Three local emerging female artists will have their work on display at the upcoming Investec Cape Town Art Fair.
All three women have been selected from a cross-section of emerging and less-known artists from Africa and their work will feature in the Solo and Tomorrows/ Today sections of the eighth Investec Cape Town Art Fair which runs from Friday February 14 to Sunday February 16 at the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC).
The Solo exhibition will focus on the notion of space and how it presents itself in artworks; through an amalgamation of mediums and concepts that tie into each other, with themes ranging from the representation of the black body and its movement, to issues of exile, migration, mythologies and leisure.
The Tomorrows / Today exhibition is one of the main art fair sections that leads each edition. Structured as a curated exhibition, with a prestigious award attached, it is a portal to new visions in the visual arts.
It is open to those working on and beyond the African continent and as the title implies, the ongoing theme is one of transformation, and experimentation, showcasing unorthodox art forms addressing current social and political issues.
Nina Holmes became involved in the arts from an early age and actively pursued a career in dance and theatre. After her schooling at Rustenburg Girls’ High School she attended UCT, completing a BA in Theatre and Performance, majoring in French and drama.
Ms Holmes said her time at university shaped her life, having been exposed for the first time to a real taste of politics through marches, teargas, demonstrations and student protests.
“This experience ignited an interest and energy for creating where I felt the need to make work that was somehow reflective of South Africa’s deeply disturbed national psyche,” she said.
Ms Holmes has had two solo exhibitions at Eclectica Contemporary and will be exhibiting her latest work Best Before, at the art fair.
Ms Holmes said her body of work was complex and challenging in ways that extend beyond the comfortable colours, light and techniques of the impressionist-esque visuals.
“The work pushes the viewer to look further, to look through the pleasantries and floral motifs, and to think further about what surrounds us in our daily lives, to recognise what is presented right before your eyes.”
Kirsten Beets’ paintings inhabit a place somewhere been the real and imagined. Her main subjects and themes are how people interact with nature in a recreational way, usually observing things from a high vantage point and neatly rendering them in minute detail.
She describes her exhibitions as complex collections of observations and imaginary musings made manifest in oil paint on paper, board and linen. Her work will also feature in the Solo exhibition.
“Observations of people, places and objects transfer a fleeting moment into a physical object; elevating their significance and making them touchstones of memory,” she said.
Bonolo Kavula’s work will feature in the Tomorrows/ Today section. Ms Kavula is a visual artist who specialises in printmaking, video art, painting, comic art and makes use of stand-up comedy in the area of institutional critique in the arts.
She also performs music as a performance artist under the stage name Black Mona Lisa and is also a founding member of iQhiya (an all black female art collective in South Africa). She obtained a BA (FA) from the Michaelis School of Fine Art (UCT) in 2014 majoring in printmaking.
The exhibition will show the research of Ms Kavula with her latest unseen artworks.
Ms Kavula also recently lent her voice to stand-up comedy as a means to further critique the art world through humour. She has also been part of various group exhibitions, including Shady Tactics at Smacin, Burr: Print and Purpose and the iQhiya Group Exhibition at AVA Gallery; New Monuments at Commune 1 and the Sasol New Signatures at the Pretoria Art Museum.
Ms Kavula was awarded the 2014 Katherine Harries Print Cabinet Award at UCT and her works are part of the Works of Art Committee collection also at the University of Cape Town Artworks.
Investec Cape Town art fair director, Laura Vincenti, said: “The solo representation of just one artist at a time, within the broader section, means that the exhibition and the audience can be more focused on the work, and can gain a deeper understanding, less distracted by other things.”
For more information on the art fair, visit www.investeccapetownartfair.co.za
