First, I gotta say that the siebrits site is just about finished, and it’s already looking pretty classy… I like it when SA arts go live for the rest of the world to find! Woot.
Second, as usual, Warren et al have put together a fine exhibition of some of South Africa’s staple artists, both during the struggle, and after. There are two main highlights about this exhibition, and they compliment one another greatly.
The first is the curator’s uncanny ability to educate the public (including those supposedly “in the know,” I might add – god, I love his catalogues). The show is exhibiting mostly unknown works by aforementioned artists – and all done in watercolor, rather than the usually collected oil. Siebrits, on some level, talks about these pieces as unsung genius, claiming that one must differentiate between a masterpiece, and a work that simply bears an artist’s signature.
The second thing I love is the element of surprise in this show. I went around guessing at who did what and when (based on the aesthetics I think I know in South African art), and was mostly wrong. (Norman Catherine and Malcolm Payne immediately come to mind….)
See the show, and definitely get the catalogue.
