A Sculptural Premise

28 November 2013 – 11 January 2014

ms 6 Igshaan Ada er 32 nd Jane Alexa m 98 Zander Blo pape 22 e Bo Dineo Seshe otes 50 Conrad B 4 Wim Botha 4 68 e Peter Clarkn 26 Steven Cohe s 18 d Paul Edmun a 102 reir Ângela Fer aba 56 Meschac G 40 Simon Gush o 10 ob Nicholas Hl nzile 62 Ze Mawande Ka ganye 84 Lebohang K arry 36 Michael MacG tambo 78 Mn a h ip d n a N geka 106 e it N in a l A Serge 90 Robin Rhoden 30 se Viviane Sas uders 66 hre Claudette Schukhuni 74 Bogosi Sek adi 72 Lerato Sh guo 52 To Barthélémy hulere 114 Le Kemang Wa

This exhibition brings together works that share a sculptural premise in their conception. The works explore our understanding of our three-dimensional reality through contemplations of space, volume and sculptural form across a range of mediums: sculpture as well as painting, video and photography.

The term ‘sculpture’ has seen a radical explosion of its meaning since the 1950s. Other media have also been subjected to vigorous criticism and experimentation by contemporary artists, but there is a sense in which a painting is still a painting, and a video will always be a video. In sculpture, however – perhaps because its parameters match those of our own embodied existence in space – there is a sense that the floor has fallen out from beneath the plinth, and the sky is the limit. One only has to think of the term ‘social sculpture’, or of Pierre Huyghe’s Umwelt (2011), in which he set spiders and ants free in a gallery, to get a sense of the range of possibilities that have been opened up for the medium.

A recent video work by Lerato Shadi, in which she crumbles a slice of chocolate cake with her fingers and then slowly rolls the crumbs together to form a triangular shape that resembles the original slice, eloquently asks the key questions of how we construct and perceive form and meaning. The final shape recalls a slice of cake, and is constituted of exactly the same elements, but it is also not a slice of cake. Similarly, yet differently, a 30-minute video by Kemang Wa Lehulere records the slow choreography of two figures carefully moving a packed pile of oversized sculpted bones from one side of a space to another. This process of disassembling and reassembling a sculptural form in a neutral space also abstracts questions of the meanings of these forms, singularly and as a sculptural installation. And in a video by Steven Cohen, the artist is a living sculpture, performing in the vicinity of the sculptural Eiffel Tower in Paris, provoking questions about his (contested) presence in a highly symbolic space layered with references to French national identity.

When figurative forms are used in performance or in representational sculpture, the narratives they evoke often overlay a consideration of the sculptural forms themselves. This is especially so in South Africa where the tradition of monumental figurative sculpture has persisted in the present day because of the strong need for sculptures that commemorate lives and events in the history of the country. The proliferation of bronze statues of Nelson Mandela reminds us of

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the role that sculpture continues to play as social commentary and in debates around nationhood.

In a contemporary idiom, there are sculptors who laterally explore the tradition of the monumental and figurative aesthetic, among them Claudette Schreuders, Jane Alexander, Wim Botha, Nandipha Mntambo, Nicholas Hlobo and Conrad Botes.

In direct contrast are some younger artists working within the ‘unmonumental’ sensibility which, with its transient materials, seemingly incidental forms and playful use of space, has dramatically disrupted the statuary tradition of western sculpture. The works of Dineo Seshee Bopape, Igshaan Adams and Meschac Gaba challenge our assumptions and extend our conception of the forms and meanings that sculptures can take.

Also in contrast to the figurative tradition are artists working with more abstracted forms which invariably allow for more philosophical debates to arise. In recent years a broader premise for sculptural forms has evolved in South Africa that relates to the language and architecture of modernism and the construct of space. Artists who engage with these concerns include Serge Alain Nitegeka, Paul Edmunds and Ângela Ferreira. Ferreira’s Werdmuller Centre explores the failure of a building that was widely praised for its embodiment of the tenets of modernism; it is also a work that prompts viewers to interact by moving its parts, allowing them to become part of the sculptural process.

In a more conceptual idiom, the works on this exhibition by Michael MacGarry, Zander Blom, Simon Gush, Mawande Zenzile, Bogosi Sekhukhuni, Barthélémy Toguo and Robin Rhode use threedimensional forms to raise questions about what is art and sculpture, the meaning of the residue of the creative process or of shifts in materials, and even more abstract concerns about politics, labour, time and worth.

Viviane Sassen and Lebohang Kganye work with photography but use sculpture in different ways to construct their images. As Kganye’s work demonstrates with fluid ease, the boundaries between disciplines have dissolved, and our understanding of what constitutes sculpture has exploded. The works on this exhibition celebrate this expanded view, beginning with a sculptural premise and in some cases intersecting with or implicating other media to the point where, ultimately (and perhaps specifically, in the case of Zander Blom’s shoes), we may see everything as sculpture.

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Igshaan Adams

‘I am constantly looking and looking again, searching within my own environment for materials that, when examined and combined, reveal a new understanding of the relationship between form, space and the perceptual experience of beauty.’

Scope 2013 Wire, cotton thread, beads 180 x 130 x 100cm

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Scope, foreground, with Nicholas Hlobo’s Umnombo and Wazibelek’ emhlane izithende in background

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Nicholas Hlobo

Umnombo 2013 Ribbon, rubber on canvas 180 x 120 x 5cm Detail overleaf

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Wazibelek’ emhlane izithende 2013 Ribbon, rubber on canvas 180 x 120 x 5cm Detail overleaf

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Paul Edmunds

‘I make little distinction between my two- and three-dimensional practices, preferring to think that whatever materials and processes I employ are unique to the particular problem I set out to solve. Here, while pencil lines cluster in suggestions of depth and volume, they always return the viewer to the undisputable flatness of a wall.’

Mark 2013 Pencil on wall Dimensions variable

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Dineo Seshee Bopape

same angle, same lighting 2013 DVD player, TV, wood, spy camera, pocket torch, printer, thread, ribbons, wool, digital print 204 x 61 x 21cm

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Steven Cohen

‘Freedom of expression is nothing without the actual expression of freedom. All the theory that can be expressed in loftily talking about freedom of expression is a lot of hot air that, without the balloon of practice, goes nowhere, lifts nothing – is no more than masturbation using art as a mirror rather than as a boarding pass for a flight to an unknown destination.

‘To me, that’s what live art is best for – mindfully piloting a vehicle called my body for a destination that isn’t sure; the design and engineering of the craft – and its method of propulsion – are calculated, yes, but whether it will actually lift off, its destination, the arrival time, and the course and conditions of the journey are a surprise to everyone, even to the pilot, to the core me of my-ness.’

Coq/Cock 2013 Digital video, sound Duration 5 min 28 sec Work in progress, pending Cohen’s court appearance in Paris on 16 December on charges of sexual exhibitionism, arising from this ‘uninvited public intervention’ at the Place du Trocadéro (also known as Human Rights Square) on 10 September 2013

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Photo: Quentin Evrard

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Viviane Sassen

Nest 2010 Digital colour poster print 120 x 85cm Edition of 3 + 2AP

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Jane Alexander

Attendant 2008-10 Mixed media Tailored clothing co-designed with and produced by Harvey Bouterse, HRVI, Antwerp 310 x 70 x 31cm

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Installation view, Jane Alexander: Surveys (From the Cape of Good Hope), Cathedral of St John the Divine, New York, 2013

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Michael MacGarry

‘My work for this show is looking at a “peripheral” form-as-everything versus the western conceptual model from the 1960s onwards that in essence disregarded form – political form as it were. This coupled with notions of “cargo cult” and the material development of the developing world, couched in a gallows humour.’

Contango 2013 Warthog ivory, epoxy, wood, Perspex 14 sculptures, dimensions variable Display case 120 x 114 x 62cm

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Simon Gush

Iseeyou 2013 HD digital video, stereo sound, DVDs (endless copies) Duration 13 min 50 sec Edition of 3 + 1AP

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Wim Botha

Prism 8 2013 Bronze, wood, neon tubes 237 x 160 x 155cm Edition of 1 + 1AP

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Maquettes for Blastwave 1-4 2012 Bronze Approx 37 x 30.5 x 21.5cm each Editions of 9 + 2APs

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Conrad Botes

Jeanne’s Reprise 2013 Jelutong and camphor wood , enamel, oil and pigment 135 x 50 x 50cm and 100 x 20 x 30cm

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Barthélémy Toguo

The New World Climax (Printemps Arabe, Frontière, Être Humain, HCR, Apatride, South Sudan, Illegal, Inegalité, Exile) 2001-12 Wood, ink 115 x 135 x 82cm

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Meschac Gaba

Diplomatique (South Africa) 2008 Flag, banknotes, wooden box, glass, padlock 55 x 75 x 9cm Diplomatique (Palestine) 2008 Flag, wooden box, glass, padlock 55 x 75 x 9cm Diplomatique (Ligue Arabe) 2013 Flag, banknotes, wooden box, glass, padlock 50 x 65 x 10cm Diplomatique (United States Union Jack) 2013 Flags, banknotes, wooden box, glass, padlock 55 x 75.5 x 10cm Diplomatique (Chine Afrique) 2013 Flags, banknotes, wooden box, glass, padlock 55 x 75.5 x 10cm Diplomatique (Sudan) 2008 Flag, wooden box, glass, padlock 55 x 75 x 9cm

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Colours of Cotonou (Cadres amicales) 2007-09 Beninese bank notes, wooden frames, glass 94 x 88 x 4cm; 99 x 81 x 4cm

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Mawande Ka Zenzile

uGologolo-indoda yaseKomani 2013 Commercial wood, igoqo, stones, money box Dimensions variable Right: Performance at the exhibition opening, 28 November 2013

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Claudette Schreuders

Ma 2011-13 Jetulong, enamel and oil paint 56 x 40 x 51cm

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Peter Clarke

Twinings 2005 Artist’s book, mixed media on paper, cloth and leather binding, paper-covered box Box: 19 x 20 x 4.5cm

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Lerato Shadi

Matsogo 2013 HD video, sound Duration 5 min Edition of 5 + 1AP

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Bogosi Sekhukhuni

the ratchet of the earth 2013 36 loaves of white bread 26 x 66 x 145cm

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Nandipha Mntambo

Devotion 2013 Cow hide, resin 170 x 120 x 35cm Overleaf, and detail following Lweti 2013 Cow hide, resin Diptych Left: 168 x 70 x 20cm Right: 130 x 101 x 25cm

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Lebohang Kganye

The Suit 2013 Inkjet print on cotton rag paper 90 x 60cm Edition of 5 + 1AP Overleaf The Pied Piper Inkjet print on cotton rag paper 60 x 90cm Edition of 5 + 1AP The Bicycle Inkjet print on cotton rag paper 60 x 90cm Edition of 5 + 1AP

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The Wheelbarrow Inkjet print on cotton rag paper 60 x 90cm Edition of 5 + 1AP

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Robin Rhode

Shell Drawing 3 2007 Charcoal and spray paint on paper 292 x 114cm Detail overleaf

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Open Court 2012 Digital animation, sound Duration 60 sec Edition of 5 Overleaf Boys in the Corner 2011 Steel, charcoal, shoelaces Dimensions variable

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Zander Blom

Modern Painting 2010-13 Shoes, heater, reading lamp, writing desk, books, magazine covers, palette knives, paint brushes, canvases Dimensions variable Detail overleaf

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Ângela Ferreira

‘It is really incredible to think that ever since Rosalind Krauss’ book helped us see how the beginnings of the expansion of the sculptural premise in the field started, we have not seen this expansion stop or even slow down. I refer to sculpture in the expanded field so often that I sometimes think I am repeating myself like an old broken record! But in fact the field has not yet expanded completely – it continues to expand or even explode – it is totally inclusive and discursive and thus becomes one of most challenging and interesting phenomena in contemporary art. Weirdly enough, this has also opened up the field so beautifully for sculptors like myself who have come to enjoy the freedom it has afforded us to make ever more selfconsciously three-dimensional works. Long live sculpture!’

Werdmuller Centre 2010 Installation (interactive sculpture, archive photograph) Sculpture: wood, mild steel, PVC nylon Dimensions variable; height 90cm Photograph of the Werdmuller Centre circa 1973 courtesy Roelof Uytenbogaardt Papers, Manuscripts and Archives, University of Cape Town Libraries

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Serge Alain Nitegeka

Silence: Studio Study III 2013 Paint on wood 185.5 x 154cm

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Tunnel VIII: Studio Study III 2013 Paint on wood 29.5 x 37cm Tunnel VIII: Studio Study IV 2013 Paint on wood 27 x 34.5cm Black Subjects: Interior IX 2013 Paint on wood 53 x 51cm

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Silence: Studio Study V 2013 Paint on wood 72 x 48cm Tunnel VIII: Studio Study I 2013 Paint on wood 37.5 x 32cm Tunnel VIII: Studio Study II 2013 Paint on wood 32 x 37.5cm Overleaf Silence: Studio Study VIII 2013 Paint on wood 53 x 43.5cm Silence: Studio Study VII 2013 Paint on wood 72.5 x 48cm Silence: Studio Study VI 2013 Paint on wood 64 x 44.5cm Fragile Cargo: Studio Study I 2013 Paint on wood 33.4 x 38.5cm

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Kemang Wa Lehulere

A Homeless Song (Sleep is for the Gifted) 2013 Digital video Duration 31 min 26 sec Edition of 4 + 1AP Choreographed in collaboration with Khayelihle Dominique Gumede

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