The Melrose Gallery, in association with Sandton City, is pleased to present ‘INTROSPECTION – Art of Contemporary Africa’, a thought-provoking group exhibition featuring established and emerging artists from the Continent of Africa.
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INTROSPECTION
Art of Contemporary AfricaThe pandemic has forced mankind to slow down and to spend time on ‘Introspection’ and the re-evaluation of what is most important to us
The Melrose Gallery, in association with Sandton City, is pleased to present ‘INTROSPECTION – Art of Contemporary Africa’, a thought-provoking group exhibition featuring established and emerging artists from the Continent of Africa.
Definition:Introspection is the examination of one's own conscious thoughts and feelings. In psychology, the process of introspection relies on the observation of one's mental state, while in a spiritual context it may refer to the examination of one's soul.
In an ambitious undertaking, whilst most art fairs and large exhibitions have been postponed or replaced by online presentations due to the impact of Covid-19, The Melrose Gallery in association with Sandton City, have decided to present this exhibition both physically and online.
The exhibition takes place in a large, 850 m², space in Sandton City’s Diamond Walk and will run from 5 December 2020 until 30 January 2021. The space provides the perfect backdrop for a comprehensive display of Pan African Contemporary art and the high ceilings allow for monumental sculptures and large scale paintings and photographs.
Whilst every care will be taken to adhere to Covid-19 guidelines, the space is so large that it will allow people to browse and experience the works whilst practicing physical distancing. The pandemic has forced mankind to slow down and to spend time on ‘Introspection’ and the re-evaluation of what is most important to us.Many artists have been forced into long periods of self-isolation in their studios, which has resulted in powerful artworks impacted by their focus, mood and awakened sense of consciousness and enlightenment. The general public and collectors alike have gone through similar periods of confinement and adjustment and it is expected that this exhibition will bring a welcome respite to what has been a marked reduction in cultural activations.
The title of the exhibition ‘Introspection’ therefore speaks to this extraordinary period, but also to the idea that whilst an artist may be born in Africa, they are part of the global community and whilst their works may often involve a process of internal reflection, their presentation and practice often does not confine to a preconceived idea of ‘African-ness’.
Certain artworks that were not created during this period have therefore also found themselves in the exhibition as their works and practice speak to ‘introspection’ and question the idea that all art created by Africans should have a unifying element that immediately identifies it them such.
Participating Artists:
The exhibition includes Willie Bester, Gerald Chukwuma, Esther Mahlangu, Wilma Cruise, Pitika Ntuli, Elizabeth Balcomb, Philiswa Lila, Mederic Turay, Papytsho Mafolo, Edozie Anedu, Vusi Khumalo, Simon Zitha, Clint Strydom, Judy Woodborne, Alexis Peskine, Aza Mansongi, Ronald Muchatuta, Restone Maambo, Gavin Rain, Ndabuko Ntuli, Denis Mubiru, Regi Bardavid, Christiaan Diedericks, Vusi Beauchamp, Regi Bardavid, Hussein Salim, Paul Blomkamp, Andre Stead, Mark Chapman, Grace Da Costa, Paul du Toit, Louis Chanu, Arno Morland, Carl Roberts, Uwe Pfaff, Sfiso Ka-Mkame, Mbongeni Buthelezi and others. -
Gerald ChukwumaIkworirikwo: The Spirit of the Dance, 2020Mixed media on wood193 x 442 cmSoldYour visions will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes. -
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Gerald ChukwumaThe Encounter , 2019Mixed media on wood193.5 x 342.5 cmSold
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Elizabeth BalcombSon of Man, 2015Bronze350 x 250 x 250 cm3/5R 770,000.00
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'Son of Man' is my largest piece yet and one which could be perceived as almost the antithesis of most of my other work in the sense that the figure is intimately connected to technological structures rather than to the natural (animal) world. The figure’s near-nakedness is in sharp contrast to the hardness of the constructions that supports him: my aim with this figure was to explore at the same time human longing for transcendence and the inescapable vulnerability of the human individual in navigating life and the world, a vulnerability that perhaps, ironically, fuels the cold hard edge of our technology. For me transcendence is to do with going beyond limitations. We all long for it. We strive for it in a host of ways. Money, material things, and success, are all to do with this restless need for transcendence. But in the end it is very close to us.
‘Son of Man’ attempts by all his might to transcend vulnerability and free himself from the constraints his body places on him. This is to me another profound aspect of the human condition, the desire to free ourselves from constraint. But we cannot do this as we are all ultimately doomed to return to dust, the humus (from where we get the word humility).
To move away from this misguided and limited sense of transcendence, from (our myth of) being in the world as though we control it, to being in the world as though we share it, requires a huge shift in the way we understand ourselves in relation to our environment.
The original was sculpted from clay which was used to make a mold for casting into bronze, a very challenging project. The assistance of the Goodwin Foundry was invaluable.
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Alexis PeskineGoal Volant, 2010Mixed media180 x 246 cmR 850,000.01
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Detail images of "Goal Volant", 2010
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Papytsho MafoloThe Queen, 2019Mixed Media on Canvas100 x 200 cmSold
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Restone MaamboCommemoration of the Ancestors, 2019Collage and mixed media on canvas95 x 180 cmSold
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Philiswa LilaPortrait I , 2019Oil on canvas (Framed)70 x 90 cmR 24,150.00
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Pitika NtuliSpirit Family at Dawn200 year old wild mahogany137 x 82 x 54 cmR 345,000.00
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Human life has meaning only to that degree and as long as it is lived in the service of humanity. - Wole Soyinka
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Mederic TurayThe Roots of Life , 2020Mixed media on canvas344 x 244 cm
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Grace Da CostaSchool BoysBronze22 x 80 x 51 cm9/10R 71,300.00
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Clint StrydomBattle of IsandlwanaArchival print on Diasec83 x 250 cmEdition of 15R 86,000.00
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Andre SteadIcon Architecture , 2020Bronze82 x 30 x 30 cmEdition of 3Sold
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Denis Mubiru
Dancing with Myself, 2019Acrylic on canvas
104 x 104 cm -
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Vusi Beauchamp
Entrance Fee, 2020Mixed media on Fabriano paper
116 x 86 cmR 47,150.00 -
Arlene Amaler-RavivA City is a City is a City , 1996Oil on canvas173 x 324 cmSold
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Dr Willie BesterTransition with Vulture, 2020Mixed Media235 x 178 cmReserved
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Ndabuko Ntuli
Ugogo Unontezi, 2018Acrylic & mixed media
123 x 122 cmR 50,000.00 -
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Otto Du PlessisDianaBronze215 x 53 x 53 cm
100kg4/5R 306,730.00 -
Gavin Rain
Her Eyes Wore GreenAcrylic on canvas
150 x 150 x 5 cm -
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Hussein SalimAnte- chamber , 2020Acrylic on canvas136 x 106 cmSold
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For me, art not only evokes memories and contemplation of the loss of home but it also encounters the present and shapes the future. My work is the product of a rich heritage from my origins in Sudan, my training there and my recent diasporic experience. - Hussein Salim
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Aza MansongiEvasion, 2019Acrylic on cotton canvas158 H x 160 W cmR 125,000.00
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Mark ChapmanAstronaut, 2020earthware, glaze and under glaze29 x 17 x 13 cmEdition 1 of 1Sold
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Strijdom Van der MerweTriptych Chairs, 2016Mild Steel300 x 70 x 10 cm
90kgR 115,000.00As a land artist Strijdom van der Merwe generally uses the materials as found on a chosen site. These sculptural forms take shape in relation to the landscape. It is a process of working with the natural environment/world by using what is found on site and then shaping these elements into geometrical forms until it gradually integrates with the natural environment again. Depending on the purpose of the exhibition or the commission the artist will also use materials that is brought in to the landscape in order the make a statement about our relationship with the land, in many of these works the installation is not permanent but only functional for the duration of a certain event.
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Regi BardavidWhen Dreams are Remembered as Songs, 2019Oil and beeswax on Canvas240 x 152 x 5 cmR 92,000.00
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Paul BlomkampThe Strong Country - Magaliesberg Series, 2019Acrylic on canvas270 x 360 cmR 414,000.00
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Paul Du ToitTwin SeriesOil and Acrylic pasted on Polymer wood117 x 94 x 30R 184,000.00
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Esther Mahlangu
Ndebele Abstract , 2019Acrylic on canvas
100 x 150 cm -
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Sfiso Ka-Mkame
Letters to Home, 2012Oil pastel on paper
139,5 x 168 cm -
Ronald MuchatutaA hard Journey, 2020Mixed media on canvas100 x 150 cmSold
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Carl RobertsSkin , 2013Wild Fig Wood304 x 58 x 60 cmR 143,750.00
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The Artists
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Dr Willie Bester
South AfricaDr Willie Bester is globally recogised as one of South Africa's foremost resistance artists. Willie scours the scrap heaps of the Western Cape collecting metal and found objects from which he creates his powerful assemblages and sculptures. These artworks are a powerful voice against injustice of all forms.
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Philiswa Lila
South AfricaPhiliswa Lila is a visual artist, curator and scholar who is fascinated by the socially relevant and timely issues of authorship and agency. She works across different genres and mediums including oil and acrylic paintings, sculpture and beadwork that often show influences of her isiXhosa culture.
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Alexis Peskine
FranceUnlike most painters or artists, the most important tools in Alexis Peskine’s arsenal are not paintbrushes but nails, hammers and a bit of goldleaf. He brings images to life through a technique he specialises in called Accu-painting.To create art, he carefully hammers nails into a canvas at different heights or lengths to get the right densities.
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Gerald Chukwuma
NigeriaGerald Chukwuma (b. 1973) is one of Nigeria’s fastest rising contemporary artists noted for his intricately crafted wood-slate sculptures. Using a multitude of techniques, his unique approach to burning, chiseling, and painting common materials captures a richly layered history imbedded with personal and political meaning
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Clint Strydom
South AfricaClint Strydom is a talented South African photographer, lens-based artist and photo essayist with a profound gift for capturing humanity. His lens-based artistry unravels the hidden perspectives of the overlooked or forgotten in society, resulting in work that is timeless, measured and still. His self-taught technical flair and experimental signature style has created visual narratives whose timeless profundity permeates political, private and commercial spaces.
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Vusi Beauchamp
South AfricaVusi Beauchamp is a multi-talented South African artist. He describes his practice as encompassing being an artist, multimedia design and art director. He currently is based in Johannesburg. Beauchamp's contemporary mixed media painting practice acts as a socio-political critique with a distinctive and often humorous voice. His choice of media ranges from spray paint and stencils to materials such as crayons, charcoal and acrylic paint.
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Aza Mansongi
CongoAza Mansongi’s Congolese background schooled her in classical, figurative realism. But her life experience growing up in the Democratic Republic of Congo, an area massively impacted by war and conflict, to her studies and current life in Douala in Cameroon and her innate positivity has given her artworks a unique ‘Aza’ style. Whilst Aza could have been forgiven for creating artworks filled with angst and negativity this would have conflicted with the positive way in which she approaches life and all that she does.
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Esther Mahlangu
South Africa"When looking at a Ndebele painting or murals, people get a smile of amazement on their faces... And it makes me happy as well, as I love to paint - it is in my heart and in my blood!" Dr Esther Mahlangu is a multi-award winning visual artist, and much loved South African cultural ambassador. She was born in 1935 and has been painting since she was 10 years old.
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Wilma Cruise
South AfricaWilma Cruise is a South African sculptor and visual artist. She works mainly with fired clay in her renderings of life-sized human and animal figures. Themes explored in Cruise’s work include the interface between humans and animals with particular emphasis on communication. In her doctoral thesis, “Thinking with Animals: An exploration of the animal turn through art making and metaphor”, she explores conditions of muteness – silent, internal battles in the search for meaning that crosses the species divide.
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Carl Roberts
South Africa“The emphasis is on “magic, accident, irrational, symbols and dreams.”Carl Roberts is a master craftsman and sought after visual artist who gently massages natural materials such as bone, wood, and stone to expose the hidden message in their form, patina, grain and textures.
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Elizabeth Balcomb
South AfricaElizabeth Balcomb is a self-taught South African artist known for her haunting figurative sculptures. Balcomb grew up on the banks of the Umgeni River in the Kwazulu-Natal Midlands of South Africa. Intensely drawn to animals and the natural world, she studied Nature Conservation and spent much of her youth communing with wild creatures, some of them human
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