Artists We Love: Art of Brother

INTERVIEWED BY Malibongwe Tyilo IMAGES Adam Kent West VIDEO Art of Brother Art & Design on YouTube

Art of Brother is an artist collective made up of Karabo Makenna and Cobus Engelbrecht, two friends who met at CPUT while studying graphic design and industrial design respectively.

The pair has been making art together since July 2014. We caught up with them prior to the opening of their exhibition, ‘Country for Old Men’, which opens on Thursday 2 June at Cape Town’s Worldart gallery.

How did Art of Brother come about?

What initially connected us when we first met at college was our love for skateboarding. We spent a lot of time skating while exploring the city of Cape Town, as we were both very new to the city. Over the years we became tight and our love for art and design gave us a hunger to create. However, what really kicked us off was when a good friend of ours started a skate brand called Stock Skate co., which was inspired by skating in Woodstock. We took it upon ourselves to create a look book for his latest range of clothing and enlisted fashion photographer Travys Owen to shoot it. We knew he would be perfect as he was also part of the Cape Town skating fraternity. The end product was amazing and it captured the attention of numerous blogs nationwide. It was the success of this project that led us to see ourselves as a collective that collaborates on self-initiated creative projects. That’s how Art of Brother was born and since then we have built up a portfolio of work of which we are super proud.

What kinds of themes do you work with?

Our biggest theme has always been storytelling. We feel that’s how we connected so well, as we are from such different backgrounds. After spending a lot of time together we found that what broke the existing barriers in terms of race and culture was the fact that our stories were actually quite similar. We played this theme out in our first exhibition entitled ‘Myths Recreated’, where we selected two African stories, one from Ghana called Kweku Ananse and another called Selekhana and the River God, which is a folk tale from Botswana. We felt it was very important to place emphasis on selecting African stories, as storytelling in African culture has always been a part of everyday life.

You invited other artists to exhibit as part of ‘Myths Recreated’. Going forward, is art curation something you plan on continuing with?

Yes, we would like to carry on curating collaborations with other artists. In that exhibition we worked with a talented bunch of artists: Nolan Dennis, Thandiwe Tshabalala, Russel Abrahams, Fuzzy Slippers and Darren Christian. We felt that this unity made for a really strong and impactful experience. A big mandate for us while we are still relevant is to make art and the whole creative sector a lot more inclusive for everyone and not just the elite. Through the exhibition platform and creative content we hope to connect creative people from all parts of society.

What was the inspiration behind ‘Country for Old Men’?

We simply wanted to question how manhood or masculinity is represented in contemporary South Africa. We are still placing emphasis on storytelling but from a more personal perspective. We explore how our forefathers represented a more ‘culturally preferred gender role’, acting out what society thought and felt a man should be. This exhibition is the act of us searching for the meeting point between the experiences of our forefathers and the present – how they live through us, and how we will live through others in the future.

By way of the exhibition we question the old rules of masculinity we were taught by our forefathers, at the same time as remembering them, and figuring out what it means to be a man in the present and what that means for the future.

What medium do you work in?

We think of ourselves as multi-media artists. We experiment a lot; we are not limited to traditional ideas of what art is or should be. A big point of execution for us has always been to try to create visuals that people have never seen before, which is a lot harder than it sounds. As we grow and learn we’re finding that everything has been done before; what we try and do is to add our own experiences and expressions. We feel that this is what makes our work original.

What do you hope to achieve with your art?

Primarily we hope to create beautiful visuals and images, and also have an impact on the local creative scene. Deep down inside we just want to be noticed for doing compelling work, and last but not least, we want to create connections with people from all over our awesome continent.

Who are some of your favourite artists?

In no specific order: Mohau Modisakeng, Kemang Wa Lehulere, Meleko Mokgosi, Craig Smith, Black Koki, Khaya Witbooi, Faith 47, Dion Cupido, Porky Hefer, Jane Alexander, Atang Tsikare, Peter Clarke, Bonnie Ntshalintshali and Nolan Dennis.

Lastly, how do you guys wind down and relax when you are not working?

Skateboarding or watching skate videos.

Country for Old Men opens on 2 June and runs until 30 June at Worldart Gallery 54 Church street, Cape Town.