28 November 2007 - 12 January 2008
Michael Stevenson's 12th annual summer exhibition features major new and recent works from the gallery's artists, many of whom have enjoyed international exposure and critical acclaim in the past year.
This year the gallery expanded its horizons to include artists from beyond South Africa's borders, presenting solo exhibitions by Youssef Nabil (Egypt/USA) and Meschac Gaba (Benin/Netherlands). Nabil, showing hand-coloured photographs, is joined on the season exhibition by Odili Donald Odita (Nigeria/USA), whose large-scale paintings featured on the 52nd Venice Biennale in June. Gaba currently has a solo exhibition at Johannesburg Art Gallery.
Photographic work came to prominence this year, with Berni Searle selected by the Museum of Modern Art in New York for its annual New Photography exhibition. Here Searle shows a new video work, Spirit of '76, commissioned by the Philagrafika initiative in Philadelphia, USA - a meditation on the ebb and flow of history, from the signing of the US Declaration of Independence in 1776 to the student uprisings in Soweto two centuries later.
The summer exhibition showcases new works by David Goldblatt and Guy Tillim, both of whom were included on Documenta 12 in Germany in June, and by Pieter Hugo, this year's Standard Bank Young Artist for visual art who has solo shows scheduled in New York, Rome and Geneva. A new series of portraits of lesbian women by Zanele Muholi is shown for the first time; Muholi is currently included on the prestigious Camera Austria 100th issue exhibition in Graz, Austria.
A major new four-figure bronze sculpture by Doreen Southwood entitled The Dancer is seen here for the first time. The four solid bronze figures, each capturing an aspect of a single movement, appear to defy gravity, positioned around an oval structure. The exhibition also includes new sculptural installations by Wim Botha, Nandipha Mntambo and Nicholas Hlobo; the latter has a solo show as part of the Boston ICA's Momentum programme in July 2008.
A large new painting by Deborah Poynton is on exhibition prior to her solo show in Berlin in 2008. In this overwhelming painting, an older man and woman lie naked in bed contemplating their past and present relationships. The exhibition also includes new paintings by Mustafa Maluka who has just had a successful exhibition in Geneva; works by Conrad Botes and Anton Kannemeyer of Bitterkomix fame; a new print by Claudette Schreuders; a new series of paintings by Tracy Payne; photographs by Athi-Patra Ruga; and, as always, a selection of quirky and irreverent ceramics by Hylton Nel.
 Youssef Nabil Never wanted to leave, self-portrait, Paris, 2007
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 Youssef Nabil My time to go, self-portrait, Venice, 2007
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 Deborah Poynton Untitled Sold
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 Claudette Schreuders The Free Girl Not available
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 Berni Searle Spirit of '76
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 Berni Searle Spirit of '76
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 Berni Searle Spirit of '76
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 Tracy Payne Slow Release Sold
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 Doreen Southwood The Dancer
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 Doreen Southwood The Dancer (detail)
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 Doreen Southwood The Dancer (detail)
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 Nicholas Hlobo Nyathela Sold
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 Nicholas Hlobo Isabhokhwe sama Sold
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 Nicholas Hlobo Fukama Sold
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 Nicholas Hlobo Amaqanda'am Sold
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 Nicholas Hlobo Amaqanda'am (detail)
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 Odili Donald Odita A Third Power Sold
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 Mustafa Maluka No more keeping my feet on the ground Sold
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 Anton Kannemeyer White Nightmare: Black Dicks Sold
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 Anton Kannemeyer White Nightmare: Monument Sold
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 Athi-Patra Ruga Even I Exist in Embo: Jaundiced tales of counterpenetration #1
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 Athi-Patra Ruga Even I Exist in Embo: Jaundiced tales of counterpenetration #3
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 Athi-Patra Ruga Even I Exist in Embo: Jaundiced tales of counterpenetration #5
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 Athi-Patra Ruga Even I Exist in Embo: Jaundiced tales of counterpenetration #2
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 Athi-Patra Ruga Even I Exist in Embo: Jaundiced tales of counterpenetration #4
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 Conrad Botes Requiem Sold
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 Conrad Botes Requiem (detail) Sold
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 Wim Botha Small God Vitrine Not available
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 Wim Botha Small God Vitrine (detail)
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 Pieter Hugo Messina/Musina series Pieter and Maryna Vermeulen with Timana Phosiwa
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 Pieter Hugo Messina/Musina series Cardboard bed in an abandoned building
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 Pieter Hugo Messina/Musina series Martie and Morkel Smith, their son Stephen and his fiancé Illze Venter with their dog Snooze
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 Pieter Hugo Messina/Musina series Rest area on the road to Tshipise
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 Pieter Hugo Messina/Musina series Thina Lucy Manebaneba with her son Samuel Mabolabola and her brother Enos Manebaneba in their living room after church
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Zanele Muholi Click here to view full series of 17 images
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Zanele Muholi
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Zanele Muholi
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Zanele Muholi
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Zanele Muholi
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Guy Tillim
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Guy Tillim
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Guy Tillim
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Nandipha Mntambo
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Nandipha Mntambo
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Nandipha Mntambo
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Nandipha Mntambo
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Samson Mudzunga
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Hylton Nel Click here to view more recent work by Nel
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© 2007 Michael Stevenson. All rights reserved.