Unusual juxtaposition of the old and new
• The Threshold exhibition at WALL gallery presents the apotheosis of South African expression
Threshold is a popular word in art circles. It’s not its common meaning that is exploited but abstract connotations, evoking a gateway between two worlds.
Art functions in this way — it opens up a space between reality and fiction, lived experience, the physical being and psychic states. The unseen world is visualised through artistic expression.
So Threshold is a fitting title for the inaugural exhibition at WALL gallery’s new address in Woodstock, Cape Town. It presents the apotheosis of South African expression — Cecil Skotnes, Ezrom Legae, Erik Laubscher, Lucky Sibiya and Edoardo Villa among other art luminaries — with a unique approach and setting.
Woodstock is caught between two worlds; crumbling working-class homes sit cheek by jowl with creative compounds and hipster coffee shops as the tentacles of gentrification creep further into the suburb.
WALL gallery is smack bang in Woodstock’s art node on Sir Lowry’s Road; with Stevenson and Goodman galleries across the road and Blank projects and Smac around the corner.
Unlike its fashionable art neighbours, WALL gallery’s focus is on modern art and 20th century art, though its tightly curated shows will from time to time include artworks that beg the contemporary label.
Threshold, curated by Stefan Hundt, the art adviser and director of the Sanlam art gallery and collection, includes Reap the Whirlwind, a large hanging work by Willem Boshoff.
It showed a few years ago at his last solo exhibition at Smac gallery and is dominated by sickles. Boshoff undercuts the associations made with the work and violence through an artful composition. As the title suggests, Boshoff evokes the “reap what you sow” adage, taking a dig at US foreign policy and South African politics.
Skotnes and Sibiya’s works don’t share this thematic link or political drive but both are carved wooden works and have a formal relationship with the Boshoff work — the sickles are supported by a wooden panel.
Aesthetically, the three works belong in the room together; an earthy palette binds them. It’s something that’s felt instinctively when stepping into the gallery, yet the chances of them being exhibited or sold side by side would ordinarily never happen.
“This is the work that museums should be doing, showing the historical context and relationships with the contemporary works,” says Hundt.
The absence of historical works contextualising the art on display at the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary African Art’s inaugural exhibitions has been a sticking point for many.
“There seemed to be a gap for a space that not only showcased South African artists who are well- known figures but also for appropriately contextualising those who were innovative in their approach, from the very early practitioners all the way through to practising contemporary artists,” says WALL owner and director Roy Gruer.
With WALL situated in Cape Town’s contemporary art hub, perhaps the most influential one, its exhibitions of historical works will play off and feed into the contemporary displays.
Visitors probably won’t feel like they have stepped back in time. Despite WALL’s emphasis on showing good-quality historical works, the gallery feels contemporary; in its appearance, it occupies the threshold between the past and the present.
The quasi-industrial loft look of the gallery is unlike the plush settings where historical art is usually shown, such as hotels where auctions are typically held. Gruer wants to exhibit and sell historical works expected to be found at an auction. Considered viewing and buying is the emphasis, as is the curating, which is driven by Hundt.
“We wanted each exhibition to appear like a concise collection in and of itself,” says Gruer, who is a collector through and through. “From as far back as I can remember, my parents collected African art — mostly tribal. From a South African context, the first works that appealed to me had an African feel or heritage. So, it was a natural progression to collect Amadlozi artists — Skotnes, [Sydney] Kumalo, Legae, etc, who we strongly emphasise currently at WALL.”
The Amadlozi artists will feature at their stand at the upcoming Investec Cape Town Art Fair, where they will inject a historical context in an event dominated by contemporary expression. “We wanted to show our African heritage,” says Gruer.
The collection for the fair will be exhibited at the gallery, ensuring that considered viewing can still be achieved.
The names of the artists showing at WALL are well known but some of the works are less so. “We like to identify overlooked works that are undervalued at auction.”
The best example of this is a remarkable suite of drawings by Kumalo. He is mostly known for his sculptures, which are fetching high sums at auction. However, mixed-media works such as Man on Beast (1977), which presents an intricate garment or vessel for an absent creature or human, is appealing.
What might happen if it was put alongside one of Nandipha Mntambo’s cow hide sculptures? This could open up a different sort of threshold.
Art history could be overturned at WALL or, at best, make people think differently about the contemporary.
● Threshold shows until February 19 at WALL, 97 Sir Lowry Road, Woodstock.