Deborah Bell
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Group exhibitions
Winter Show
This winter the Goodman Gallery will relaunch its Parkwood space, which has been extensively reconsidered, both physically and conceptually. This launch will be initiated with a group exhibition simply titled Winter Show, featuring a range of luminary-status local and international artists. The show will not only present recent works by Goodman stalwarts such as William Kentridge, David Goldblatt, Sam Nhlengethwa and Mikhael Subotzky, but will also reveal a shift in the Gallery’s approach, showcasing work from around the Continent and beyond that is both explicitly and implicitly concerned with synergies and tensions between Africa and the rest of the globe. Some of the participating international artists, such as Ghada Amer and Hank Willis Thomas, are not only being showcased by the Goodman Gallery, but are now officially represented by us.
The Winter Show will act as a confluence of the Goodman Gallery’s top represented artists, as well as artists participating in In Context – a series of exhibitions and interventions currently taking place at Arts on Main and other venues in Johannesburg. Artists such as Jenny Holzer, Amer, Willis Thomas, Bili Bidjocka, Willem Boshoff and Kara Walker will participate in both shows, with the Winter Show presenting some of their more recent work. While In Context manifests an intimate and often candid exploration of the dynamics of the African continent, the Winter Show will offer a broader conceptual platform, covering many aspects of South African, African and global landscapes and conditions.
The Winter Show will elaborate on the thorny notion of the politics of representation, which Brenda Atkinson and Candice Breitz confronted in their 1999 collection of essays Grey Areas: Representation, Identity and Politics in Contemporary South African Art. The book was a direct response to the critique of Nigerian curator Okwui Enwezor, who was the creative director of the Second Johannesburg Biennial in 1997. At the time, Enwezor interrogated the practice of artists such as Breitz, Minnette Vári and Penny Siopis, intricately considering the question of ‘who has the right to represent whom?’ Now, over a decade later, accusations of misrepresentation have been revisited and reconsidered not only by Enwezor himself and those whose essays were included in Grey Areas, but by the art community at large. In Context magnifies these issues, while the Winter Show augments the dialogue, bringing new voices into the conversation.
Compelling features of the Winter Show include two of Walker’s 2009 films – which are based on narratives from archives of a bureau established in 1865 to assist African Americans with the transition from slavery to freedom – presenting the artist’s signature black-silhouette cut-out figures, which almost impossibly convey the complexities of race, gender, sexuality and power in their stilted and provocative movements. Jenny Holzer’s Purple Red Curve (2005) transmits a coalescence of master narratives through a curved electronic LED sign. Jeremy Wafer will create a site-specific wall drawing in the Goodman Gallery specifically for the show. Kentridge will present a series of new drawings produced this year as well as a maquette of the structure World on its Hind Legs, created in collaboration with Gerhard Marx. A large scale, steel version of this work will be launched at the Apartheid Museum on 8 July 2010 as part of In Context. The Winter Show will also feature an ongoing screening of all of the Goodman Gallery’s top art films by leading artists such as Kentridge and Vári.
The Goodman Gallery in Parkwood has undergone numerous physical transformations and now boasts a new showroom and a space dedicated to photographic works. We are in the process of establishing an art library accessible to the visiting public and will offer a range of educational art talks and events during the Winter Show.
With Goodman Gallery firmly established as a prestigious, world-class contemporary art institution, the Winter Show will reveal how the Gallery – beyond representing artists of the highest caliber – is dedicated to bringing an innovative programme of relevant and compelling international works to South Africa, offering audiences exposure to some of the best contemporary work being produced locally and abroad.
The Marks We Make
Ryan Arenson | Walter Battiss | Deborah Bell | Justin Brett | Lisa Brice | Adam Broomberg & Oliver Chanarin | Adam Broomberg | Kudzanai Chiurai | Marlene Dumas | Claire Gavronsky | Robert Hodgins | William Kentridge | David Koloane | Moshekwa Langa | Alexandra Makhlouf | Brett Murray | Sam Nhlengethwa | Walter Oltmann | Jonah Sack | Kathryn Smith | Jaco Spies | Clive Van Den Berg | Diane Victor | Jeremy Wafer | Sue Williamson
For many artists, drawing forms part of a larger process – a loose way of visualizing an artwork before committing to it in a more permanent medium. But the act of drawing itself remains one of the oldest and most eloquent forms of artistic expression. Goodman Gallery Cape is proud to present a group exhibition of drawings entitled ‘The Marks We Make’, exploring notions of mark-making as assertions of ownership and expressions of violence, memory and play.
Drawing usually refers to pencil marks on paper. In this exhibition we approach the term more loosely, featuring a range of media to question what constitutes a drawing and what gives it power. Works will include photographs from the Red House series by Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin, depicting the marks left behind by prisoners of Saddam Hussein in Iraq; wire and sculptural elements by Walter Oltmann and William Kentridge; installations by Jeremy Wafer, Jonah Sack and Justin Brett, as well as more traditional pencil, oil and charcoal drawings by Sue Williamson, Lisa Brice and Sam Nhlengethwa.
‘The Marks We Make’ brings together South African artists to explore the ways in which marks shape our environments and inform our perspectives. Bodies are circumscribed, silenced or marginalized by the invasive marks of violence. But these marks can also be used to express an identity, stake out a position or form communities. Territory is claimed, land contested, and ownership asserted through the use of marks, both physical and symbolic. The exhibition seeks to interrogate the ways in which these marks act to create the contingent, political spaces within which we form ourselves, and the role they play in shaping our personal and cultural memories.
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Solo Exhibitions
2009 Flux, Goodman Gallery, Cape
2007 Objects of Power: memory of metal, memory of wood, Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg.
2005-6 Crossings and Monuments, Oliewenhuis Museum, Bloemfontein.
2005 Crossings and Monuments, Aardklop Festival Potchefstroom University Library Gallery.
2004 Sentinels, Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg.
2002 Unearthed, Joao Ferreira Gallery, Cape Town.
2001 Unearthed, The Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg.
2000 The Journey Home, Art First, London.
1998 Displacements, Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg.
1995 Muses and Lamentations, Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg.
1989 Deborah Bell, Potchesfstroom Museum
1982 Deborah Bell, Market Gallery, Johannesburg
Group Exhibitions
2/ 3 Person Exhibitions
2009 Collaborations, David Krut, Johannesburg
1997 Collaborations 1986-1997 (11 years of collaborative projects between artists Kentridge, Hodgins and Bell) at the Johannesburg Art Gallery, in association with the FNB Vita Awards.
1997 ‘UB101:’ A portfolio of etchings done in conjunction with Kentridge and Hodgins. Exhibited at the Grahamstown Festival and at the Gertrude Posel Gallery. Exhibition curated by Fiona Rankin-Smith.
1994 Memo, installation with video at the Grahamstown festival in collaboration with William Kentridge and Robert Hodgins
1994 Lamentations, Art First, Cork Street. London
1993 Easing the Passing (of the hours), Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg.
1993 Portraits in the round, ceramic exhibition in collaboration with William Kentridge and Retief van Wyk at the Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg.
1992 Easing the Passing (of the hours), Waterfront, Cape Town. Computer Animation, laser prints and drawings in collaboration with William Kentridge and Robert Hodgins.
1991 Little Morals, a portfolio of etchings done in conjunction with Hodgins and Kentridge, exhibited at the Cassierer Gallery, Johannesburg, Gallery International Cape Town, Taking Liberties, Durban
1988 Exhibited with Jenny Stadler and Nagel at the Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg.
1987-08 Hogarth in Johannesburg, a portflio of etchings done in conjuction with Hodgins and Kentridge. This exhibition travelled to all the major centres in South Africa.
1985 MAFA exhibition, Rembrandt Gallery, Milner Park, Johannesburg
1983-4 Exhibited with Hodgins and Sassoon, Carriage House Gallery
Group Exhibitions
2009 Contemporary Sculpture in the Landscape, Nirox Foundation
2007 Lift Off II, Goodman Gallery Cape, Cape Town.
2007 David Krut print workshop, UNISA Art Gallery. Pretoria
2005 ART BASEL MIAMI BEACH, Miami Beach, USA, in collaboration with Goodman Gallery
2005 Works on Paper, Collaborative prints from David Krut Print Workshop, Franchise Gallery,Johannesburg
2005 David Krut Collaborations: 25 Years of Prints and Multiples, National Arts Festival, Grahamstown
2004 Earthworks/Claybodies, Sasol Museum Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch
2003 Earthworks/Claybodies, Pretoria Art Museum
2003 Earthworks/Claybodies, Standard Bank Centre Gallery, Johannesburg
2000 Icons for the Millenium, Atlanta, USA.
1999 The Paper Show, Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg.
1999 Emergence, Group Show, National Arts festival, Grahamstown.
1999 Artery, A.V.A Gallery, Cape Town – in conjunction with the Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg.
1999 Artists in residence, Standard Bank National Arts Festival, 25th Anniversary, Grahamstown
1998 Earth Hues – Contemporary African Art, Group Show, World Space, Washington DC, USA.
1997 Images and Form: Prints, drawings and sculpture from Southern Africa and Nigeria, Brunei Gallery, University of London and Edinburgh College of Art, U.K.
1997 The Gencor Collection, Sandton Art Gallery, and The Grahamstown Festival.
1997 Kempton Park Metropolitan Substructure Fine Arts Award Show, Kempton Park.
1997 New Art from South Africa, Talbot Rice Gallery, Edinburgh, U.K.
1997 Les Arts de la Resistance, (Fin de Siecle a Johannesburg), Galerie Convergence, Galerie Jean-Christian Fradin, Galerie Michel Luneau, Galerie les Petit Murs, Nantes, France.
1997 Not Quite a Christmas Exhibition, Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg
1997 CRAM, A.V.A Gallery, Cape Town – in conjunction with The Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg
1996 Gay Rights: Rites, Re-writes, Travelling Exhibition, South Africa.
1996 Group Salon, Rose Korber representing artists at the Bay Hotel, Cape Town.
1996 Common and Uncommon Ground: South African Art to Atlanta, City Gallery East, Atlanta, USA.
1996 Vita Awards, Johannesburg Art Gallery.
1996 Tomorrow is Now, First Canadian Place and Knights Galleries International, Toronto, Canada.
1996 Barber Signs, The Standard Bank Gallery, Johannesburg
1996 Recent Drawings, Gallery on Tyrone, Johannesburg.
1996 Ceramics Biennal, Sandton Art Gallery
1995 The Bag Factory: The First Five Years, the Civic Theatre Gallery, Johannesburg.
1995 The Art of Tea, Kim Sacks Gallery, Johannesburg.
Group Salon, Rose Korber representing artists at the Bay Hotel, Cape Town.1994 Group Show, Newtown, Johannesburg.
1994 Anything Boxed, Group Show, Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg..
1994 South African works on Paper, North Western University of Illinois, Chicago, United States
1993 Gallery on Tyrone, Johannesburg.
1993 Vita Awards, Johannesburg Art Gallery.
1993 Momentum Life Exhibition, Pretoria.
1993 Internations of Millenium, Newtown Gallery, Johannesburg.
1992 ICA, 50 Johannesburg Artists, Johannesburg
1992 Paris: The Catalyst, Alliance Francaise, Durban.
1992 Looking at Art: Looking at Watercolours, Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg.
1992 Vita Awards, Johannesburg Art Gallery
1992 Works made in August, Newtown Gallery, Johannesburg
1991 Cape Town Triennal
1991 Painted People: Painted Spaces, Newtown Galleries, Johannesburg
1991 Hand Coloured Graphics, Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg.
1991 Tiny Tapestry Show, Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg.
1990 Women choose Women, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.
1990 Art from South Africa, MOMA, Oxford, UK.
1990 Standard Bank Drawing Competition, Johannesburg.
1989 Volkskas Atelier Award Exhibition, South African Vita Awards, Johannesburg Art Gallery.
1989 African Encounters, Dome Gallery, New York and Washington, USA.
1989 The Little Big Show, Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg.
1988 CASA (Culture for Another South Africa), conference in Amsterdam, Holland.
1988 Volkskas Atelier Award exhibition, South African Association of the Arts.Pretoria.
1998 100 Artists Protest detention without trial, in aid of DPSC, Market Theatre, Johannesburg.1998 Artists for Human Rights Exhibition, Durban Exhibition Centre.
1986 Volkskas Atelier Award Exhibition, South African Association of Arts, Pretoria.
1998 4 UNISA Lecturers, Bloemfontein .
1998 UNISA Art Lecturers, Pretoria Art Museum..
1985 Cape Town Triennal New Visions, market Gallery, Johannesburg
1985 11 Figurative Artists, Market Gallery, Johannesburg
Awards and Merits
1997 APSA Award for the best New Signature, Ceramics Biennal
1991 Vita Quarterly Award, runner-up for Main Award
1991 Mamba Award for the Most Sustained Artist
1986 Merit Prize Winner, Volkskas Atelier
Collections
BCE, Johannesburg
Bell, Dewar and Hall, Johannesburg
Bristol Myers Squibb Corp. USA
Friends of the National Gallery, Cape Town
Hara Museum, Tokyo
Johannesburg Art Gallery
Johannesburg City Council
King George VI Art Gallery, Port Elizabeth
Legal Resources Centre, Johannesburg
Mueum of Modern Art, New York
MTN Art Institute, Johannesburg
Oliewenhius Museum, Bloemfontein
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C
Pretoria Art Museum
Roodepoort Museum
SA National Gallery, Cape Town
BHP Billiton South Africa Ltd.
Sanlam Collection
Sasol Collection
Smithsonian Insitute, Washington, D.C
Standard Bank Investment Corporation, Johannesburg
Tatham Art Gallery, Pietermaritzburg
Telkom
UNISA Art Gallery
University of Pietermaritzburg Collection
University of the Orange Free State Collection
University of the Witwatersrand Collection
Commissions
1999 Sculpture for Standard Bank
1991 Large sculpture for Wits Business School
1991 Artist-in-Residence, Standard Bank National Arts Festival – 25th Anniversary, Grahamstown.
1994 Graphics for Weekly Mail Film Festival Poster
1994 Involvement in movie animation for Arts Alive
1994 Title sequence for Grass Roots, NNTV
1993 Graphics for Weekly Mail Film Festival Poster
1990-1 Set of 6 Graphics for First National Bank
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