Art mob

WORDS Nechama Brodie

The Kalashnikovv Gallery in Braamfontein has just celebrated its one-year anniversary of pushing the limits, questioning the givens and drawing a completely new audience to the South African art scene. High art. Lowbrow. Low art. Murray Turpin hates labels and categorisations. “We uphold a no-brow manifesto,” he says. “We are taking back art for the masses.”

By putting the art back in party, Murray and his business partner Matthew Dean are inciting a revolution from their base in Braamfontein, the Kalashnikovv Gallery (named after the AK-47 assault rifle), and they’re taking their agenda to the city: curating Youth Day exhibitions and festivals with Constitution Hill; working with the Wits Art Museum (WAM) to put on the first WAM After Hours event.    

It was art and music that brought the pair together. Murray, who studied fine art at Wits, had developed an extensive practice over the years, taking occasional time off to DJ and record with his band Mtkidu; Matthew had run numerous clubs, and called Murray in to assist in curating a more concept-based sho called Neon. They went on to collaborate on Satellite Spaces/// The Untitled Gallery, where they took pop-up (another label Murray dislikes) exhibitions to different locations around Johannesburg.

The shows were such a success that Play Braamfontein offered them a more permanent space. As a “trade exchange”, they are creating two Kalashnikovv Portfolios made up of works on paper from each artist who shows at the gallery. One portfolio will also be auctioned off for charity. Kalashnikovv puts on a new show every two weeks, so the portfolio will include between 30 to 50 works.

Murray and Matthew’s ability to attract a massive younger audience to art gallery and museum spaces with music, visual displays and a mix of emerging artists has “ironically made [them] into a service providers of sorts” – called in to draw crowds. Even if students are not spending money on art just yet, Murray hopes by experiencing the events, they will become familiar with art and “when they’ve graduated they’ll remember, and they will become the buyers.” 

70 Juta Street, Braamfontein, kalashnikovvgallery@gmail.com, kalashnikovvgallery.tumblr.com