Coming of  Age is a retrospective exhbition of Artist Proof Studio (started by Kim Berman and Nhlanhla Xaba in 1991). For more on Artist Proof see  http://www.artistproofstudio.co.za/ .   There are also many works by more established artists – both South Africans as well as visiting international artists.  With many sub-sections put together by different curators, the exhibition is overwhelming to take in on one visit – and that is certainly no complaint!  So be prepared to go back twice and more. Also the printing processes are many, varied and complex and it really helps to see the actual processes before going round the exhibition.  So before starting to view the works, my advice would be to make your way down to the basement level and turn left (ie to the eastern part of the building) where,  in the far corner, you will find artists from the Studio demonstrating  the various printing techniques.  For a non-printmaker to begin to internalize the complexities of the processes before confronting the works is really valuable.  And once one has only the most superficial of insight and understanding into the consummate skill of these artists, the images inspire even greater awe.   It is a real gem of an exhibition NOT to be missed. With another two months to go make sure you leave time to go back 2 or 3 times.   The exhibition runs until the 6th July. You are in for a treat – enjoy. I certainly will be going back. 

For more information on the background to the exhibition see  http://www.artlink.co.za/news_article.htm?contentID=29903 

The space at 281 Commissioner St opened up to allow the projection of Buntu Fihle's photographs onto a building across the street. Source: Andre Pretorius

On Tuesday evening, I went to 10 years On Air – the collaborative Review exhibition of the On Air partnership: Marcus Neustatter and Stephen Hobbs. Unexpectedly, Marcus was there to give a walkabout which made viewing particularly enjoyable and accessible . It was really good to see their production over the last decade – much of which has been based in other countries.   Their projects have been very varied but all demonstrate their interest in collaborative work, performance and installation work, and making interventions in public spaces and buildings.   With most of their work being of an ephemeral nature, Neustatter and Hobbs use different mediums (video, slides, artefacts and everyday objects, drawings) to record and re-present their various projects.  These thought-provoking projects  have generated many beautiful visuals as in the Hand and Machine piece which contrasts and compares the different rural and urban Mali environments of Djenne the mud city (and World Heritage site),  and Bamako the capital.  10 years On Air  will be on for another 2 months but only by appointment.  It is showing in a great venue – a factory building at 281 Commissioner St (a block away from Arts On Main) and because much of their work is in the form of large scale video projections, the show is only on in the evenings after dark. For more see http://www.onair.co.za/broadcast/?p=415#more-415 

Emergent (detail) 2012 Pen & ink 567X516mm ; Taken from AOP's exhibition invitation

Richard Penn’s new solo exhibition  Horizon opens at AOP  44 Stanley Ave this Saturday. Penn’s painstakingly detailed work is always a treat. The obsessively meticulous pen and ink marks are awe-inspiring in their technical skill and meditative in their repetitive  patterned fields.
Opening is on Saturday 25 February at 14:00; Exhibition runs until 17th March and Richard Penn will do a walkabout on Saturday 3 March at 11:00. 

Obie Oberholzer at Circa from 16th February

solo photographic exhibition Long Distance opens at Circa in Lower Rosebank on 16th February and runs till the 10th March.   

Of Dreams and Nightmares,  Jaco van den Heever’s 3rd solo exhibition opened at Art Space on Jan Smuts Parkwood on 1st Feb and runs until F29th Feb. Focusing on the dynamic & changing nature of Johannesburg’s urban landscape he comments on its fraught and complex history.  For more see http://www.artspace-jhb.co.za/archive/articles_2012/archive_of_dreams_and_nightmares.html

Candice Breitz’s Extra opens Tues 8th Feb at the Standard Bank Gallery in Joburg Central and runs until 5th April.

On Thursday 9th Feb Gallery MOMO has its first exhibtion opening of 2012 with a group exhibition including Mary Sibande and Gary Stephens (runs until 12th March). Thursday will be a busy night as Everard Read opens 3 solo exhibitions: Carlo Gamberin, Caryn Scrimgeour, and Jeremy Houghton. Runs until 3rd MArch. And Advance …. Notice which opened at Goodman last Thursday runs until 25th February  
                                                                                                                                                                                                             

Jessica Webster’s exhibition Mainly Benoni. And Paintings opens at 12 pm today at Nirox Projects on Arts on Main

Showing at In Toto is She@Intoto a group show on women by women. The invite includes Georgia O’Keefe’s aphorism: ‘I feel there is something unexplored about women that only a woman can explore’.   Closes 28th Feburary so plenty time to visit.   6 Birdhaven Centre, 66 St Andrews St Birdhaven

Closing on 28th January is John Phalane’s Malete an exhibition of his map art , currently showing at AOP at 44 Stanley Ave

Voice and Citizenship is a group show with a difference.  Showing at Artist Proof Studio at the Bus Factory in Newtown until 31st January, this exhibition depicts the visual journey that five Artist Proof Studio students and Cloudia Harwig their facilitator have undertaken over the last year as part of her masters study titled: ““The role of screen-print projects in enhancing awareness of active citizenship: a case study at Artist Proof Studio”.  The exhibition presents the processes, concepts and final artworks in the sequential stages that took place throughout the study. The screen-printed results present the different varieties of stencil-making techniques that screen-printing has to offer.   

Diane Victor’s exhibition at University of Johannebsurg Gallery finishes on Wednesday 25th Jan with a closing ceremony at 19.00

Anton Momberg’s show at Circa Gallery opened on 13th January and runs until 11th February.

Tinsel the fabulous store with jewellry designed by Geraldine Fenn and other award winning SA contemporary jewellers is moving at end January to Parkhurst . So visit them at their current location (until 31st January) in the Bamboo Centre in Melville. 

But still to open are:

Candice Breitz’s Extra! at the Standard Bank Gallery which runs from 8th February to 5th April.  

And it seems Goodman’s 2012 programme only opens on 2nd February with a Group Show Advance/…. Notice with a stellar line-up including works by Candice Breitz, Mounir Fatmi, Robert Hodgins, Sam Nhlengethwa, Sigalit Landau, Walter Oltmann, Willem Boshoff ,William Kentridge, Langa Moshekwa, Mikhael Subotzky, Kudzanai Chiurai ,David Goldblatt, Frances Goodman, Gerhard Marx, Hank Willis, Thomas Hasan & Husain Essop,Jodi Bieber, Kagiso Pat Mautloa, Kendell Geers, Kentridge and Gerhard Marx – many of the who’s who of contemporary South African art.  Closes 25th February.

Two very different exhibitions are those showing the works of  Willie Saayman and Robyn Penn.  Penn’s exhibition Pretty World opens at David Krut at Arts on Main on Thurs 17 Nov (6.30 pm).  Penn draws on the tradition of Romantic landscape painting (particularly the German Romantics) and clouds are often her subject matter. This seemingly celebratory approach to nature’s sublime imagery is ironically subverted with references in her titles to the dropping of atom bombs – a low point in humankind’s development.

Willie Saayman’s The Wrong Pills draws on very different tradition – that of outsider art. Making reference to graffiti, children’s art, skater culture and graphic novels, Saayman overturns traditional painting conventions and re-visits Modernist ideas of primitivism and immediacy of expression.  Saayman’s exhibition opens at AOP 44 Stanley Ave this Saturday 12th Nov at 2 pm. The exhibition runs until 3rd December.

Also opening Thursday 17th at In Toto Gallery 66 St Andrews St Birdhaven is Kreh Mellick’s Wolf Mother and Tales of the Impromptu Circus.  I don’t know her work but she  exhibited in London earlier this year. In these images stylized figures are developed with swirling motifs and abstract designs. The exhibition runs until the 12th December.

Drawing for 'Other Faces' taken from Goodman Gallery invitation

Kentridge’s latest film, Other Faces, has been drawn and filmed over the past year. It will be shown in conjunction with a group of working drawings used in the film’s animation, as well as drawing fragments and prints.  For more  information see http://www.rosebank.co.za/view/index/other_faces/62/1/137

Minette Vari's Life of Boubo: Apotrope I & III

Untitled by Zander Blom

Thursday 27th Oct sees 2 exhibition openings. Zander Blom opens at Stevenson Gallery, Juta St Braamfontein while In Toto Gallery is showing Helen Joseph’s and Jenny Stadler’s works in an exhibition entitled Two: Studio Sessions with Live Models.  Minette Vári  is showing small collection of new drawings at Goodman’s Viewing Room at the gallery in Parkwood. Her particular focus is on the goddess Baubo, of whom figurines have been found dating from the 5th Century BC.  Vári will give a walkabout on Saturday 29th at 10 am.