South East
13 December 2005 14 January 2006
34 LONG marks its fabulous first birthday with a fabulous group exhibition entitled
South East opening on Tuesday 13 December 2005 at 18h00. Simultaneously, in celebration of our success in Long Street, our exhibition area has been extended: the transformed upstairs area at 34 LONG will be launched as a funky new gallery space for cutting-edge work read on!
Downstairs, in our well-known gallery, selected South African artworks will be on view alongside contemporary works from Japan and China. New work by Japanese artist Takashi Murakami will be a highlight of the show, and for the first time ever in South Africa, work by contemporary Chinese painter Feng Zhengjie, who hit the international scene by storm in this years Venice and Prague Biennales.
Described by some as one of the most exciting modern artists to have emerged from China, Feng Zhengjie, who hails from Beijing, explores the complexities facing young people in China today in his paintings. With their feigned poses, the people in his works reflect an artificial toy-like or game-like existence. He paints eerie kitsch green and pink stylised portraits of doll-like Chinese women, their eyes drifting in opposite directions. The title of his 2004 show
in Singapore sums up his style:
Kitsch as a face of Chinese Society. His brightly coloured paintings invite a feminist critique, but unsettles such a reading with painterly, sensuous beauty and subtle humour.
Works by local artists will include well-loved regulars like William Kentridge, Zwelethu Mthethwa, Norman Catherine, Robert Hodgins, Willie Bester, Hylton Nel, Roelof Louw,
David Brown and Wendy Anziska. Long a promoter of the current neo-pop idiom in art, 34 LONG is delighted to continue this commitment by including exciting new Cape Town talent in the work of Matthew Hindley, Peter
Eastman and Frank van Reenen.
The upstairs section, newly renovated and extended, will be launched as a sharp new gallery space with a two-man show of collaborative works by artists Matthew Hindley and Peter Eastman.
Peter Eastman was born in 1976. He embarked on a professional artistic career very early, becoming best known for his emphasis on surface textures using high-gloss, reflective enamel paint. He had a successful solo exhibition of a range of cityscapes and figures entitled
Reflective in 2004. His recent work has focused on relief images of animals, and a powerful series of paintings depicting prisoners released after advances in DNA testing confirmed their innocence, jettisoned him into the spotlight. Now he has embarked on a body of collaborative work with fellow artist Matthew
Hindley.
Hindley, born in 1974, is deeply fascinated by computerized images. After studying and lecturing at Michaelis, he started his full time career as an artist in 2004. His
curriculum vitae is impressive for one so young, and he has already taken part in numerous local and international exhibitions. His work has been taken up in the collection of the South African National Gallery and we believe that he is an artist with a bright future.
Eastman and Hindley produce their exciting new work in adjacent tenth floor studios in the Cape Town CBD. Both artists have exhibited around Cape Town, Johannesburg and internationally, and the body of work to be exhibited at 34 LONG demonstrates their mutual artistic affinities, fused together by the use of computer technology. Departing from previous collaborative trends in South African art, there is no clear distinction between the input of the individual artists, placing full emphasis on the final image. Visitors to 34 LONG are sure to find total surprises along with some familiar representations the essence of a fabulous gallery experience.
