Natasja Kensmil, Hydra.
CAPE TOWN
22 July – 23 August 2014
STEVENSON presents the first exhibition in a series titled Perspectives, opening up a new aspect of shows at the gallery.
In the 1990s, Michael Stevenson dealt extensively in nineteenth- and twentieth-century South African art until the opening of the gallery in 2003, focusing on contemporary work. Going forward, the gallery will present periodic exhibitions, entitled Perspectives, that offer post-war South African and African works in the context of more recent works by contemporary artists. These exhibitions will be co-ordinated by Darren Levy who is a partner at the gallery. Levy writes:
My interest in contemporary art started as a collector, and predates my partnership in the gallery. Perhaps as a result, my intention is to link the works in these exhibitions through a quiet sensibility, in the way a collector might approach his or her home, rather than a hard curatorial framework. This allows one to discover the works, individually and collectively, at one’s own pace.
I wish to encourage the act of looking and experiencing the art works without any prescriptions. My perspectives as collector, reader and dealer may, or may not, coincide with yours. (If you do wish to understand the artist’s perspective and in some instances learn more about mine, there are art historical contexts for each of the works in the accompanying catalogue). As Wim Botha writes along a similar theme about his works in his new catalogue, Rooms 2001 – 2014, “It’s not that I don’t want to prescribe a meaning; I don’t think I can. I don’t think it’s possible, anymore, to say what these things must mean. The variability and the interchange between objects is so wide, I don’t think I can come to a firm conclusion. I just walk through and see some of these links”.
Albert Adams, Deposition, 1958-1959.
This first Perspectives exhibition is built around the Albert Adams triptych, a seminal work in the history of South African art. One has to remind oneself that it was painted 65 years ago because it resonates so strongly with the works of contemporary artists like Wim Botha and Helen Sebidi. In addition, works by Penny Siopis, Alexis Preller, Berni Searle, Guy Tillim, Natasja Kensmil also allude to a transitional space between life and death as well as experiences that we can feel but may have difficulty explaining.
Berni Searle, from the series ‘Seeking Refuge’.
Wim Botha
Penni Siopis, Blush: Scarlet.
All the artists: courtesy Stevenson Gallery Cape Town.