Excluded during his lifetime from the walls of the South African National Gallery, Vladimir Tretchikoff’s work (he died in 2006 at the age of 92) will receive a full scale retrospective early next year. Cleverly billing the planned show, ‘Tretchikoff: The People’s Painter’ (to sidestep the nickname the artist hated, ‘the king of kitsch’), curator Andrew Lamprecht and SANG director Riason Naidoo launched a fundraising initiative for the show at an event at the Old Townhouse last Thursday. Would-be donors are asked to pledge R50 000 to bring home from the USA Tretchi’s The Chinese Girl, and so on, in a descending range of donations down to the, dare we call them, poinsettia potboilers.
Tretchikoff’s The Chinese Girl
On Saturday, US, the Simon Njami/Bettina Malcomess curated show finished its run at the SANG with an energetic programme of talks and performances. On a screen next to the panelists, messages sent by Bridget Baker from London instructed the audience to nod its head, three times, and repeat the action four times, and a bit later, to turn round and face the artworks. If the audience hardly reacted to these instructions, it could have been that the discussion from panelists Lamprecht, Njami, Malcomess and Jay Pather was so riveting we couldn’t take our eyes from their faces. Or perhaps audiences just don’t like sing along style instructions. But nice idea, Bridget. Donna Kukama had more success with her audience with her furious referee style performance in the quad.
Donna Kukama referees her art audience at the SANG
Marlene Dumas was in Stellenbosch this week for the opening of ‘Mother Nature’ at the Sasol Art Museum, exuding her usual wonderfully warm and earthy vibe. Dinner afterwards was at Lafayette.
Marlene Dumas and Penny Siopis after the opening of ‘Mother Nature’
No comments:
Post a Comment