9 SEPTEMBER – 9 OCTOBER
Opens 6:30 PM Thursday 9 September 2010
insideout is a furniture and product exhibition that crosses the threshold between
what goes in and what goes out.
INSIDEOUT • JOE PAINE
THE BLACK PRESIDENT • KUDZANAI CHIURAI
ONE NIGHT ONLY.
FRIDAY 3 SEPTEMBER. 6pm. CO-OP.
The Black President is Volume 2 of Kudzanai Chiurai’s magazine series titled LINES.
The magazine features contributions by avant car guard / blatch / bongani madondo / charles nhamo rupare / chris saunders / emory douglas / dylan lloyd / faith47 / givan lötz / jclanquetin / judd van rensburg & des tak / khaya sibiya / lamelle shaw / lisa-anne julien / m18j92t / masello motana / meres-sia gabriel / mkay & sanele xolo / mphutlane wa bofelo / neo rakgajane / paul miller / smiso zwane / zac ‘host’ modirapula / xander ferreira
This publication was made possible by GOODMAN GALLERY
Catch the last day of Greener on the Other Side, Chuirai’s third poster series in collaboration with Dokter and Misses. The show explores the franchise of democracy.
“The franchise is open for business, but can you afford the product?
Many have had to come to accept that they are simply window-shoppers.”
GREENER ON THE OTHER SIDE • KUDZANAI CHIURAI
9 JULY - 5 SEPTEMBER
Opens 6:30 PM Friday 9 July 2010
Greener on the Other Side is Kudzanai Chuirai’s third poster series in
collaboration with Dokter and Misses.
The show explores the franchise of democracy.
The franchise is open for business, but can you afford the product?
Many have had to come to accept that they are simply window-shoppers.
This show will run until 7 August
BIOGRAPHY
Born in 1981 in Zimbabwe, Kudzanai Chiurai is an internationally acclaimed young artist now living and working in South Africa. He was the first black student to graduate with a BA (Fine Art) from the University of Pretoria. Regarded as part of the “born free” generation in Zimbabwe because he was born one year after the country’s independence from Rhodesia, Chiurai’s early work focused on the political, economic and social strife in his homeland. Seminal works like Presidential Wallpaper depicted Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe as a sell-out and led to Chiurai’s exile from Zimbabwe.
Chiurai’s large mixed media works now tackle some of the most pertinent issues facing Southern Africa such as xenophobia, displacement and black empowerment. His paintings confront viewers with the psychological and physical experience of inner-city johannesburg, the continent’s most cosmopolitan melting pot where thousands of exiles, refugees and asylum-seekers battle for survival alongside the never-ending swell of newly urbanized South Africans. The actuality of these environs is reinforced by Chiurai’s use of photographic transfer. Boldly stenciled figures and anonymous text provide running commentary, leading viewers on a journey through his intricately painted turn-of-the century buildings, bustling streets and congested transit systems.
His latest sell-out exhibition Graceland offered striking commentary on issues related to black economic empowerment and inner-city rejuvenation in South Africa. From his home/studio located in one of Johannesburg’s most notorious crime hotspots (now earmarked as a rejuvenation zone), Chiurai produced a body of work that featured buildings, residents and signage seen from his own balcony. And while stereotypical benchmarks of urban development, such as the new BMW-driving suburban black elite, were challenged and often ridiculed, a subtle yet powerful ray of hope and progress also emerged. Works like since 1900 and fela heralded the perseverance and longevity of ‘mom and pop’ neighborhood businesses and indigenous african icons. Chiurai offered a deeply personal glimpse of his version of ‘graceland’ and signaled a fresh direction for future works.
PREVIOUS POSTER SERIES
The Black President and One Vote
COMEBACK BOYS • MICHAEL TAYLOR
Comeback boys is an exhibition of miniature portraits of imaginary men and invented idols. An ensemble of fictional, yet quintessential, heroes, icons, alter egos, and assorted gentlemen. The young men in these images represent the cast from a stereotypical tragicomedy – which in this case is, the legend of the modern man.
These character sketches serve as a sort of regimen for the artist, a catalogue of actors who form part of Taylor’s picture lexicon, and every so often make an appearance his work. In Comeback boys they are portrayed in intimate, miniature works on paper, suggesting a kind of specimen of contemporary, masculine identities.
In the process of selecting works for the show, Taylor draws together the variety of mediums he investigates when working on paper, ranging from simple pencil sketches to monotype prints, the show looks at how different drawing mediums inform the characterisation of the male subjects.
Michale Taylor Michael is a South African artist who was born in 1979 and grew up in Johannesburg. He attained his MA in Visual Art in 2006 (Cum Laude) and has been working as a professional artist since then. He also holds a part-time lecturing post at Stellenbosch Academy of Design and Photography, teaching Illustration and Design Discourse. Michael lives and works in Cape Town. This is his debut exhibition at CO-OP.
