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On the occasion of Stanley Pinker's 80th birthday Michael Stevenson
hosts an exhibition of works from the artist's private collection. Launched at the same time, the first monograph published on the artist provides a comprehensive
overview of Pinker's work from the early 1950s through to the late 1990s.
Pinker negotiated the angst-ridden landscape of apartheid South Africa through the use of humour, metaphor and subversive allusion which set him apart from many artists working at this time when overt reference to the political situation was common practise. The struggle is everywhere to be seen in his paintings of the 1970s and 1980s yet they are not easily classified as 'struggle art' focused on socio-political issues. Pinker engages with the characters and contradictions of South African life as well as with the history of European easel painting. He uses a visual vocabulary which is unequivocally South African to explore issues of colonialism and capitalism. Pinker achieved acclaim through a retrospective organised by the King George VI Gallery in Port Elizabeth in the mid 80s and won the gold medal at the first Triennale in 1985. Although his work is included in numerous public and private collections he has exhibited infrequently since then. Pinker was awarded the Molteno Medal in 2001 in acknowledgement of a lifetime devoted to painting. To view the essay and interview with Michael Stevenson from the book launched at the exhibition opening click here.
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