/ 1 December 2011

Cape art pick: December 2 2011

What sets Cameron Platter's work apart is his distinct aesthetic, non-conformist approach and wonderful humour.

Satirical depictions of the “failed” African state are de rigueur these days with everyone from ­artists Kudzanai Chiurai and Anton ­Kannemeyer to Motswako ­hip-hop MC HHP and Nando’s filling our mediascape with so-called Chic Afrique spectacles of ­decadence, ­violence and corruption.

At first glance Cameron Platter’s new ­exhibition of drawings, titled ­Fucking Hell, seems to conform to the trend with a press release ­promising everything from “Chicken Licken” and “military history” to “CNN, Isandlwana, the Arab Spring, ­gospel singers, ATMs, Wolf Blitzer and political sloganeering”. What sets Platter’s work apart, however, is his distinct aesthetic, non-conformist approach and wonderful humour.

Whatiftheworld, 1 Argyle Street, Woodstock, until January 28. Tel: 021 802 3111. Website: www.­whatiftheworld.com.