Miss Thandi Bites Back

Have you ever read such tosh in your life

2007-04-19T23:37:00.000+02:00

Yes, I know I haven't blogged for a month. So shoot me. Artheat's been interesting again, so like a good old slut enjoyed spending my late nights penning (mostly anon.) barbs about Kendell. But back to the prompt for this blog. Now I don't often comment on shit in my own back yard, but this stinker of an exhibition is on down the road:

Nel-Scheffer’s humour, although witty and tongue in cheek, is also very dark. The man she uses has no expression. He seems oblivious of all that is happening to his head. The idea of unzipping a head brings up images of craniotomy (brain surgery) or a Hannibal Lector type scenario, but Zonia shifts your focus to the one-liners that make you laugh instead. What makes this exhibition exciting is the humour which both these artists employ. Of Headspaces, Pfaff says “I am trying to close the circle, homing in what matters in my head…Grey matter anti matter and mad hatters…Years ago my exhibitions consisted of legs detached from the body…”. And indeed he has found his head, in fact many heads, in this show. They all deal with what Pfaff has seen in his head while he dreams and the idea of thoughts themselves. When asked about the work “Not straight from the.heart” which shows a female head with a spiral forming in her head, Pfaff merely says “haven’t you ever heard of a circling thought?” This wonderful simplicity of both concept and inception is what makes Pfaff’s work enchanting. As this exhibition is on for only another week, we wouldn’t like you to miss the opportunity to add something fun to your own collection or that of a client’s.

Artspace fine art gallery
3 Hetty Ave, Fairland
011 678 1206 (t)
0866 498551 (f)

For your delectation, a lovely head shot of the crime under discussion in this delightful essay. And yes, the image in this post is by one of the artists so lovingly quoted.

My Favourite White Boys

2007-03-14T09:11:00.000+02:00

You heard it from me III

2007-03-05T22:57:00.000+02:00

I finally managed to get my hands on a picture of Robert Sloon. Here's to you Bob.

Driving over Miss Daisy

2007-03-05T22:30:00.000+02:00

I almost crashed my rental into this billboard at the exit of Cape Town International, minutes after I picked it up and rushing to Design Indaba (another story, another time) two weeks ago. Why is this lonely, poor, disempowered black woman sitting on the side of the road, with a bus full of rich foreigners looking at her? Are they game viewing? Are they about to flatten her with the bus? Is she trying to catch a lift?

Could someone please give the SABC a couple of lessons in visual literacy?!? How long will it take us to understand the basic politics of representation? I'll post them "Ways of Seeing", the fucking idiots.

Long Time Been Away

2007-03-05T21:55:00.000+02:00

To all you bitches who wondered where I've been - some people work for a living, and do not live off their parents... I've been wanting to post some thoughts, but just could not get to it.

Big news at the moment is that the Dokolo connection and Venice is cooking up a fuss. Dodgy business people and the visual arts makes such a potent combination. I can just hear all those white liberals making a fuss about the Congolese blood money funding the most important collection of contemporary African art, and how terrible it is. I can just hear Marilyn Martin feigning exasperation and upset. I can just see in my minds eye Sue Williamson having a shudder of contempt.

For those not in the know, www.artnet.com (and artheat subsequently) carried a story linking the collapse of the Congo and plunder of local resources with the financial backer of Fernando Alvim's latest scams, the Luanda Triennale, and the Africa showcase at the Veniece Biennale.

But not so long ago, many of those adding their five cents worth to Afro pessimism, stood in the queue when fat slob Kebble doled out the dosh. Now that was blood money...

You heard it from me II

2007-03-05T21:44:00.000+02:00

Just received the news from a reliable source that my brother Nathi Gumede resigned from that colonial cesspool, the former Natal Society of Arts. Shocking. Now did he jump or was he pushed? Barely 12 months in the position of curator. Gumede apparently follows an exodus of young committee members from the organisation. Sies. It smells funny to me...

Quotes of the Week

2007-02-16T23:00:00.000+02:00

Image by Joyce Ntobe (Beezy Bailey's alter ego), "Lavender House", 2007.

"I have always thought shacks are beautiful, and I know people are suffering, and it's not easy living in them, but I can't help it, they're beautiful and colourful," he says".
- (Said the man living in a mansion in Cape Town)

"Ntobi's (sic) work is both artistically challenging and a commentary on the cliched way that black people are 'meant' to express themselves, says Bailey."
- (Said the white man, who knows best how black people should express themselves)

"Joyce Ntobi (sic) has been Bailey's way of expressing his strong feelings about political correctness, 'the new facism', and the blatantly racist affirmative action."
- (Said the marginalised, white, straight, poor little rich man, who doesn't need a day job, and who got a black woman to do the dirty work)

"But politics still rules the art world, and the National Gallery still focuses on black artists, he says".
- (Said the man whose family fortune was generated on the back of black people's lives, struggle, and narratives)

"The art world he describes as a snake pit, with a lot of jealousy and backstabbing."
- (I'm speechless - how true. This one I can only agree with)

Quoted from "Bailey breezes back - in two guises", Cape Argus, 16 February 2007, pg 15.

The First Miss Thandi Award for Inspired Art Writing

2007-02-16T12:04:00.000+02:00

I've been rapped over the knuckles a couple of times for my use of the English language. So I decided to honour those who, like me, mangle the language of the oppressors. I found this nugget on the KZNSA website. May the author come forward and claim the prize...

KZNSA Gallery proudly presents Hobby Heroes. It is an exhibition by the South African artist Luan Nel. He is currently based and working in Johannesburg, South Africa. Luan graduated with a BA Fine Arts degree in 1993 from the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. In 1998 and 1999 he participated in a residency program at the prestigiousRijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam, and in a research residency program at the Dutch Institute in Rome.

The whole body of work stems from dioramas, which will play an important role in the exhibition. These are like miniature worlds created by using the model train set figurines so beloved by the train set hobbyists. The choice of material is deliberate. It speaks of control, escape, obsession and secrecy. Exploring all these aspects in relation to the construction of the male identity.

This is done largely through taking the figures out of their original context and exploring new narratives, often personal. Another experiment is to play with scale. This is a recent addition to the body of work. The inherent tension between the viewer and the miniatures gets turned upside down. Suddenly we are small.

Power shifts.

Luan will be presenting this body of work for the first time to the Durban and KwaZulu Natal audience

You heard it from me

2007-02-15T16:17:00.000+02:00

Finally the infighting ended (or is it starting?). They selected the AFRICA show for Venice. I am so excited. Another reason to travel to Europe this winter! To see Africa.

Africa at the Biennale di Venezia: the Check List exhibition selected to represent African contemporary art.

The panel of experts invited by Director Robert Storr has selected the exhibition Check List to represent African contemporary art in the Artiglierie space of the Arsenale. The jury consisted of Meskerem Assegued, Ekow Eshun, Lyle Ashton Harris, Kellie Jones and Bisi Silva. The winning project will be curated by Fernando Alvim and Simon Njam (sic), and will be drawn from works in the Sindika Dokolo African Collection of Contemporary Art (Luanda, Angola).

The 52nd International Art Exhibition (running from June 10 to November 21, 2007) will host in the core of its international section a special area dedicated to AFRICA. The main purpose of the project, which will be seen in spaces made available to it by the Biennale in the Arsenale Artiglierie, is to present an informed and distinctive perspective on current art from Africa and the African Diaspora. In making their selection, the jury not only praised the project's curatorial strengths and those of the Sindika Dokolo Collection overall, but sought to draw attention to the Sindika Dokolo initiative as a signal undertaking within the context of art patronage in Africa generally.

The Sindika Dokolo African Collection of Contemporary Art was created in Luanda (Angola) in 2004 by the Congolese businessman and art collector Sindika Dokolo, together with the Angolan artist Fernando Alvim. The Collection's aim is to promote the knowledge of the contemporary art scene throughout the African continent. The Sindika Dokolo Collection is comprised of 500 works by 140 artists from 28 different nations. Every year about 100 works are purchased in order to update and improve its holdings.

A beautifull day in paradise

2007-02-14T21:05:00.000+02:00

Oh dear. I did not think it will happen so soon. Robert Sloon from Art Heat checked in. I am really flattered. It usually takes much longer for a black woman to be noticed. But I don't want you all to think that I've got a chip on my shoulder.

Talking about having a chip on the shoulder, I am really intrigued by Beezy Bailey's latest antics. He resurrected Joyce Ntobe for a show at Everard Read. How nineties. A chronic star fucker and the maid. A double feature show. A white trust fund brat and a silent black woman. A match made in BEE heaven. He paints indulgent 'dreamscapes' with quirky, rubbery figures floating head over heels and she paints dirty townships and shacks. My god it makes my stomach hurt.

Different sides of the same coin? Hell no. For those of you who don't know, Bailey invented Ntobe long long ago to make a point about political correct selection criteria and the National Gallery. He submitted work under his own name and under the pseudonym Joyce Ntobe - "Ntobe's" were selected and "his" rejected. Perhaps he's never lived it down. That a black woman, albeit imaginary and of his own creation, could be worth more than him, with his mountainside villa and pop star friend.

So now she's back. In what capacity remains to be seen. Pop in at the opening tomorrow night (15 Feb) at the Everard Read in Cape Town. I wont be there.

Miss Thandi

documenta sucks

2007-02-10T23:25:00.000+02:00

I am soooo relieved. No one is above sacrificing their principles for a freebie, and local contemporary art events are not alone sucking the tits of that bitch, Strategic Corporate Sponsorship (SCS) and her evil twin Return on Investment (ROI). I am referring to the documenta team accepting a fleet of lovely Saabs to zoot around a crappy town in the centre of

Germany

when they venture down to earth. Eish.

A media release from the documenta press team announcing this momentous occasion in the contemporary art world, landed in my inbox this afternoon, and prompted the creation of this blog. Well, partially. The other nudge was my initial enjoyment in contributing to Art Heat, which unfortunately turned out to be the rubbish bin and puke pit of young white, Cape Town artists. Realising that most contributions to the site came from sheltered and inarticulate 1st year male art students, with an unhealthy fixation with the ungainly Ed Young, I increasingly became keen to explore other content. And so Miss Thandi bites back.

Back to the Saab story. It is absolutely fine to accept contributions to projects from large multi-nationals, but the increasing pressure from demanding corporate bosses and their PR companies for bang for their buck (or ROI), saw the documenta team humiliated last Wednesday in front of a motley crew of car reps and art journalists (see pictures).

It is further illustrated in the nauseating and rather pathetic drivel of the release. States a Saab spokesperson: "The presentation of these vehicles heralds the start for all those associated with the documenta... With our individual, sporty and environmentally compatible cars, the documenta team can now set off on the home stretch of opening this year's exhibition. Embossed with the distinctive documenta logo, the models are really eye-catching."

Desperately trying to elevate the car to a work of contemporary art, the copywriter breathlessly continues to describe how documenta director Roger M. Buergel "draws a poetic image to describe the combination of color and form in his new company car" and quotes Buergel with "Real coolness comes from within: on the outside, my car shows the formal elegance and effortlessness of a white cloud." The curator god turns his magic to wheels. He also "happens to hit the current color trend of premium class vehicles" in his shiny new convertible, pointing out what we all know - white rules in Europe.

An upcoming talk by Mr. Buergel titled "Migration of Form" is scheduled for Valentines day, and the documenta website informs us that he thinks that “An exhibition such as the documenta needs to tread a kind of path. To put it quite simply, there are things – artistic forms and juxtapositions – which have to be placed in relation to each other so that the audience doesn’t stand totally flummoxed before a new work. The 'Migration of Form' intends to offer this path." The irony. It will certainly be a smoother ride down the dumbing down chute in the new Saab.

And so I go to bed tonight with peace in my mind that at least on the Southern most tip of Africa the local moral regeneration project is on track. Here at home those in power go to jail for accepting free cars...

Sweet dreams my darlings,

Miss Thandi.