ART: Julia Teale
Local artists and art cognoscenti anxiously awaited the opening of the Hanel Gallery in Cape Town about a month ago. The promise of having the risky, edgy, ex-Fig curator Robert Weinek combining his talents with the international profile and financial clout of the owners and directors of the H’nel Gallery was heady stuff for a town desperate to shed its reputation for narrow-minded provincialism.
Artists also hoped that the H’nel would spearhead an initiative for local gallerists to invest in local talent, staunching their flow northwards and abroad. The invitation of the 3X10 exhibition promised a mix of South African cutting-edge talent alongside big names from abroad, like Robert Rauschenberg and Jorg Immendorff. (Showcasing the Hanel’s existing stable along with new talent meant dividing a huge exhibition into three separate shows, each featuring ten artists’ hence the 3X10.)
It may be because so much has been expected for the Hanel that the first two segments of the exhibition have been a bit of a let-down. It is perhaps the contributions from abroad that have been most disappointing, both in terms of the quality of the work and the stunningly arrogant price-tags attached to them.
But the Hanel still promises to do some very exciting things despite what may essentially be teething problems.
The extremely small space the Hanel occupies is enough to defeat the best attempts to curate diverse group exhibitions, but it could be the perfect forum for the solo and joint exhibitions that Weinek has on the cards.
All-in-all the Hanel is going to continue to hold one in a state of expectation ‘ the 3X10 shows may not be that successful in themselves ‘ but they do show that this gallery is certainly set to do things differently in Cape Town,