SA artists gnaw into the establishment wood

This week, SA galleries Erdmann Contemporary and Gallery Momo are showing at the Startartfair.com (For 'emerging artists and new art scenes' Until Sept 13.

Over the next 6 months I have made it my mission to visit as many galleries as possible and report back when they are relevant to our SA audience. So there’s a show happening in London this week with South African galleries taking part. Why should you care? In fact why should you care about South African art at all? 

When cracks show in the dreams of a nation, artists plant the flowers between the cracks
Fine art in SA at the moment may feel like shiny irrelevant trinkets made to dazzle the super-rich, however... keep in mind, when  the shit hits the fan (as it will), artists are the nutters who paint little faces on the truncheons! 
 
Erdmann Contemporary are showing the work of Nomusa Makhubu
Nomusa is UCTs first young black female fine art lecturer (with a PHD). I'm gonna go out on a limb and say we need more like her? Erdmann are also launching '120 Days of Sodom' by artist Manfred Zylla, whose pics are backed up by 31 distinguished writers’ essays. (One of whom neatly, is Nomusa). Check the pdf here:

 

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Gallery Momo are showing the fearless work of Mary Sibande
Mary Sibande is another young black female artist to watch. Her work: ‘A Terrible Beauty is Born’ cuts through too many fusty academic readings and connects with a wide audience because they sense the fiery commitment to what she’s doing. She has cast herself in a room full of purple anthropo-alien forms and it’s so bonkers, she should be celebrated as a national hero. Fucking amazing. 

See what else is on show

Gordon Glyn-Jones lives in London, makes and writes about art.