Co-Existence Part II featuring Manfred Zylla, Garth Erasmus and Antonín Mareš, opens Tuesday 28 July @ 6pm at Erdmann Contemporary.
The opening address is by Mario Pissarra, who is the founder and Managing Director of ASAI (Africa South Art Initiative). He is an Honorary Research Associate of the University of Cape Town, and serves on advisory structures for Third Text and Critical Interventions.
This group exhibition constitutes the second installment of a curatorial project established in 2014.
Co-Existence Part I featured three artists from three continents Bronwen Vaughan-Evans of Australia, Jan Smith of Mexico and Nomusa Makhubu fromSouth Africa, whose work commented on issues of alienation, migration, displacement and post-colonial identity.
Now three diverse artists have again come together to continue this dialogue with the additional focus of environmental politics and the exploration of dislocation and strife of a society in conflict with the land and the corporate structures that sustain it.
About the Artists
Manfred Zylla was born in Germany and as a child experienced the ravages and aftermath of World War II. Resident in South Africa since 1970, he became prominent as an artist highly critical of apartheid with a stream of hard-hitting drawings, prints and paintings. These works are widely acknowledged as critical for understanding resistance art, an important chapter in South African art history. Zylla continues to work within a paradigm of social critique. He has participated in numerous exhibitions both locally and internationally and his works are included in museums and private collections across the globe.
Antonín Mareš was born in the former Czechoslovakia. He immigrated to Germany in 1968 and now lives and works in Munich. He has participated and collaborated on several projects and exhibitions with Manfred Zylla in Germany and South Korean artist, Ik-Joong Kang in New York. Mareš is a linguist, translator, author and artist. His preferred medium is collage, and his most commonly used surfaces are pages from magazines and newspapers.
Garth Erasmus was born in Uitenhage, South Africa, and lives and works in Cape Town. He is an artist and musician and best known for his innovative use of materials both for making art and music. He has been featured in almost every major book survey of South African art since the late 1980’s, and is well represented in the National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institute. In April 2015 Erasmus was the artist in residence at the University of Delaware in the USA where he in addition to producing works for this exhibition, and an upcoming exhibition in the USA latter this year, also experimented with sound installations.
Book Launch
This opening marks the Cape Town launch of Erdmann Contemporary’s latest publication, 120 Days of Sodom – Manfred Zylla, with a leading essay by Trevor Steele Taylor and contributions by 31 writers. Click on the link to view the online version.
Erasmus & Zylla in Conversation Wednesday 29 July at 6pm
Organised by the Friends of the South African National Gallery
RSVP with Lizzie on sangfriends@iziko.org.za
WHERE: Erdmann Contemporary 84 Kloof Street, Gardens, Cape Town 8001
INFO: T 021 422 2762 E galleryinfo@mweb.co.za visit
