David Krut Print Workshop, Arts On Main

On the 8th to the 13th of February 2010 Deborah Bell worked with David Krut Workshop Manager, Jill Ross, at the newly established workshop at Arts On Main. Bell was the first artist to collaborate with Jill Ross in this space and ‘christened’ it by working on and creating a new series of monotypes.

Deborah Bell creating monotype

Monotypes are created through a technique where images are built-up through layers of ink, and it is generally a more flexible and experimental form of printmaking. Monotypes include processes where there is no set editioned plate. Ink is rolled directly on to a “bed” of perspex, for a once off print, or possibly two of different depth and opacity(a print and its ‘ghost’)

Bell’s monotypes were created mainly through an alternating process of printed layers and imagery, with the artist’s painted washes and drip marks giving her work an underlying energy. It was very interesting to watch these works ‘grow’ from start to finish, completely transforming in colour, mood and textures through layers of drawn line, ink and paint. The interlocking layers of media and of imagery created through this process reinforces Bell’s mythical imagery that seems to both emerge and recede from her dense and richly textured surfaces.

Bell handpainting etchings

Some of these works , as well as other intaglio works, will be shown at the Joburg Art Fair this March

Count the birds from one to twenty and see what they get up to over the course of a day, from the cockerel’s first crow, to the rooks tumbling home to roost for the night.Alice Melvin’s ‘Counting Birds’ is a lyrical and engaging introductio to numbers from one of Britain’s most remarkable author-illustrators.

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Everybody’s favourite rabbit has a wonderful time in this colouring book, playing with her friend, making masks, visiting her grandparents and even flying in a plane! Now you can join in the fun, colouring in the pictures with crayons or paints, making sure that Miffy’s world is as bright and colourful as ever.

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David Koloane is an artist who grew up in the township of Alexandra and has worked in the arts in South Africa for more than 25 years.  During this time, Koloane has explored many different techniques to create highly emotive art pieces.  Focusing on painting in acrylic and water colour, and making prints using etching and drypoint processes, Koloane has developed a unique and inspirational body of work.

Drawing reference from his surroundings, Koloane’s work usually alludes to the complex urban landscapes of Johannesburg.  Imbued with both political and social commentary, Koloane’s works express strong emotional linkages to events and spaces in and around the city.

‘Koloane’s interpretation of urban life has struggled and triumphed in finding different visions and modes, techniques, materials to express the huge oppressions, upheavals, and hard-won freedoms that have been epitomised in our cities sprawl.’ (Tadjo 2002:4)

Predominantly focused on architectural and social landscapes, he has also drawn from more abstract references to comment on social conditions.  Koloane’s ‘Snarling Dogs’ (1993-1994) paintings, for example, draw on imagery of the township dog to express the extreme socio-economic conditions, and their psychosocial side effects surrounding him.

‘They are scavengers turning over rubbish bins.  Howling under the moonlight, sending shivers down the spines of the residents.  It is the primal fear of past nightmares, of a time without laws.  Unpredictable.  Terrifying.’ (Tadjo 2002:29)

Koloane’s latest series of drypoint prints, ‘Wings of Freedom’, returns to an emotive expression of social conditions through the symbolism of township animals.  In this series, images of doves are used to explore the development of his personal relationship with ‘freedom’ in the new South Africa. Using his characteristically unrestrained marks, Koloane has developed a drypoint technique that captures the expressionistic essence of his paintings.  Working with a free hand, Koloane focuses on creating energy in his prints rather than restricting himself to life-like renditions of his subjects.

His shots of haute couture and the beau monde are instantly recognizable, having appeared in virtually every major magazine in Europe and the United States.

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January 26, 2010 – William Kentridge Nose was launched at Arts On Main to a wonderful reception. As well as the launch of the publication, it was the first time that the suite of thirty etchings, Nose, were exhibited together. Kentridge’s Museum of Modern Art exhibition, and the premiere of the opera, Nose, at the Metropolitan Opera House, both New York, open in March 2010.

The photographs below were very kindly provided by Ben Law-Viljoen.

The photographs below were kindly provided by Lingo Rodrigues of Halftone Studios.

Hanging NOSE

NOSE: Suite of 30 Etchings

William Kentridge Nose

Launch of William Kentridge Nose, 26 January 2010.