Paul Emmanuel Substance of Shadows at University of Johannesburg Art Gallery until 2nd October

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Substance of Shadows Aesop’s aphorism “Beware that you do not lose the substance by grasping at the shadow’ is subverted by Emmanuel in the title of his latest exhibition “Substance of Shadows’’, a culmination of 6 years work.  Using the material of carbon ‘paper’, Emmanuel’s time-consuming, detailed, painstaking technique; consummate skill; and deeply personal and […]

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A gem of a read

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Cry the Beloved Country.  What do we do in times like this? Watch the news to keep abreast?  Weep for those small businesses and informal traders who have lost everything; for all those who will lose their jobs; for the further disruption of the vaccine roll-out; for the possible shortage of oxygen, essential medications, and […]

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Underground tunnels in Central Jozi

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Jeppe Street Post Office 1935 While writing my last post on Art Deco in Johannebsurg, I came across photos in my archive of the Jeppe Street Post Office. Three years ago Laurice Taitz of Johannebsurg In Your Pocket together with JDA and Africa Housing Company [AFCHO] arranged a tour of this 1935 Public Works building.   […]

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Art Deco in Johannesburg

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Buildings competing for Numero Uno  Like many born and bred Jozi-ites I have seen many iterations of this mad brash vibrant city, not least of all the Sandton sky-line.  Glinting glass phalluses compete for attention a la Donkey-of-Shrek fame in a persistent “Choose Me! Choose Me!”.  The bigger, the taller, the more expensive, the more […]

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Jozi suburban street life

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Some things are very South African, in fact probably very Joburg. The cry of the mielie-seller with her trolley, the leather worker on his wonky chair with his pile of shoes and sundry items, single sweets and fruit laid out on a sloping makeshift table at the corner vendor, waste pickers with their massive load […]

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Paul Emmanuel’s Men and Monuments

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Men and Monuments was on show for over a year at the Wits Art Museum  Sadly this post is really a case of “closing the door after the horse has bolted” (in a manner of speaking) … or, put another way, “too little too late”.  I am ashamed to say that Emmanuel’s exhibition at Wits […]

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Folly, Frailty and Fear: Diane Victor’s Solo Show at the University of Johannesburg until 19th May

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This is not flattery “Flattery”: excessive and insincere praise, given especially to further one’s own interests. Diane Victor brushes off gratuitous positive feedback. Flattery as a human failing is a strong theme in this solo exhibition. In an interview Victor talked about the vain stupidity of contemporary society in terms of “the infatuation that seems […]

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