Delving into the intricate and compelling world of American-born and Joburg-based artist, Nathaniel Stern, one is once again emphatically confronted with the pure immensity that is art appreciation and philosophy. Because Stern’s work is embedded in extensive investigation into subjects so significant to human nature, currently and historically, his art is quite possibly some of the most relevant around.

A productive day in Stern’s life may consist of wading waist-deep in a water-lily pond with a desktop scanner, laptop and custom-made battery pack strapped to his body. Wielding this unique contraption he literally performs images into existence by scanning along table surfaces, swinging over flowers, hopping over bricks or, in this case, floating over water-lily ponds. This active engagement with his surroundings translates into quirky and organic but condensed renderings which he then re-stretches, crops and touches up on his laptop, and finally they are transformed into exquisite archival art prints for the gallery wall. This process of art-making he has suitably named Compressionism.

Stern follows a rather unique trajectory when creating his Compressionist works. From influential roots in Impressionism through to Surrealism imagery, ending in a postmodern sentiment, Compressionism is more than a playful allusion to historical art movements of “isms”. Allegorically, Stern’s term Compressionism dictates the nature of this day and age. In a world of time and space constraints threatening to slow us down, the concept of compression allows us to “zip-folder” large amounts of data into smaller spaces, which is also intrinsic to our lives of trying to fit an alarming amount of activities into one day.

His latest installation, entitled “Giverny of the Midwest”, on display at Art On Paper from 30 July 2011, is part of an ongoing series started in 2005 in Johannesburg. The main work, a 2 x 12 metre installation of 93 prints of water-lily pond scans was inspired by Monet’s work in Giverny where he spent over 30 years painting his famous water lilies. For this particular work Stern spent three days camping beside a lily pond in South Bend, Indiana with his scanner-laptop-battery apparatus, endlessly scanning his surroundings with only his studio assistant and an agitated snapping turtle for company. After this brief adventure, it took over eighteen months of editing and reworking images to achieve the full installation to where it is now.

Using Monet’s Water Lilies triptych at the MoMA in New York as his source for following movement and patterns of colour and light and Mondrian as the inspiration for the spacing of the images, Stern managed to create a kind of digital play between modularity and Modernism in this large installation.

Coining new terminology and experimenting with new hardware combinations are, however, not the only things Stern concerns himself with. He is also a prolific scholar of performative and interactive art and is considered one of the fathers of this progressive movement in South Africa. Throughout his career he has explored an array of different concepts including political commentary, performance, human interaction and language, and has deepened his research around these interests over many years.

Like most progressive artists today, Stern often collaborates with other artists. “I believe that artists no longer simply make images, they make discourse – they ask us not only to look but to look again, to re-examine,” he says, “Art is always dialogical – I mean, simply, that it is in dialogue – with history, with other art and artists, with current events, with politics and pop culture and more. Most of all, it is in dialogue with people, with real people.”

In his 2003/2009 updated work, “Stuttering”, one of his many interactive installations, Stern investigates how we affect, and are affected by conversation and comprehension. Each viewer in the space triggers a large-scale interactive art object projected on the wall in front of them. Body tracking software picks up the movement of the viewers and animates a quote about stuttering and is accompanied by an audio recitation of its text.

When questioned about bringing art to the people via interaction, Stern quotes: “There are a lot of reasons I work with interactive art. A large portion of this is to reach a bigger audience and get them excited about art, while also engaging with complex ideas and materials. And I also believe that such work can be serious stuff, which needs to be investigated further by those in the academy and elsewhere.”

Some of Stern’s other works will also be on display at UNISA in September.

For more information visit http://nathanielstern.com or www.artonpaper.co.za

After a few short years Burchell’s work has developed into something far beyond traditional art. She strives to make art accessible to the viewer, which is a very delicate operation. Burchell says, “Art isn’t about pictures on the wall anymore – it’s about connecting; communicating a message via interaction”.

Burchell speaks about her role in the art industry as someone who is progressing and trying to change the way people approach, buy and invest in art. As all Burchell’s works are investment pieces, they bear special significance to the business world constantly developing technologically and economically. “People are flooded with visual imagery all day long, so I believe that visual art needs to recreate itself to be able to distinguish itself within the times”.

All of Burchell’s pieces are made with industrial materials and all works are as a result of collaboration with industrial production houses, engineers and programmers. As interactive art installations usually need computers and electrical equipment to work, Burchell explains that in order for an artwork such as hers to be accessible for buyers, very unique and sophisticated planning and programming lies behind it to transform it from a nifty display at a gallery into a serious investment artwork.

Burchell’s two new works portray her interest in the parodies of how natural things become mechanised, as well as her fascination with creating portraits of people with non-representative visual elements.

Her piece, “Lilies”, is a mysteriously organic work, despite its industrial components. This work, created to be touched, is an interactive installation of thick wires sprouting out of a solid white frame and the story is communicated through whispering voices that play when the wire “stems” are touched. The electrical circuit that controls the stems is arranged in organic patterns inside the frame. The gentle flow of the stems together with the grounding electrical circuit, mimic the physical nature of a Lily plant and its roots.
“Portrait of Anderson” is a series of marble cement mouths cast from South African artist Audrey Anderson’s mouth. Each fragment is an isolated characteristic of a syllable of an unnamed sentence spoken by Anderson. These mouths capture character traits specific to Anderson, the small natural mannerisms that make her unique.

The mouths are mounted on steel poles and displayed as heritage objects inside a frame. Like people do with heritage items, they will stand before them and try and extract meaning. The mouths sit in sequence, grouping the syllables together to form words, and the viewer can attempt to extract the sentence. The interaction is in the silence of this work. The first of her mute works, these strange fragments of a mouth are talking with no sound, yet actively communicating.

Both of these works follow the philosophical theory that all natural phenomena, including human behaviour, can be broken down into mechanical processes. Burchell’s work is deeply set in philosophy, yet easy to relate to. All works are personal and honest and intend to bring about an experience, not a comment on the world. Her art does not aim to shock or inform – it is about a single, universal feeling of discovery; for everyone to be able to access, connect and draw a unique, personal experience from it.
All Burchell’s works are visually minimalist. Although, visually, they are compelling and beautiful to look at, they are subtle and pure – void of any unnecessary plumage. “I always ask myself, what does it need? Lip colour on the mouths will not add anything other than aesthetics to the work. To me it’s all about that sublime essence of a work, the deeper meaning,” she says. Certainly Burchell’s work needs closer inspection, like a double take. This is all part of the interaction and extraction of meaning.
Burchell’s two new pieces will be exhibited at Fried Contemporary Art Gallery in Pretoria, together with three other established artists – Rina Stutzer, Frikkie Eksteen and Christiaan Hattingh, opening on 5 May 2011. This exhibition, “Designs of Nature,” is one of four collaborative exhibitions curated by Elfriede Dreyer.

Terry Dempsey was born on in March 1941 in Dartmouth, Devon, with a caul (part of the amniotic sac) covering his head and shoulders. In days gone by, this was considered to be a sign of good luck, and that the baby was destined for greatness. In Terry’s case, it must have meant that he was to put all of his talents to good use. As for the caul, it was given to his Uncle Roy, who was a captain in the merchant navy, to protect his ship and crew during World War II. The caul worked its magic and all on board survived. Meanwhile, during the war, Terry was brought up by his Aunt Nellie and at an early age he was attempting to play the piano as well as storing memories of the beauty of the Devonshire countryside.

After the war, Terry went back to his family in Gloustershire, where they lived near a little village called Bishopsworth, whose stone walls are fondly remembered in his paintings. He used to run errands for the neighbours, buying fresh produce from the dairy, the bakery and grocery store, and taking shortcuts through the fields and woodlands which would be his inspiration for his paintings in years to come. He began to paint at a very young age and won a number of art competitions at school, but that was not his first love…it was music.

In the 1950s Terry started playing guitar in various bands, having known for years that he could come up with different songs and melodies. “I’m not a stranger to adversity” says Terry, referring to his career in the tough music industry. Nurturing this talent brought him to write songs for great artists such as Cliff Richard, Tom Jones, Engelbert Humperdinck, Petula Clarke, Demis Roussos and the teenage idol of the 70s, David Cassidy. Hits include “Daydreamer “sung by David Cassidy (Number one in Britain), “Love Is A Beautiful Song” sung by Dave Mills (Number one in SA, Canada, NZ and Australia) and “Le Mal Aime” recorded by Claude Francois (A multi-million selling number one in France).  Many other artists around the world have recorded his songs and he continues to produce and work prolifically in the music industry. His firm belief is that “success is not final, failure is not fatal and courage is all”.

Yet painting always seemed to be a part of his life, as he reflects, “I am what I want to be, whenever I want”. It was on holiday, in a little North Devon town called Lynmouth that he painted his first oil painting in 1977. The rest followed as the years went by, with titles such as “Old Wentworth, Surrey”, “The Colonel’s House, East Knoyle”, “The Bandstand”, “The Telephone Box”, “The Red Bus” and “Murphy’s Potato Farm, Ireland”. Terry’s preferred medium is oil and acrylic and he has always painted the way he sees. A large part of his paintings are therefore a reflection of his childhood years, depicting his memories of Devon, Gloustershire and Somerset. These make up the collection called “Through the Corridors of Time”.

When Terry decided to embark on his own art exhibition – encouraged by his family, friends and associates – he conferred with Peter Roberts, owner of The Picture Workshop in Parkview, and he in turn suggested that Terry should paint some South African scenes to include in the collection. As Terry has lived in South Africa for many years, he decided that it would be apt to pay homage to this country by painting well known places and events like the Lord Milner Hotel in Matjiesfontein, which is a historic landmark and even claims to have its fair share of various resident ghosts. For some Johannesburg residents the Johannesburg Country Club is a home away from home, as well as being an establishment which is firmly rooted in the heritage of Johannesburg. This was also chosen as a suitable subject, as well as the Fordsburg uprising, also known as the Rand Rebellion of 1922.

Naturally the painting that is probably going to be the most popular in the Heritage collection is Nelson Mandela’s release in 1990, as it marks the first day of a new age and democracy in South Africa and portrays the much-loved statesman on his road to freedom.

During the next couple of years, Terry and his wife Carrie plan to travel extensively to various countries where Terry will hopefully find new inspiration. However, South Africa is his home now, so its places and events will continue to stir his creative juices to yield some more interesting work. As for his music, it has always been a major part of his life, so he plans to continue to compose and produce. But perhaps at this point in time, his art will accompany his talent for music, side by side.

The cat, the mountain, lighthouse, sexy girl and tree are recurring themes in your art. What is their significance?
I have been asked this question many a time and the answer is that there is no meaning or significance. I see something, I like it and then I sketch it and if it works I paint it.

Your work has been classified in the “neo pop art” genre. How do you interpret “neo pop art” and what for you, are the main ingredients?
I try to steer clear of art labels, specifically to movements and or art. I would prefer to make such a massive impact one day, that a movement is named after me. I’m not sure at all what Neo Pop means. New Pop perhaps, or Singularly Unique Pop. My main ingredient, excuse the pun, is to take pages out of books of famous artists, visionaries, and successful businessmen and create my own recipe. Once that has been formulated then teach it.

How do you feel about South African art and its evolution in a post activist society?
I just came back from a six country, 12 city visit of Europe and am very excited. Europeans are so much more deeply cultured in art. They ooze with knowledge of art and culture. South Africa has been good to me, but my clients are 75 percent European. South African art has its place and it’s fortunately or unfortunately going to stay where it is and what it is. Artists are slowly educating the public with the masses of high quality art produced, both commercial and academic. Deep down inside I feel someone, if there is someone responsible, is not doing enough to get South Africans out of first gear and into second gear culturally and artistically. It will happen one day. William Kentridge and Marlene Dumas are putting us on the map, but that someone needs to be found.

You are extremely business savvy, is there ever any conflict between the artist and the businessman?

Yes all the time. Every second and every thought. My mind is 10 years ahead of what I produce. I come with a creative idea and my business mind kicks in and that kills most of my ideas and concepts. Business is a reality, you need to do commerce in order to make money, in order to live and feed yourself and family. Art and creativity are dangerous luxuries. If you can get the two to balance on a scale, as I have, then you have found the main ingredient to becoming a successful artist. It’s about business.

I have a big vision to build seven buildings across the world under the Richard Scott Art Foundation. You reap what you sow.
A self-confessed “Scottaholic”, successful entrepreneur Carl Smyth has invested a substantial amount on acquiring Richard Scott’s art. He personally owns every Richard Scott painting in his collection. The Carl Smyth Collection – his “destination gallery” which was opened last year at Eden on the Bay in Blouberg, Cape Town – highlights the distinct character and beauty of the art by complementing it with exquisite surroundings. Carl does not only believe in the aesthetic beauty of Richard’s art, but also in the value it will return for those who make an investment in it. Carl’s gallery currently displays the works of three artists, ensuring that exclusive attention can be given to the promotion of these select few.

To book an appointment to view Carl’s Collection, visit www.thecarlsmythcollection.com or contact The Carl Smyth Collection on +27 73 915 8897.

www.richardscott.com

art

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I am not a Facebook junkie by any means so I don’t tell everybody about my bowel movements or my encounters with rude people in supermarket queues. I, like most of my ‘friends’, use it to connect with current and old folk with whom I hung out through various times in my life and have now lost touch.
Enter Andie Rodwell with whom I spent some extraordinarily hazy days within a group of friends in our mid twenties and with the world at our feet. I remember her as an immensely talented graphic designer but more than that, she possessed a complex and enigmatic persona – one of a true artist.

A graphically strident portrait of a lone Baobab tree greets you on entering Andie’s exhibition “Homage” at Upstairs @ Bamboo in Melville. It sets the bar for the exhibition as the archetypal piece of nature toward which to pay homage and it provides a window into the psyche of the artist who remains influenced by the graphic genre. She says the Baobab theme, “symbolises the ancient roots of Africa and has evolved into a tribute to the environment and culture around me”.

The two portraits of the car guard and the old lady that flank the Baobab on the far walls of the gallery, are alive with texture and depth through greyscales. Andie says she loves the beauty in the asymmetry of the features. I see their life-lines etched into their faces, each wrinkle built with emotion and nurtured with life’s many years.

She uses charcoal which she says is very tactile and textural as a natural product. The monochromatic result of greys and blacks on white paper is as atmospheric as black and white photography with its drama through contrast.
There are aloes old, gnarled and majestic and proteas fragile, symmetrical and exquisite. And there’s the drummer whose trance is palpable as he tightens his lithe frame around a strung emotion, performing within himself, oblivious to the observer’s presence but knowing he has an audience.  There is a large scale to the portraits, complex texture and the artist’s interpretation. But they stand alone ultimately, no context to define them and only your own interpretation to contextualise them.

The exhibition changes character through a series of photographic work in the form of single layout essays and symmetrical Rorschach test-like graphic works. Organic shapes of trees become graphic expressions of symmetry and the lone Baobab against the landscape becomes the focus of graphic expression and narrative as a layout.

For a graphic designer to work in solitude rather than within a creatively charged collaborative environment is a challenge says Andie, as is the concept of setting your own brief as an artist. She feels a responsibility to be honest as a commentator on the world around her in a delicate balance between emotion and reality.

This is her second exhibition at Bamboo, the first appropriately named “One” also implied singularity through large, bold portraiture, which the old lady and the car guard represent. She says the car guard did his duty at Bamboo during “One” but never got to see his portrait, having passed away in the months between.

I think he would have liked his portrait and I know he would have approved of Andie’s new work as it pays homage to the land of his ancestors.
Andie Rodwell will exhibit in the gallery Upstairs @ Bamboo again next year, www.bamboo-online.co.za

Viewings of her work can be arranged directly with the artist (015) 769 6092, 073 255 9427 or andie@genafrica.co.za

The Polly Street Art centre in central Johannesburg was a haven for a generation of artists who are considered to be some of the most renowned and influential to come out of South Africa. It was a difficult time for local artists with politics overshadowing and playing an omnipresent role in creative development. For the few who came together to form the Graphic Club, the creative outlet of screenprint meant providing art at an affordable price to those who held the interest, as well as being part of a collective creative process that was innovative for its time.

It so happened that among these artists were, Walter Batiss, Lucky Sibaya, Cecil Skotness, Judith Mason, Dirk Meerkotter and its founder and organiser Fred Schimmel. There were also a number of artists and creative souls who never gained the notoriety of the above artists but whose work is still significant in the context of the era and the company they kept. Jensma Wopko and Bill Hart are two who come to mind.

When Fred Schimmel passed away, his daughter Gail inherited the entire collection of work she remembers coming out of her dad’s workshop when she was a young child. “Of the work the artists created for the Graphic Club, half went to the artist and half belonged to the club for distribution to the members,” she says.

She explains that the medium of screen print is very personal and each step of the process is scrutinised and taken charge of by the artist. There are literally thousands of prints, more of some work than others, so the idea of an exhibition and reintroducing the work to the public for sale is a natural step in fulfilling the original rationale behind the Graphic Club – getting accessible art to people for reasonable prices.

Gail’s brother-in-law introduced her to Scott and Dale of ArtVault, beginning a natural collaboration between herself as the custodian of this body of diverse work and two guys who specialise in art archives. Scott says it was an absolute treasure trove for ArtVault to discover that such raw creativity existed from some of the most respected and influential artists in our history.

The Graphic Club certainly attracted a lot of attention in its day. The website contains numerous archived articles from the press documenting the processes and rationales behind the club. One of the strongest themes is dispelling the notion that graphic art was a poorer cousin to artistic techniques such as paint or sculpture and, by looking at some of these works, one can see why. The quality of the paper stock is exceptional, the consistency in texture of the ink is mind blowing and the imagery in some of the pieces is just phenomenal.

What struck me more than anything was the meticulous documentation and manual archive of the material by Fred Schimmel. This was clearly a passion of his and the method, as well as the execution of his documentation of the club is thorough but almost primitive by modern standards of graphic and reproduction systems.

His is what Gail says was the essence of the collection, that a small booklet contained the work which was documented in terms of its title, size etc. A postal archive existed and members were informed about what work was on offer and what work existed in the club. Now we have websites that do the same thing hence www.graphicclub.co.za and www.artvault.co.za, which enable the public to view and buy the work, as well as create a permanent archive of an important link in South Africa’s art history chain.

I asked Gail how she felt about offering this inherited treasure trove back to the public for sale. She, Scott and Dale had a bit of a laugh and admitted that she gets possessive when the reality of what they’re doing hits home. But the Graphic Club existed for a higher cause, one that benefitted the art loving public and the greater artistic community. This reincarnation, thanks to Gail, Scott and Dale’s commitment, will do the same.
The Graphic Club is currently on exhibition at ArtVault, 25 7th Ave, Parktown North.

Graphic Club

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Alice Art Gallery is one such emporium where artists are sought who carry a common touch and hose paintings are understandable, and customers are sought who may not have an educated view on art, but who feel moved by something they see  and carry their convictions on their sleeves.
Owner Alice Pitzer believes people are buying art without really understanding what it means. “The main thing is that people must appreciate a painting”, she says. And for her it’s all about the work communicating with the buyer.

The list of artists whom she represents is a “who’s who” of the popular contemporary art scene from Adriaan Boshoff, Edward Selematsela, Branco Demitrov, Portchie and Cornelius Bosch. The art generally tends to be realist with some impressionism but alive and dynamic in its appearance.

This is particularly true of Susan Greyling’s work of which Alice holds a number of pieces. She’s known for her ‘bar ladies’ who evoke a realistic sense of sexiness and fun for a pastime with which these are associated.

Greyling’s work shows women going about their daily lives with a poignance and reflection that draws out warmth and subtle emotion. All the girls are exceptionally beautiful and some are sensually portrayed fulfilling a household chore without any demeaning connotation or overt sexual undertone.

Colours are vivid and the atmosphere is warm, homely and comforting. The subjects are either caught mid-stream, as though they are oblivious to the presence of the artist, or they offer a brief moment to look up and stop what they’re doing, almost to pose for the artist. Alice Pitzer says Susan has a way of bringing out the best in a woman and I don’t think too many people will disagree.

The philosophy of Alice Art gallery is to select artists who are honest, have soul and paint from the heart, never copying a piece of work or another artist’s style. Pitzer looks for artists whose work is decorative, attractive and understandable.

An auctions section has just been launched which Pitzer says shows you the demand and leads you on prices.  She adds that it helps in depicting which artists are in demand and what the public is willing to pay.

For a look at some great contemporary art log on to www.aliceart.co.za

Makweti

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There is a huge pile of six pack shrink wrappers in Mbongeni Buthelezi’s studio in End Street downtown Johannesburg. The colours are bright and vivid and he calls it an installation but these are the basis of his ‘paint’ or medium he uses for the technique ‘plastic fantastic’. It’s a technique he has developed over the last 20 years through trying to be unique in a world where so many artists were doing the same things with the same materials.

“Art has become a very serious business and you have to be extremely good because the competition is stiff out there,” says Buthelezi. He uses something for which there is no more use in discarded plastics and alongside this, has developed particular plastic colours and textures that form an integral part of his work. “There was no form of reference for the technique which gives meaning to a throw away item.”

This former herd boy from KwaZulu Natal came to Springs as a youngster and worked with his father making bricks which he says taught him a strong work ethic from a very impressionable age. The art seed was planted in grade five and culminated in a Fine Arts degree from Wits and continuing work at the African Institute of Art – Funda Centre and the Johannesburg Art Foundation.

He speaks of his time at the Funda Centre as a humbling experience working alongside playwright Matsemela Manaka, vocalist Sibongile Khumalo and the Soweto String Quartet among others. It was here that the acute shortage of resources hit home and that he realised he would have to go far with very little – the mantra of another ‘found object’ artist Willie Bester.

In describing his work Buthelezi says “my work gives hope to the hopeless. We are lucky as artists that we travel and are able to share our experiences of our country with the world out there.”

His work embraces economic, social and political elements and focuses on a particular subject at a particular moment. Of his “Childhood Memories” series he says he concentrated on the faces of children because that’s how he sees the emotion of the time.

From an aesthetic point of view you’ll see three distinct themes to Buthelezi’s work. The monochromatic work is usually a depiction of township dwellings and scenes with their Highveld ochre tones on a base of black and white. The black and white work is mainly portraiture, vivid depiction of facial expression and emotion. His full colour work is where the energy resides and whether it’s a musician in his “Jazzing it Up” series or the” Hula Hoop”, he manages to capture the moment in all its intensity.

But this veteran of South African art is less enamoured with the state of local art than he is with the potential of young artists who are emerging out of a difficult time for artists. Now that apartheid is gone there is no big message so artists, he believes, are not taken seriously. “Artists were at the forefront of the struggle and there remain so many issues to communicate like housing, child abuse and poverty.” But he believes there is too much emphasis on private sector involvement in art and not enough being done by the government. He says it’s very much a case of who knows whom when it comes to influential decisions in the world of the arts.

That said you will struggle to find a person more passionate about the thing he loves most; a person who is grateful for the talent bestowed upon him and whose priority it is to use that talent to deliver a message of hope and inspiration to those for whom hope may be dwindling rapidly.

Mbongeni Buthelezi has a travelling exhibition which is currently on show in Kimberley. There are a number of works on show at the Sieppel Galley at Arts on Main, as well as the Sieppel Gallery in Cologne. He is preparing an exhibition at the Johannesburg Art gallery for the third quarter of 2011. The illustrations of Buthelezi’s art that appear on these pages are courtesy of the Sieppel Art Gallery at Arts on Main, Johannesburg.

Plastic Fantastic

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It’s a tough job sculpting wildlife, particularly cats, when South Africa’s Dylan Lewis is the reference point for the genre but this has not deterred young artist Vincent Da Silva from following his passion for sculpting the country’ animals.

Da Silva is a young artist, barely out of his teens and is currently studying architecture at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in Port Elizabeth, although he hails from the mother city. He has no formal training but works from the inside out when preparing a sculpture by aligning the anatomy of the animal to the movement he intends o portray. “I sculpt movement”, he says, emphasising that the process differs every time and that his sculptures are interpretations of the animal’s movement.

It is difficult to objectively sum up the art when photographs are all you have at your disposal but there is a technique here that resonates with great cat sculptors such as Dylan Lewis. Da Silva also manages to infuse great potential energy in his work – as though the animal is about to continue moving.

He says Lewis has been an inspiration and that there is more affection or ambience in Lewis’s work as opposed to the movement in his own work. This is not a comparison but an observation from an artist who understands he is relatively inexperienced.

While Da Silva begins his work with an anatomical study, the sculptures are relatively abstract than they are real. Anatomy is precise overall but lacks detail lending the work open to interpretation of structure and of the artist’s creative input.

His inspiration is also derived from Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse where the abstraction of form is inherent and his belief is that sculpture is figurative, further identifies the form of his work.  “There is an inherent meaning to art”, he says which opens up the interpretation angle, eliminating  a need to be literally correct. He tells me, “Art has no function other than itself” – interesting but I’m not sure I agree.

As for the state of art in our country Da Silva believes people need to be exposed to art a lot more to develop an appreciation of the subject. “Art exists for the viewer”, yet he says the general public’s understanding of art is dismal. He adds that “shock art” or art that needs little creative faculty is easy to achieve and gets the attention of the public.

He prefers not to exhibit but rather to produce work for specific clients. He feels the artist loses a connection with his art when it is in a gallery and does not acquire a personal relationship with the buyer of the art.

Young and talented Vincent Da Silva certainly is and his approach to his craft, both the process and the interpretation, shows maturity beyond his years. As he builds a portfolio of completed works we’ll seed more of this artist and who knows, perhaps one day, we’ll get a chance to see a collection of work on public display.

Check out this young talent at www.vincentdasilva.com

The essential relationships were between the artists and contextual Africa – that they “share an interest in the dynamics of place and geography in reference to the African continent”. Work that appealed to me varied in both style and medium but had more obvious relationships with the In Context marker of the exhibition and stood out as exceptional.

Ghada Amer and Reza Farkhondeh’s collaboration Lady in Pink alludes to the portrayal of women’s sexuality in popular culture. The countries of the women’s birth, Egypt and Iran respectively, lend more drama to their work. Lady in Pink forms part of a series of prints called Roses off Limits which was completed by Amer and Farkhondeh at Pace Prints in New York in 2008.

The intricately woven bottle-top sculptures of El Anatsui resonate with the work of our local artists and their found object medium. Ink Spill is one of his works that encompasses a kind of cosmic thinking with its basis as reference to political and cultural events in his native Ghana.

South African Kendal Geers, now resident in Belgium, was commissioned to do a work for a set of official FIFA 2010 World Cup posters and in the process completed the series Free Balling. His reference was urbandictionary.com and he says, “it’s a pun on something sacred and profane, high and low simultaneously”.

Michelangelo Pistoletto’s Labirinto e Grande Pozzo is a massive installation of cardboard, instantly recognisable as the material of packaging and universal industrial making. Pistoletto describes the labyrinth and well of glass as, “a winding and unforeseeable road that leads us to the place of the revelation of the knowledge.”

Robin Rode is another South African working abroad, this time in Berlin. His canvas is a wall and his art is of “impermanence which exists one day then disappears another”. Paper Planes is described as a moment of flimsiness yet with a start, middle and an end. The medium is a two minute 40 second HD digital animation transferred to Blu-ray disc.

Mikhael Subotzky and Patrick Waterhouse have created a mesmerising and voyeuristic look into the lives of the largely immigrant population of Ponte City. There three tapestries: The doors to the apartments, the view from the windows and thetelevision sets. This work is Windows, Ponte City and captures the magnificent views from the building, largely ignored by the residents who, according to the artists, spend most of their time watching television.

Minette Vári’s single channel video installation, Alien, is a morphing of old South African television footage with her own body into a surreal self portrait within a futuristic and almost disturbing alien political landscape. Kendal Geers says this of Vári, “Using the self as both subject and object is certainly not neutral, for within the white African female body, lurks the history of her country and her race”.

In Context has been taking place in the city of Johannesburg from early May and runs until 17 July. It is an initiative of the Goodman Gallery, the Goethe-Institut, the French Institute of South Africa, Culturesfrance, the British Council, the Kirsh Foundation, the Nirox Foundation, Johannesburg City, the Johannesburg Art Gallery, Galleria Continua and the Apartheid Museum. The venue for the above installations is Arts on Main but other venues include Goodman Gallery Project Space at Arts on Main, Nirox Foundation Space at Arts on Main, the Johannesburg Art Gallery, the Apartheid Museum, the Johannesburg CBD and Melrose Arch.

Source: The In Context Catalogue