Winter Sale 1 - 9 August 2017

Winter Sale

1 August – 9 August

It is what it is. A sale in winter in Durban.

Lara Mellon, Grace Kotze, Melody French....and more.

“You don’t have to speak” by Grace Kotze and Melody French Opening Monday, 21 September at 6/6:30p.m.

“You don’t have to speak” is an exhibition showcasing new paintings by Melody French and Grace Kotze.  Looking at the work in broad terms, it describes why both French and Kotze choose visual arts as their means of communication and not words. Neither artist feels the need to “spell out” the meaning of their emotions. French’s atmospheric landscapes and Kotze’s portraits and life observations describe the artist internal state yet the viewers are given space for their own interpretations.

 

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 Grace Kotze’s thoughts on her work:

Painting is the way I celebrate life, gain understanding and find stability. Yet under the pressure of needing to make money from sales I constantly double guess my decisions. This is the part of the process that causes me great anxiety, as there are often times where I question whether I am making authentic decisions or making compromises in order to please the market place. This exhibition is a modest yet very important one for me where I am giving myself the gift of acknowledging the importance of my eyes in the process. “You don't have to speak” acknowledges my acceptance of my need to be confident in my vision.

For me it’s a show where I don't over explain with grand visual declarations but rather paint small exploratory works describing some of the people and places that life introduces into my being.

Melody French describes her work: 

“You don’t have to speak” is to me, exactly as the statement implies. Sometimes things feel over described, and over stated.

So In the quietness of a brush mark I can enjoy the feeling it gives me, or enjoy how I feel when I am in my creative emotional space quietly and internally.

Without having to emphasize with words what I am doing, feeling or why.

There is an infinite amount to be felt when ‘its’ not always said, sometimes words seem to solid and definite, sometimes I like that, but that’s not what this is about.

I would rather my work be looked at without a statement. To feel it for you, no matter what those feelings are.

Closing on Saturday, 10 October at 2p.m.

"looking FORward: our lives in 2034" at the Durban Art Gallery 5 August - September 14

Natal Arts Trust

DAG invite

Thami Jali satellite dish.  To see more works click on the tab: Artworks Available.

Gallery 4 at the Durban Art Gallery

"Exhale"

“Exhale”

Curated by: Grace Kotze

26 May – 14 June 2014

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Unthinkingly artists are hemmed in by the way we see, feel and create. The external voices of cultural norms, the need to make money, ethical judgments, relationships, and academic judgment etc. so often sneak into the creative realm. Thus clipping one’s authentic exploratory intentions and obscuring ones vision. Being an artist is one of the most romanticised professions where the creative process is viewed as a relaxed and easy flowing process. The intensity involved in the learning, refining and developing of one’s craft is vastly taxing and time consuming especially with the battle against external voices and how to placate them in ones journey as an artist.  

The shows intentions are to prompt artists to take a deep breath reassess what the process of making art means to their true intentions, and then work from that place. Exhale examines this through printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, and painting. The invited artists are Suraya Tewary, Deidre Maree, Louise Jennings, Jane Oliver, Jeannie Kinsler, Vulindlela Nyoni, Darren van der Merwe, Marlene de Beer, Chris de Beer, Kristin Hua Yang, Sarah Lovejoy, Elizabeth Balcomb, Peter Rippon, Grace Kotze, Sarah Richards, Kim Goodwin and Jackie Freer.

To “Exhale” means very different things to each individual and vary during the individuals creative journey. For some the journey may lead to a break from the academia and time to play or reinvent a more commercial style. Other artists found themselves exploring new materials or subjects while others worked in partnership with others or academic processes. 

While attempting to ‘exhale’, many of the artists find the process of connecting to a freedom and shift in perceptions anything but exhaling but rather another type of toiling. One that produced many struggles in order to inhabit a space, were it is easy to breathe personal concerns. “Exhale” is a show about letting go of an area that became stifling that so often happens when one is faced with the multifaceted world of the fine artists. 

Sarah Lovejoy sculptures and Kristin Hua Yang paintings

“Gather” a collection of artists

In the Main Gallery:

“Gather” a collection of artists

24 March - 12 April 2014

This exhibition presents a group of artists, facilitated by Grace Kotze, who choose to paint together and exhibit as a collective. “Gather” represents a cross section of creative spirits, from beginners to exhibiting artists who enjoy the experience of learning and growing through the process of a collective exploratory experience. 

The exhibitors display a very strong sense of “self” within the group, which describes the many personal journeys each artist pursues. Such individual identity presents an exhibition of great diversity.

This show is a celebration of the creative nature of the human spirit and the will to reach for more than what the structure of the day-to-day presents. Artists vary in age from teenager to retiree yet all possess the same will to explore create.

Participating artists: Yasmin Khan, Ingrid Adams, Patricia Lategan, Michelle Offerman, Gil Sevel, Julie Mayo, Val Fields, Shirley Yell, Alex Coutts, Suraya Tewary, Deidre Maree, Anne Reardon, Pippa Styles and Megan Bonnetard.

“Grace Kotze: 13 Years of Painting: 2000 – 2013”

artSPACE durban is proud to present “Grace Kotze: 13 Years of Painting: 2000 – 2013”, a solo exhibition of paintings by KZN artist Grace Kotze (b.1968). Featuring a selection of paintings from landscapes to human forms spanning 13 years.

Artist’s Statement:

I have had the good fortune of the generous invitation to exhibit at artSPACE durban showcasing a body of work representative of my career as an artist thus far. Such a show has opened my eyes to a deeper understanding of the importance of standing back to view one’s journey.  Through the pre-show preparations I have been able to view each work within the context of a whole. This has highlighted the creative process, the passing of time and the importance of the artists realising their independence to the power of the creative process.

Such an attitude takes away the urgency and preciousness of producing a single work and instills an awareness of how a work is purely a vehicle to bridge the gap to the next and hopeful along the way gain a flicker of understanding into one’s present. The anxieties of resolving a single work are reduced and one can relax into the process and knowing that if produced with authenticity and gathered knowledge it will echo one’s state of mind regardless of what direction one wishes to force it to follow. This exhibition highlights some of those “Ah Ha!” moments one has an artist when one is able to accept that the canvas is there to both own as one’s own story yet accept that the scribe is the process and it’s voice needs to be honoured if work of any value is to be produced.

“13 Years of Painting: 2000 – 2013” is about lessons learnt, the most important one is realising that there is so much to be learnt and that each work should be approached from this stance where there are no predetermined outcomes as each work is the next step into the unknown. Unfortunately this is not always the case in my work due to the practical demands of a career artist but a sentiment I strive to honour.

I am sure as an outsider it is not apparent but the exhibition feels like I am about to read a very personal diary out loud. Rather a daunting thought for me! Yet this should have been very obvious to me when I initially started curating the show as my journey of making art is a very personal one, a visual journal that speaks of not only my state of mind at the time of each work but my chosen collected history that determines my future direction.  Through the alchemy of paint I rifle through my emotions in order to make sense of my world. Painting is my means of navigating my path and standing steady, it’s crucial to who I am.

Although such an integral part of my life it has not always been a constant.  After graduating from Technikon Natal (currently Durban University of Technology) in 1990, I exhibited very sparingly until 2005 when I committed to the process of art making. I had my first solo show in 2000 and was so shattered by the public exposure that I withdrew for five years. Yet I felt it important to include this exhibition in “13 Years of Painting: 2000 – 2013” as it planted very important seeds that lay dormant until I saw my first Turner  painting in the “flesh” in 2004. The five-year break from 2000 to 2005 was also a time of maturing, where I discarded large chunks of the creative-stunting monster: the ego, while learning the ever-valuable trade of mural painting.

Although I had been an incredibly hard working student and painted whenever I could afford the time after graduating, it was only until 2005 when I experienced the pure sensual delight in the process. Having the penny drop that applying paint consumed one’s intellect, physical sensors and emotional core, I became totally enthralled.

“13 Years of Painting: 2000 – 2013” illustrates some of the obstacles I hammered through in order to gain deeper understandings of the glorious process of paint. One could also view the show as a celebration into the opening of my eyes and pure delight of the world seen through the eyes of the painting process.

Closing on Saturday, 8 February at 2p.m. 

"Decipher" Grace Kotze, Deidre Maree, and Suraya Tewary 28 October – 16 November

"Decipher" - Grace Kotze, Deidre Maree, and Suraya Tewary

"Decipher" showcases the paintings of Deidre Maree, Suraya Tewary and Grace Kotze. Three artists who share their emotional grappling through the unraveling of paint using subjects such as interiors, rubbish dumps, the human form, rural and urban landscapes.

A common visual and emotional exploration brings these three women together, where each artist approaches painting from the position of a student. Thus allowing the process to dominate rather than depict a predetermined conclusion, resulting in paintings that do not preach of the defined, but question and explore.

A further link is the artist’s love and exploration of paint as a subject. All three women share a delight and curiosity about the language that paint’s properties and application holds. Resulting in the content of some works being more about the language of paint, rather than the illustrative role of a painting.

Ultimately the show portrays three artists’ personal journeys to understand, decipher and interpret using paint as a visual conduit making their individual voices heard.

"Consider China" exhibition opening

"Consider China"

Opened on Monday, April 22 at 6:30p.m.

Opening talk by Kristin Hua Yang, Centre for Visual Art at UKZN

One of the most important changes and developments for Africa is the increased force of China. When we look outside we still mostly look at Europe or the U.S. when these are of dwindling significance.

 We invited a select group of artists to participate in an exhibition titled: “Consider China."  This is our 4th ‘Inspiration’ exhibition where we present the artists with a new theme from which to work and provide them with some inspiration.

In preparation for this exhibition the gallery organized an all day workshop at the COLLECTIVE on March 13th. The workshop included breakfast and with a break for a Chinese lunch.

Dr. Ross Anthony for the Centre of Chinese Studies at Stellenbosch University and Kristin Hua Yang at the Centre for Visual Art at the UKZN Pietermaritzburg campus, presented a comprehensive and diverse picture covering art, social, environmental, financial and political issues of our relationship with China.

 It is an interesting time for Africa and it is good for us, as artists, to investigate what political, social and environmental changes will be happening to the continent.

Bongumenzi Ngobeso

Chun Ming Yang

Diane Victor

Diane Victor

Floris Van Zyl

Annchen Naude

Grace Kotze

Faye Spencer

Louise Jennings

 

“Striking back: Gandhi and the Rebellions of 1913”

Opening talk by Dr. Ashwin Desai

Underhanded politics are not a recent development. Investigating the build-up to the strikes of 1913 involved all South Africans. From white railway workers striking in 1912, white mineworkers withdrawing their labour in 1913, 9,000 black workers striking for 3 days in 1913, and women marching from Johannesburg crossing over the border into Newcastle.

As a lead up to this exhibition the invited artists were involved in a visual presentation about the subject of the 1913 Strike with well-known authors and lecturers Dr. Ashwin Desai and Goolam Vahed.  The artists were also given a synopsis document, by Dr. Ashwin Desai and Goolam Vahed, expounding on the history of these strikes and Gandhi’s role.

This exhibition is intended to commemorate the 100 years since the 1913 strike in South Africa and also to highlight the history of this country and its relevance with politics today. The project will culminate in the publication of a book on the strikes in late 2013.

Some of the participating artists are: Nanda Soobben, Andrew Verster, Grace Kotze, Mhlonishwa Chiliza, Amy-Jean Muller, Nivesh Rawatlal, Rob Domijan, Julie Mayo, Hannah Lurie, Pamela Benporath, Skullboy, Dane Knudsen, Glynn Erasmus, George Holloway, Bongumenzi Ngobese, Karen Bradtke,  Camilla Kinnear, and Modise Tim Motsomi.

Closing 13 April 2013

Nanda Soobben

George Holloway

Mhlo Chiliza

Skullboy

Rob Domijan

21-23 September - Hilton Festival in Grindrod Theatre!

21-23 September -  Hilton Festival in Grindrod Theatre!

Yes!  We will be back at the Hilton Arts Festival again this year!!  We will be showing work under the auspice of the COLLECTIVE.

Come visit us in the Grindrod Theatre foyer come rain or come shine!

"Inspiration 2" 26 March - 14 April 2012

The first Inspiration exhibition held at artSPACE durban found a group of KwaZulu-Natal-based artists meeting at the Durban Art Gallery Archives with the formidable task to find the one artwork that was most inspirational to each of them.  For “Inspiration 2” we invited artists to find inspiration from their surrounding environment, i.e. Durban and it’s surrounds.

A group of KwaZulu-Natal-based artists met on a bus tour with Street Scene Tours to take the group around to Kenneth Stainbank Nature Reserve, Chatsworth to look at the Silverglen Nursery, and Temple of Understanding with lunch at the well known vegetarian restaurant on Wednesday, 23 November from 0930 until 1430 / 1500. 

There were no restrictions as to the interpretations.  A text by the artist will be accompanying the artworks in the gallery space.

Participating artists:

Roz Cryer, Caroline Birch, Jane Oliver, Di van Wyk, Grace Kotze, Coral Spencer, Nomsa Ngidi, Amanda Kok, 

Mbhekeni Derek Mbili, Nicole Pletts, Trui Roozenveld van der Ven, Scott Bredin, Jeannie Kinsler, Pascale Chandler, 

Floris van Zyl, Jackie Freer, Julie Mayo, John Roome, Nirmi Ziegler, Louise Jennings, Celeste Bredin, Marianne Meijer and Andrew Verster.