![Smith at Con Hill](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/wp-content\/richardworkcu_01.jpg?w=850\")
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Pardon me for gushing, but Richard Smith\u2019\u00c4\u00f4s exhibition that opened at Constitution Hill Wednesday night, was a highlight for me. Andre Naude and I both walked away with the same word: inspiring, to say the least! Spanning over three of the rooms in the prison, the historical loadedness of the space also complemented the show\u2019\u00c4\u00f4s theme in every way. Robyn Sassen opened with a sensible and short speech. <\/p>\n
I have learnt a new word: pedimento. Apparently, this is what the art technique of erasing to the bare surface, is called. I could not locate the word in on-line dictionaries, though. Anyone out there to help? <\/p>\n
I was pleasantly surprised by Smith\u2019\u00c4\u00f4s works.. So totally different from what I expected. The large scale charcoal works with painted \u2019\u00c4\u00f2speech bubbles\u2019\u00c4\u00f4 collaged onto the finished surfaces filled one room, while figures bulky in stature eluding some kind of vulnerability and raw emotional connotation can be found in the next. <\/p>\n
I hope this becomes a permanent exhibition space. Quite a number of artists are going to stand in line for this!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Pardon me for gushing, but Richard Smith\u2019\u00c4\u00f4s exhibition that opened at Constitution Hill Wednesday night, was a highlight for me. Andre Naude and I both walked away with the same word: inspiring, to say the least! Spanning over three of the rooms in the prison, the historical loadedness of the space also complemented the show\u2019\u00c4\u00f4s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6,18,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-775","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-art","category-franci-cronje","category-south-african-art"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9blZT-cv","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1144,"url":"https:\/\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/2006\/04\/13\/david-smith-at-the-guggemheim\/","url_meta":{"origin":775,"position":0},"title":"David Smith at the Guggenheim","author":"sean slemon","date":"13 April 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"David Smith, Hudson River Landscape, 1951. Welded steel, 49 1\/2 x 75 x 16 3\/4 inches. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, Purchase. Thought this was worth a quick mention. This show being done when the man should have turned a 100 years old. The work was generally smaller\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "art"","block_context":{"text":"art","link":"https:\/\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/category\/art\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":818,"url":"https:\/\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/2005\/10\/05\/art-in-jhb-and-ght\/","url_meta":{"origin":775,"position":1},"title":"art in JHB and GHT","author":"nathaniel","date":"05 October 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"First off, big ups and big welcomes to AJ Venter, the newest guest blogger on this site. You can catch him, and the occasional post from me (from now on) over at silent coder. So, this week\/end I'm going to be missing a lot of great art and openings. I'll\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "art"","block_context":{"text":"art","link":"https:\/\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/category\/art\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1563,"url":"https:\/\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/2007\/12\/08\/two-shows-im-in-on-south-africa\/","url_meta":{"origin":775,"position":2},"title":"two shows i’m in on South Africa","author":"nathaniel","date":"08 December 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Just found out that Art on Paper Gallery, who I often work with in Johannesburg, has been workin it for me a bit. Opened 18 November, Prints \/ Books \/ Lights at the KZNSA Gallery in Durban - I think this may actually be the first time I've shown there.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "art"","block_context":{"text":"art","link":"https:\/\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/category\/art\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":250,"url":"https:\/\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/2003\/12\/05\/kathryn-smith-bkaa\/","url_meta":{"origin":775,"position":3},"title":"kathryn smith + BKAA","author":"nathaniel","date":"05 December 2003","format":false,"excerpt":"art in SA My buddy, and co-studio sharer (what do you call that person? anyhow, I moved out what with all my renovations at home; couldn't really afford it any more, plus I'll have a home office \/ studio when it's done; whenever that is), Kathryn Smith, is all the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "art"","block_context":{"text":"art","link":"https:\/\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/category\/art\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":32,"url":"https:\/\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/2003\/03\/13\/citysuburban-studios\/","url_meta":{"origin":775,"position":4},"title":"city+suburban studios","author":"nathaniel","date":"13 March 2003","format":false,"excerpt":"Today is bigger than it seems. I moved into my first art studio space, in downtown Johannesburg. CITY+SUBURBAN is a share between myself, Kathryn Smith and Christian Nerf. Granted, most of my computer \"stuff\" (video editing, internet access, etc.) will remain in my home office, but smaller physical computing feats,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "art"","block_context":{"text":"art","link":"https:\/\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/category\/art\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1423,"url":"https:\/\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/2007\/04\/02\/smith-and-western\/","url_meta":{"origin":775,"position":5},"title":"smith and western","author":"nathaniel","date":"02 April 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Do you like my loaded gun pun? On this month's artthrob, Rat Western responds to Michael Smith about art criticism in Johannesburg. First, I must agree with Rat that this debate is getting really boring. But I've never backed down from depositing 2 pennies on the web... Admittedly, I have\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "art"","block_context":{"text":"art","link":"https:\/\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/category\/art\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/775","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=775"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/775\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=775"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=775"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=775"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}