Modernism in Context

Introductionn  This blog will discuss the concept of modernism and how it functions in the discourse of art history. It will do so by using different art criticism examples and examples of the formalists art. It will make use of Clive Bell’s reading, Art (1914), Schiff’s reading; Cubism, in Concepts of modern art: from Fauvism

Thoughts on Modernism

Introduction This essay will critically examine the relationship between Euro-American modernism and South African modern art. It will begin by putting the terms modernism and aesthetics into context with the world and each other. The South Africa artist that will be discussed is Walter Battiss who’s art engages with the art forms and aesthetic ideas of Euro-American

What motivated Feminism in Art?

As said in Parker and Pollock’s reading, Painted Ladies, to be a great art master one had to be male as only males were given the necessary ‘tools’ of becoming one. Namely the academic skills as well as the power to have access. This essay aims to critique the ideological construct of Modern Art. It will make

Oil Paint rough and textured in the new exhibit at Everard Read

Philippe Uzac and Deon Venter’s works strikes out to the viewer here in the Everard Read Gallery in Rosebank. Venter’s work pushes the viewer to stand back and see the paintings in perspective as most of them are over three meters large. While the bold colours of Uzac’s works draw the viewer into a different

Die Antwoord: Challenging White Afrikaans Identies

  Die Antwoord, a South African rap-rave band that started in 2007 (and ends next year, with their album ‘Mount Ninji and da Nice Time Kid’) has a way of suggesting new white identities in South Africa through challenging the old discourses. White South Africans are tired about feeling guilty  about Apartheid and continuing material legacies.

Subtle, Feel-good, Feminist video Artists

Introduction This essay will explore two artists who work within the medium of video. The artists being researched are Swiss Pipilotti Rist and Congolese Michele Magema. The research will include a brief history of the artists careers, an overview of the creative landscapes of which they belong as well as their processes. The essay will

Performance Art

In his book Relational Aesthetics (1998) Nicolas Bourriaud describes art as from the 1990’s to take it’s theoretical framework from “the realm of human interactions and it’s social context, rather than the assertion of an independent and private symbolic space.” Bourriaud condemns everything from traditional painting to installation as it is an obsession with surface

Renoir and Degas: who depicts Bathers better?

Introduction This blog will discuss the genre of the nude during the Fin-de-siècle (turn of the century) by comparing the works of Renoir and Degas, focussing on their Bather series. It will make use of N. Brood’s reading,  Degas’s ‘misogyny’ (1977) as well as T. Garb’s reading, Renoir and the natural women (1985). The blog will begin