Group curated by Julia Meintjes
Image by Corné du Plessis
I like the way in which these works connect on a non-pictorial level. Mongezi Ncaphayi’s watery lithograph Les formes des choses a venir (The form of things to come) resonates with Richard Penn’s Globe/bird/nightstalker. In both we have to find our own stories while pausing enough to learn about the artist’s. Even knowing that Penn’s masterful drawing evolved out of his mapping of the land-masses of the globe on the one side, and the oceans on the other, the ‘creatures’ he created in the process capture our imaginations. They appear to float and alter in black space, becoming magical beings we could stroke. For some eyes the link may be tenuous; for mine, Verster’s veiled hands emphasise the wonder of touch. And Minne Fry opens her window to a dreamy night view onto reflections on the River Thames – but the painting is so abstract that you can float into its deep blues as if enveloped in a piece of beautiful music. Looking quietly at these works, with the still-faced Mende mask, from Sierra Leone, and Annie Nicholson’s earthy vessels, we can appreciate that artists are not driven by solely representing scenes/subjects, but, using Richard Penn’s words, have a “fascination with the stories of other worlds and other realities, as revealed by humankind’s ongoing scientific discovery and our nascent journey into the cosmos.” (From his Nov 2015 exhibition)
There was February… and then, October! At JMFA we have missed our usual (pre–COVID) pace of putting works together to rub shoulders with one another. One of the most fulfilling aspects of our consultancy is telling stories and encouraging conversations by looking at art. We choose works which relate to the people who live with them, and support artists in whom we believe.
And so, in our bid to put us all in a positive place in the surreal year that is 2020 and bring you some stories, we have made our own groups:
- 8 groups of 8 works which we will release on our website, week by week, every Monday, for 8 weeks
- hung and photographed in friendly spaces to give you a sense of scale
- for the release week only, if you buy 2 or more, you will pay 8% less on the total cost of the works. You can, of course, purchase only one but you will be missing out on the discount.
Don’t hesitate to get in touch with us to enquire about the condition or to arrange to view the works at either our Cape Town or Johannesburg studio, depending on where they (and you!) are.