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Saturday, 20 June 2020

Exhibitions update

With the easing of lockdown in many countries, exhibitions are beginning to be mounted again while online exhibitions are also proliferating. Here is my roundup of exhibitions that have caught my attention:

Unleavened is a show which opened at the Dyman Gallery in Stellenbosch shortly before the Covid-19 lock-down and which has subsequently gone online. Unleavened is organised by 40 Stones, a group committed to curating exhibitions which display the rich connections between art and faith. They suggest that leaven, the agent that causes dough to rise, provides a metaphor through which to view the work of young artists as they explore the presence and impact of culture, gender, politics and religion in their lives today.

Caravan's To Heal The World is an international online artistic reflection on mending the brokenness of our global family. Caravan believe that artists are natural change agents and can lead the way. This exhibition is a visual expression by artists about mending the brokenness of our global family, as well as of their desire to repair our world through art itself. 119 qualifying artwork submissions were received through a global open call, and an independent jury selected 30 artworks for the exhibition.

Impact is a new 3D online art exhibition from Chaiya Art Awards where 60 UK artists explore the impact of Covid 19, around the world, on families, society, health care and beliefs. This curated exhibition features sculpture, painting, drawing, video, photography and mixed media artwork. Artists are giving from 30-100% of sales to designated charities to support those who are vulnerable during this pandemic.

Mitchell Fine Art is presenting a vibrant exhibition from an artist born in the remote centre of Australia in the late 1920’s – Kudditji Kame Kngwarreye. Originally a stockman and a miner, Kudditji Kngwarreye did not start painting until the 1980’s. Utilising bold compositions, Kngwarreye manipulated colour and form in highly emotive depictions of his ancestral homelands in Central Australia. Painting without a predetermined perspective, Kngwarreye’s paintings are visceral and spontaneous and evoke feelings for and connection to country. ‘As an artist he was without inhibition. To compliment the exhibition, Mitchell Fine Art has invited Sydney artist Idris Murphy to curate a response to Kudditji Kngwarreye's paintings through his own work.A renowned Australian artist, Idris Murphy is known for his gestural paintings that depict his intimate awareness and a passionate attachment to the Australian landscape. Idris Murphy continuously refers to inspiration drawn from Aboriginal artists and the holistic experience of the land.

Leaves of Grass at Page Galleries features a selection of works on paper from Max Gimblett’s archive. There is an onslaught of vibrant, riotous colour, pattern, and texture in these works. Great swathes of colour – yellow, purple, pink – inch out to the edge of the paper and beyond. There is a sense of release, freedom. This exhibition borrows its title from a collection of poetry by American poet Walt Whitman (1819–1892). While the first edition of Leaves of Grass was published in 1855, Whitman spent most of his life writing and re-writing the collection. Gimblett himself is constantly revising, revisiting. In these works we see the familiar motif of the quatrefoil, the wheel; subjects Gimblett returns to again and again, each repetition lending new life to their form. And like Whitman, whose poem I Sing the Body Electric exalts the human body and its relation to the soul, Gimblett aligns the mind and body through his practice, drawing on philosophies of Zen Buddhism rather than the traditional western division of mind-body dualism.

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Valerie June - Cosmic Dancer.

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