Art Blog

13 Reasons You Should Go to Klein Karoo Nasionale Kunstefees 2018

The Klein Karoo Nasionale Kunstefees is an Afrikaans language arts festival that takes place yearly in the South African town of Oudtshoorn. Art.co.za took a look at what art lovers can look forward to in 2018.

Scratch where it hurts - Prince Vincent Building

The KKNK's new art curator, Lucia Boer, transforms the Prince Vincent Building under the theme "Scratch where it hurts".

Central to this theme and exhibitions are this year's fair artists, Johannes Maswanganyi, and his son, Collen Maswanganyi who will be exhibiting their characteristic special wooden sculptures.

Age of Innocence - Prince Vincent Building

The word taxidermy comes from the Greek taxis meaning "order" and derma meaning "skin". Possibly, taxidermy indicates an age of innocence, in which rationality is accepted as a driving force in which man ruled, in which the earth was a place of abundance.

Curated by Nadja Daehnke, artists investigate this "age of innocence" from their own era of the Anthroposene, of an unconscious attribute to ecological / biological lawlessness.

Artists: Jean Brundrit, Odette Graskie, Mmabatho Grace Mokalapha, Barbara Wildenboer, Minenkulu Ngoyi, Sitaara Stodel, Steven Bosch, Nina Liebenberg, Ledelle Moe, Khaya Sineyile, Sonwabiso Ngcai and Miranda Moss.

Reacclimate - Prince Vincent Building

J?rgen D?nhofen creates installations with telescopes, microscopes and magnifying glasses on wood trim to blur projected landscapes or to demolish images.

For D?nhofen, the dioptric images through the lens become the metaphors of his own discourse within family relationships, mixed with the local discourse of South Africa, where he was born, and the time he spent in South Korea.

Architectural Construction - Prince Vincent Building

Architectural Construction by Chrisel van der Merwe plays with the idea and core of construction by capturing moments of a city's development in a new and sharp way.

By damaging copper plates around and of construction sites in Johannesburg, she captures the spontaneity, the coincidence and the destructive nature of construction. The exhibition includes a collection of experimental printmaking, sculpture, video art, painting and installation.

Aspire Art Auctions - Prince Vincent Building

Aspire Art Auctions presents a variety of prints that will be auctioned at specific times during the course of the festival. The auction house's art specialists will deliver talks about art and are available for free artwork valuations. Performances of art films are also presented.

Iwasshot in Joburg - Prince Vincent Building

Iwasshot in Joburg presents a variety of works inspired by photographs taken with disposable cameras by former street children and youth living in and around Johannesburg in dangerous circumstances.

Kreatif Fine Art - Prince Vincent Building

A collection of artworks, curated by Stephan Erasmus, featuring a variety of works by young and established artists.

Equals & Averages - Prince Vincent Building

Time, history and memory form the essence of Nadja Daehnke's Equals & Averages. The work reflects the relentless course of time, yet we are reluctant to relive this past in our memories to build our identity.

Vuurdans - Prince Vincent Building

Vuurdans focuses on the devastating fire that raged on the Garden Route in June 2017. It was the largest fire disaster that hit the area since 1869, causing untimely pain and loss and leaving a landscape of destruction.

Curator Elfriede Dreyer and the participating artists of the Contemporary Art Practice Group (CAP), a group of artists from the Garden Route area, all experienced the fire in a direct or indirect way. The works express these emotions and also focus on the life and death cycle in nature and in people's lives.

Artists: Alta Botha, Caro Fine, Carol Sachs, Denise Woodgate, Donne Rundle, Elfriede Dreyer, Ingrid Coerlin, Janet Holding, Mari?tta van Rooyen, Mary Jane Morris, Mieke Machiels, Rosa Snyman Wessels and Terry Zoeller

The Creative Block - Prince Vincent Building

The Creative Block, managed by the Muscle Arts Trust, offer participating artists clean blocks of different sizes, which they recreate in any way through any media.

The works are judged and the best are sold at affordable prices to art lovers and the general public. The main curator's feedback on the works is similar to a master class and offers the artist an opportunity for development.

Artist Proof Studio: Invest In the Best - Prince Vincent Building

Curated by Jeanne-Mar? du Bois, the Artist Proof Studio presents outstanding printing works at affordable prices.

Artists: Luzoko Dayile, Lebogang Sithole and Ramarutha Makoba

The Walter Battiss Company - Prince Vincent Building

The Walter Battiss Company presents authentic prints of original artwork by Walter Battiss. The prints are digitally printed by master printers and feature Battiss's hand-relief signature.

Maakit Mooi - Absa Rooiplein

Absa brings art back to the heart of Oudtshoorn with a number of "functional" artworks installed across the town to celebrate the town's status as a South African "artist".

Absa L'Atelier artists, led by Dr. Paul Bayliss, Absa's art and museum curator, created works based on the theme of 2018's L'Atelier campaign: "Give art life." These spectacular works, a mixture of form and function, are placed in designated areas in and around Oudtshoorn.

Dr. Bayliss offers guided art tours at 08:45 daily to these installation sites to give visitors a rare look at the creative processes behind its development and creation.