co-op joburg

CO-OP is pleased to present Rowan Smith’s newest body of work, recently launched at Whatiftheworld / Gallery in Cape Town. This will be the Artist’s first solo exhibition in Johannesburg, and will include new works produced specifically for CO-OP, as well as the catalogue launch and Artist walk-about. Please join us for the opening reception on Wednesday, 11 November 2009, featuring a specially commissioned performance by Joao Orecchia.

Rowan Smith’s second solo exhibition, If You Get Far Enough Away You’ll Be On Your Way Back Home, considers the effect that space flight and expansion has had, and continues to have, on the public imagination. His work reminds us that it was not the close-up view of the surface of the moon that was the pivotal moment of space exploration, but rather the distant view of the earth, as small, whole and distant, that has left its mark on the human psyche.

Although almost entirely devoid of the expected iconography of space travel, Smith’s latest body of work offers us a view of what space travel has meant for humankind, articulating the gaps between past and a projected future, earth and the moon, then and now; and reminding us of everything that we have had to leave behind as we venture onward towards a brave new world.

A lonely, though beautiful and thought provoking exhibition, If You Get Far Enough Away You’ll Be On Your Way Back Home is a fitting and worthy sequel to Smith’s highly successful debut, Future Shock Lost. Click here for more info

About Rowan Smith

Born in 1983 in Cape Town, South Africa. Smith completed his BA in Fine Art at the Michaelis School of Fine Art in 2007, with a body of work for which he was awarded the Michealis Prize for top graduate. He has appeared in a number of group exhibitions, most recently Objects of the Revolution presented by Dominique Fiat Galerie in Paris. In 2008, Smith presented his debut solo show, Future Shock Lost at Whatiftheworld to both critical and public acclaim; with the artist being hailed as one of the country’s ‘Bright Young Things’ in the continent’s leading art publication Art South Africa Magazine. The artist’s work is also included in the prestigious Hollard Collection in Johannesburg. Click here for more info about Rowan Smith

Installation View (Whatiftheworld / Gallery, Cape Town)



Detail of ‘1/2000th-of-a-supernova, Camera flashes, timer circuitry, Dimensions variable



‘Waiting for the Moon Landing,’ Found portable radios, Dimensions variable



‘Space Age Pop,’ Bronze, 46 x 40 x 30 cm, Edition of 3 + 1 AP



Detail of ‘Intercommunication,’ Cane, sapele, imbuia, walnut jelutong and acrylic on board, Dimensions variable


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‘384,403 Kilometers, Moondust simulant,* brass plate, Perspex, 32 x 32 x 16 cm
* The Moondust was acquired from the Calgary Space Workers Society, a research and development organization based in Canada focused around the sustainability of life on the Moon. The Moondust was made on earth but bears a chemical composition based on the moondust samples brought back from the Apollo 11 landing.



‘Things Fall Down, People Look Up,’ NWA 869 Chondrite meteorite, 24 x 40 x 12 cm



‘Going Back to Houston,’ Theremin, 142 x 42 x 20 cm