A few days ago American art critic and recent-Pulitzer Prize Winner Jerry Saltz published an article criticising the current art fair structure, the domination of mega-galleries, and highlighting the necessity for emerging, more “edgy” galleries. (So basically everything wrong with the art world). It’s good to know that these issues are being addressed on that level,…
Buildings mark the moments in our history where a people thrived. Ângela Ferreira’s “South Facing” is the exhibition that marks an important moment in the Johannesburg Art Gallery’s (JAG) evolution. For the artist “buildings can be read as political texts” and this location has its own fair share of history. She examines the relationship…
I interviewed Kim Van Vuuren, known for her design work, to her shift into contemporary art. We began our discussion with her 100 Forms project, which has drawn a lot of attention to the designer turned artist. Initially she cut down her idea of 100 Forms to 50 Forms, but the popularity of the project…
The sky above the port was the colour of television, tuned to a dead channel – The Neuromancer by William Gibson A preamble of creaking wooden stairs. Navigating historical remnants – a building reclaimed. Ascending the landing. Within the antique walls of The Cosmopolitan the contemporary Hazard Gallery is housed. Pressed ceilings peeled back,…
Ghanaian-born Kasen Midichi has always found art as the easiest way to express himself. Initially discouraged by understandings of art as work for “lazy people” within his community, he re-discovered his love for creating visual magic when a friend asked him to create a piece for a store. His paintings portray celebrities, public figures and…
Artist Jody Paulsen is currently showing his new solo exhibition Pushing Thirty at SMAC Gallery in Cape Town. Everything from the fuzzy texture of his felt collages, to his floor installations are a point of entry into a mix of bright colours and cheeky slogans; curious eyes are invited to look a little closer. Felt…
Young photographer Phumzile Khanyile is showing her first solo exhibition titled Plastic Crowns at the Market Photo Workshop gallery in Johannesburg. “Plastic Crowns is a journey of self-discovery,” Phumzile explained, “As a photographer I think the vision is more important than the equipment. I believe that when making a body of work there is nothing…
Visual artists Ke Neil We creates mesmerizing artworks by exploring the similarities between organic and inorganic microscopic patterns. Ke Neil We draws inspiration for her work from nature, specifically the relationship between order and chaos. “I find the chaotic nature of existence to be very profound,” she expresses, “Order and chaos will always prevail.”. She…
Art is more than just about the business that generates it. Gallery Momo is more than just a conduit for the sale of art but also the creation of works that seeks to challenge the ideas of those who enter her walls. Set in the leafy suburbs of Parktown North this gallery offers both collectors…
Practicing artists Ella Krivanek and Dorothy Siemens are the founders of the moving gallery Space Space. They met in Toyko in 2014. At the time Ella was thinking about how to create a space that could blend what she had learned and enjoyed as a practicing artists at home in Melbourne with the different scene…
I caught up with young, up-and-coming illustrator Nokwanda Themba to chat about her work and her vision for the future. “I’m studying a BSc in Human Physiology. But I have been drawing since I was a child,” Nokwanda explained when asked about how her journey as a freelance illustrator began. Having always had an interest…
CUSS Group, formed in 2011 by Ravi Govender, Jamal Nxedlana and Zamani Xolo, have been tsatsatsa since the get-go and need little introduction; they were South Africa’s first arts collective to focus on digital technologies and have, since then, gone viral, infiltrating a diversity of spaces; from car boots in Zimbabwe to MoMA in Poland,…
