south african art | implicit art

Archives

08 December 2005 by nathaniel

Gerhard Marx @ Warren Siebrits Gallery

skull without nomenclature (2005), by Gerhard Marx @ Warren Siebrits
skull without nomenclature (2005), by Gerhard Marx @ Warren Siebrits

I love it when generous and talented people produce brilliant work, and so forgive me if I gush a little too much about maps to get lost by, Gerhard Marx’s current solo show at Warren Siebrits.

Although the show also boasts some of his award-winning work with Lara Foot-Newton, it is mostly a continuation of the series he first exhibited at outlet (minus one show his wife curated – I believe Siebrits himself bought most of the pieces at the former). Marx is “cutting and reconstituting maps,” in order to create images, meaning, emotion. In other words, after chopping up various cartograms, he then puts back together the roads, train lines, currents, etc, in the fragmented lands and seas in order to tell us something within the new image (as above). The process itself, which is devastatingly transparent in each work, feels moving, tedious and achy. The results are astoundingly beautiful, in the most curiously empty and fragile ways. He’s asking us to ‘look again’ at things far too complex to summarize on a blog, and the complexity of his source material, his process, his context: it works magnificently.

Gerhard Marx is going to be the next big thing; I promise you. And he deserves it. If you see one show before the year ends, make sure it’s this one. Oh, and I like him a lot, too, so if there are any left, buy his art. — up til 13 Dec (um, I think – you may want to check with the gallery, tho….)

Archives

05 December 2005 by nathaniel

home schweet home

Ah, Johannesburg. I can’t believe I’m actually back here. It feels oddly like I belong way more than any other place I’ve ever been. And admittedly, that’s a new feeling. When people in NYC asked me about living in Jozi, I often replied, "it’s completely exhilarating and utterly exhausting." I don’t think I’d have to explain to any South African (especially those in the public service: teaching, arts, etc) what that means. But actually, I feel relaxed to be back in my space again. Part of this may be that it’s familiar, another thing may be that now I have so many fab guest bloggers that I don’t need to stress about posting as much as I used to (still always looking for anybody who wants to post text / write!). Bronwyn should totally send me her bio and a photo, tho, too.

Unpacking, recovering from jet-lag, catching up on personal admin, and I hope to be out and about, writing about shows again, etc, by week’s end. In the meanwhile, I’ve got a few projects in the works: new money-making venture – to support myself a bit more; a young adult fiction novel I’ve started working on; a few proposals for art; upcoming chapter in book on cyberculture; thinking on whether or not to organize a solo and/or begin looking for group exhibitions, in 06. I was thinking it’d be really nice to do the piece I had intended for The Kebbles somewhere, but who has the kind of money to get the equipment they had offered me? Maybe do a solo Compressionism show, or some experimental prints with Richard Kilpert… Thoughts, guys? And where do you think I should show? I’m open.

I’ve missed you.

Archives

02 December 2005 by nathaniel

William Kentridge on Net Art News: A Mechanical Masterpiece

Cool to see William Kentridge on Rhizome – I can’t wait to see this piece in action!

Link to William Kentridge on Rhizome.org’s Net Art News: A Mechanical Masterpiece:

William Kentridge, one of South Africa’s most acclaimed contemporary visual artists, gained international stardom at Documenta X (1997), where he exhibited part of his animated film series about living through the apartheid and post-apartheid eras in Johannesburg. The hand-drawn films were produced using charcoal and pastel drawings in stop-motion, which left beautiful traces of erasure and redrawing. While working on a design for ‘The Magic Flute,’ his recent operatic adventure, Kentridge built a small-scale stage model to test his projections. This petite provocation became the basis for his current Deutsche Guggenheim commission. Visitors to the Berlin site can take-in Kentridge’s new short ‘play,’ staged within a miniature mechanical theatre and starring animatronic coffee pots who gesture in Italian, menacing kitchen appliances, and other lively characters, all rendered in his very recognizable, witty style. ‘Black Box/Chambre Noire’ will run through January 15. Chances are, you’ve never heard a coffee pot sing quite like this before. – nathaniel stern

http://www.deutsche-bank-kunst.com/guggenheim/e/ausstellungen-kentridge01.php

Archives

23 November 2005 by sean slemon

Rats

In Deshnoke, a small city in the northwest province of
Rajasthan, India, pilgrims cross miles of scorching desert on
foot to pay homage to Karni Mata, the Rat Goddess. Thousands
of rats, believed to be the reincarnated souls of mystics,
roam fearlessly through Karni Mata’s temple, even in broad
daylight. Human worshippers bring the sacred beasts enticing
grains and fruits in silver bowls, occasionally offering an
affectionate pat on the head or scratch behind the ears as the
satisfied rodents stretch lazily in the sun.

The grateful rats select the tastiest morsels, of course, but
generously leave some tidbits for their devotees. Having
completed their sacred mission, the worshippers go home
fulfilled, and the rats remain, happy and well-fed. All in
all, the system seems to be working just fine.

On this side of the globe, humans fail to see the divinity in
their rodent neighbors. Reincarnated mystic or not, rats are
unwelcome in most American cities. Surprisingly, in New York
City, cultural center of the richest country on the planet,
people are not only unwilling to worship or share their food
with their rodent brothers, they actually consider a vigorous
population of several million rats a public nuisance!

rats are becoming an obsession for me: for the rest of the story go here: http://members.bellatlantic.net/~lilbun/ts/nyrats.html

Archives

18 November 2005 by nathaniel

the upgrade! boston

I gave a talk at the the upgrade! Boston last night, which took place at the experimental art interactive gallery space. (Thanks to Jo green and Turbulence for setting it up!) Check out the link to see the pretty cool GlowLab exhibition (which I guess, in theory, I’m a part of now – cool projects that jumped out at once include soundbike and opsound) and learn more about "the only game in town" (what Jo Green from turbulence calls this hot spot art space).

There was a nice li’l crowd of trickle ins and trickle outs, mostly artists. It felt great to hear some feedback on documentation and the work (Compressionism went down the best, and there were all kinds of thoughts around bringing it to new levels, and having The First Exhibition of the Compressionists), as well as have a full-on discussion about where the two (documentation and work, that is) collide in the displacements between body and text, work and body, work and documentation, and where social anthropology (and cultural studies) play into all of the above. The crowd was mostly artists, and I will be googling them all as soon as I get their surnames from Jo.. Want a few places to start? Check out Michael Mittelman’s Aspect DVD magazine, or kanarinka (aka Catherine D’Ignazio, AI’s co-director) and friends’ the institute for infinitely small things.

Archives

18 November 2005 by thando

any one tell me

can anyone tell me here can i find a cash-in transit.
one image has this guy with a R4 riffle and a musk. he is smiling and in his hand it a money bag. he is laughing and says to me, ‘summer is hot this year’.