Sue de Groot talks to one of SA’s most prolific and interesting artists, who is currently bowling over the English aristocracy with his dreamlike paintings and surreal sculptures

Read the full article here: https://www.timeslive.co.za/sunday-times/lifestyle/2022-05-15-lighting-the-knights-baileys-breeze-of-change-blows-north/ 

We are delighted to share with you the Dylan Lewis sculpture garden, as seen in the Telegraph Luxury magazine earlier this month.

The fashion story was photographed by South African Michael Love, and includes fashion by Chanel, Dior and Louis Vuitton, all modeled by Faith Johnson and Shubby Stanton.

View the full article and images here: https://dylanlewis.com/garden/publications/telegraph-luxury-magazine 

A new exhibition by Nandipha Mntambo features the artist’s first venture into furniture, on view at Cape Town’s Southern Guild until 8 April 2022

South African artist Nandipha Mntambo’s first venture into functional sculpture, now on view at Cape Town design gallery Southern Guild (until 8 April 2022), features four extraordinary Afropunk interpretations of classic seating. Alongside a shaggy stool inspired by traditional raffia costumes worn by West African village guardians, Mntambo has created a throne-like chair made from zebra hide, and crafted a eucalyptus-wood chaise longue featuring 60 hand-rolled leather tentacles.

Read the full article here: https://www.wallpaper.com/design/nandipha-mntambo-furniture-southern-guild 

There is much debate on the nature of the exhibition structure. Tensions between various models of presentation – solo vs. group, retrospective vs. showcase, etc. – inform the reputations of the institutions that perform them. Directly, or indirectly. Consciously, or unconsciously. The size and duration of any given exhibition is indicative of who may see and be seen, and under which conditions.

The strange swaying of the pandemic’s pendulum between ‘yes’ and ‘no’, and ‘online’ and ‘outside’ has disrupted the rhythms of these models, and brought into question their future formations. Even so, the distinct pleasure of entering a gallery space – just being there – remains one of the gifts I treasure in this life. Alternating deftly between the scale and scope of their presentations, CIRCA’s ongoing ‘Cubicle’ series platforms site-specific installations and “smaller bodies of artworks” for two weeks at a time. 

The Embassy of France in South Africa and The French Institute of South Africa are proud to support the Art for the Arch auction, as part of the Desmond and Leah Tutu Foundation’s 90@90 campaign, which aims to raise R90-million for the Tutu Legacy Fund, from 7 October 2020 to 7 October 2022.

Funds raised from the Art for the Arch auction will go towards an exciting long-term exhibition celebrating the work of Archbishop Tutu, titled Truth to Power, which will open in October 2021. The Embassy is honoured to be part of this momentous occasion ꟷ both Desmond and Leah Tutu have continued to be outstanding examples of compassionate and courageous leadership, which is reflected in the Foundation’s work and continues to inspire many. 

John Meyer, West of Sutherland, acrylic on canvas, 76 by 94,5cm. Estimate R600 000 – 800 000

Read the full article here: https://mg.co.za/special-reports/2021-09-16-art-for-the-arch-celebrating-archbishop-tutus-90th-birthday-with-a-good-cause/ 

Makamo shuns exclusive gallery representation, opting instead for hybrid modes of trade. He is not averse to collaborations with commercial galleries. In March this year, he held a solo exhibition with Everard Read in Cape Town. The show featured examples of Makamo’s pop portraiture depicting young black subjects in the style of his celebrated 2019 Time magazine cover featuring his cousin, Mapule Maoto. The works offered at Everard Read were priced between R78,000 and R1.4 million. The exhibition drew “a broad and enthusiastic audience,” says Charles Shields, a co-owner and director of Everard Read. “Happily we pretty much sold out too.”

In distinction to Samson, the secondary market for works by Makamo in South Africa is robust. Aspire Art Auction has sold a dozen lots, while rival auction house Strauss & Co has shifted 99 lots. In July 2020, Makamo’s oil on canvas Portrait of a Girl Wearing Earrings sold at Strauss & Co for R455 200, a secondary-market record for the artist. The price is still a long way off the six figure sums commanded by Beauford Delaney, Ben Enwonwu and Gerard Sekoto, post-war painters whose practice links the current riotous innovation fuelling the art market to a long and venerable tradition of figurative description of Black lives by Black artists.

Read the full article here: https://cur8.art/art-news/never-mind-nfts-black-figurative-painting-is-the-style-du-jour-of-the-early-2020s/

A return to an ancient sense of connectivity and present-day existential exploration is brought to life – CHANT is currently on show until 28 May 2021 in Cape Town. Here, the internationally acclaimed, Faith XLVII, shares insights on work, the depth of her process and more.

Artists Teresa Kutala Firmino and Blessing Ngobeni draw on their personal experiences to create powerful political work.

Read the full article here: https://www.ft.com/content/65928d5d-b36d-40fa-a238-8156041cc70c 

For Brett Charles Seiler’s latest offering, Everard Read’s walls were painted black to host the frames and chalked afterthoughts, which along with the dimension-defining wooden sculptures, complete the collection that is ‘Timber’.

There’s a certainty to the introspective musings which hyphenate the works; they read like epiphanies, or tail-ends of conversations, or journal entries. These short stories such as, “after making love to a man he asked me if I believed in god” and “a homosexual with bad teeth” are part of what makes Seiler the dynamic artist he is. These intimate anecdotes seem both symptomatic of our symbiosis with social media, while feeling like a distinct, narrating voice emerging to guide the audience through the experience of the exhibition. More specifically, the experience of Seiler’s perspectives. From his bold linework, both in the ‘text’ and in the formation of his subjects, to his choice of canvas size and accompanying materials, to his use of space – Seiler is steadily extruding moments, and memories, and meanings to fulfil his vision as he enhances his style with each new work. ‘Timber’ is made up of building materials such as roof paint, bitumen, screws, and wood all accented by a familiar school-board shade of green to create room in which to ponder the institutionalisation of masculinity as you navigate Seiler’s themes and thinking.