017), Kate Gottgens (2018), Philemon Hlungwani (2019) and Beezy Bailey (2020/2021). Beezy Bailey and his mentee Stuart Dods’ small paintings of the same landscape are included as part of exhibition. Curated by Marilyn Martin, the exhibition serves as reminder to visitors of the renowned SA visual artists that have supported the festival over the years, showcasing a diverse range of mediums that include drawing, painting and sculpture.

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Primary School Choir Celebration

Workshop, Creating wildlife in clay, Nic van Rensburg

Sculpture on the Cliffs was launched in 2014 when seven invited artists installed eight sculptures at Gearings Point. This year a bumper sculpture installation, supported by Pioneer Freight for the second time, will be installed by fifteen artists all of whom have previously participated in Sculpture on the Cliffs. Smaller sculptures will form part of the Art in the Auditorium exhibition. FynArts10 programme include the popular FynArts group ceramic and art of thread exhibitions. Enjoy exhibitions at twentythree participating galleries of which eleven will present special exhibition openings for FynArts. Six artists will open their private studios to visitors during the festival. A series of daily of performances ranging from classical music, jazz, folk music, stage plays, and ballet performances by Dance for All (DFA) will keep visitors thoroughly entertained. The first Primary School Choir Celebration will take place along with a Primary School Writing Project and Exhibition. The full programme in the Strauss & Co series of daily presentations, includes interviews and discussions on art and art-related topics, and film. As before, Strauss & Co will offer their regular Valuation Day at the Marine Hotel.

The FynArts10 Workshops will have a wide range of painting topics and techniques to making string and related products, working with dried and pressed flowers, scrapbooking, baking, public speaking and Mindfulness and Meditation. In the FynArts Demonstration Kitchen top chefs and other culinary presenters will demonstrate dishes on themes that include Foraging Food, Overberg Mediterranean, and Fusion Cuisine. Indulge your tastebuds with tutored tastings including honey and cheese, gin, brandy, as well as the popular wine tastings - this time presented as a mini-series with a difference. Looking to the future, the FynArts Youth Development Platform will be launched with a limited programme. The goal of the Platform is to offer opportunities to aspiring filmmakers, poets, actors, artists and musicians to showcase their work during the festival. For more information visit: www.hermanusfynarts.co.za

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SKARRELBAAN

A solo exhibition by Igshaan Adams On view until 19 March Blank Projects CT blankprojects.com

n Afrikaans colloquialism in the Kaaps (Cape) dialect, the exhibition title is a phrase that refuses translation. Referring to a particular way of moving through the world with a wary desperation to improve one’s circumstances, to be on the skarrelbaan is to be on the lookout for good fortune; hustling for jobs, money, or food.

Comprising a series of new large-scale weavings and installation, the exhibition expands on the artist’s investigations of ‘desire lines’, those paths walked into the landscape that circumvent or resist spatial planning. In Cape Town, this resistance to the confines of organised space holds a special poignancy; one of the enduring evils of Apartheid is the physical segregation and economic exclusion of people of colour by means of boundaries, highways and veld (open ground). The paths that traverse these spaces describe the journeys of people, led by intuition or necessity, in search of work and community. Working with satellite imagery to create motifs for his tapestries, Adams invites us to witness these collective histories from above. Weaving their stories into the works on show, he transforms commonplace materials such as recycled nylon rope, string, wire and beads into precious objects. Much like the pathways trampled into vinyl flooring tell the personal histories of a domestic space so too do these desire paths, at hundreds of times the scale, record the daily pursuits of individuals and communities.

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Top Left: Haar verwags was groot (Her expectations were great), 2021, Wood, painted, plastic, glass, metal, stone, shell and bone beads, sea shells, polyester and nylon rope, wire and, synthetic and cotton. Above: Vanguard Drive, 2021, Wood, painted wood, plastic, glass, stone and metal beads; seashells, polyester and nylon rope, ball chain, wire and cotton twine; 246 x 283 cm (Detail)

Gebedswolke (Prayer clouds), 2022, Mixed media, Installation dimensions variable (Installation detail)

“The exhibition expands on the artist’s investigations of ‘desire lines’, those paths walked into the landscape that circumvent or resist spatial planning.” Extending across one room of the gallery is an installation of wire sculptures that hover above a network of pathways woven out of fine gold chain. The wire ‘prayer clouds’, as Adams refers to them, represent the notion that the hopes and aspirations we send upwards to heaven could become caught, trapped in the clouds on their way to their intended destination. Adams’s clouds glint and flicker with embellishments; the glimmers of hope made tangible. They also recall the dust clouds of the rieldans, a traditional dance of courtship (desire) involving fast footwork that leaves dust from the ground suspended in the air. The grounded weightiness of the woven pathways, the lightness of the clouds, and the visual tension between the two reminds us of what it is to have one’s feet on the ground and head in the clouds....

Through this tracing of pathways throughout the exhibition, an imagined figure is conjured up, walking their own desire path. Her gait - know him by his gait - is determined; pursuing. Even as she walks the hard terrain, her thoughts are full of dreams and visions of success. Kop in ‘n Google cloud, voete op ‘n skarrelbaan.… skarrelbaan is the artist’s sixth exhibition with the gallery. Image credits: All photographs courtesy of the artist and blank projects. Photos by Mario Todeschini. Opposite Page Top: Igshaan Adams, skarrelbaan, 2022, Installation view at blank projects. Opposite Page Bottom: Opskorting van rus (Suspension of rest), 2022, Mixed media; 210 x 120 x 90 cm (Installation view )

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Business Art

STEPHAN WELZ & CO. www.swelco.co.za

ow do we define contemporary art? In the most basic sense, contemporary art is art made since the 1960s and of the present day usually by living artists. Challenging and provocative, contemporary artists combine multiple mediums and blur the boundaries of what is considered art. These works often challenge our ideas about what art should look like or how it should behave. An open mind, and a willingness to engage in conversation and debate are essential when interacting with a contemporary artwork. Oftentimes, we as the observer may find similarities in our own experiences when interacting with these pieces. True to this definition, would be the large selection of contemporary art we, at Stephan Welz & Co, have on our upcoming March auction in Johannesburg. Works worth highlighting would be Senzo Shabangu’s Sins of our leaders, Diane Victor’s Trojan III, Bambo Sibiya’s The Portrait of a Man, and William Kentridge’s Black Monkey Thorn, amongst others. Above: Regi Bardavid, Present Time, oil paint and bees wax on canvas, 88 by 88 by 4,5cm, R3 000 – R5 000. Right: Senzo Shabangu, Sins of our Leaders, colour plate linocut, sheet size: 60 by 120cm, R8 000 – R9 000

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Norman Clive Catherine, Roadshow, lithograph, sheet size: 50 by 65,5cm, R13 000 – R15 000

“These works embody the versatile experimentation and avant-garde approach synonymous with contemporary art.” These works embody the versatile experimentation and avant-garde approach synonymous with contemporary art. Through their work, each artist investigates personal or cultural identity, questions social and institutional structures, as well as complex issues that influence our continually changing society. This art form gives a voice to issues that society normally denies or ignores entirely. A gripping example would be the Child Soldier by Willie Bester. The piece is confrontational and demands the full attention of the viewer. Bester has said of his work “I am sometimes tempted to go to the seaside and to paint beautiful things from nature. But I do not do it because my art has to be taken as a nasty tasting medicine for awakening consciences.” Senzo Shabangu explores themes of space, alienation, and identity. City landscapes often emerge from below or are suspended above the figures he depicts, creating a suffocating

and overwhelming sense of being surrounded and consumed by the city. Alongside these themes, Shabangu also explores notions of how people live and the politics surrounding forced removals. Shabangu has expressed that it is his duty as an artist to reflect the uncertain and difficult times of terror, inequality, and alienation amongst other issues, that we live in as these issues affect how we relate to one another. We are looking forward to our March auction to showcase these thought-provoking artworks and invite the public to start challenging their ideas about art. Contact our specialists for more information or to view these works up close. Visit www.swelco.co.za for further updates or email support@swelco.co.za and our specialists will gladly assist.

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Nelson Makamo, Portrait with Glasses, mixed media on paper, 99 by 71cm, R100 000 – R120 000

Bambo Sibiya, Portrait of a Man, mixed media on canvas, 113 by 79,5cm, R30 000 – R50 000

William Joseph Kentridge, Black Monkey Thorn, lithograph, sheet size: 29 by 35,5cm, R20 000 – R30 000

HOW BOSCH EXPERIENCED HIS OWN KIND OF HELL

Bosch was the inventor of the modern Western imagining of the demonic while transcending that tradition — all because of bad weather and moldy bread. hyperallergic.com By by Ed Simon

Hieronymus Bosch, The Garden of Earthly Delights (circa 1480–1490) oil on panel, 153.2 x 86.6 inches, located in Madrid, Museo del Prado (image courtesy Wikimedia Commons)

round the turn of the 14th century, for reasons still not completely clear, the average annual temperature underwent a precipitous drop for the next half millennia during what scientists have termed a “Little Ice Age.” Planting seasons were reduced throughout France and the Holy Roman Empire; lush vineyards in the Low Countries and England were blighted; the River Thames regularly froze over (until well into the Industrial Revolution). For two years starting in 1315 massive crop failures throughout Europe led to thousands of deaths. A generation later, and a population already sickly from famine was far more at risk from the bubonic plague, which in the infamous pandemic of 1347 (the Black Death) may have killed a third of Europeans.

These years of pandemic and climate change were well attested to in later artwork, especially in Germany and the Netherlands. The frozen lake and low winter light in Pieter Brueghel the Elders’

1565 “The Hunters in the Snow,” the pustulecovered Christ in Mathias Grünewald’s 1523 “Crucifixion,” those grinning and corpuscular demonic skeletons from Hans Holbein’s 1526 “Danse Macabre,” and the eschatological mania of Albrecht Dürer’s 1496 woodcut “The Four Horseman of the Apocalypse.” Before all of them, however, was the Dutch painter Hieronymus Bosch, born sometime around 1450, who was at the height of his artistic skill during the decades on either side of 1500, and died in 1516, only a year before all that northern European gothic mania would culminate in Martin Luther’s “95 Theses.” Alice K. Turner described Bosch in The History of Hell as “one of the handful of truly original creators of hell.” I would argue that more than even that, Bosch was both the inventor of the modern Western imagining of the demonic while transcending that very same tradition — all because of bad weather and moldy bread.

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Since he was a psychedelic visionary, it’s been hypothesized that the deranged piety of the painter was inspired by ergot poisoning. Claviceps purpurea, the most common variety of the fungus ergot, produces an alkaloid known as ergotamine, which in chemical composition is closely related to lysergic acid diethylamide, or LSD. Because of the damp growing seasons, ergot rot was endemic throughout northern Europe, and infected rye often found its way into bread. John Waller explains in The Dancing Plague: The Strange, True Story of an Extraordinary Illness that the mold could “induce delusions, twitching, and violent jerking,” mentioning how Alsatian millers had fitted their wooden pipes which transported flour with intricate carvings of distinctly Boschian faces as a reminder of hallucinatory risks. Art historians have long looked for some explanation of Bosch’s imagery: a shrieking insectoid demon with globular, coal-black eyes wearing a Flemish matron’s chaperon; an avian devil with a chamber pot as a crown stuffing a nude man into its gaping beak; a pig in a nun’s habit forcefully embracing a screaming man. Those are just details from the dense tableaux of his most celebrated work – “The Garden of Earthly Delights,” painted between 1495 and 1505. Jeffrey Burton Russell argues in Mephistopheles: The Devil in the Modern World that part of Bosch’s impact isn’t only because he “introduced a complex and varied symbolism open to interpretation,” but also because he “shifted the focus of evil from the demonic to the human.” Part of what strikes viewers of Bosch’s work is that regardless of how grotesque his demons are, they are also individuals. Laurinda S. Dixon makes the most connoisseurial case for Bosch’s ergotism in an essay from Art Journal, but ultimately any diagnosis must only be conjecture. We feel the need to explain Bosch’s macabre obsessions in some way, the singular, fantastical, unprecedented nature of his paintings. Bosch can be partially explained by the context of the High Middle Ages: The distinctly Teutonic religious malaise and mania which he shares with Brueghel and Dürer and which reached its apotheosis with the coming Reformation, and the melancholy which marked a region that had gotten colder, sicker, and hungrier. While the Italian Renaissance has its share of demonic imagery, nothing was produced that quite matched Bosch for horrific import. For that matter, nothing else was produced anywhere that quite equaled his hellish vision. Both allusive and illusive, because a central attraction to Bosch has been the sense that he possesses some ability to divine cursed verisimilitude, that if his images seem too remarkable that it’s because he actually knew what hell looked like.

Detail view of Hieronymus Bosch, The Garden of Earthly Delights (circa 1480–1490) oil on panel, 153.2 x 86.6 inches, located in Madrid, Museo del Prado (image courtesy Wikimedia Commons)

I venture such a claim only to emphasize just how otherworldly and sui generis Bosch happens to be, a necromancer who was able to pull hell upward to earth and to preserve it in oil and wood. As Turner argues, Bosch’s “demons and tortures are more varied and imaginative than anything we have seen yet.” No other artist in Western painting has ever captured such an enduring demonic imaginary like Bosch has. He single-handedly perfected the visual idiom of perdition, and the result has been five centuries of nightmares, the progeny of the Netherlandish painter visible in contemporary Satanic imagery from horror movies to heavy metal music. There is an eternal quality about Bosch, not just that he influences modern culture, but that his multitude of horrors somehow exists outside of any simple framework of past, present, and future. He’s endlessly interpretable, and what exactly any occult revelation he presents might evoke or connotate must by necessity shift. In our own years of pandemic and climate change, in my book Pandemonium: A Visual History of Demonology, I return to another segment of “The Garden of Earthly Delights,” describing what looks like, if anything, a “fiery cityscape, collapsed and burning skyscrapers, twisted steel I-beams and crumbling concrete, the haze of nuclear fallout across the skyline of a once-mighty and modern metropolis.” Whether Bosch is in hell or we are remains as unanswered as the origins of his strange and terrible visions.

ACROSS THE U.S., MUSEUMS ARE EXPLORING SPIRITUALISM AND THE OCCULT AS POWERFUL, UNSUNG FORCES IN ART HISTORY “Another World” and “Supernatural America” offer a chance to reconsider the politics of long-derided cultural movements. news.artnet.com

Columbia Industries. Mystic Answer Board (ca. 1940s). Collection of Brandon Hodge. Photo: Brandon Hodge / MysteriousPlanchette.com.

In art circles, spirituality is coming out of closet as curators and critics reconsider the influence of religion on artists from Robert Smithson to Andy Warhol. But spirituality’s cousins, spiritualism and the occult, remain cloaked with suspicion. There is now, as there long has been, an aura of disrepute around these practices: they reek of charlatanism, crackpot science, and New Age gullibility. A few years ago, when I was writing an article on art and spirituality, I was warned by a prominent writer on the subject to avoid the word spiritualism. And indeed, when major art museums touch on the subject of spiritualism or the occult, it is generally to debunk or satirize. The 2018 Hilma af Klint exhibition at the Guggenheim was the rare exception, but even there the curators seemed discomfited by the artist’s insistence that her works should be seen as messages from her spirit guides.

Two exhibitions currently on view take spiritualism and the occult seriously, examining not only works made by artists in touch with other realities, but also the way that such explorations are woven into the fabric of American art and culture. Both exhibitions have extensive, well-researched catalogues that make their cases even to those of us unable or unwilling to travel in the time of Covid, and are well worth engaging with. First some definitions: While spirituality has evolved into an all-purpose term encompassing myriad antimaterialistic approaches to art, spiritualism has a specific meaning. It flowered in the 19th century as a religious movement aimed at proving the immortality of the soul by establishing communication with spirits of the dead. The occult encompasses a wider group of practices, spiritualism among them, based on the belief that secret or hidden knowledge can give access to otherworldly or magical energies.

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Agnes Pelton, Nurture (1940). Collection of the Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art, Utah State University, gift of the Marie Eccles Caine Foundation.

Transcendental Painting “Another World,” which opened in October at the Philbrook Museum in Tulsa, Oklahoma, resuscitates the Transcendental Painting Group, a Southwest-based collective that emerged in 1930s New Mexico. As one of its adherents explained, its members were seeking “a richer and deeper land—the world of peace—love and human relations projected through pure form.”

Today the best-known member of TPG is Agnes Pelton, the subject of a dazzling 2020 exhibition at the Whitney Museum. The others are virtually unknown outside New Mexico, where all but the Southern California-based Pelton lived. TPG existed as a group for only three years before being disrupted by the advent of the Second World War. But the artists continued to work individually for decades after.

These artists drew heavily on the occult philosophy of Theosophy and explored such phenomena as synesthesia, vibration, sacred geometry, and cosmic images in their quest to reach a transcendent state of consciousness. As curator Michael Duncan explains, they adopted the name Transcendental, not from Emerson’s fusion of nature and the divine, but from the quest to discover the inner spiritual depths within each artist.

Stylistically, they present diverse approaches to transcendence, ranging from the crisp, precisionist geometry of Raymond Jonson and the almost-landscapes of Lawren Harris to the Zen-inspired improvisations of William Lumpkins and the gentle biomorphism of Florence Miller Pierce. Duncan argues that TPG’s invisibility is a result of “the double disadvantage of being an openly

Raymond Jonson, Casein Tempera No. 1 (1939). Albuquerque Museum, gift of Rose Silva and Evelyn Gutierrez.

spiritual movement from the wrong side of the Mississippi.” Until recently, art historians have shown great reluctance to acknowledge the overwhelming evidence of the influence of occult ideas on the development of modernism. As the canon splinters, the paintings in “Another World” open up new avenues for understanding the evolution of American abstraction, especially as it took place outside the major centers of the mid-century American art world. Paranormal Art History While TPG’s rhetoric of inner Godhood and the archaic Unconscious may still raise eyebrows, the works fit comfortably in the art historical space currently being opened up by the huge public response to the Hilma af Klint show. “Supernatural America: the Paranormal in American Art” presents a thornier challenge. This exhibition—opening at the Minneapolis Institute of Art after travels to Toledo and Louisville—has been curated by the MIA’s Robert Cozzolino, who reports that he personally has had other-worldly experiences. Rather than the easier-to-digest influence of occultism on abstraction, Cozzolino has chosen to emphasize its manifestations as they occur in figurative art. He follows these through the whole swath of

American history employing a definition of the paranormal that encompasses everything from séances and spirit photography to mesmerism and UFOs. As set out in the catalogue, the historical record includes some fascinating case studies. For instance, there’s the story of Gertrude Abercrombie, painter and self-described witch whose works represent herself as an elongated figure who levitates, drifts through sparse landscapes, or consorts with her animal “familiars” in spooky domestic interiors.

Above: Gertrude Abercrombie, Search for Rest (1951). Collection of Sandra and Bram Dijkstra. Photo: Sandy and Bram Dijkstra. Opposite Page: Lawren Harris, Painting No. 4 (ca. 1939). Collection of the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto.

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An essentially unschooled artist who was an aficionado of the prewar Chicago jazz scene, Abercrombie created eerie works that seem born of a rebellion against the strictures of conventional marriage and motherhood. Representing another form of rebellion, we meet the elegant Lady Campbell, a British aristocrat, cross-dresser, actress, and spiritualist. She served as inspiration for one of Whistler’s most ethereal paintings, a representation of a woman’s face and hands emerging mysteriously from an enveloping darkness, which was lauded as a spiritualist icon. The MIA show also introduces Wilson Bentley whose obsessive photographs of vanishing snowflakes are seen here as part of a post-Civil War hangover, with the ephemeral crystals providing a metaphor for the flickering essence of the souls of fallen soldiers. Contemporary Encounters When it comes to contemporary art, the exhibition casts a wide net. Several artists take inspiration from historical manifestations of the occult. The late Jeremy Blake’s 2002 video Winchester is an impressionistic tour of the ghost haunted Winchester mansion in San Jose California that was home to the eccentric widow of the Winchester Repeating Arms Company. Rachel Rose’s Wil-o-Wisp evokes the life of 17th century mystic Elspeth Blake who was persecuted for her practice of magic and healing. But especially fascinating are works by artists who themselves have had occult experiences. Cozzolino’s introductory essay opens with a discussion of a set of early works by painter Jack Whitten. These comprised spectral images that the artist felt had emerged unbidden from early memories of ghost stories surrounding a lynching in his father’s Mississippi hometown. The works are not reproduced in the catalogue, Cozzolino notes, because Whitten’s gallery doesn’t want his work associated with spiritualism. But as described, they would seem to bear a striking resemblance to late 19thcentury practice of thought photography which purported to provide records of their subject’s thought as transmitted by energy waves directly from the brain. Cozzolino quotes a statement by Whitten: “I LIKE THE NOTION OF PAINTING AS OBJECT USED TO SEDUCE SPIRIT.” And, indeed, the exhibition as a whole suggests a connection between African American folk knowledge,

African religious practices, and the profound sympathy for the supernatural found in the work of many African American artists. Some cases in point: Howardina Pindell evokes the spirit-haunted Middle Passage where so many captives perished on their way to slavery, while Ellen Gallagher imagines the mythical land of Drexciya said to be populated by aquatic beings born from the pregnant women thrown overboard from slave ships. Whitfield Lovell’s Visitation: The Richmond Project conjures the ghosts of the residents of post-Civil War America’s first successful Black entrepreneurial neighborhood. Works by Betye and Allison Saar explore the tradition of “conjur women,” those herbalists and healers in rural southern communities who are said to traffic in both black and white magic. The catalogue of “Supernatural America” also gives substantial space to Renee Stout’s The Rootworker’s Worktable, an installation that presents the artist’s version of one such herbalist’s tools for gaining access to the spiritual world. Contemporary African American artists are not alone in their openness to the occult. “Supernatural America” makes a point of presenting works from groups often marginalized by mainstream American culture, among them Native Americans, self taught and outsider artists, UFO abductees, psychics, and witches. In this vein, it also provides a mystical context for works by feminist artists like Carolee Schneemann, Mary Beth Edelson, and Ana Mendieta. An essay on their practices suggests that feminist art history shares the culture’s general squeamishness about spiritual matters, leading it to downplay the tremendous interest shown by ‘70s feminists in ritual, Great Goddess archetypes, and the sacred feminine. The Politics of the Occult The selections in “Supernatural America” emphasize progressive aspects of the occult impulse. This is in keeping with the historical record. In the 19th century, spiritualism, in particular, belonged to a constellation of interests that included abolition, women’s rights, socialism, temperance, and other social reforms. William Lloyd Garrison, publisher of The Liberator, the foremost abolitionist newspaper, was an avid Spiritualist. Mary Todd Lincoln conducted séances in the White House. In their monumental History of Woman Suffrage, pioneering feminists

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Betye Saar, The View from the Sorcerer’s Window (1966). Collection of halley k harrisburg and Michael D. Rosenfeld. Photo: Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery LLC, New York, NY. Courtesy the Artist and Roberts Projects, Los Angeles, CA. © Betye Saar.

Renée Stout, <em?The Rootworker’s Worktable (2011). Karen and Robert Duncan Collection, Lincoln NE. Photo: Renée Stout.

Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton declared, “The only religious sect in the world… that has recognized the equality of women is the Spiritualists.” Historian Ann Braude argues that spiritualists and social reformers shared a radical individualism based on resistance to hierarchies and enforced orthodoxies. She maintains, “The religious anarchism of spiritualism provided a positive religious expression that harmonized with the extreme individualism of radical reform.”

groups like TPG and the individualistic quests of the outsiders in “Supernatural America” demonstrate, the occult is deeply entwined with American art and identity.

However, Braude notes that contemporary narratives of the struggle for women’s rights have largely erased the spiritualists’ contribution. The same is true for accounts of abolition. The suppression of these histories have contributed to the occult’s bad odor—especially at a time when skepticism and individualism have taken a reactionary turn, manifesting themselves in the anti-vax movement and the proliferation of conspiracy theories around the belief that Bill Gates plans to insert micro chips into our brains. Indeed, you could say that the decoupling of spiritualism and the occult from the history of progressive ideas mirrors their decoupling from the history of art. But as the utopian dreams of

It is often said that belief in mysticism, occult energies, and immaterial realities grows stronger in times of trauma. It is easy today to scoff at the obvious fraudulence of some 19th century spirit manifestations. But during that time of social, political, and philosophical upheaval, there was a widespread tendency to spiritualize such emerging technologies as the photograph, the telegraph, and electromagnetism. Today, many of our own emerging sciences, from Artificial Intelligence to the study of dark matter to the renewed attention to the therapeutic properties of psilocybin, again demonstrate that the line between science and “pseudo science” can be difficult to draw. In times of multiple crises, settled certainties become undone. “Another World” and “Supernatural America” suggest how artists can help us look beyond the world we only think we know.

ARTGO

MARCH 2022 NEW GALLERIES, ONGOING SHOWS AND OPENING EXHIBITIONS Tyler Thacker, City Birds (for KJ), 2019, oil on canvas, Galerie Pact

ARTGO: MARCH 2022

OPENING EXHIBITIONS

MELROSE GALLERY

SARONSBERG CELLAR GALLERY

START+

RUST-EN-VREDE GALLERY

PHOTOGRAPHY LEGACY PROJECT (PLP) EXCITING GROUP EXHIBITION OF PHOTOGRAPHIC WORKS FROM ACROSS THE AFRICAN CONTINENT 01/03/2022 UNTIL 03/04/2022 WWW.THEMELROSEGALLERY.COM

INTERNATIONAL ART FAIR HOSTED AT 131A GALLERY, WOODSTOCK 08/03/2022 UNTIL 12/03/2022 WWW.131AGALLERY.COM

A PERMANENT EXHIBITION OF CONTEMPORARY SOUTH AFRICAN ART WHILST ENJOYING SOME OF OUR AWARD-WINNING WINES. WWW.SARONSBERG.COM

WHIMSY RIX WELLMAN, SONJA KASTNER,CORNELIA STOOP, ADELA FRIEDMANN, MONIQUE DAYWILDE AND LEE-ANN ORMANDY BECKER. 05/03/2022 UNTIL 02/04/2022 WWW.RUSTENVREDE.COM

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RUST-EN-VREDE GALLERY

OLD PIEKENIERSKLOOF PASS BYJOHAN COETZEE JOHAN COETZEE’S UPCOMING SOLO EXHIBITION CONTAINS A SELECTION OF PAINTINGS THAT FORM PART OF HIS OLD PIEKENIERSKLOOF PASS LANDSCAPE SERIES. 05/03/2022 UNTIL 02/04/2022 WWW.RUSTENVREDE.COM

BLACK AND GOLD BY CRAIG MULLER SOLO EXHIBITION 05/03/2022 UNTIL 05/04/2022 WWW.RUSTENVREDE.COM

Under cape skies

On show from March 6th to 26 March

60 Church Street, Cape Town CAPE GALLERY 0214235309 UNDER CAPE SKIES web@capegallery.co.za Saturday 10am06/03/2022 - 1pm UNTIL 28/03/2022 weekdays 9.30am - 4pm

WWW.CAPEGALLERY.CO.ZA

RK CONTEMPORARY

TRANSLOCATION A GROUP EXHIBITION COMPRISING OF FIVE ARTISTS, EACH UNDERTAKING THEIR OWN JOURNEY, WHETHER LEAVING HOME, COUNTRY, STATE OF CHILDHOOD TO Solo exhibition by : Roelof Rossouw ADULTHOOD, MOVING FROM A WORLD OF DREAMS TO A MORE RATIONAL STATE 06/03/2022 UNTIL 27/03/2022 WWW.RKCONTEMPORARY.CO.ZA

ARTGO: MARCH - JUNE 2022

OPENING EXHIBITIONS S AL ON NINE TY ONE PRESEN T S KIRSTEN BEETS. WHEREVER YOU GO THERE YOU ARE, 2022. OIL ON BOARD.

Wherever You Go There You Are

GALLERY AT GLEN CARLOU Kirsten Beets 16 .03 - 09.04.22

MORPH A SOLO EXHIBITION BY HELENA HUGO 20/03/2022 AT 11AM UNTIL 01/05/2022 WWW.GALLERY@GLENCARLOU.COM

WWW.SALON91.CO.ZA

ART PARIS 2022

GRAND PALAIS ÉPHÉMÈRE ON THE CHAMP-DE-MARS 07/04/2022 UNTIL 10/04/2022 WWW.ARTPARIS.COM

PRINCE ALBERT GALLERY

BIG SKY SOLO EXHIBITION BY JANET DIRKSEN 15/04/2022 UNTIL 15/05/2022 WWW.PRINCEALBERTGALLERY.CO.ZA

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Art, antiques, objets d’art, furniture, and jewellery wanted for forthcoming auctions

Edoardo Villa, welded steel construction, applied with Verdigris style paint finish SOLD R70,000 View previous auction results at www.rkauctioneers.co.za

011 789 7422 • Bram Fischer Centre, Lower Ground, 95 Bram Fischer Driver Cnr George Street, Ferndale, 2194

HERMANUS FYNARTS FESTIVAL 2022 CELEBRATES ITS TENTH ANNIVERSARY 10/06/2022 UNTIL 19/06/2022 WWW.HERMANUSFYNARTS.CO.ZA

LIST YOUR NEXT EXHIBITION OR GALLERY ARTIMES.CO.ZA

ARTGO: MARCH 2022

ONGOING SHOWS

GALLERY AT GLEN CARLOU

ART@AFRICA

NWU GALLERY

BLOCK & BRUSH A DUO EXHIBITION WITH PRINTMAKING AND PAINTING BY IAN TAINTON & NEESKE ALEXANDER. 30/01/2022 UNTIL 13/03/2022 WWW.GALLERY@GLENCARLOU.COM

DUSKLAND ODYSSEY SOLO EXHIBITION BY DAVID GRIESSEL 17/02/2022 UNTIL 20/03/2022 WWW.ARTATAFRICA.ART

POP UP EXHIBITION AT ABLAND 35 LOWER LONG – CAPE TOWN FOOLS GOLD BY PAUL KNEEN 01/02/2022 UNTIL 20/03/2022 WWW.ARTATAFRICA.ART

INGANEKWANE &MIKE MZILENI A PHOTOGRAPHIC ARCHIVAL JOURNEY 12/02/2022 UNTIL 21/03/2022 WWW.SERVICES.NWU.AC.ZA/NWU-GALLERY

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Shifting Narratives A Group Exhibition of Pan African Contemporary Photography. 1 M A R C H TO 3 A P R I L

Online only at www.themelrosegallery.com

ARTGO: MARCH 2022

ONGOING SHOWS

DEEPEST DARKEST

TRADE-OFF / BEYOND BORDERS DEBUT SOLO EXHIBITION BY NYAMBO MASAMARA 12/02/2022 UNTIL 22/03/2022 WWW.DEEPESTDARKESTART.COM

NORVAL ART FOUNDATION THE ZANZIBARI YEARS SIGNIFICANT WORKS PRODUCED BY IRMA STERN DURING HER TWO STAYS IN ZANZIBAR AND THE PERIOD SURROUNDING 1939-1945 / UNTIL 28/03/2022 WWW.NORVALFOUNDATION.ORG

GROUND ART CAFFE

OLIEWENHUIS ART MUSEUM

UBUNTU – I AM BECAUSE WE ARE SOLO EXHIBITION BY TONY LUZA UNTIL 04/04/2022 WWW.GROUNDARTCAFFE.CO.ZA

WALKING ON A RIM OF LIGHT, A SOLO EXHIBITION BY DIANA PAGE 24/02/2022 UNTIL 10/04/2022 WWW.NASMUS.CO.ZA

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Bloemfontein

100 95 75

25 5 0

The Art B

In stranger times_Art Times April_set up for print

Walking on a rim of light A solo exhibition by Diana Page 24.02 - 10.04.2022 Oliewenhuis Art Museum 16 Harry Smith Street Bloemfontein

Diana Page, Radical Innocence (detail), Oil on canvas, 130 x 150 cm, 2020

21 February 2022 11:53:10 AM

ARTGO: MARCH 2022

ONGOING SHOWS

IS Art is celebrating 10 years at Tokara Wine Estate with an exhibition of sculptures by prominent South African artists including: Wilma Cruise, Angus Taylor, Conrad Hicks, David Brown, Egon Tania, Etienne de Kock, Guy du Toit, Ian Redelinghuys, Isabel Mertz, Kobus la Grange, Sarel Petrus, Jacques Dhont, Ruhan Jansen van Vuuren and Strijdom van der Merwe. The exhibition runs until the end of April 2022. A catalogue of the work is available. :

IS Art: 021 883 9717 or gallery@isart.co.za Tokara Wine Estate: Helshoogte Pass, Banhoek Tokara Deli: 021 808 5950 Tuesday – Sunday from 09h00 to 17h00

OLIEWENHUIS WALKING ON A RIM OF LIGHT, A SOLO EXHIBITION BY DIANA PAGE 24/02/2022 UNTIL 10/04/2022 WWW.NASMUS.CO.ZA

IS SCULPTURE

IS ART IS CELEBRATING 10 YEARS AT TOKARA WINE ESTATE WITH AN EXHIBITION OF SCULPTURES BY PROMINENT SOUTH AFRICAN ARTISTS UNTIL 30/04/2022 WWW.IS-ART-GALLERY.CO.ZA

LA MOTTE MUSEUM THREADS OF SYNERGY SOUTH AFRICAN TAPESTRY ART / UNTIL WINTER 2022 TAPESTRIES BY THE STEPHENS TAPESTRY STUDIO AND ARTISTS ROBERT HODGINS, WILLIAM KENTRIDGE, SAM NHLENGETHWA, CECILY SASH AND CECIL SKOTNES. WWW.LA-MOTTE.COM/PAGES/MUSEUM

W W W. A R T T I M E S . C O . Z A

Under cape skies

On show from March 6th to 26 March

60 Church Street, Cape Town 0214235309 web@capegallery.co.za Saturday 10am - 1pm weekdays 9.30am - 4pm

Solo exhibition by : Roelof Rossouw

NATURE MORTE The Still from Life until end August 2022

Jan Rupert Art Centre, 41 Middelstraat, Graaff-Reinet Mon – Fri: 9h00 – 12h30 | 14h00 - 17h00 Sat – Sun & Public Holidays: 09h00 – 12h00 janrupertcentre@telkomsa.net | +27 (0)49 892 6107 Entrance complimentary

ART@AFRICA Jean Welz (1900 – 1975). Still life - earthenware with chalkboard, 1945. Oil on carton. Rupert Art Foundation Collection.

MAIN ROAD FRANSCHHOEK SUMMERTIME SCULPTURE GARDEN SERIES 02/02/2022 UNTIL 02/01/2023 WWW.ARTATAFRICA.ART

Nelson Makamo | FIGURE WITH GLASSES | R100 000 – R120 000

Thinking of selling? Contact us for an obligation free valuation Cape Town Johannesburg 021 794 6461 011 880 3125 ct@swelco.co.za info@swelco.co.za Upcoming Auction: Johannesburg | 22 & 23 March 2022

E s t a b l i s h e d 19 6 8 www.swelco.co.za

Art Times March 2022 Edition

Articles inside

BUSINESS ART

SKARRELBAAN

HERMANUS FYNARTS 2022

BORROW TO BEAUTIFY A JOURNEY OF BECOMING

BIG SKY

MORPH

SHIFTING NARRATIVES

ART PARIS 2022

M.O.L 27 - SHOOTING DOWN BABYLON

StART

A VERY GRAND TOUR

IN-MOTION: ART OF THE SPACE AGE