Tag Archives: art

Dialogue at the Dogwatch #1

Dialogue at the Dogwatch
You'll find the sculptures in my next few posts at UCT's Alma Mater plaza.

Known as Dialogue at the Dogwatch, they were commissioned from David Brown in 1994 by a UCT alumnus, Charles Diamond. The pieces are made from bronze, copper, brass, Cor-ten and stainless steel, and together weigh about 7 tons.

Dogwatch, fwiw, is a navy term that refers to the watch time between late afternoon and night time, which is probably a time of day when the low angle of the sun and the increasingly-dim light makes the watch particularly difficult. Read a little more about the term and why it was coined over here on Wikipedia.

kEda Gomes, aka Reckless-Buddah

kEda Gomes, aka Reckless-Buddah
Isn't that fantastic? This is the work of South African artist kEda Gomes, known on Deviant Art as Reckless Buddah. From her profile on that site you'll see she's open to doing commissioned work - so check out her gallery page and if you like her stuff, keep her in mind for your next project. :)

Mary Sibande, poking fun at power relations

Mary Sibande, poking fun at power relations
It's an awful quality photo, I know, but the subject is so brilliant that I have to share it. I spotted this work by Mary Sibande on the wall of a building in Stellenbosch. Read more, and see more of her works, in The Guardian's article over here.

Cape Town Art Fair

Cape Town Art Fair
This photo is of an artwork called Boko Harem (which I'd guess is a play on Boko Haram), by Catherine Ocholla. It speaks a thousand words, doesn't it?

I went along to the Cape Town Art Fair (which regrettably ends on 1 March) and spent about two hours browsing dozens of works, mostly by local artists, but including many from other African and European artists. The Avenue (a new venue in the same building as the V&A Waterfront's Aquarium), was light, airy, and not too crowded inside. What was nice about the fair was that while browsing we had the opportunity to meet several of the artists, even students from local art schools. The flip side to that privileged is that there are many genres that I simply don't get - so because I realise that art is quite personal to the artist I kept feeling that I had to be on my guard not to unintentionally offend their creators (which I have to admit was in one or two cases quite difficult not to do). :-/

Take a look at some of the works below. These, called Russian Bride, by Gavin Rain, are fantastic. If you get up real close you'll see that the images are created from hundreds of painted circles. Isn't it awesome how he crafted every circle to contribute to the overall image - almost like pixels on a monitor?

Also, check out this jacket made from old computer keyboards. Pretty impressive hey (albeit, probably quite uncomfortable to wear ;) )?

Given that I'm a photographer, I guess it's understandable that I mostly prefer photographs (vs. sculptures and paintings). So the last one that I specifically want to show you is a set of two photos, by Miriam Syowia Kyambi - pretty awesome hey? :)

Just one more Lego piece

Just one more Lego piece
This piece in Nathan Sawaya's collection was pretty much life-size. The lighting in the Waterfront venue was pretty amazing (although, I could have kicked myself for not bringing my off-camera flash along).

Beach-sand art

Beach-sand art
I made this using a discarded plastic fork that I happened to come across while digging my hands under the sand. Eeeewe... yes.

I went to an art gallery recently and was somewhat confused by what people classify as art. I guess it's highly subjective; dependent on one's personal point of view. And that said, I rate if I could frame this piece of beach I could make a fortune. ;)

Painting with oil, by Kelly John Gough @artmode

Postcard prints by Kelly John Gough
I'll post one or two more of his works, but in the meantime, don't you think these postcards are a really neat idea? It seems like a really cool idea to snail-mail portrait prints made by a local artist. Check out more of Kelly John Gough's work his website over here.