The Herald (South Africa)

Well-known artists explore diversity of ink

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COLLECTIVE INK, April 4 to May 7 at GFI Art Gallery in Park Drive. Reviewed by Annette Loubser.

COLLECTIVE Ink became a good kick-off exhibition for the year at the GFI gallery, attracting both new and existing audiences as well as artists.

Artists from the Bay and nationally were invited to participat­e in a group show, focusing on the thrill of ink as used in illustrati­ons, drawings, paintings, printmakin­g, news media, photograph­y and, interestin­gly, ceramics.

Curator Hayley Grinstead proved herself knowledgea­ble and adept in creating an interestin­g group exhibition.

Stephen Rosin has two subtle and skilfully executed ballpoint pen drawings, Arcadian Hive and Dreams of Zeus, that are powerful social commentari­es.

The Union Buildings in Arcadian Hive allude to a type of power edifice.

In contrast, Dreams of Zeus is an allegory that deals with the theme of human arrogance. Technical subtlety and intellectu­al rigour make it a contemplat­ive work with allusions to astrology and constellat­ions – the realm of Zeus.

Bleik (Bleach), by Amanda de Wet, is another intriguing image. It looks like a bleached lightweigh­t fabric but the intensity of the manual work using an ordered and systematic painting manner mimics the operating systems of digital media.

In the series of portraits titled Father’s Day, New Brightonba­sed artist Dollar Sapeta isolates the figure from the background by using unusual viewpoints and positionin­g the subject almost as a fragment of the page.

The fathers look tired, worn out and terribly alone. Many fathers have either been abandoned by their families or their deep sense of guilt and failure to become successful providers have made them withdraw into this state of isolation.

Sapeta seems to share a closeness and compassion with these men, which he also feels helpless to do anything about, beyond drawing and painting them.

Departure, by Karl Schoemaker, is a large-format photograph of a cell at the notorious Baakens Street Police Station. Schoemaker focuses his seeing on the space, graffiti and light on the walls instead of what the cell actually represents.

Reflecting historical continuity and something new to see in the provincial arts arena are the works of three of the “first phase” Grahamstow­n Group artists from the 1960s and early ’70s: Estelle Marais, Hilary Graham and Cleone Cull.

Graham invents himself as a mythologic­al character, this time as Hilare Tang, who is on a mission and in search of adventure.

In the new Pastoral Dissonance Series, his fascinatio­n for the ancient Chinese art making manuals sees him applying speed and brevity in his line work to articulate ideas, story or thoughts in the most succinct manner.

Cull’s Sound bite seems a semi representa­tional carrier of a moment or message from a deeper consciousn­ess or historical time that surrounds us almost as a form of intuition. The changing forms and light of the Karoo and Klein Karoo has become a renewed and even more powerful theme in Marais’ recent work.

The small and quick drawing, Karoo Sheep, indicates her hand, heart and head co-ordination have almost become a subconscio­us visual language or script.

Cape Town artist Hanien Conradie’s small, monochrome ink landscapes in the series The Subjective Herbarium seem to capture a place as an act of rememberin­g and respect.

Popular art has been clustered into one gallery space with some works playful, others more graphic or slightly esoteric. They are predominan­tly by a younger generation of artists who fetishise or adapt objects and ideas to become part of an alternativ­e reality.

Grinstead’s eye for design is exciting in her selection of ceramics from Donve Branch and porcelain artist Kate Malan. Branch uses basic firing methods to explore how fire and earth can create wonderful ranges of African inspired shapes and textures.

Malan’s fun black-and-white paint spattered plates are combined with her smaller, always elegant functional­ly shaped vessels in a range of black, grey and white glazes.

 ??  ?? ESCAPE ARTISTS: Karl Schoemaker’s photograph, ‘Departure’
ESCAPE ARTISTS: Karl Schoemaker’s photograph, ‘Departure’
 ??  ?? POWER EDIFICE: Stephen Rosin’s ‘Arcadian Hive’
POWER EDIFICE: Stephen Rosin’s ‘Arcadian Hive’

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