Although Charles Maggs show, Zombie at the AVA, didn't feature a single brain-eating reanimated corpse, it was a good choice of title. Zombie films, since being basically invented by George A Romero with Night of the Living Dead in 1968, are a varied and inventive form of social critique (as well as being damn gory and scary). In some the zombies provide the horrifying impetus for humans to show their bleakest sides, violent and authoritarian. In some, especially Land of the Dead, the zombies become symbolic of an Other, an evolving sub-class, oppressed and hated by the humans who want to protect their possessions (in this instance brains, but you get the idea) and standard of life. Even the classic structure of the zombie film reflects this symbolism, where a small group of insiders fearfully defend their perimeter from those outside who look the same but are different. It can be seen best in Dawn of the Dead, in which the main characters find their sanctuary in a shopping mall. After clearing up the zombies already living there, they settle down, indulging all their material desires while the zombies scrape at the doors (Read a full synopsis on Wikipedia). Essentially, these zombie movies are a criticism of power structures, capitalism and Western hegemony. Of course some, like Resident Evil are just about how sexy Milla Jovovich is, but as she's the doyenne of all of the above the point is the same.

In Charles Maggs Zombie these zombie ideas are strong. In the video piece Protection the visual language of defensive aggression is distilled from clips from an old TV series. In this instance, two police officers circle menacingly on motorbikes. More significantly than the language uncovered is its source: an innocent light watch on the box contains the posturing and signifiers of a latent exclusionary and correctional force.

A clearer relationship is visible in the series of prints, half titled Suspect, the others called Victim. (read how Charles created the work on his blog. It's important)
Those outside the perimeter are made into the either the silenced Victim of the fear of those inside, and the violent response to that fear, or are the shadowy Suspect, evil and unredeemable. Zombies, of course, are sub-humans and don't deserve rightful recourse to the law. He'll eat your brain unless you act swiftly and with extreme prejudice.

And just in case you believed the Cranberries when they said, " But you see, it's not me, it's not my family," Charles has a final work on the show Monologue, in which he speaks to himself from two screens. The talking heads speak to each other about fear echoing the type of paranoia that I think many of us viewers will find creepily familiar. Indeed it is the symptom of living on the inside. Somebody is going to eat your brains.

Labels: ava, Charles Maggs, contemporary art, south african artist, zombie

Zombie by Charles Maggs
Opening 25 August 08 at 6pm runs until 12 September
At The Association for Visual Art, 35 Church St Cape Town.


www.zombieshow.blogspot.com

Zombie showcases new video and print works by Charles Maggs. The show negotiates the mechanisms of contemporary society and some of its systems, with a particular interest in the accidental consequences, fear and pace have upon them. The results of these accidents are often, in equal parts, banal and horrific. The work is particularly concerned with the delivery mechanisms of this ‘globalised’ fear, the media, and how images from this system can be refigured to suggest alternate readings of these manufactured truths. Zombie is perhaps a reflection of a symptom rather that the condition itself.

Labels: ava, Charles Maggs, zombie

'Twas a busy week last week. Plenty of shows on, plus I'm making progress on the Relaunch of ArtHeat (keep your eyes open for that in the coming month: Big Party in the works). This is keeping my brain in a mush-like state, hence the general round-up.

In news, James Webb won ABSA l'Atelier, although it has been almost impossible to find this out. Very quiet web presence. Congratulations to him, though. I liked the Auto-hagiography work. The Gerard Sekoto prize went to Retha Ferguson, and I cannot find the winning work on-line. Or again, much presence at all.

Maybe next year, South Africa will have grown some black artists.

Monday saw the opening of Scratching the Surface Vol 1, at the AVA. Independently curated shows make me happy, and the quality of the last two shows at AVA show this well, Baring by Eunice Geustyn was good (not reviewed here owing to aforementioned mush), and this one by Gabi Ngcobo and Mwenya Kabwe of manje-manje projects, was complex and interesting, and at times frustrating and bleak. Good ingredients. I'm writing a full review elsewhere, so I can't say too much more, so here is a review by Miles Keylock.

Tuesday featured Rowan Smith's Future Shock Lost at Whatiftheworld. Think Arcade Fire's Neighbourhood #2 (Laika), but less whiny. A must see show. Again, I can't say too much more at this stage: the downside of being a rock star.

I dropped by the Bell-Roberts to catch the tail-end of their inaugural show, Between Meaning and Matter. Being a mostly oooh-look-who-we-got-in-our-stable-show, the title was on spot: it didn't mean much nor matter much. There was some really delicate sculptures by Philippe Bousquet, nice and unmonumental, and a funny video by Fahamu Pecou. My only regret is that I appeared to have missed a video by Jaques Coetzer, whose work I enjoy.

Labels: ava, Bell-Roberts, Gabi Ngcobo, mwenya kabwe, rowan smith, south african art, What if the world

I unfortunately had to miss the show at Kwa Mlami, as I had made previous plans to eat seafood: a hard toss up, but my belly won. So, I won't be able to provide any criticism of the images below (as some people are asking for). However, discussion is welcome on these hallowed pages, so if that's something you are willing to do, let's go. I'll put some thoughts in the comments section.

On the other hand, I did manage to get to the first part of the show, Upstairs Downstairs, at the AVA on Monday. My first reaction to the idea of the show was jaded horror mixed with mild cynicism: the concept of place/space in South Africa seems a battered old horse, and the idea of interventions into the Space of the white cube a well-ridden whore. I'm still in two minds as to whether this reaction was valid or not. Many of the works, by some of my favourite contemporary young Cape Town artists, were excellent. Just nothing really surprised me. And the dialogue between space (as in gallery) and Place (as in the politicised outside world) was a bit non-existent, with artists either playing to one theme or the other, not much chatting in between. The curation also seemed a little soft, which I think had something to do with the curator, Bettina Malcolmess, commissioning new works from the artists. This allowed some odd elements to slip into a strongly themed show, such as the work by Jake Aikman, Nandipha Mntambo, and Renee Holleman, all individually quite interesting but I struggled to make the mental links (I was also pleased to see Nandipha working in a new media and I'd be interested to see what comes of it). Another curatorial error was allowing Ed Young to play squash on Dan Halter's work. I'm all for interventions, and this was kinda conceptually valid and funny. The problem was that Dan got pissed and removed his work, undermining both works and leaving a corner of the gallery looking a bit silly. Grand gestures of intervention just don't work in our small space, where messy outside things like personal relationships get tied into the interpretation.

What I was really hoping to see, considering the oh around 300 years of traumatic history, was some more ball-busting politicised work. The Gugulective managed this, with their shack interior turned on it's side The Building is the Man, the fetishing of the black man is sticky territory but was turned completely upside down with their mirroring of the whole show in Guguletu. This I felt was a real examination of space and place, and something which they are getting right. The seafood however was very good.

My favourite work on the show, although marred by a silly obscure title, was Douglas Gimberg and Christian Nerf's ladder propped in the entrance of the gallery. Parked firmly in the Space intervention camp, it sprinkled bad luck on every gallery-goer pressing to get in and out. Something which we all could use a bit more of.

Labels: ava, Bettina Malcomess, Upstairs/Downstairs

Mondays are a treat every two weeks or so, because of the great snacks at the AVA. This Monday was no exception, I waited outside till the speeches were over and then hunted down the people with the trays, using two hands to snatch and shove.

When I finally made it inside, the first thing I saw was a huge work by Mario Pissarra. It is generally considered bad form for a curator to put his own work on a show, especially when it is the first thing you see. But putting this aside, it was a large piece with letters made up of sand, ceramic, stones spelling Assimilado, apparently a Portuguese word meaning assimilated. Or more specifically, in the context of Portuguese colonialism, the assimilado was the colonised individual whom the system deemed to have succeeded in the process of stepping up the civilisational ladder. How appropriate I thought, as this is what we had throughout the whole show. A bunch of artists being quietly sucked into a modernist vision of Africa. Assimilated. A place where Cecil Skotnes once stood. A place where the word Authenticity gets battered around. Indeed, I don't think I saw a criticism of the assimilado in the show, or even a self-awareness.

All these artists are producing is tourist art that expresses an old and outdated concept of Africa South, a tail end of the colonial project. (I'm generalising here, for which I apologise, but sometimes on a group show it is necessary)

Afterwards, I thought about the Gugulective and their recent show Titled/Untitled, where they brought a shebeen to blank projects (the only part of the two part exhibition I managed to get to), and sold bottles of Baas Lager. How right they were, we still drink that stuff down.

Labels: Africa South, ava, Gugulective, Mario Pissarra

They say if you have pictures of dogs/cats/hedgehogs on your blog it helps with traffic. So I thought I'd show you all my dog Sickert. He likes red balls. I make him attack people by tying bacon to their knees.

They also say if you equate art and sport it makes the one as popular as the other. But we all know this isn't possible. Sport will never be as popular as art. Ever.

There was only one decent work on the recent show at the AVA (Ball Sports), and it's no secret it was my one.

But perusing through some of the other works that somehow made it onto the show, there were some gems. It reminds me that Kirsty Cockerill is doing a great job on that gallery, bringing in a lot of vital (as in the vitamin pills, not as in indispensable) art. Yay, well done. Now hire a painter cause the walls were filthy and I find that distracting. The show was, barring this flaw, nicely curated, with distinct themes coming through in all the different rooms. The first room was all about the body and, as it seems hard to separate it, sexuality. So we had Lawrence Lemoana's unsurprising but pleasant print, Zanele Muholi's itimate moment from the Gay World Cup soccer. There was a nice ball point drawing in there too, but I'm screwed if I can remember who it was. The second room focussed much more on the ball, but also it seemed the politics that are attached to it, so we had some uninspiring Fritha Langerman sculptures of balls with spikes, studs, glass, etc, a nicely oblique floor piece by Elgin Rust of the plans of a cathedral chalked on the floor, maybe slightly overstated by a large steel football in the middle. Stuart Bird presented framed Ten Rand notes stamped with a 2 and 0 to make each one say 2010. Cutely cynical. I was bit annoyed that the price of the work was R2010 and the edition 2010, pushing that cute to twee. I just hope he don't have to cut them all up. Ralph Borland's Jubilee, the exceedingly annoying vuvuzela piece, which I would really like if it didn't grate on my nerves. Playing along a thin line of celebration of death and life, destruction and creation and some other happy binaries, it's best seen from a distance. There was also a piece by Svea Josephy which was pleasant, but I'll reserve my comment because her solo is tomorrow at Bell-Roberts.

Upstairs was all the bits and pieces that didn't tie in. Ed Young finally got to show his verboten kiddy porn piece, The European Collector who Could Gaze Uninterruptedly, which is a very zoomed up video of some kiddies playing naked in a garden. With a ball, in case you didn't get the connection. Apparently he was sneaky in the way he got it onto the show... Also upstairs was Charles Maggs Fight, a rythmic and humourous video of two people fucking each other up. Lovely gratuitous violence.

The show was good, and lots of it interesting. And I'm glad too to see a curated group show, how I miss them. It reminded me why people rather watch soccer.

Labels: ava, ball sports, Charles Maggs, Ed Young, Elgin Rust, Lawrence Lemoana, Ralph Borland, stuart bird, svea josephy, Zanele Muholi

Johan van der Schiff's Arm Wrestling Podium (The winner of the 4th Spier Public Sculpture Competition) will be unveiled at 18:00 outside of the AVA on Thursday November 1st. The podium features the rules for armwrestling in English, Xhosa, Afrikaans and Braille and is intended to " take on an important role in resolving those nasty art world disputes that seem to be
part and parcel of the "scene"."

Since we at ArtHeat love nasty artworld disputes, we have taken it upon ourselves to organise the lineup of competitors for opening night. Andrew Lamprecht and Christian Nerf will launch the proceedings, finally settling an old and complex dispute and dyke collective Doing it For Daddy will take on those nasty mysoginists from Galerie Puta later in the evening.

Considering the complexity of the Cape Town Artworld's social history there must be countless others angling for a fight.

Any suggestions? Use the comments, or email us on the address up at the top.

Labels: ava, johann van der schiff, spier public sculpture competition

Performance is a weird aspect of contemporary art. I understand performativity, using aspects of performance to, say, build up an artist's persona, but I always felt that performance art itself was a bit dated, a seventies throwback, yukky Meat Joy stuff, all sound and arty. Nevertheless, if we look at the success of Performa in New York, I guess we can conclude that it is a living and vital aspect. Still, not my favourite past-time, which might explain why I missed Jennifer Lovemore-Reed's performance Clown, Bag Lady, Sycophant at Erdmann last year (Though, I can't find it on the Erdmann website. Rumour is that they had a falling out, maybe she was erased from the records?). I did however attend her new show last night Remnants, Relics and Reasons, and bizarrely enjoyed myself. Kathryn Smith gave an interesting speech, partially about how the show was an autopsy of a work, and partly following the interesting legal case of MassMoCA and Swiss artist Christoph Buchel (a bit of a tentative connection, but interesting anyway).
What the show aimed to do was break down the performance Clown, Bag Lady, Sycophant into it's component remnants, relics and reasons. It was an interesting process, something that we seldom see: the guts and warts of a show, which Kathryn called very brave. My problem was that I didn't find it brave enough. If the original performance was put on to counter the artist's fear of performing (which it apparently was), then revisiting it makes that fear more important than the content of the show... like the rush of the performance itself is addictive, and the rest falls by the wayside. I feel that this could have been countered if the artist had a stronger persona, and more shows behind her. Then the objects, banal by themselves, could have taken on greater significance. Her own semi-clad presence in the gallery, taped mouth and all, was not enough to make me fascinated by these objects. She needed a stronger presence. It seems to me that it would have been braver to put on new work.

On the other hand, it was definitely work that kept me thinking, and if it's sole reason was to pose questions about what performance means, then it was a success, if a bit of a self-reflexive one.

Labels: ava, jennifer lovemore-reed, performance

THE AVA
in partnership with Spier

invites you to three solo exhibitions

Jennifer Lovemore-Reed
REMNANTS, RELICS AND REASONS

To be opened by
Kathryn Smith

Karen Cronje
JUST A LITTLE MORE

Rudolph Tshie
RECENT WORKS

opening at 6 pm

Monday, 01 October 2007

Exhibition closes on Friday, 19 October 2007 at 1 o clock pm


In 2006 Jennifer Lovemore-Reed performed a solo performance piece entitled 'Bag-lady, clown, sycophant .' This piece was produced with a second, more significant, part in mind (entitled 'Remnants, Relics and Reasons) which will be shown in the Main space of the AVA Gallery. Part one dealt with the artist's personal need to challenge herself into moving forward with her art-making process by facing one of her biggest fears: performing in front of a crowd of people. This was instigated by a number of difficult circumstances that she had run into as an artist in the preceding year.
'I decided on live performance as the fear of it was so immense, so unequivocal that it made all my other frustrations and anger issues disappear completely'.
In 'Remnants, Relics and Reasons' the artist opens up her process / experience for the public to see. The installation includes written pieces, 3-D objects (remnants from the original performance) and video performance. Two pieces of video footage made by the artist, while alone, directly before and directly after the performance are central to the exhibition. These contain an immediate and accurate depiction of the experience of the artist at the time. The installation gives the viewing public an opportunity to form a personal picture of the experience.

Born in 1975 Karen Cronje studied at the University of Stellenbosch where she completed a Bachelor's (1997) and a Masters Degree in 2001. Just a Little Morea solo exhibition in the Long gallery will include oil's on canvas and large drawings. These works are not about finite definitions or closed statements, but stem from Cronje's aim to create elusive, intimate moments, that reflect her personal art making process as the subject matter.

Rudolph Tshie born in 1969 will be exhibiting a recent body of work in the Artsstrip. Tshie is renowned for his traditional skill with oil's, pastels and watercolour. His aim is to capture the spirit of a place and his experience of African life. He obtained a certificate in Fine Arts from the federated Union of Black Arts in JHB where he studied from 1991-1993 and has gone on to exhibit extensively nationally in many group exhibitions and has just returned from a residence in Mauritius.

Labels: ava

Image: Lyndi Sales
The idea was a nice one, and kudos must be given to Kirsty Cockerill. She changed the old annual committee's choice exhibition to a committee and critics choice exhibition. A smart way to liven up a pretty staid show.
It was strange, having been involved (yes, yours truly was a critic selector) a little with the show and seeing all the work before the opening. Still, I duly went to celebrate the vernissage, with fine wine, and having not eaten, looking forward to the AVA's new snack policy. There was a lot of murmuring as all-girl collective Doing it for Daddy was planning something with some bands right after the speeches. The story goes back a little further even: when the fliers were released (a picture of a mysterious red curtain adorned the front), they changed their stage to include a red curtain, effectively stealing the flier image post-mortem. The bands were ok, they sang an ode called Sweet Virginia to Virginia MacKenny, the critic who chose the girls. It was humorous to say the least, and much in line with the collectives incessant teasing of art world structures, by being terribly circular and self-referential.

Also on the show were some old favourites, Julia Rosa Clark's Dodgy Weather, James Webb's Auto-Hagiography, some nice drawings by Thando Mama, some pieces by Lyndi Sales (in our last conversation she called me meanhearted. So only a brief mention here), prints from Churchill Madikida, etc.

Besides these, there were a couple of works that I really enjoyed. The first was new work by Dan Halter, who has moved from making maps into different territory. There were two pieces, the first being the words 'Safe as Fuck' spelled in iconic red ribbon, affixed with hypodermic needles. The second was a portrait of Henry the fourth beaded by the ladies at Monkey Biz (a non-profit organisation for women with Aids). Henry the Fourth is Rhodie slang for HIV. I am continually impressed with the way Halter approaches social issues without reverting to the plaintive, descriptive work of many people.
The second piece was by Ed Young, who in true style, wasn't picked as an artist or a critic. Watching him moan and whine for a week was a very happy time for me. (That reminds me of a incident this week when Gabriel Clark-Brown emailed me with the subject line reading 'Ed You Must Meet With Me'. I'm surprised that people continually get confused. Be a little more clever people. Not every young white artist in this town is Ed).
The third piece was by Chad Barber, a student who hasn't exhibited before. He put up a very funny piece called Image of Jesus licked clean by a dog. The materials used read 'Sheet, Semen, Miniature Pinscher, Saliva.' I liked that, a very simple sculpture that occurs almost entirely in words.
The fourth piece was my own selection for the show, David Scadden, who put up an animation called Pink Rabbit. I really suggest you go see this piece.

Labels: ava, kirsty cockerill, south african art, south african artist

Image Dan Halter
3C
Committee and Critics Choice at the AVA
30 July- 17 August 2007

As of the above mentioned dates the AVA will hold a Committee & Critics Choice (3C) exhibition, which will employ all four gallery spaces.
27 participating local art critics and committee members will individually nominate an artist that they feel is deserving of representation on this exhibition. The artists nominated have the opportunity to create new works or exhibit existing pieces. The exhibition will engage art critics, AVA committee members and artists to construct a window for the public to view contemporary art making trends and notions of quality.

Participating artists are:
Avant Car Guard, Milijana Babic, Chad Barber, Rachelle Bomberg, Daniel Boshoff, Jean Brundrit, Julia Rosa Clark, Jessie Colman, Corlie de Kock Wiesener, Jacques Dhont, Doing it For Daddy, Justin Fiske, Dan Halter, Theo Kleynhans, Churchill Madikida, George Tebogo Mahashe, Thando Mama, Jean Meeran, MTAA, Mambakwedza Mutasa, Ndikhumbu Ngqinambi, Lindi Sales, David Scadden, Rowan Smith, James Webb, Barbara Wildenboer, Manfred Zylla.


Participating Critics and Committee members are:
Suzy Bell, Lynette Bester, Paul Birchall, Joost Bosland, Jonathan Bruce, Kirsty Cockerill, Kadiatou Diallo, Paul Edmunds, Eunice Geustyn, Liza Grobler, Storm Janse van Rensburg, Andrew Lamprecht, Christopher Less, Marilyn Martin, Virginia Mackenny, Melvyn Minnaar, Gabi Ngcobo, Sean O'Toole, Lloyd Pollock, Robert Sloon, Linda Stupart, Kathryn Smith, Jill Trappler, Adrienne van Eeden, Veronica Wilkinson, Wonder, Reggi Xaba.

If you ask me, personally, this is going to be a cracking show, with some of the weirdest combinations of artists. Ever. Avant Car Guard vs Theo Kleynhans!

Labels: ava, listings

My feelings about paper are something I don't hide. Printmaking classes at art school left scars, that are continually abraded by the horror of the pretty box identity work that is the mainstay of young lost undergraduates and horrible artists. The idea of cutouts makes me cold sweat, and the words moleskine, fabriano, 2B and putty rubber make it freeze onto my body. Awful, mean, tactile material. Shudder.

So I walked into the AVA with some apprehension this afternoon. I missed the opening owing to a mixture of being mildly ill and discovering all six seasons of Sex and the City on DVD (it happens to the best of us). I must admit though instead of horror Liza Grobler's Nine Chicks and a Dick series left me pleasantly amused. The lines had whimsy, and the surreal (can one still use that word?) approach to drawing wasn't overblown, didn't leave a bad taste, and was funny. Only problem was there were 9 pictures of chicks, one portrait of a dick all making good conceptual senses, and then a strange and ugly drawing of an eye, and some balls of barb wire sculptures. One must ask why. Still better than the shite that normally adorns paper.

The next room was also nice. This show called Paper and Me was a group show about some artists relation to paper. Some was gross, and I can't even remember it, just a blur of little torn out things and some decorative crap that'd look good above my TV when I advance to all four seasons of Grey's Anatomy. But some of it was ok. Lynette Bester had a series called Bitter Sweet that was paper pulp moulded into the shape of tree bark, funny in the same way that that Sushi restaurant with the fish tank tables was funny. Just slightly less macabre. Marna Hatting made some nice mysterious drawings. There was someone else who made some cut and paste things, called Waiting for Information which was interesting in a cut and paste cutesy way. can't remember the artist because (see paragraph one) I wasn't carrying a notebook.

Kirsty Gallery Director asked me to promote the New Media room, which has had a dearth of submissions since it opened. She says with all the moaning about video art recently somebody should be getting off their arses.

Oh, and there were some paintings upstairs.

Labels: ava, review, south african art, south african artist