'Twas a busy week last week. Plenty of shows on, plus I'm making progress on the Relaunch of ArtHeat (keep your eyes open for that in the coming month: Big Party in the works). This is keeping my brain in a mush-like state, hence the general round-up.

In news, James Webb won ABSA l'Atelier, although it has been almost impossible to find this out. Very quiet web presence. Congratulations to him, though. I liked the Auto-hagiography work. The Gerard Sekoto prize went to Retha Ferguson, and I cannot find the winning work on-line. Or again, much presence at all.

Maybe next year, South Africa will have grown some black artists.

Monday saw the opening of Scratching the Surface Vol 1, at the AVA. Independently curated shows make me happy, and the quality of the last two shows at AVA show this well, Baring by Eunice Geustyn was good (not reviewed here owing to aforementioned mush), and this one by Gabi Ngcobo and Mwenya Kabwe of manje-manje projects, was complex and interesting, and at times frustrating and bleak. Good ingredients. I'm writing a full review elsewhere, so I can't say too much more, so here is a review by Miles Keylock.

Tuesday featured Rowan Smith's Future Shock Lost at Whatiftheworld. Think Arcade Fire's Neighbourhood #2 (Laika), but less whiny. A must see show. Again, I can't say too much more at this stage: the downside of being a rock star.

I dropped by the Bell-Roberts to catch the tail-end of their inaugural show, Between Meaning and Matter. Being a mostly oooh-look-who-we-got-in-our-stable-show, the title was on spot: it didn't mean much nor matter much. There was some really delicate sculptures by Philippe Bousquet, nice and unmonumental, and a funny video by Fahamu Pecou. My only regret is that I appeared to have missed a video by Jaques Coetzer, whose work I enjoy.

Labels: ava, Bell-Roberts, Gabi Ngcobo, mwenya kabwe, rowan smith, south african art, What if the world

Wednesday night was one of those: twenty different openings but very little fun. Well three to be precise. We started at Bell-Roberts to get some of that fine fine Lourensford wine, which for some reason they've been stocking lately, and discovered some art inside. It turned out to be a series of paintings called Detached, by Mxolisi Dolla Sapeta, an artist from PE. It was kind of hard work, as I couldn't really squeeze out a theme, except some vague, tame urban issues (poor people, abused people). And also, even though the work had a bright graphic beauty, the painting itself was pretty shallow and clumsy. Maybe that's just what you get when you use acrylic. There was a good dose of bizarre humour, such as a man with a little dummy peepee, and a goat sucking a woman's breast, but it wasn't enough to keep me inside. I then had an argument with my girlfriend if the woman we had passed was Eris Silke, without realising she had come back outside and was standing behind me.


A quick run past Erdmann, but a long and boring speech was under construction, so onwards to blank, to see Gabi Ncgobo's Unwel’olude. Another show which left me a little conflicted. I liked the hair, which was used to form these very strong iconic images, a Pierneef (the centre piece), as well a bible, a gun, a bottle of Johnny Black and a penis. All which made niceish metaphors and questions(a hairy Pierneef? What does it mean to make a Pierneef out of black people's hair? Are we replacing the people in this picture bare of any humanity? A hairy revolver? What does this mean? etc). Until, on the third wall, there was three hairy ties, on glitter backgrounds. Qua? It stopped making sense, why those particular materials were being used. The hair is a good tactile material, but at what point does it become a signature style, bald of real significance.

Labels: Bell-Roberts, Blank, Gabi Ngcobo, Mxolisi Sapeta

Unwel'olude is artist and curator Gabi Ngcobo's second solo exhibition.

Unwelo'olude is a Zulu saying which translates literally as "may your hair grow longer".
The hair in the saying makes reference to life. The saying is articulated as a well-wisher to someone, usually on their birthday or when they have performed an outstanding deed. It means "long live" or "viva".

The exhibition features works made of Ngcobo's own hair as well as hair sourced from her friends and family. With this exhibition past, present and future become intertwined. The work is riddled by contradictions that reveal a sense of hope and confusion.

Opens: Wednesday 25 July 6PM
Closes: 3 August
blank projects
198 Buitengraght Street
Cape Town

Labels: Blank, Gabi Ngcobo, listings