Afronova

SOLO EXHIBITION BY MUSA NXUMALO

2010-08-26T16:14:57Z

Afronova, Friday 17 September, 18:00 to 20:00.

To be modern is to find ourselves in an environment that promises us adventure, power, joy, growth, transformation of ourselves and the world – and at the same time that threatens to destroy everything we have, everything we know, everything we are. Marshall Berman

I the first generation of the post Apartheid South Africa, I'm driven, confused and enthused by modernism. Musa Nxumalo

Afronova is pleased to launch its new gallery space in Braamfontein with a solo exhibition by young but already acclaimed photographer Musa Nxumalo.

Born in Soweto in 1986, Musa Nxumalo first came into the spotlight as the recipient of the fourth Edward Ruiz Award 2008 with his debut exhibition Alternative Kidz in 2009, produced under the auspices of the Market Photo Workshop and funded by AngloGold Ashanti. Portraying urban black youth who choose to identify with alternative culture, both culturally dissonant and individually liberating, his startling black and white photographs instantly captured the attention of local and international collectors and curators and features in important exhibitions in Belgium, Italy and the Netherlands.

Musa Nxumalo's new series of colour photographs was created on various occasions such as trips to and from regular hanging–out spots and visits to families outside Johannesburg. But in most cases…it is planned “gatherings” with friends as usual, a bit like a young contemporary Malick Sidibé in urban South Africa. His photography integrates documentary and fine art photography practices used to explore and reflect on both the society he grew up in and currently live in as well as on his identity and personal perspective as a young black man living in South Africa. Nxumalo's images research the identity of this generation that is living in this particular juncture in South Africa, by scrutinising and reflecting the flux of self-defined identities within cultural practices generally not associated with ‘township culture', such as jazz or kwaito, but instead with alternative practices such as rock music.

Exhibition runs until Saturday 16 October

AFRONOVA HAS MOVED TO NEW PREMISES

2010-03-26T11:05:11Z

- now

Musa Nxumalo

2009-12-21T07:25:39Z

Musa Nxumalo's exhibition documents urban black youth who choose to identify with alternative culture. In doing so, Nxumalo re-presents and repositions not only mainstream South African youth culture, but also the ability of alternative counter-culture to react against social stereotyping. In this context, alternative culture is both culturally dissonant and individually liberating. It demonstrates how counter-culture can function as a mode of complex self-fashioning.

First popularised in predominately western capitalist societies in the 1970s and 1980s, punk culture was characterised by a rejection of commercialism and political idealism. Today, however, alternative culture has largely been absorbed into mainstream society ; it is no longer largely associated with anarchism, radical politics, and a rejection of social values and norms. Nxumalo's exhibition raises questions over the nature of (intentioned) cultural divergence, and the status of contemporary subjectivities, particularly in relation to the emergence of new urban cultures and dynamics. Nxumalo says that he hopes this project will ‘encourage cultural exploration among young South Africans'.

A series of travels
solo exhibition by Karl Gietl

2009-08-26T13:44:55Z

A Series of travels is the title chosen by artist Karl Gietl for the collection of paintings related to the last year and a half he spent in the south of France. The paintings don't necessarily deal with the physical aspect of travel to specific locations, but more about people and environments. The works are about where 'travel/voyage' takes one, in the mind.

The works featured in the exhibition are about the people one meets in the bar at the end of the street in a foreign city, but one has no idea which city you are in. A series of Travels are about memories. The past, the present...

Opening at Afronova, Friday 23 October, 18:00 to 20:00 followed by The Artists Dinner at Gramadoelas. Exhibition runs until Saturday 21 November.

Godfried Donkor

2009-08-26T13:41:31Z

The series of boxers and the Madonnas form the basis of works in the exhibition 'The Olympians and muses', the first solo exhibition by Ghanaian-British artist Godfried Donkor in South Africa. The featured boxers series are life size paintings of 18th and 19th century pugilists whose sporting exploits and lifestyle inspired the folklore and mythology of their time and profession. These were some of the earliest heroes to capture the public's imagination. Sourced from archival illustrations and photos, the fighters are painted on a background of figures and text taken from the Financial Times newspaper. Donkor has always been fascinated by the sporting culture and mythology associated with this art form which can be found in all societies .

The Madonna series was inspired by the glamour and music culture during a residency in Trinidad and Tobago. Most of the models are local and are part of the ongoing religion of 'carnival'.

Godfried Donkor's collages fuse symbols of the eighteenth-century slave trade with images of contemporary Trinidadian glamour girls, set against a backdrop of pages from the Financial Times. Donkor, who was born in Ghana but now lives in London, juxtaposes these incongruous elements as a means of scrutinising themes of capitalism, globalisation and liberation. His luscious and alluring 'black madonnas' emerge, phoenix-like from below the decks of the lithographed slave ships, in a triumphantly brazen, carnival-like celebration of human endurance.

Johannesburg Art Fair
Group Show

2009-03-22T17:32:32Z

- before

101 Tokyo International Contemporary Art Fair
Solo exhibition by Billie Zangewa

2009-03-22T17:27:08Z

- before

Hidden Side
Solo exhibition by Zinkpè

2009-01-12T12:27:23Z

Opening Friday 27 February, 18:00 to 20:00 followed by The Artists Dinner at Gramadoelas.

Internationally acclaimed artist Zinkpè lives and works in Benin and recently exhibited his works in France, Germany, Belgium, Luxemburg, Holland, Austria, Brazil, Cuba, Senegal, and Lebanon. In 2008, he strongly featured in the curated show of the Johannesburg Art Fair and he is now presenting his first solo exhibition in South Africa.

Zinkpè's powerful paintings and drawings depict his internal struggles, always questioning himself within his environment and challenging reality to create his own mythology inhabited by monsters and obsessions. Confronting the human mystery, Zinkpè's sculptures, paintings, drawings and installations deal with politics and religion, desire and sex.

Exhibition runs until Saturday 21 March

Stitch by Stitch
solo exhibition by Billie Zangewa

2008-09-23T09:51:30Z

Based in London and traveling extensively, Billie Zangewa has been feeding on her experiences and brings a whole new bag of stories revealing her appetite for life and awareness of the world. More than ever, in her new silk tapestries, Billie comes out as a triumphant African woman, conscious of her roots and fully in touch with her environment. Her intimate universes meet the public realm in daring and original silk tapestries with strong narratives and presence. The cut silk collage and cotton embroidery offer a rich medium with precious textures and sensitive palettes, feminine but never quaint nor decorative.

Billie Zangewa made a mark with her début solo exhibition in Johannesburg in 2004 and has since consistently produced striking artworks and strengthened her unmistakable universe. Her solo exhibition at Afronova in 2007 was sold out on the opening night. She recently held very successful exhibitions in New York and in Paris where the exhibition was also sold out after just a few days. After her solo at Afronova, Billie will present a solo exhibition in Tokyo, Japan, early 2009.

Exhibition runs until Saturday 13 December

Exiles
Drawings by Gerard Sekoto

2008-07-20T08:24:06Z

Exiles

Henri Vergon

When Gerard Sekoto left South Africa in 1947, he dipped into the unknown and embarked in a self imposed life in exile. Following the advice of his friend and mentor Ernest Mancoba, he elected Paris as his new home.

His Parisian odyssey is firmly rooted in the Latin Quarter with its bustling boulevards, sidewalks cafés and cosmopolitan crowd. Positively inspired by the spectacle of the street, the metro and the nightlife of the Left Bank, Sekoto blossomed while working hard on his art and his newly found freedom. Against all odds and with meager resources, playing the piano and the guitar in jazz clubs, he managed to overcome the challenges of a new life in a strange place and to get exposure for his paintings in Paris.

Sekoto wouldn't go back to South Africa but was longing to return to African soil and in 1966, he finally found his way to Senegal thanks to an invitation facilitated by Léopold Sédar Senghor. The lights of the African city of Dakar were rapidly eclipsed by the atmosphere of the traditional Diola villages of Casamance where he stayed on for a year. Enchanted by the bucolic scenery, the beauty and vitality of the people, the music and dance of the rituals, Sekoto passionately experienced his African identity and enjoyed an emotional creative surge.

During the next decades in Paris, Sekoto continued to consistently rework earlier themes inspired by his memories from home and to nurture relationships with other Africans from the Diaspora or in exile. He gained a critical reputation in Paris, Rome, Venice, Dakar, London and Amsterdam while maintaining a significant presence on the South African art scene. He became a familiar face in Saint-Germain-des-Prés and a Parisian but he didn't quite become a French man. He consciously remained an African and was detrmined to paint like one.

The exhibition Exiles celebrates the repatriation to South Africa of a crucial cultural heritage, salvaged from dispersal in European auctions and returned to the country to be researched and later to be made available to academics and the public. The collection features more than two hundred and fifty drawings, exclusive vintage photographs, precious correspondence and private documents. This invaluable ensemble bears a compelling and poignant testimony to the dedication of Gerard Sekoto to his art and opens a window on the many stories and facets of his life in exile, on a journey of self discovery.

Exhibition runs until Saturday 4 October

With the kind support of Spier and the French Institute of South Africa

Afronova

SOLO EXHIBITION BY MUSA NXUMALO

AFRONOVA HAS MOVED TO NEW PREMISES

Musa Nxumalo

A series of travelssolo exhibition by Karl Gietl

Godfried Donkor

Johannesburg Art FairGroup Show

101 Tokyo International Contemporary Art FairSolo exhibition by Billie Zangewa

Hidden SideSolo exhibition by Zinkpè

Stitch by Stitchsolo exhibition by Billie Zangewa