Illustrator and fine artist Andrew Sutherland grew up between the UK and Cape Town, studying Fine Art at The Ruth Prowse School of Art in Woodstock. After graduating in 2004 he became an abstract artist’s assistant and later began working as a full-time painter.

It was by participating in contemporary exhibitions at Salon91 along with illustrators and designers that he became more interested in illustration and creating work with street art undertones. Local artists he found greatly stimulating were Senyol, Linsey Levendall and Katrin Coetzer.

In 2011 Andrew moved to the UK once again and began to focus more on illustration and design. This in turn influenced his fine art work. Andrew’s paintings are not limited to one medium, he uses acrylic paints, charcoal, ink, spray paint, old paper and whatever he can find, arranged scientifically on the canvas/paper/wood or wall.

His collages are the result of years of collecting old photos, postcards and paper for their textures which he scans and arranges digitally. Andrew is inspired by travel to try new techniques and has spent some time in Asia. He says, “After moving to Taiwan 5 months ago I began trying out watercolours and all sorts of other lark.” Whilst there he found the brush pen, a pressure sensitive pen which acts exactly like a paintbrush. He also uses fineliner for detailed line work and flowing contours.

Most recently Andrew worked with local fashion brand Urban° on their Artist in Residence Winter range. Take a look at the outcome here.

As for his plans for the remainder of 2013 and beyond, he says, “I plan to travel for the next year or so and then return to the beautiful city of Cape Town where I wish continue life as lazy artist.”

See more of Andrew’s illustration at andrewsutherland.me and artwork at cargocollective.com/andrewsutherland.

Artwork for the Urban° Winter Range

Artwork for the Urban° Winter Range

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The Postcard Revival wants to show off great cities. Great cities like Jo’burg. We see postcards as travelling art exhibitions – a way to take artists’ impressions of textured and interesting cities from behind gallery walls and out into the world. We like how postcards can do that, how they can be passed from hand to hand, posted all around the world and kept, generally for longer than a Facebook update.

14 of Joburg’s most creative residents have each contributed an original artwork to The Postcard Revival Project, depicting in a single image what makes this city unique for them. Each artwork has then been made into a limited edition postcard series.

A one night only exhibition will be held in the beautiful Barbican Building, aptly overlooking the old Rissik Street post office, on the evening of the 16 May 2013. Both the original artworks and the postcards will be on display and for sale on the night. If you’d like to attend, you must RSVP here.

You can read more about the creatives involved in the project here.

Here’s a short teaser video for the project made by Lebogang Resethaba and Jacqueline Landey featuring the artwork of Nicola Taylor with music by Julian Redpath, all contributing creatives.

www.postcardrevival.com

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The group exhibition, Tom Waits for No Man, opens this Wednesday at the University of Johannesburg. It is curated by senior lecturer in the Visual Art Department at UJ and renowned artist, Gordon Froud.

On the figure in the title of the show, Fround says:

American singer, songwriter, composer and actor, Thomas Alan Waits (1949 – ), has been a major inspiration to artists, musicians, poets, writers and thinkers for almost 40 years. He is considered as one of the godfathers of grunge and poetic rock and is a master of contemporary narrative – able to weave emotion and intrigue into his stories of urban grit and rural abandonment. His sometimes jaundiced view of the underbelly of society serves as a rich source of visual imagery.

 

The show comprises around 90 works by different participating artists who were each invited to respond to a song, lyric, or section of lyrics of their choice by the legendary singer/song-writer.

Each work on the show is based on a roughly LP sized circular format (30cm in diameter). This was the only constraint, with medium and subject left open to the artist’s choice.

This exhibition launched at the ABSA KKNK in April this year, and follows on from the  2011 Leonard Cohen Altarpiece exhibition called Altered Pieces. 

Helena Hugo

Steven Bosch

Opening Details:

Date: Wednesday 8 May 2013  (runs until 29 May)

Time: 6:30 pm

Place: University of Johannesburg Art Gallery, Crn Kingsway and University Rd, Auckland Park, Johannesburg.

Lecture and Walkabout by Artist: Saturday 11 May at 10:30 am & Wednesday 22 May at 10:30 am

Event Facebook page.

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William Kentridge, Universal Archive (Big Tree)

The group exhibition, The Benediction of Shade, opens at David Krut Projects in Cape Town this Saturday. The show features a large selection of artists who have engaged with the figure, idea or metaphor of the forest or the tree in different ways and through various media.

Artists include Ryan Arenson, Beth Armstrong, Lynda Ballen, Emalie Bingham, Stuart Cairns, Vanessa Cowling, Faith47, Justin Fox, Mischa Fritsch, Stephen Hobbs, William Kentridge, Francois Krige, Carla Liesching, Dillon Marsh, Joshua Miles, Andrzej Nowicki, Dan Perrone, J. H. Pierneef, Gregor Rohrig, Sean Slemon, Sydelle Willow Smith, Subtle Agency, Lyn Smuts, Gary Stephens, Chris Swift and Alastair Whitton.

About the exhibition:

The methodology of the exhibition is iconic, as opposed to thematic – a curatorial approach that allows for the unpicking and unfolding of the complex connotative potential of a broad and universal signifier. Historically, the forest is a meaningful symbol in many cultures and is currently contentious as a metaphor for sustainable resources, of which generations’ worth of reckless handling threatens our survival as a global community. However, beyond the myriad cultural, historical, social and political readings that can be exposed by this approach, the forest as a receptacle of human creativity and imagination reveals itself as especially significant, in this time of globalisation, when notions of firm and fixed identities become increasingly unstable. 

The exhibition is presented as a dense and overgrown forest of imaginative engagements – an approach that is particularly compelling at a time when the forest, as a source of wonder and meaning as well as political contention disappears daily from the earth. This transformed imaginative potential that the forest represents becomes increasingly important as we acknowledge the need to discover more cultivating synergetic means.

In an effort to harness the positive social activism geared towards greening and sustainable living, David Krut Projects has collaborated with Greenpop. At the exhibition visitors can sign up to either ‘gift’ a tree to one of Greenpop’s planting projects or to help out themselves. R100 will also be added to the value of each artwork, entitling the buyer to a tree for which they will receive a certificate with GPS co-ordinate details.

Opening Details:

Date: Saturday 11 May 2013 (runs till 31 August)

Time: 11am

Place: David Krut Projects Cape Town, Montebello Design Centre, 31 Newlands Avenue, Newlands

Performance by ||Hui !Gaeb di Khoen (Cape Town’s People) featuring !Hunib !Gû-Kheosab (Bradlox Vans) on vocals and !Nomab Boesman (Colin Meyer) on mouth bow

Facebook event page

Find more info here.

davidkrutprojects.com

Joshua Miles, ‘Off Centre’

Carla Liesching, ‘Camoflauge’

Vanessa Cowling, ‘Broken Beautiful’

Dan Perrone, ‘Warm Static’

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Visual artist Hugh Byrne lives and works in Cape Town where he finds himself drawn to the city’s lines, form and structure. Although currently focussing on paintings largely influenced by architecture and space, Hugh’s previous work includes film, sculpture and photography. He completed an honours degree in Fine Arts from the University of Pretoria and only recently returned to South Africa two years ago after extensive travels.

Inspired by the city, Hugh says, “It has a way of combining unrelated objects together to create scenes, which are only there for a brief moment. For example, a shadow falling across a moving bus or the reflection of telephone lines in an office block window.” His subjects are these lines and shapes of buildings, shadows, roads and other geometric structures within the city which he has simplified to the extreme, abstracted and painted in vivid colours to create something new.

He says, “Although there is a system in the way I end up with the geometric forms that I have used in my paintings, I still like to hear that the viewer was able to see or relate to the shapes in a different way to what I had intended. I like to think my work encourages people to look at things in different way.”

Hugh uses household paints and resins to create the artworks, layering each material to give his final pieces a sculptural feel. He paints almost everything with a size10 paint brush and considers the process of painting to be important to the overall concept. The colours he chooses he feels have relevant meaning in his life, and perhaps relate to subconscious emotional memories.

Hugh has shown his work internationally as well as here at home, currently showing at Youngblood in Cape Town. See more from him at www.hughbyrne.co.za.

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Maria Fidel Regueros is the curator and part owner of ROOM, a small, but significant exhibition space in Braamfontein, Johannesburg. Maria kindly took the time to tell us a little about what sets ROOM apart from other exhibition spaces, as well as what her day job, curating the space, entails.

Please tell us what your official (or unofficial) job title is:

Co-founder & Curator of ROOM. I would like to point out here that Andrew Wessels an award winning TV/Film Director & Editor is the other half of ROOM’s vision and success.

Our unofficial titles are everything in between…

What and where did you study?

My postgrad degree is in Heritage Studies: Presentation and Representation of History with a focus on Museums at Wits University.

What characteristics and skills does it take to do what you do?

In terms of characteristics I would say that stubbornness, patience, being open-minded and inquisitive are fundamental characteristics, in terms of skills…well that takes time and you find yourself becoming a smith of sorts, lawyer, doctor, writer etc and everything in between…but most important is the skill of improvisation.

What do you love most about being a curator?

The interaction with artists is the most fulfilling part as well as finding ways and means of changing the cycle of presentation of artworks slightly.

How did Room come into being?

ROOM began as an idea 8 years ago, while I was in Cape Town and talking to Jonathan Garnham (Blank Projects) about the idea of more independent platforms for visual, plastic and public art. Thereafter I left the city and became involved with other projects in Johannesburg, and it was only in 2011 that we (the ROOM team) were in a position to start something, perhaps a bit late but better than not at all.

Can you tell us how Room differs from a conventional gallery:

I guess the most obvious difference is the fact that ROOM in its programming not only provides a platform to showcase emerging artists but also has components that are more discursive in nature, i.e. its informal platforms under the auspices of the CARPET SERIES and THE ARTIST WALKABOUTS. Also we are showcasing the work of not only “artists” per se but urbanists, architects, designers. Galleries too tend to represent artists whereas ROOM does not really and supports the independence of artists. I guess another difference may be that ROOM also showcases project based exhibitions.

Room is described as a project space, with a focus on increasing awareness around creative production. Can you please elaborate on this a little: 

As I have mentioned, ROOM is also a discursive platform as well as a platform that focuses beyond the strict scope of the plastic and visual arts. What is important for ROOM and its programming is the presentation of artistic endeavour that looks at the overlaps in fields.

When working with different artists on projects for Room, what is your role and how do you approach each project?

Each project presented at ROOM is distinctly different from the other and requires each one of us to be as adaptive as possible. What is very important is that the artist feels in control of the presentation and knows that the ROOM team is there to support the integrity of the work by the way the exhibition is curated.

What did you want to be when you were growing up?

A librarian and a fashion designer …I liked filling out pieces of paper and pretending I was cataloguing things. And then when I was a teenager I was really fascinated by a family friend who was a fashion designer and so I wanted to be like her…I even presented her with illustrations of designs I had come up with…

Do you have any advice to those who might consider a career in curating?

DO IT!!!!!!! It is super stimulating but also requires a lot of patience and interpersonal skills, be prepared to be everything under the sun and more. Also know that it is not a money making profession.

What piece of art is currently at the top of your wish list?

I don’t have a favourite all the names below should be seen as being one top wish list : Ernest Mancoba, Johannes Phokela,  Henry Moore, Wim Botha, Michael McGarry, Nicholas Hlobo, Nadine Hutton,  Cheri Samba, Samuel Fosso, Willem Boshoff, Yinka Shonibare, Karl Gietl, Santu Mofokeng, Gellel Gasteli, El Anatsui…and the list goes on and on and on…

GOLD by Jana&Koos and Adele Prins

GOLD by Jana&Koos and Adele Prins

Kudzanai Chiurai

SUBJECT TO CHANGE by Mandy Johnston

I, JOBURG by Nadine Hutton

UNDERDOG by Niall Bingham

CONCENTRE CuZN by University of Pretoria Students and Guy Du Toit

BARE YOUR BONES by Mariette Bergh

Find out more about ROOM here, or visit the space at #3, 70 Juta Precinct, Juta Street, Braamfontein.

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A solo show by interdisciplinary artist Greg Streak opens at Commune.1 this week. Greg works in sculpture, video, installation and documentary filmmaking. ‘Seeing red, feeling blue’ will be his first solo exhibition with the gallery and his first back in South Africa since his critically acclaimed exhibition ‘Nothing Lasts Forever’ shown at Art Amsterdam and at the Soledad Senlle Gallery in 2010.

About the exhibition:

Streak’s sculptures present the illusion of possibility and hope, however through various interventions they proceed to pull the rug from under the viewer’s feet dispelling all former optimism. Inherently functional objects have their functionality removed: a cast concrete light bulb incapable of shedding light, a core-drilled set of Encyclopedia’s with it’s ‘core’ unusable, the removed parts suspended in an acrylic vial on the other side of the gallery, and a traditional library-style index card drawer cast in bronze and thereby rendered impenetrable.

The ‘doodle’ thematic (and it’s sense of futility or lack of operation) runs throughout and ultimately manifests in several actual doodles, one being three-dimensional and constructed from 400 continuous metres of 4mm wire, powder coated to a royal ‘ballpoint’ blue and the other a colossal dense ballpoint drawing that appears as a solid block of colour. The latter artwork is a scale accurate homage to Barnett Newman’s 1951 painting, Cathedra.

About the artist:

Streak embarked on a residency at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam for two years (1997-98) after which he completed his Fine Art (MFA) with distinction at the Natal Technikon in Durban. In 2007 he was awarded an Ampersand fellowship in New York. He is the founder member and coordinator of PULSE – an artists run initiative linked to the RAIN Artists’ Initiatives Network. Under the umbrella of PULSE, he has organised numerous international projects including the critically acclaimed Hiv(e) project in 2004. Streak has exhibited extensively both internationally and locally and his work is held in numerous private and public collections. Streak lives and works in Durban, South Africa and Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Find out more at www.commune1.com/exhibitions and www.gregstreak.com.

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Adrie Le Roux is an artist and illustrator who uses combined techniques to create her charming collages, paintings and illustrations. Originally from Stellenbosch, Adrie completed a degree in Fine Arts at the University of Pretoria in 2006 where she lives and works now as a freelancer and as a lecturer at Vega. Last year was spent back in Stellenbosch where Adrie added to her studies with a Mphil in Visual Arts (Illustration) at Stellenbosch University. She has exhibited her work in a number of group shows both in Pretoria and Cape Town at Salon91.

She let us know the process and focus behind her work, “My collage work is characterized by subtle, abstract compositions, which combine ink work, pencil drawing, painting and collage techniques. My subject matter tends to be the hidden, often humorous sides of everyday situations. Things are never what they seem, and I try to expose the underside of that.

My more illustrative works also deal a lot with everyday experiences and emotion. I try to represent them in a compassionate, yet, in a fun way (often slightly sarcastic), paying attention to texture and color to express emotion. I find a lot of the time the artworks seem to complete themselves. I don’t always know which direction they will take me in, but the creative process seems to sort itself out.”

You can find more of Adrie’s work at www.adrieleroux.co.za and regularly updated illustrations and sketches at www.shedrawsstuff.com.

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Parliament – the group art show – opens tonight just down the road from, erm, Parliament. The exhibition takes place at Roeland St Studios and will feature new work from an exiting line-up of (mostly) Cape Town’s young artists.

They are:

David Brits
Olivié Keck
Mia Chaplin
Michael Tymbios
Chris van Eeden
Connor Cullinan
Hannah Lewis
Herman de Klerk
Alex Kawiak

Join them for a free glass of wine.

Parking on Roeland St, entrance through the Bookery on Roeland. The show will be open for one night and then by appointment until Thursday 25 April. Find more info on the Facebook event page.

Poster by Betterwork (Michael Tymbios)

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Craig McCartney and Doug Henderson are two South Africans living in London and making art as Mr Four Fingers. The dark undertones in their art are inspired by the grit and grime of the London streets and their obsession with what lies beneath, the unseen but only ever imagined.

Both originally from Johannesburg, Doug and Craig – like many a young South Africans – moved to the UK after high school. Doug went to Scotland and Craig to London, before ending up sharing a home in west London for a couple of years and then moving on to Camden. By then the recession was in full swing and both were unable to find work in their creative fields – Doug as an illustrator/graphic designer and Craig as a copywriter. Out of their situation, Mr Four Fingers was born as a young, illustrated T-shirt line.

Their venture took off and now Mr Four Fingers produces orinigal artwork, art prints, T-shirts and jewellery, all available through their online shop. Doug is the artist and illustrator behind all of the work and Craig runs the websites, is responsible for all their marketing and collaborates with Doug on creative ideas.

The two also regularly exhibit the Mr Four Fingers artwork, their most recent exhibition being What Lies Beneath. Take a look at the exhibition work here.

Craig and Doug’s obsession with skulls has also led them to launch the Skull Appreciation Society, a blog dedicated to skulls in a variety of forms.

Current and future plans include collaborating with fashion labels and bringing their work to SA.

Find them at www.mrfourfingers.com

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