Absa is set to launch their latest virtual exhibition in collaboration with the Artist Proof Studio (APS) on 4 November 2021. The exhibition will run until the end of this year.
Shared identity series I/III (2021) Linocut Colour Reduction – Edition 3 19 x 27 cm (Image size) 23,5 x 30,5 cm (Paper size) Artwork-044 • R 1 000
With this collaboration, Absa seeks to continue playing a shaping role in society by nurturing and supporting fledgling artists from the APS. Twelve final year students will also be awarded bursaries to the value of R580 000.
Business Practice Masterclasses will be led by leading personalities in the arts such as Banele Khoza, Kim Siew and Sarah McGee. The masterclasses will equip the APS students with the necessary business acumen to better manage their business as they launch their careers and also how to market their artwork.
The virtual exhibition will see 23 artists from the innovative and engaged APS community showcasing their artwork on the Absa Art Hot Spot platform.
“We recognise that the growth we want to achieve is inextricably linked to our firm commitment to be an active force for good in the communities where we operate. The partnership with APS will allow us to continue showcasing our advanced online capabilities and will also help us to meaningfully impact the development of young artists,” says Absa Senior Specialist Art Curator, Dr Paul Bayliss.
“We have used the restrictions brought about by the pandemic to entrench ourselves as a leader in showcasing art digitally. This ranges from launching the Absa Art Hot Spot webinar series, to hosting several online art exhibitions, masterclasses, and the Absa L’Atelier Awards virtually as well as migrating certain elements of our art-related sponsorships and partnerships to this innovative online platforms,” he adds.
APS Managing Director for Marketing and Business Development, Nathi Simelane, says this partnership with Absa will allow them to showcase some of their growth in an exciting way since students have had to adapt to a hybrid communication learning process over the past 18 months.
“This exhibition will allow our more senior students to re-examine their own identities, through an investigation of their cultural ideologies, practices, personal and collective histories,” he says.
“Some will celebrate and honour fundamental aspects of their cultural identities whilst others question prevailing patriarchal traditions. In many of the pieces, the ‘personal’ is laid bare. This is sometimes explored through representations of the body or a particular place and space. The notion of ‘home’ as a state of mind, or something less representative and tangible, emerges in the senior student’s work. It marks and narrates a journey experienced by many through lockdown and beyond of introspection, probing and reconciliation,” he adds.
The Masterclass series kicked-off on 29 September when renowned artist, gallerist and curator, Banele Khoza, hosted a session that focused on developing, identifying, maintaining, and making the most of opportunities in developing an artist’s career.
The next session was hosted by Kim Siew on 27 October and dealt with maintaining and growing relationships with peers, gallerists, curators, donors, buyers, and industry leaders.
Sarah McGee will host the final session in the series on 10 November when she will take a closer look at galleries, teaching students how to engage with galleries, the pricing of artwork, contracts and issues around consignment.
All the masterclass sessions can be viewed on the Absa Art Hot Spot
Shared identity series I/II (2021) Linocut Colour Reduction – Edition 3 19 x 26,5 cm (Image size) 23,5 x 30,3 cm (Paper size) Artwork-043 • R 1 000
Along the lines (2021) Linocut and Screenprint – Edition 3 47 x 69.5 cm (Image size) 47 x 69.5 cm (Paper size) Artwork-029 • R 1 810
Absa CatalogueBody – Place – Space (2021) • 11 Emmanuel Matlala Discover more about the artist on page 38. Mogobo (2021) Linocut – Edition 3 42 x 59.5 cm (Image size) 49.8 x 70.5 cm (Paper size) Artwork-027 • R 1 11
About Artist Proof Studios
Artist Proof Studio (APS) was founded in 1991 by Kim Berman and Nhlanhla Xaba as a community printmaking centre that reflected the spirit of a healthy democracy and the ideals expressed in the new South African constitution.
As printmaking was seen as a democratic medium and a counterforce to the suspicion and division left from the apartheid years, it was considered to be fitting approach to building a true egalitarian society. The country was on the brink of real change and in many ways, it was artists that led the rethinking of how the future could look for all South Africans.
Embodying this movement, APS became one of the pioneering community art centres in what would eventually become the cultural hub for the city of Johannesburg: Newtown. During the last 30 years, APS has grown from a small, rudimentarily equipped printmaking studio to one of the largest and most vibrant community and professional printmaking facilities in Southern Africa, accommodating up to 80 students per year and also hosting, publishing, and providing print edition facilities and collaborative project opportunities for many artists each year.
The studio is accredited with the Culture, Art, Tourism, Hospitality, and Sport Sector Education and Training Authority (CATHSSETA) and is offering a 4-year qualification.
Absa is supporting 12 students to the value of R580 000 – 00 (Seven [7] students in 3rd year and five [5] students in their final year of study).
2009 I (2021) Linocut and Watercolour – Edition 3 42,5 x 27,7 cm (Image size) 54 x 37,2 cm (Paper size) Artwork-007 • R 490
Absa CatalogueBody – Place – Space (2021) • 13 Keith Maluleke Discover more about the artist on page 40. Harvested It (2021) Linocut – Edition 3 58.7 x 41,3 cm (Image size) 70 x 51.2 cm (Paper size) Artwork-031 • R 1 670
’Tempele lami (2021) Cyanotype and Linocut – Edition 3 84.5 x 62.5 cm (Image size) 84.5 x 62.5 cm (Paper size) Artwork-013 • R 1 810
To all hustlers (2021) Linocut and Etching with Watercolour – Edition 3 67 x 41 cm (Image size) 67 x 41 cm (Paper size) Artwork-041 • R 1 820
About the Masterclass Facilitators
Banele Khoza
Banele Khoza (b.1994) is a Pretoria based artist, curator, and gallerist, originally from Hlatikulu, Swaziland. In 2011 he enrolled at the London International School of Fashion (LISOF) where he studied Fashion Design for one year before making the decision to study Fine Art at Tshwane University of Technology (TUT). After his tenure as a student, Khoza lectured Drawing and Art Theory at TUT.
Khoza has had multiple solo and group presentations at museums and galleries in South Africa and abroad; these include: the Pretoria Art Museum (Pretoria), Zeitz MOCAA (Cape Town), Lizamore & Associates (Johannesburg),and Bode Projects (Hamburg and Berlin). His work has garnered him special recognition through being the recipient of awards such as the South African Taxi Foundation Art Award (2016), Absa L’Atelier Gerard Sekoto Foundation Award (2017), and 200 Young South Africans – Mail & Guardian (2020).
In 2018, Khoza opened BKhz Studio where he embarked on numerous curatorial projects. BKhz has since become a gallery which keeps to the premise of the studio and curates exhibitions that largely include emerging artists.
Kim Siew
Kim Siew is an artist, founder and director of Lakaz d’Art, a Mauritian creative platform. He has developed a strong network of Mauritian emerging talents, as well as African artists across the continent.
His innovative platform collaborates with local businesses to translate branding and company culture into artworks. A pacerel that stimulates the art sector while connecting artists with businesses.
With a Bachelor in economics and Arts history, he strongly believes that Art and creativity can build solutions of the future and foster personal growth. As a wish to strengthen the importance of Art in our society, he regularly designs and facilitates workshops with artists to diffuse creative knowledge and to develop creative confidence.
Sarah McGee
Sarah McGee is the founder and director of M Studio Community, a platform that provides emerging South African artists with opportunities and a support system as they advance their careers.
Sarah is a curator and artist in her own right, curating exhibitions for a variety of arenas including corporate and private gallery spaces, art fairs, and festivals. She has received her honors in fine artists from the University of Pretoria, majoring in video installation, which examined human relations and their social context within South Africa.
About Absa Art Hot Spot
The exhibition is presented virtually using the Absa Art Hot Spot.
Launched in May this year, the Absa Art Hot Spot delivers an engaging experience for artists, collectors and consumers. The completely virtual platform allows for the democratization of art on the continent as it takes art to the people, giving Absa and artists more opportunities to interact with their audiences, enabling them to create and engage in completely new ways.
The platform is expertly curated providing opportunities for focused dialogue, networking, and insights sharing and showcases a variety of original artwork, as well as artwork from previous Absa L’Atelier winners and participants from across Africa.
Visitors get a glimpse of how art across the continent has evolved, have an opportunity to revisit exhibitions previously hosted in the Absa Gallery, view previously hosted art masterclasses and artist interviews, or watch the latest art webinar in the virtual auditorium. Absa Art Hot Spot