Press release issued by the KKNK | 31 July 2020
The visual arts programme of this year’s Klein Karoo National Arts Festival (KKNK) included curated exhibitions by various upcoming South African art curators and features work by young visual artists.
“Although we could not host these exhibitions in Oudtshoorn for the festival this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic, we are proud to present the hard work from these curators in our first ever virtual gallery”
– Hugo Theart, Artistic Director of the KKNK.
According to the KKNK Artistic Director Hugo Theart, our Gallery Director Amé Bell is one of four young curators to keep a close eye on in future!
Another Kind of Blue, curated by Bell, is a group exhibition with works on paper, sculptures, paintings, and installations by artists who have collaborated with, and are associated with David Krut Projects in Johannesburg. According to Bell, artists were chosen for their practices or unique ability to tell stories through their subject matter, which related to the overall theme of blue.
“I also wanted to focus on our young stable of artists,alongside a few established artists who had interesting ideas for this particular collaboration. For example, Heidi Fourie, who has explored representations of water through an experimentation of paint applications to imitate water. Through her applications of thinned painting which resonates with the application of watercolour in the monotype process, she was able to achieve a sense of the distorted view seen when you open your eyes under water.”
– Amé Bell
Lynda Ballen Ode to Indigo I, 2019.
106 x 52.5 cm
Lynda Ballen Ode to Indigo II, 2019.
106 x 52.5 cm
“Lynda Ballen explores the history of pigments. Ballen is not only an exceptional draughtswoman, but also makes her own paper which she then tints with watercolour pigment and laminates grid of thread which is used as a surface for her gouache and coloured pencil drawings”, Bell continues.
“In Neville Starling’s interactive and somewhat poetic installation, he recontextualises the universal visual, agnostic and temporal dichotomy of the blue of the dusk sky and the bright warmth of the sun, addressing the battle between light and dark that through the ages has deeply moved us through tales of fear and hope”
Bell’s curatorial practice is aimed not only towards translating processes, works and exhibitions of artists but also to establish and communicate the histories of these collaborations which often include a multitude of voices.
“My exhibition-making process is aimed at storytelling that connects an audience with the artist and their ideas as well as the overall input of the printmakers and other collaborators who have played a part in the creative process.”
Amé Bell
Another Kind of Blue and many more exhibitions can be viewed in the KKNK Virtual Gallery, where works can also be bought. Visit the KKNK Virtual Gallery here: Another Kind of Blue
Read the full feature here: Upcoming curators and artists shine in KKNK Virtual Gallery