Cape art picks: January 6 2012

Photographer Nontsikelelo Veleko’s haunted holiday snapshots of the Canary Islands set the tone for the Goodman’s Summer Show.

On the surface it’s a breezy, celebratory selection of work that explores the boundaries between fantasy and so-called reality.

But behind the bright colours and bold lines, the sunrises and sunsets, lies a more ­productive inquiry into the structures that create and sustain these illusions. Themes of voyeurism, desire and artifice abound in Minnette Vari’s uncanny brush-and-ink drawings and Kendell Geers’ explict La Sainte Vierge. Siemon Allen’s Records series, Jodi Bieber’s vibrant Soweto series and Sam Nhlengethwa’s fashionable mixed-media works all engage culture and representation. But, it’s the new generation of young photographers that steals the show. Veleko, Mikhael Subotzky and Kudzanai Chiurai all present glossy hyper-real works that speak to our decidedly unreal ­realities.

Goodman Gallery Cape, 3rd Floor Fairweather House, 176 Sir Lowry Road, Woodstock, until January 14. Tel: 021 462 7573/4. Website: goodman-gallery.com.

■ A group exhibition featuring a selection of editions and works on paper, titled Imprint, explores printmaking as both a medium and a message. The first thing that strikes the viewer on entering the gallery is the unusual arrangement of the art; stacked from floor to ceiling, it contrasts the careful spatial arrangements that characterise contemporary group exhibitions. The show mimics the style of 19th-century salon hangings to draw attention to the collaborative nature of printmaking. Works by Diane Victor, William Kentridge, David Koloane, Robert Hodgins, Deborah Bell and Marlene Dumas jostle for attention alongside those by younger talents, such as Maja Maljevic, Jose Ferreira, Stephen Hobbs, Mary Wafer and Andrzej Nowicki.
>>David Krut Projects Cape Town, Montebello Design Centre, 31 Newlands Avenue, Newlands, until January 28. Tel: 021 685 0676. Website: davidkrutprojectscapetown.com.