sean slemon at premises

OK, so I forgot my camera and you will not be getting any images, but I can at least talk about the show.

Sean Slemon really left SA with a bang! He had three successive solo shows (one at Outlet in Pretoria, then two at The | Premises in Joburg), the last of which is on now; he then tied for first prize in the Sasol New Signatures competition before leaving for New York City (to begin as a grad student in Pratt’s awesome MFA sculpture program).

Admittedly, the first Premises show as my favorite of the three, which features his famed “carpet installation,” where he carpeted the gallery with many layers building up to a pinnacle point in the center. It really did transform the gallery, and make an amazing play out of our relation to the space.

I did a lot of somersaults.

Going on the same theme, the current show is more “purchasable” art, where he’s mapped 11 regions of Johannesburg based on space and population. His sculpture is formally beautiful, but the real keepers are the not-so-subtle-but-surprisingly-amusing images of brick walls and barbed wire in all 11 regions. I think they work better as a set than alone, so you should buy all 11 and give them to me. His etchings ain’t so bad neither.

Woot: Sean Slemon is cool.

P.S. I’m back. Will be building up more and more writings about art in Jozi again. Yay.