Nothing

Most often, art does nothing for me. I'll search for who it might be aimed at and who might purchase it, but ultimately art is a gut reaction, a stirring of an emotion that says: Ah! Now this, this I like! In turn, what I like might not be liked at all by others. Or one might admire the craftmanship but not the subject matter. Art is a fickle, intangible response by the self to what it experiences when looking at/touching a 2D image or 3D object.

This week I went to two exhibits, and the first one was rather disappointing. It was titled Metro Musings and held at the University of Pretoria's Rautenbach Hall on Monday evening. I randomly saw an invite on FB and decided to attend. It was rather disappointing because most of the works were by fine arts lecturers, and it didn't seem all that cool. Maybe my eye just needs better training.

The sun going down on my way to the exhibit.

Diane Victor - Vagrants from the circle (Panel 1), 2013

Diane Victor - Vagrants from the circle (Panel 2), 2013

Diane Victor - Vagrants from the circle (Panel 3), 2013

Elfriede Dreyer - Ship of Fools I, 2012

Frikkie Eksteen - Detail from Blindfold - South, 2013

Frikkie Eksteen - Blindfold - East, 2013

Pieter Swanepoel - Whitewash, 2013

Magdel van Rooyen - Concrete Conversations, 2010

Magdel van Rooyen - Detail from Concrete Conversations, 2010

Leana van der Merwe - Untitled II, 2013

Swift Transitions 2

The 4th year Fine Arts students have to host an exhibition at the end of their final year. Last year, they were divided into three groups with different themes, and my friend Delène Human exhibited her ark. The other works are also by last year's group, but I cannot find the name of the artists.

Delène Human

This year, there were onyl two groups and both exhibited under the title Swift Transitions at the Pretoria Art Museum. If you are interested, this exhibition still runs for I think 2 weeks, so you can check it out. It costs something ridiculous like R5. 

Museum Hours: Tuesdays to Sundays 10:00-17:00
Closed on Mondays and Public Holidays

The first group was very disappointing and my friend and I were standing there, wine-less, not understanding anything and not even being treated to a pretty sight. I know art is not just something pretty ( yay for 3 years of art history) and that the status and definition of what constitutes art is constantly being questioned, but often I can not understand a work and still see something appealing in it. Sometimes, you can look at a work and inexplicably like it. In 2004 I went to Germany to visit my dad and travel with a friend. In Berlin, the MoMA was hosting an exhibition and we went. On a laptop screen Jackson Pollock's stuff just looks like a toddler had fun with paint and canvas, but up close, the works are immense and somehow suck you in. You can stand and look at it for hours without needing an explanation or looking for understanding, merely content in looking at paint on canvas.

So in comparison to the first Swift Transitions, Part II was greatly enjoyable. The work was interesting, there was wine and it didn't feel like a wasted evening.
Here are images of some of the works:

Ann-Marie Bothma, Reaction Ovservations ( video)

Stephanie Geral, Ambivalent Subject Matter 1

Lelani Nicolaisen, Hysteria

Herman le Roux, Number 5

Stephanie Geral, Connections 3

Leana van der Merwe, Baby's First Three Months ( out of nappies, earbuds, lace, wipes, breast pads..)

Leana van der Merwe, Surge

Leana van der Merwe, Surge (detail)

Christiaan Harris

Christiaan Harris

Christiaan Harris

I liked Leana van der Merwe's stuff because it is made out of ear buds and diapers and still looks very cool. Also, Christiaan Harris staged his photographs in Three Acts, and the last act is shot in 3D, so to look at the images one had to put on some 3D glasses. I thought that was cool because no one looks good wearing 3D glasses and yet everyone did it. Art :1, Superficiality:0.