Two exhibitions bring together some of the biggest names in contemporary SA art this week.
In the competitive, tempestuous art world, where noncommercial, alternative and artist-run spaces tend to exist fleetingly, here tonight, bankrupt tomorrow, the AVA is an anomaly.
Growing out of the former Western Cape region of the South African Association of Arts, founded in 1945, the AVA has operated from its premises since 1970. In part it’s achieved this by growing as an institute, a power base established in one of the foremost venues in the city. So how to do justice to this legacy? Curator Marilyn Martin provides one answer by focusing on the years 1970 to 1990, a time of both political turmoil and unprecedented artistic energy. What emerges is a surprisingly diverse exhibition that celebrates the gallery’s role in nurturing new talent.
Highlights include early works by now-established names such as Tyrone Appollis, Peter Clarke, Paul du Toit, Garth Erasmus, Louis Jansen van Vuuren, William Kentridge, Erik Laubscher, Hylton Nel, Malcolm Payne, Cecil and Pippa Skotnes, Sue Williamson, Manfred Zylla and more.
AVA Gallery, 35 Church Street, Cape Town. Until November 11. Tel: 021 424 7436. Website: www.ava.co.za.
? “The work starts with the pleasure of putting pieces of paper together and turning them from pieces of paper into a woman — or taking lines that meander around a piece of plastic and turning them into a horse,” says William Kentridge. “That’s the starting point. That’s the pleasure and that’s the need; that’s the impulse.”
A similar impulse informs the exhibition, Art on Paper. A survey of paper-based works by more than 50 artists spread across two gallery spaces, the show highlights paper’s potential for reinvention and innovation.
Expect to see drawings, paintings, photography and even some sculpture by a cast including Kentridge, Beezy Bailey, Cecil Skotnes, Colbert Mashile, David Koloane, Diane Victor, Conrad Botes, Nat Mokgosi, Judith Mason, Penny Siopis, Peter Clark, Willem Boshoff and Dumisani Mabaso.
Kalk Bay Modern, first floor, Olympia Buildings, 136 Main Road, Kalk Bay, and Casia Labia, 192 Main Road, Muizenberg, Cape Town. Until November 26. Tel: 021 788 6571. Website: http://kalkbaymodern.com