There’s a time for less froth and more art
● I decided to seek out culture of a less frothy sort for the second social occasion of the week, attending the exhibition openings of artists Blessing Ngobeni, Barbara Wildenboer and Andrzej Urbanski on Thursday evening.
Held at the ultra-trendy Keyes
Art Mile in Joburg’s Rosebank, Poland-born Andrzej’s enthralling abstract pieces were mounted in that architectural marvel, Circa, while Blessing’s and Barbara’s solo exhibitions were featured across the road at the sister Everard Read.
I met Andrzej and his wife Rebecca and their cute fivemonth-old daughter Mila as they stood in front of one of the Cape Town-based creative’s bold works of stacked geometric shapes, created with spray paint and acrylics.
Braving a downpour to make my way to the other side of the road, I didn’t get a chance to see Barbara’s collage constructions, but caught the tail-end of a performance by bassist Thembinkosi Mavimbela, guitarist Keenan Ahrends and saxophonist Sisonke Xonti to accompany an audiovisual piece by Blessing.
Is there a name for the band? I ask Thembinkosi afterwards, to which he shakes his head and offers, “You can call us Another Blessing”.
Art collectors in the know will tell you that Blessing’s surreal works are worth investing in, but ask the quiet-spoken artist what his favourite in the multimedia exhibition titled A Note From Error is and he’s nonchalant.
“I love them all, and hate them all,” he says. Among the patrons, there are plenty of arty types also taking in the works including Cynthia Mothelesi, accompanied by her doll MmaBots, “our beloved baby girl”, which has her own Instagram account, and artist James Delaney, there with photographer Kudzai King, with whom he is collaborating on a body print project which sees them produce prints on canvas using the painted body parts of their naked subjects.