SUMMER SHOW ’16
End of year group exhibition featuring a selection of gallery artists:

While others wind down and assess the year gone by, SMAC Gallery gears up to present SUMMER SHOW ’16, an exciting group exhibition proffering a selection of contemporary artwork. This show marks the closing of a year of considerable growth for both the gallery and its artists – in August, SMAC opened its third exhibition space, located in the new Trumpet building on the Keyes Art Mile in Rosebank, Johannesburg. This milestone expansion has allowed the gallery to continually increase its support of local contemporary art and artists as well as facilitate new opportunities and relationships with artists and institutions abroad.



SUMMER SHOW ’16 features artworks in a variety of media from a selection of SMAC Gallery artists, including: Jake Aikman, Ruann Coleman, Barend de Wet, Peter Eastman, Frances Goodman, Kate Gottgens, Georgina Gratrix, Masimba Hwati, Cyrus Kabiru, Alexandra Karakashian, Johann Louw, Mongezi Ncaphayi, Chemu Ng’ok, Musa N. Nxumalo, Gareth Nyandoro, Marlene Steyn, Simon Stone, Ed Young and Sandile Zulu.



2016 saw Jake Aikman’s oeuvre expand to include pieces of a more abstract nature. Aikman evidences his extensive skill as a contemporary painter through his ability to create work that is conceptually engaging and technically accomplished, in both his characteristic land- and seascapes as well as his abstract works. He is currently preparing for a solo exhibition, opening at SMAC Gallery in Johannesburg in early 2017. The show will be his first solo presentation in Johannesburg.
In March, Ruann Coleman participated in The Spaces Between Maps, a group exhibition at the ABSA Gallery in Johannesburg. Coleman also took part in an artist’s residency at the Fondazione Antonio Ratti XXII CSAV – Artists Research Laboratory in Como, Italy, in August, which culminated in the participants’ group exhibition Aperto, curated by Lorenzo Beneditti, at the Villa Del Grumello. In addition, Coleman presented a new body of work in his poetically minimalist style, titled Ulterior as a special project at the FNB Joburg Art Fair in September. He was also selected by the Stellenbosch Outdoor Sculpture Trust to present a sculpture as part of the Hiervandaan…./ From Here…/ Ndisuka Public Sculpture Initiative, currently on view in Stellenbosch.



Barend de Wet made a ‘predictably unpredictable’ move away from his signature vividly-coloured artworks in his solo exhibition at SMAC in Cape Town titled Black, White & Everything In-Between, that ran from 4 June to 23 July. Coinciding with this show was a publication by the same name, containing an essay by Alexandra C.M Ross that offers further insight into the practice of the cryptically playful artist. De Wet is one of the artists included in the upcoming group exhibition at the Iziko South African National Gallery in Cape Town, titled Women’s Work.



Peter Eastman has continued to produce his highly sought-after, oil on aluminium paintings that tread the line between abstraction and landscape painting. He is currently preparing for his third solo exhibition with SMAC opening in Johannesburg in March 2017.



Frances Goodman finishes 2016 with her inclusion in The Future is Female at the 21c Museum Hotel in Louisville, USA, featuring one of her distinctive sculptures encrusted with artificial finger nails. Her work is also included in Herselves at the Blueproject Foundation in Barcelona Spain, opening on 14 December. This is a fitting finale for a busy year that started with Goodman’s solo exhibition, titled Rapaciously Yours, as well as her inclusion in 1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair in New York, USA. She recently presented her second solo exhibition for 2016, Degreened, at SMAC in Cape Town in October. In addition, Goodman was one of five artists featured in SMAC’s November presentation at ARTISSIMA in Torino, Italy.



Kate Gottgens presented Famine at SMAC Gallery Johannesburg in September. This was her third solo exhibition with the gallery and the first solo show to be presented in SMAC’s new Johannesburg space. Gottgens continues to enchant audiences with her eerie suburban scenes, manifested with meticulous technical skill.



Georgina Gratrix started 2016 off with her solo exhibition Puppy Love in February at SMAC Gallery in Cape Town. Coinciding with this critically acclaimed and characteristically tongue-in-cheek presentation was the release of her first publication, self-titled Georgina Gratrix. This artist’s monograph delves deep into the glittering corners of Gratrix’s unique, impasto practice. Most recently, Gratrix was included in the SMAC presentation at ARTISSIMA in Torino, Italy, in November.



Masimba Hwati was one of the artists selected to present a solo booth at the Cape Town Art Fair’s Special Project Section, curated by Ruth Simbao and Azu Nwagbogu. Hwati was announced as the winner of this section by an independent panel of judges for his don’t worry, be happy presentation. Also in February, Hwati was included in the Cape Town presentation at the Association for Visual Arts (AVA) Gallery of Pixels of Ubuntu/Unhu curated by Raphael Chikukwa for the Zimbabwean Pavilion at the 56th Venice Biennale in Italy. In August he opened his solo exhibition, Instruments of Memory, at SMAC in Stellenbosch. Thereafter, he was invited to present a site-specific artwork by the Stellenbosch Outdoor Sculpture Trust as part of the Hiervandaan…./ From Here…/ Ndisuka Public Sculpture Initiative, currently on view in Stellenbosch.



Cyrus Kabiru started a very busy year off with a residency at the Han Nefkens Foundation Residency in Barcelona, Spain, where he was the first artist to participate in the Flow Series talks programme, an initiative of the Han Nefkens Foundation and the Antoni Tàpies Foundation. Following this was the closing of Unorthodox, a group exhibition curated by Jens Hoffmann at The Jewish Museum, New York in March and he was also the featured artist for SMAC’s presentation at The ARMORY Show, Focus: African Perspectives in New York, USA in March. Kabiru was also included in Brutal Beauty: Violence and Contemporary Design at the Marta Herford Museum of Contemporary Art in Herford, Germany as well as being selected as one of Quartz’s Africa Innovators for 2016 in Nairobi, Kenya and featured in the Gestalten publication Africa Rising: Fashion, Design and Lifestyle from Africa. Kabiru’s work currently forms part of the travelling exhibition Making Africa: A Continent of Contemporary Design, curated by Amelie Klein and Okwui Enwezor, at the Kunsthal Rotterdam, Netherlands until 15 January 2017. The talented Kenyan was one of the featured artists for SMAC Gallery’s presentation at ARTISSIMA in Torino, Italy in November and is currently exhibiting in Climactic: Post Normal Design, co-organized by the CMU School of Design, at the Miller Gallery, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, USA until 11 December 2016.



Alexandra Karakashian opened her debut solo exhibition titled GROUND with SMAC Gallery in August. Following this, Karakashian presented Passing, a series of works on paper and a large-scale oil and canvas installation, as a special project at 1:54 Contemporary Africa Art Fair in London in early October. Later that month, she completed a residency, awarded by Capo d’Arte in partnership with the French Academy in Rome, in Gagliano del Capo, Italy. The residency culminated in another solo presentation, self-titled Alexandra Karakashian, at the Villa Medici in Gagliano del Capo.



Johann Louw began 2016 with his solo exhibition, Loog hosted at SMAC in Stellenbosch in February. He was also one of the artists included in the travelling exhibition Home Truths, curated by Micheal Godby, initially at the Iziko South African Nation Gallery in May and currently showing at the Sanlam Art Gallery in Johannesburg until 3 February 2017. Louw is preparing for a review exhibition, hosted by the Association for Visual Arts (AVA) Gallery in Cape Town, in February 2017. This exhibition will be accompanied by a new publication of the artist’s work.



Mongezi Ncaphayi completed his residency at the Thami Mnyele Foundation in Amsterdam, Netherlands after receiving the prestigious Thami Mnyele Award. His solo exhibition Spirit’s Response debuted at the ABSA Art Gallery in Johannesburg earlier this year and toured the country with the Alliance Française until November. Ncaphayi also participated in the Southern Hemisphere International Printmaking (SHIP) exhibition at the Jincheon Print Museum in Jincheon and the International Print Media Festival in Mullae, both in South Korea. His work also featured as part of the 8th International Printmaking Exhibition Biennial Douro 2016 in Douro, Portugal in October. In December this year, Mongezi Ncaphayi will present Journey to the One, his first solo exhibition with SMAC, in Johannesburg.



In September, Chemu Ng’ok exhibited in Surface Tension, a group exhibition of seven painters from the Department of Fine Arts at Rhodes University, at GUS in Stellenbosch. Ng’ok is also preparing for her first solo exhibition, to take place in 2017.



2016 saw Musa N. Nxumalo releasing a selection of work from his new series titled Anthology of Youth. In March Nxumalo was included in Close to Home: New Photography from Africa at The Walther Collection – Project Space in New York, USA. He was also an invited guest artist and speaker alongside Bisi Silva, Emeka Okereke and Akinbode Akinbiyi at the ‘DIS KAIN’ CITY: A New Vision of Lagos’ Photography workshop at the Nlele Institute in Lagos, Nigeria. In addition, Nxumalo featured in Peregrinate: Field Notes on Time Travel and Space, which opened at the Centre for Contemporary Art (CCA) in Lagos earlier this year. Peregrinate was later shown at the Goethe Institute in Nairobi, Kenya in September.



Early in 2016 Gareth Nyandoro was included in the Cape Town presentation at the Association for Visual Arts (AVA) Gallery of Pixels of Ubuntu/Unhu curated by Raphael Chikukwa for the Zimbabwean Pavilion at the 56th Venice Biennale in Italy. Following this Nyandoro opened his solo exhibition Paper Cut in London in February and thereafter was featured in Tiwani Contemporary’s Art Brussels presentation. In September Nyandoro opened his second solo exhibition for 2016, titled IPAPO-IPAPO at SMAC in Cape Town, that same month he received the FT/OppenheimerFunds Emerging Voices Award for Art. Gareth Nyandoro is currently preparing for his residency with SAM Art Projects in Paris, France, which will conclude with a solo exhibition during mid-year 2017.



Marlene Steyn was included in numerous group shows in 2016 such as; Paper, publication, performance and Across the divide, both in London, UK; Inside Out in Manchester and two person show: Faces & other scenarios, with Sofi van Saltbommel, in Brussels, Belgium. In addition Steyn presented her first solo exhibition with SMAC Gallery, titled Your Skin Is Not The Best Hiding Place in Cape Town in August. Following this she collaborated with product designer, Avantika Agarwal during a residency at the Shoonya Space – Centre for Art and Somatic Practices in Bangalore, India. Steyn’s most recent solo exhibition, You Can’t Cry When Your Head is Underwater, was held in London, UK in October.



In October Simon Stone opened his third solo exhibition, New Paintings at SMAC Gallery in Johannesburg. The exhibition consisted of Stone’s signature oil on board and canvas paintings- an entirely new body of work, all produced during the course of 2016. Stone continues to produce lyrically narrative paintings that reveal his visual exploration of colour form and composition.



Ed Young was invited to present a site-specific installation as one of eight special projects for The ARMORY Show’s invitational Focus: African Perspectives section, curated by Julia Grosse and Yvette Mutumba, in New York City, USA in March. Following his controversial presentation in New York, Young formed part of Nothing is Impossible, the NO SHOW MUSEUM’s 2016 North American Tour exhibition that closed in October. His sculpture, ARCH (2010) is currently on public view in the Atrium of the TRUMPET Building on Keyes Art Mile in Rosebank, Johannesburg. Young also showed his most recent video piece titled Little in a solo presentation at SMAC in Cape Town in September. In addition he was a featured artist for SMAC Gallery’s presentation at ARTISSIMA in Torino, Italy in November and is currently included in Our Lady at the Iziko South African National Gallery, in partnership with the New Church Museum, in Cape Town, running until June 2017.
Sandile Zulu was included in Air: Inspiration – Expiration at the Standard Bank Gallery in Johannesburg until 3 December and continues to explore a variety of interests – including biology, botany and history, his practice manifests as intricate images and installations. His signature use of fire to make large fire-scalded canvases alludes to ceremonial cleansing processes using both blood and ash. Zulu presented Body and Soul, a site-specific installation in the foyer of The Trumpet Building, Johannesburg.