Tag: smac gallery

Group exhibition ‘shady tactics’ shows how throwing shade at institutions is a productive past time for artists

The group exhibition shady tactics showing at SMAC Gallery in Cape Town purposefully throws shade at institutions, and presents this as a productive past time for artists. For this show ‘throwing shade’ is a kind of playful, at times flirtatious, interaction with the use these institutions present for the practice of artists. This productive cheekiness highlights the power matrix within which these institutions operate and emphasizes their maintenance of the heavy, pungent presence of coloniality. In an email interview with the show’s curator, Thuli Gamedze, she explained that for her criticality is a “deeply creative impulse.” The show’s title opens up a space for work that “chooses to be explicitly political and critical” and for artists who “resist the stylistic desires of art institutions, who can be guilty of pushing for a certain ‘look and feel’ when artists begin to be ’political’.” The projects for the show share a number of alternatives – “new, incorrect uses for things, along with incomplete and drifting ideas, failures, jokes and strange approaches to logic.”

When asked about her approach for curating shady tactics, Thulile explained that she wanted to work with artists of colour who are serious about the role of playfulness in their practices. The fact that the people included in the show are not represented by specific galleries brings a kind of open playfulness and unbounded approach for critical expression. “I was really anxious when I was trying to figure out who to ask – I scoured the last few years of catalogues from art schools around the country, gained a stalker-like edge on instagram, and made like a hundred lists, torturing myself trying to make rational sense of what was actually quite an intuitive process.” shady tactics includes work by Sitaara Stodel, Callan Grecia, Simnikiwe Buhlungu, Mitchell Messina, Katleho Mosehle and Bonolo Kavula.

In getting the idea for the show off the ground, Thulile explained that conversation and sociality are important for how she wanted the process to unfold. Having never worked closely with a gallery as a curator before, and only havng educational spaces as reference points, Thulile created a rhythm of regular dialogue with the selected artists and, when possible, shared space with the artists to work through ideas for the show.

Following her creative impulse, Thulile found connections between the works, ensuring that they speak to one another as well as the title for the show. The text for the show came out of watching the various stages of creation for each work. “The objects were not that important though. I think I was interested in giving space to people as whole creative entities – people whose sensibility, tone and politics I respect as generative, if visually unpredictable and always swinging. I think things weaved themselves together quite nicely visually, but I also think there was a big chance it could’ve ended up looking off as a whole because I hadn’t pinned people down specifically on my expectation of their stylistic approaches. But that’s interesting too.”

‘fuck you I tried my best’ by Callan Gracia

Each artist’s work connects with the exhibition title by engaging in some form of institutional appropriation – “using ‘standardised’ language but messing around with it to change the message.” Callan Gracia’s fuck you I tried my best looks at public walls and the messaging conveyed on them through his depiction of a giant rainbow sprinkled with fear and anxiety-inducing images. In this way he unpicks the rainbow nation rhetoric that is used in post-apartheid South Africa. “Callan’s huge rainbow is complicated and disrupted by his numerous depictions of dystopian destructions of post-1994 middle-class idealism,” Thuli explains.

In A Brief History of the Institute Mitchell Messina uses a collection of high quality image files which are curated and repeated over a number of scenes, accompanied by sound and text, to tell the stories around the fictional construction of a new art institution. The stories illuminate the money-driven nature of the art world within our neoliberal environment. “Mitch’s detailed storytelling…parallels familiar narratives of big money’s relationships with art in Africa.”

‘(NO) SEX IN CT’ by Katleho Mosehle

Katleho Mosehle’s (NO) SEX IN CT makes a comment on white feminism within the media, embodied by the character of Carrie Bradshaw from Sex and the City. This work demonstrates the violence of white femininism. Mosehle’s absurdist recreation of Carrie uses humour and caricature as devices to highlight this. Bonolo Kavula’s Fragile: this way up looks at the ways in which the colonial gaze ‘others’ and reinforces cultural dominance. By using the discursive and visual language of the YouTube DIY tutorial, Bonolo teaches the printing process and simultaneously problematizes the divide between ‘art’ and ‘craft’. “Bonolo’s work, combining a satirical commentary of art versus craft has intense political relevance in SA’s super elitist art world,” Thuli adds.

In her work Homesick, Sitaara Stodel constructs a section of a living room, with the overall work teasing out definitions of ‘homeness’. She uses still images collated from the internet and secondhand stores that demonstrate idealistic ideas of home to create a collage and video present in the installation. Her play on suspension and stillness creates an uneasy mood, recognizing that this home is not fully formed or able to contain a fixed comfort. “Sitaara’s work acts as quite an intimate reference point for the whole show, where her appropriation of images of other peoples’ homes to make her own narrative speaks to the desire for whatever ‘being at home’ means – an inherently political notion here, but also one she tackles in a deeply personal way.”

‘Homesick’ by Sitaara Stodel

Simnikiwe Buhlungu’s performative installation A Loooooong Ass Message, ya dig? uses an old fax machine to deliver a message that spills over a stack of office boxes. This indirect presence of the artist speaks to questions around lack of access. The interruption of the gallery’s telephone line to deliver faxes of “the content erased and re-erased by art institutions” points to the importance of inserting politicised work that speaks against this erasure.

The show will be up at SMAC Gallery in Cape Town until the 9th of June.

‘A Brief History of the Institute’ by Mitchell Messina

‘Fragile: this way up’ by Bonolo Kavula

8 May 2018
AKJP // ‘The Permanent Collection’ – Where fashion and art meet

The fashion line AKJP came about through the collaboration ‘Adriaan Kuiters + Jody Paulsen’ between artists Jody Paulsen and Adriaan Kuiters designer, Keith Henning. The duo of AKJP both live and work in Cape Town and are well known for their artistic implementation and cutting edge kink on modern pragmatic mens and womenswear.The brand’s identity has been defined with sport enthused motifs and the expansion of robust prints for each collection that has been produced. Their signature style features have been defined with boxy silhouettes, asymmetrical detailing and the use of layering. AKJP is recognised both locally and abroad as one of the country’s most innovative brands and has showcased their latest collection the ‘Permanent Collection’ at SMAC gallery Johannesburg this past Tuesday. How the duo went about creating their new collection, what inspired them as well as the concept behind their campaign will be discussed.

The ‘Permanent Collection’ is built on modish wardrobe staples as well as limited edition artistic prints created by Jody Paulsen. Intended to set a new foundation for the label and make allowance for the evolution of future lines. The collection is at present centred towards offering everyday wear for South Africans though there are plans to create high end capsule collections focussed on an international audience grounded in the ‘Permanent Collection’.

The line consists of some defined men’s and women’s silhouettes and the larger majority of the range is comprised of unisex pieces. Classic styles with a renewed touch accompany chic easy to wear shapes available in twills and crisp cottons. The line contains its breaths of lavishness with pieces constructed from hemp, silk and leather.

Experimentation with collage aided in the development of the artistic prints that enhance some of the pieces within the collection. Jody has drawn his inspiration from artists such as Hans Arp, Henri Matisse and David Hockney and created every design paper cut outs that were digitized and finally printed. To apply patterns to the collection different printing techniques were combined with fabric collage and embroidery.

Conceiving the concept for the campaign during their design implementation, connections were drawn between the collection silhouettes and prints, and the kind of work that SMAC gallery artists produce. The campaign was photographed at SMAC gallery and takes a look at the relationship between three friends/lovers who have been locked inside the gallery over night. A strong sense of intimacy was captured between the three models by photographer Neil Roberts. The intimacy needed in the photographs were accomplished with ease which might be attributed to the models familiarity with one another due to working together on previous AKJP brand campaigns. The faces of the campaign are Jae Kim who has worked with AKJP from the age of fifteen, AKJP campaign and runway darling, Nina Milner as well as Daniel Defty.

Jody and Keith’s intention to have the ‘Permanent Collection’ as everyday wear for South Africans is an aspiration that I believe is not wholly attainable as many of the pieces from the range evoke a lux mood because of the use of materials such as silk and delicate intricate sheer detailed pieces. Jody’s artistic prints inspired by artists such as Matisse and Hans Arp also contribute to this lux emotion that is evoked. There are however pieces that might fall into this bracket such as jeans and easy to wear shirt designs. The entire range can thus not be regarded as everyday wear. The brand continues its recognition locally and abroad as one of the country’s most innovative brands and a pioneer of modern day cool in the South African fashion vista.

Credits

Jewellery by Steffany Roup

Hair and Makeup by Gareth Coleman

27 October 2017
16 shots – a testament to Musa Nxumalo’s distinctive visual vocabulary

Musa N. Nxumalo previously known for Alternative Kids is showcasing 16 Shots at Smac Gallery Johannesburg. His latest body of work consists of 16 photographic prints, a continuation of his current project The Anthology of Youth.

Nxumalo defies the stark divide between social documentary and fine arts photography with his exhibition 16 Shots. His focuses on the black youth of South Africa and their experiences, which he documents with calculated ease.

The artist plays a double role within his own practice, acting as both the author and the witness to the scenes he portrays with a perspective that cannot be matched.

When looking at Anthology of Youth you realize that Nxumalo is in fact a part of this youth he portrays. Quite masterfully he moves the viewer from his or her private home into the spaces that form a part of his world. These places are spaces where the contemporary youths, his peers, reign.

With his clever lens he shows the viewer how he perceives the contemporary youth often depicted as disinterested or youth activists. His work and process suggests an overlying of the personas etched by society.

16 Shots is a carefully curated collection of photographic prints unified as a vision of the alteration in context and concerns that the contemporary youth in South Africa is faced with.

The images selected for the exhibition include photographs captured during the recent #feesmustfall protests and are included in the body of work as Nxumalo identifies himself as mediator, carrying over the voice of young South Africans with his intimate and honest photographic observation.

The protests are something that affected young people significantly, and for that reason he felt like it spoke to him. He saw the opportunity to carry over the voice for this generation with his lens.

The images recorded during the protests do not display detachment and are definitely not for pure documentation purposes. These images are not the kind of images you would see on the cover of any South African newspaper. They are loaded with emotion and a visual vocabulary distinctive to Nxumalo’s work.

16 Shots is thus not only a photographic witness to the protest, but is joined in the same space with imagery that presents club life in Johannesburg. Unlike the party imagery you would see from places like Kitcheners, a new intimacy is at play here.

A rawness and honesty that form a part of Nxumalo’s point of reference as a Sowetan born artist engrossed in the kasi punk scene.

A rhythmic pattern is evident in the curation of the exhibited images by Tshegofatso Mabaso, curator at Smac Gallery Johannesburg. Meticulously she choreographed the combined series consisting of still life, portraiture and moving bodies to create what can only be described as a dance of imagery.

The idea of movement is further emphasized by the use of sound installation and a disco ball. The images seem to come alive as light from the disco ball playfully teases over areas of the gicleéprint.

Mabaso and Nxumalo have created a space where the images and scenes come alive with an interactive exhibition. The viewer is taken into the party scene portrayed with the use of white balloons; a universal element often found at a party. Here the artist encourages the viewer to kick his balloons and to become a part of the world he captures.

The title 16 Shots refers to a song title by the American rapper Vic Mensa that had the police brutality debate in the United States as its focal point. References from the song are used as a collage together with noises from the protest as a sound installation in this exhibition. Nxumalo makes a link between the suffering of American youths with that of his South African peers in the #feesmustfall police confrontation.

The Anthology of Youth is a showcase of imagery documenting moments in the lives of South African youths that are immensely personal and border on secluded. Nxumalo’s records open a world to his audience that they might never otherwise encounter. This ongoing project is now an online multimedia archive depicting South Africa’s contemporary youth.

8 May 2017
Artist Jody Paulsen’s solo exhibition ‘Pushing Thirty’

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 as a playful medium, creates a sense of nostalgia with the fabric associated with arts and crafts during childhood. Jody puts a twist on this association by dealing with adult themes in his work. His work offers a critical eye on identity construction and queer politics, as well as on consumer culture, often addressing more than one of these themes in an artwork. Jody provides commentary on the discriminatory laws against LGBT communities in countries such as Uganda, and offers pieces in celebration of sexual diversity. The layering of images in his collage work leaves no empty space. However, his work is crowded in a way that does not leave one feeling claustrophobic. Instead your eye is darting across the surface of the work, trying to take it all in. His use of fonts which mimic graffiti and branding typography, as well as other popular culture iconography draw attention to consumer culture, with slogans that highlight the realness of approaching adulthood. His exhibition also includes a series of photographs where he presents himself as the subject.

His show continues at SMAC Gallery until the 25th of March.

17 February 2017
Mongezi Ncaphayi’s journey to the one: Jazz as art and art as an auditory voyage to self-discovery

I just love it when Jazz and print medium collide! One example of such can be found in Mongezi Ncaphayi’s latest body of work whose “distinctively abstract visual vocabulary” (SMAC, 2016) brings these two mediums together. His works are minimalist in form. They’re representational of the sounds found in one’s own recounts of memorable score.

The quiet journey to artistic discovery

Mongezi has always been an artist of sort. Growing up, he would be sketching under the guidance of his uncle who also an artist. It was under guidance of such older mentors in the township of Wattville in Benoni that he would get to hone his craft. At high school level he sadly stopped sketching.

He completed his primary education and went to study engineering. It would be by chance that he met a certain guy at the public library. He was giving art lessons to small kids. He allowed Mongezi to join in the lessons even though he would be the oldest one there. He himself didn’t mind and he would get to reconnect with his love of art. It would be this same teacher that would suggest to Mongezi that he study art at what was then Benoni Technikon.

“I just dropped and went. Growing up I never saw myself as working anywhere. After school and during school holidays I would instead find stuff to do. I soon felt that with engineering that I’m done!” He had his disagreements with his parents but art was his calling. He’d been re-infected with the creative bug and found his vocation. He would complete his studies then with a Diploma in Art and Design.

Soon after graduating in 2012 instructors from the Boston Museum of Fine arts from the United States would like his works and invite him to attend their school. They arranged for him to attend the Museum school as an exchange student and have his stay extended to 2 semesters. He got his certification in advanced printmaking. From 2014 he would exhibit internationally. Some of these exhibition included the South African Voices which showed at the Washington Print makers Gallery in the US and Alternative Spaces, Plateforme on Time in Paris France (SMAC, 2016).

Progressions of sound as an Artist

His style has made a drastic change to its current abstraction form. He previous works were created by collecting discarding working tools. “Benoni was a mining town. So much of my previous work was focused on migration, history and migrant workers. It was about looking at my father and those living in the township”. These works were graphic landscapes juxtaposed against the old discarded forms.

It was through the workshop he attended at the Boston Museum that Mongezi would decide to focus solely on Abstract works. He had been doing abstract works earlier in his career but had not shown them professionally. When he enrolled at the Museum school it was his abstract works that caught the interest of his instructors as well as his own interest. “I was exposed to so much abstract work overseas. There was no point in going somewhere only to come back and do the same. I wanted to do something new. I wanted to adapt, take influence from the world around and incorporate all of it into my work”.

The Art of Jazz and the Jazz in Art

Mongezi grew up in a house of all jazz. There would never be any R n B CDs or LPs. It was always jazz. His father used to take him to jazz clubs and festivals. Benoni has a strong jazz scene. Many of his friends play jazz and he also aspires to play. “My works are the same thing, Jazz! Listening to music it’s what I’m doing. Playing around with sound but in print form. I hear music in terms of colours and shape.”

He has always been interested in movement, previously as migration but now in art. “It’s all about movement and where you find yourself in it as such. I’ve always had an idea to incorporate music and art. The current exhibition is not complete as I am still building. It’s there but it’s not there. There is so much that I want to do. There is so much coming.”

“I’m a visual artist but must also incorporate music into the art. This also started with me making my abstract art. Having an idea that music, jazz, visuals all go together. I used to listen to one Record, one song and play it over and over again. I would really listen to what it does to me spiritually. Not in terms of the artists message or musicians vision but in terms of what I feel. That’s how the music works for me.”

The Gallery space is the place

His latest exhibition entitled Journey to the one would be set up in response to the formality of his previous presentations. When he last exhibited at the SMAC Gallery his show had been characteristically formal. “My work is part of my re-introduction to that space. I wanted to do a different show in terms of style and unique direction. Basically I just wanted to play around, more free flowing space. These freedom for Mongezi becomes his safe space, “it’s my studio space”.

For Mongezi where is work space is a sort of temple where he can divulge himself into the music and his works. This area of the exhibition offers a glimpse into who the artists is that has been making these works.

“To be free and roam, to be yourself. Keep quiet, the silence, this where you get to feel. Things that make sense to me, they puzzle me. The words are interesting but also puzzling”.

The gallery is transformed into the visual representation of the artist’s creative process. In the front of the gallery with framed works, large prints, all complete.

At the back is a cascade of rough sketches, LP covers and quotes pinned on the walls.

The title of his current exhibition refers to the LP by Pharaoh Sanders ‘Journey to the one’. “Listening to the music blows me away. It’s subtle but also chaotic, but also free. If you understand his music you don’t need to share the same ideas with artists. It can happen simply at the level of expression. Some things I read and feel like this touches me. Feel connected. I do my own interpretations.”

Yet for Mongezi his interpretation of the music does not rely on the sheet music. For him it doesn’t make sense to do so.

“You can do it but it’s about how you use it. I want to do something new, something different. It’s about how the music makes me feel. When music plays I try to visualize it. When it’s a note or phrase I tend to locate it as shapes and patterns. Thats my interpretation.”

Mongezi’ s works are the extraction from intangible to tactile form. His works represent the progress of sound as it arranges itself into the minds of the audience. The sound is improvisational jazz, from its chaotic rhythms and uncontrollable beats, the print becomes baptized in a layer of water colour. From the chaos comes sense as the mind begins to take over. We begin to see the thick lines colonise through noise but what mind can really own the music. We can only be satisfied with that moment in time where we felt as one with its melody.

Catch Mongezi’s exhibition Journey to the One at the SMAC gallery which is now showing.

14 December 2016