Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Kalk
Bay Modern is excited to include Aliza Sholk's woven rope and silk
structure in our displays. Aliza, a lifelong craft producer who was
born in Israel, recently began to work with sash cord rope and thread,
making individually shaped baskets, bags and vases. Her sewing
experience comes from working as a costume designer; working with clay inspired shapes.
Aliza's products were included in this year's CCDI 2013 - Handmade Collection featured at Design Indaba 2013.
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Art on Paper IV: Andrezj Nowicki, Diane Victor and Andrew Lord
Andrezj Nowicki:
Nowicki creates strange and sometimes disturbing landscapes in which the past and the present appear to exist simultaneously by putting a new spin on comic book imagery. He claims to have been quite a solitary child who was always immersed in some tale of adventure – usually of a comic-book nature – and believes that his work is still heavily influenced by the images he consumed at that time.
Often the comic-books of his youth were in a language he was not able to read, but rather than becoming frustrated, Nowicki simply made up his own stories appropriate to the pictures – something that, to a large extent, he still does in his art practice today. Nowicki takes viewers on an artistic journey of exploration into the fantastical spaces of memory and imagination. Characteristic bluesy compositions feature singular figures in strange, indeterminate places and reveal open-ended narratives containing multiple interpretations; each one dependent on individual viewer experience.
Diane Victor:
Diane Victor is an artist of uncompromising directness but with a strange quietness in her nature who tackles pressing issues - personal and social violence to racial anxiety, corruption, gender inequality, economic exploitation and social commentary - in the new contemporary South African landscape post-apartheid.
Victor is known for her provocative images which tends to get interpreted in the wrong way or evoke anger in the viewer. But Victor states that she wants her works to entice people out of their comfort zones and make them think about the things that upset them.
Victor's images are densely layered with meaning and metaphor with ironic and satirical undertones. Looking beyond the intense emotive qualities of Victor's work, what remains a constant is the capacity of her style. Whether rendering her subjects in charcoal, or undertaking conceptually challenging embossings, Victor shows an accomplished skill and a meticulous sense for detail. She researches her ideas thoroughly and is able to communicate and express the emotional value of her works.
Andrew Lord:
A Cape Town-based artist, Lord's work deals primarily with subjects concerning evolution, taxonomy and empiricism. New knowledge increasingly places humans further and further from the centre stage. Using a variety of media, he explores the ways in which we deal with our demotion from starring role to bit player.
Nowicki creates strange and sometimes disturbing landscapes in which the past and the present appear to exist simultaneously by putting a new spin on comic book imagery. He claims to have been quite a solitary child who was always immersed in some tale of adventure – usually of a comic-book nature – and believes that his work is still heavily influenced by the images he consumed at that time.
Often the comic-books of his youth were in a language he was not able to read, but rather than becoming frustrated, Nowicki simply made up his own stories appropriate to the pictures – something that, to a large extent, he still does in his art practice today. Nowicki takes viewers on an artistic journey of exploration into the fantastical spaces of memory and imagination. Characteristic bluesy compositions feature singular figures in strange, indeterminate places and reveal open-ended narratives containing multiple interpretations; each one dependent on individual viewer experience.
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| Blue Snake Woman, Print by Andrezj Nowicki |
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| The Beams, Print by Andrezj Nowicki |
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| Converging the Quiet, Print by Andrezj Nowicki |
Diane Victor:
Diane Victor is an artist of uncompromising directness but with a strange quietness in her nature who tackles pressing issues - personal and social violence to racial anxiety, corruption, gender inequality, economic exploitation and social commentary - in the new contemporary South African landscape post-apartheid.
Victor is known for her provocative images which tends to get interpreted in the wrong way or evoke anger in the viewer. But Victor states that she wants her works to entice people out of their comfort zones and make them think about the things that upset them.
Victor's images are densely layered with meaning and metaphor with ironic and satirical undertones. Looking beyond the intense emotive qualities of Victor's work, what remains a constant is the capacity of her style. Whether rendering her subjects in charcoal, or undertaking conceptually challenging embossings, Victor shows an accomplished skill and a meticulous sense for detail. She researches her ideas thoroughly and is able to communicate and express the emotional value of her works.
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| Safe as Horses, Print by Diane Victor |
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| Miss September, Print by Diane Victor |
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| The Lion Who Loved the Lady, Print by Diane Victor |
A Cape Town-based artist, Lord's work deals primarily with subjects concerning evolution, taxonomy and empiricism. New knowledge increasingly places humans further and further from the centre stage. Using a variety of media, he explores the ways in which we deal with our demotion from starring role to bit player.
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| Haemoglobin I, Rust on paper by Andrew Lord |
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| Africa Reinvented (Large, top, Medium, bottom) by Keri Muller |
Sam Nhlengethwa:
Once seen as one of South Africa’s leading resistance artists, Nhlengethwa has grown from this and adjusted the style and content of his works to explore other themes such as music, specifically jazz and the mechanics of everyday living. He works with found printed images from posters and magazines, including his recollections of township life in his imagery.
In his prints and paintings Sam Nhlengethwa uses overlays of techniques such as collage painting, drawing and photography. His fine sense of colour and form lend an abstract quality to his work.
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| Let's Go II by Sam Nhlengethwa |
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| Let's Go I by Sam Nhlengethwa |
Conrad Botes:
Conrad Botes was born in 1969 in the Western Cape. Part of his childhood was spent living in a Department of Water Affairs prefab house on the edge of the Theewaters Dam. His father was a teacher at the local school. Listening to Conrad Botes tell stories of the characters that peopled his childhood world one can see how he has been able to develop his eye for targeting the soft underbelly of Afrikaanerdom and by extension South African culture. It does not take much to imagine Botes out on Commando during the Boer War and it is this dichotomy between who he physically is and his mental space that makes his work so powerful.
Botes says, "The paintings I make are much more personal. I can explain them if I have to - but I'd much rather not. It is difficult to explain something that you are meant to feel. People can formulate their own ideas about the work, the viewers reaction is more important than my own explanation".
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| Masters Voice by Conrad Botes |
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| Haunted by Conrad Botes |
Claire Gavronsky:
Gavronsky addresses topics such as racism, memory, violence against woman and children and economic injustice in her artworks. Considering these themes she bridges the past and present. Gavronsky enjoys the contradictory nature that is inherent in overlaid images. “The fact that there are clear lines, but that they cannot easily be read; lines, saying something, yet inaudible – too many people speaking at once – unless you trace a single outline before it slips into an interchange of place or limb. This is a complex narrative that defies linearity, although made of line and one that refutes hierarchy.” (Gavronsky 2006)
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| Evolutionary Choice by Claire Gavronsky |
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| Run with the Hare and Hunt with the Hound by Claire Gavronsky |
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