THEMBINKOSI GONIWE

Thembinkosi Goniwe
By Sue Williamson

'Ritual', the body of work currently being presented by Thembinkosi Goniwe at the AVA bears all the marks of work prepared for a Masters Degree at the Michaelis School of Fine Art. First of all, there is the subject matter, in which the student generally attacks an aspect of the construction of identity or gender or discrimination, a subject which will always require a number of historical and cultural references. One pictures the student hard at work in the university library researching the subject. Then, there is the student's progress through his or her chosen subject - the earlier work often seeming strained as the student grapples to make the necessary point and get going. In this phase, one can often detect signs of too-direct influences absorbed from lecturers. Then sometimes, as is evident in Goniwe's presentation, near the end there is a breakthrough, light at the end of the tunnel. The student shakes free of the restrictive earlier work and makes it clear that an artist is indeed emerging.

Goniwe's subject is Ulwaluko, the Xhosa male initiation rite in South Africa, in which a youth must be ritually circumscribed and instructed in the ways of manhood in order to be received and perceived as a man. It is a ceremony which, deeply as it is inscribed in the culture, is increasingly being questioned by those who must undergo it. As this is being written, Goniwe is in Philadelphia, preparing to deliver a paper on December 4 on the subject at a conference entitled Art in Service of Constructing Masculinity: Male Initiation in Africa. Part of Goniwe's presentation will be a video in which the artist reenacts the ritual of having the foreskin cut away from the penis, and strong will be the stomachs of the American audience if viewers do not wish to run from their seats rather than witness this moment. The video continues to show the initiate, smeared in the traditional white clay, stretching out his hands to shield his face, gazing in a small mirror, hestitantly undergoing the self doubts and fears which attend this period. It is a powerful re-enactment. Goniwe's video is not on exhibition at the AVA. Instead, blow ups of video stills impressively fill one wall in a strong display which I have little doubt will find its way on to one international exhibition or another within the next year.

On another wall at the AVA are a series of blowups of mock magazine covers, in which the initiate plays cover boy. While these seem to draw too heavily on another African artist, Ike¢ Ude¢'s Cover Girl 1994-5 series, they are nonetheless attractive pieces, well in the contemporary art mode.

Goniwe has undergone his artistic Ulwaluko. So far, so good. It will be interesting to see how he develops.

The show closes November 27

AVA, 35 Church Street
Ph: (021) 424-4348
Fax: (021) 423-2037
E-mail: avaart@iafrica.com
Website: http://www.ava.co.za)
Gallery hours: Mon - Fri, 10am - 5pm, Sat 10am - 12pm

WILLIAM KENTRIDGE

William Kentridge

Né en 1955 à Johhanesburg, Afrique du Sud 

Vit et travaille à Johannesburg 

Figure tutélaire de la scène artistique sud-africaine, jouissant d'une reconnaissance internationale. Ses dessins charbonneux l'ont rendu célèbre, il les décline en film d'animation ou en collaboration avec le théâtre. Artiste multimédia, il chronique de manière abstraite la violence d'un pays en mutation. 

JLE 

William Kentridge a suivi des études de sciences politiques avant de se tourner vers l'art. Il a appris la gravure, le mime et le théâtre, mais c'est surtout avec ses films d'animation qu'il a acquis une renommée internationale. Son travail combine le savoir-faire d'un artiste qui est aussi acteur, metteur en scène, scénographe et réalisateur. Toutefois Kentridge se définit avant tout comme dessinateur. 

Les possibilités du dessin, il les a découvertes en observant le travail de Feni Dumile (né vers 1939 - 1991), qu'il rencontre alors qu'il est adolescent dans les ateliers de Bill Ainslie. 

Kentridge a élaboré une technique bien particulière. Il dessine toutes les scènes, les filme, puis les efface et répète ce processus jusqu'à l'issue du récit. Chaque dessin porte la trace de ce qui a été, donnant à l'image une qualité brute qui n'est pas sans lien avec l'histoire sud-africaine. C'est le cas de Ubu Tells the Truth (1997), avec son enchaînement d'images brusques et saccadées sur une bande sonore vive et dramatique. Kentridge côtoie le personnage d'Alfred Jarry dès 1975 au théâtre. Il le reprend en 1996 avec Deborah Bell et Robert Hodgins, puis avec la Handspring Puppet Company en 1997, au moment où s'ouvre la commission "Vérité et Réconciliation". 

Comme dans beaucoup de ses travaux, cette vidéo porte un message politique mais sa position n'est pas définie. Le drame sud-africain, la brutalité et le chaos sont mis en scène dela même manière que l'exercice de réconciliation a mêlé aveux, pardons et rancunes. 

Source : Africa Remix - Ed. Centre Georges Pompidou & TV5

WIM BOTHA - 'Transmigrations'

by Sean O'Toole

Wim Botha grew up in a drowsy suburban neighbourhood on the eastern reaches of Pretoria. This fact might not necessarily be apparent the first time you view his work, but it is relevant. His work is rooted in the officious pretensions of the nation's administrative capital, and draws extensively from popular iconography closely associated with the city. Seemingly boring stuff like trophy mounts and government texts, bibles and religious icons have all at some time or another been the form and/or content of his visually arresting output.

Using the familiar, the everyday, the iconic, Wim Botha has succeeded in creating works characterised by their delicate blending of inter-acting themes. Take for instance his Wild Life series of sculptural installations. A relatively early piece from his career, Wim Botha used official government gazettes as source material for a carved bust of a Blue Wildebeest. As in much of the work that followed, the carved text of this piece became the physical substance of the work, the collective text informing both the representation of the work, as well as providing the work with its social context.

"My works are a process of distillations," the artist explains. "They attempt to reduce all-encompassing ideas and universal factors down to their core idea." Exploring along the way "intercepting variables" and "patterns", his work also offers viewers a curious glance at "the things people do, need, construct to make sense of things," be they grandiose and religious, or decorative and facile in a not so innocent fashion. (More...)

Sold! Goodman Gallery changes hands

by Michael Smith
In a momentous event long gossiped about within the SA art world, the Goodman Gallery has been bought from scene doyenne, Linda Givon by purchaser is Liza Essers. Essers is an art adviser, dealer and curator.

Givon established the Goodman Gallery 42 years ago, and since then has nurtured the top artistic talents of numerous generations of SA art. Her roster has included Lisa Brice, Kendell Geers, Robert Hodgins, William Kentridge, David Koloane, Sam Nhlengetwa, Tracey Rose and Penny Siopis, to name but a few. Givon's gallery has long been synonymous with strong shows, quality work and a high degree of professionalism. Givon expanded her brand in 2007, opening Goodman Gallery Cape in Wodstock, Cape Town. This gallery is currently managed by the curatorial team of Emma Bedford and Storm Janse van Rensburg.

Essers began a career in finance, but subsequently studied art in Florence and in 2003 moved over to a career as an independent art adviser. She lists several local and international private and corporate art collectors among her clients in this regard.

Essers has also curated numerous shows, such as 2003's 'Integrating Cultures' at Bell-Roberts in Cape Town, and 2007's 'Shift', which showed at the Gallery on Cork Street in London. She has even turned her hand to film, as a co-executive producer on the 2005 Gavin Hood-directed hit 'Tsotsi'.

Essers has traveled with Givon to Art 39 Basel in Switzerland, at which the Goodman Gallery is the only South African gallery to have representation. At this event, Givon is expected to introduce Essers to major directors, curators, gallerists, dealers and collectors. This will help to ensure what the gallery has called 'a smooth transition during this change in leadership'.

WILLIE BESTER

Willie Bester

The rise of Willie Bester from unknown artist holding a first exhibition (1988) to one internationally in demand a few years later has been meteoric.

Modus operandi:

Bester paints, often on extremely rough surfaces like sacking or crushed tins, and makes large assemblages, cutting and welding together found materials from the junkshop and the street, and incorporating objects of all kinds in order to make layered comments on aspects of South African history. The titles of some of his pieces reveal his concerns: Apartheid Laboratory, Ox Wagon, Death Machine

Artist's statement:

"What I try to get behind is why it is so difficult for people to change from their old ways. It hasn't worked out the way I imagined. People who thought they were superior before haven't really changed. I try to find out through studying history what gives people the right to think that way. I try to find a solution, not to be disappointed, to reach an understanding. The Truth Commission seemed to be one of the answers, but now I find that even the Truth Commission is a trap. It has done more damage than good, because the ANC was favoured over the Afrikaners. I want to do a series about it."

Currently:

At a recent auction at Sotheby's in London of contemporary African art from the Pigozzi collection, Bester's painting Semikazi (1993) reached the astonishing figure of almost R110,000 - more than twice the pre-sale estimate. Jean Piggozzi is one of the major collectors of Bester's work. In Europe, Bester's piece Death Machine can be seen on the exhibition [[Rewind. Fast Forward. ZA]], at the Van Reekum Museum of Art in Apeldoorn, Holland. In Washington, he is on the exhibition at the National Museum for African Art, "Claiming art/Reclaiming Space: Post-Apartheid Art from South Africa".

(read more in Artthrob.....)