VISI talks to Georgina Gratrix about the work in her recent retrospective, “The Reunion: Georgina Gratrix” at Norval Foundation, and asks curator Liese van der Watt about the process of putting the exhibition together.

South African artist Georgina Gratrix was born in Mexico City. She’s known for her highly expressive paintings, which feature bold, impasto brushwork and frequently evoke strong emotions. “The Reunion: Georgina Gratrix”, her memorable recent exhibition at Norval Foundation, was the artist’s first solo retrospective at a museum – an impressive achievement, as she is not yet 40 – and was curated by guest curator Liese van der Watt. The exhibition featured work from 2011 to 2020 in three distinct groups: portraits of friends and family, including self-portraits; still lives; and portraits of contemporary social figures.

You incorporate multiplicity in some of your portraits, indicating different dimensions to individuals. Is this something you’ve observed in your subjects? How does it inform your perspective on relationships?

I think this is particularly evident in The History Of Dad and 80s Mom. Often, I use elements of myself embedded in the painting – so, a bow on my father’s head is my way of inserting an aspect of myself onto him. It’s a very particular point of view; it’s not an objective likeness but more a sort of map – a history of faces that I am attempting to represent.

In the series “Nine Weeks”, created during the 2020 lockdown, you charted your changing mental state. What did you learn during that process?

“Nine Weeks” began at a confusing time for many, and started with simply wanting a manageable daily task. The watercolours are small and could be done at my dining room table. They pick up some “concerns” I thought other people might identify with. It’s also about not seeing people: for instance, Melding is about my husband and I merging into a homogenous blob, while Starting To Look Like Those Around Me is a reference to how many dogs I have, and feeling like that was the only conversation I was having.

As an accompaniment to the exhibition, you collaborated with Missibaba on limited-edition bags under the overall title of Fat Flower. How did this come about?

I’m a big fan of Missibaba, and when a collaboration for the exhibition was suggested, Chloe Townsend immediately came to mind. I gave her a rudimentary sketch of an idea for a bag – a flower based on various still lifes – and her interpretation and execution have been thrilling to see. Each bag is unique and numbered – almost like a wearable sculpture. It’s been amazing to go to her studio, look at my work and extract unique colour combinations to make this edition.

Tell us about the artwork The Reunion, which depicts a family reunion, and whose title also became the overall title of the Norval Foundation show. What does this work mean to you?

The Reunion was made last year, and was an imagining of bringing together various family members who live around the world. It’s a combined portrait of real family as well as fictitious characters such as Captain Hastings from Agatha Christie’s Poirot series, and Cora from Downton Abbey. It’s about the way these TV personas seem to have slotted in as family in a time of separation, and about not knowing when reunions might be likely to happen again.

THE CURATOR’S VIEW

Guest curator Liese van der Watt put together the recent Norval Foundation show of Georgina’s work. We asked how she managed to seamlessly thread together the exhibition of artworks – spanning almost 10 years – in the way she did.

“I decided quite early on that the exhibition should focus on Georgina’s portraits, and then primarily in a thematic rather than chronological way,” says Liese. “Having said that, Georgina – like most artists – tends to revisit themes, so it was also interesting to see how motifs, figures and personalities return and modify (or not) over time. I decided to divide the portraits into two loose groups: family and friends, and then those of over-familiar yet unknowable celebrity archetypes.

“The face is clearly becoming digital currency in our contemporary world, so Georgina’s attention to the face is entirely au courant and of our time. Because of international shipping challenges due to Covid-19, we decided to focus on South African collections; to some extent, works were already pre-selected, which made the final choices easier. In fact, I think one of the nicest aspects of this show was that we were able to see early works that have largely been taken out of circulation.”

Looking for more on local art? Take a look at the work of Stephané Conradie.

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Earlier this year, artist Jody Paulsen and designer Keith Henning, the duo behind AKJP Collective, presented their Autumn/Winter 2016 collection in Florence, Italy, at Pitti Uomo, and later again at South African Menswear Week.

The incredibly detailed collection, which has a spirit of the tropical Durban landscape, also took inspiration from the work of artist Georgina Gratrix. For their lookbook, shot by Neil Roberts and styled by Louw Kotze, they went back to their source of inspiration. 

Says the designers: “Our lookbook shoot was actually done inside of a previous gallery exhibition at Smac Gallery where Georgina Gratrix’s work was being shown, so this lookbook is a full circle moment for our A/W 16 collection, which was inspired by the artist herself. It was a cool idea we had to create art inside of her artwork, so to speak. From there, we moved to La Perla for a post-modern look and feel. It was really great to work within one of the oldest restaurants in Cape Town, which also showcases contemporary artworks.”

The shoot itself took inspiration from the 2003 film The Dreamers, set in 1968 Paris. It’s an art film with a coming of age theme, which is referenced in the shoot.

Shop the collection at AKJP Collective, 73 Kloof Street, Cape Town. Contact the store at 021 424 5502 for more information.

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Tonight, Thursday 17 April from 5pm to 9pm, Warren Editions are breaking the mold with a “live print performance”. Working from a live webcam feed, artist Katherine Bull’s autographic drawings will be translated into print by a team of printmakers. We asked Sean O’Toole to give us the lowdown on the cutting-edge Warren Editions print studio.

In 2006, two years before she opened her Cape Town studio, Warren Editions, printmaker and entrepreneur Zhané Warren joined Facebook. There is a point to this seemingly random fact.

“I am not part of the Rorke’s Drift, Artist Proof Studio or Caversham Press generation at all,” says this mother of two, referring to the storied printmaking studios that preceded her. Far from disrespecting their efforts, she adds that they produced some of her favourite graphics. But Zhané, who did experimental performance work in the early 2000s before graduating as a master printer in Antwerp, opened up shop in the era of iPads and status updates.

“Most of my clients are under 45,” she says, challenging the view that art on paper is old-fashioned. “It is not just the people who can’t afford the R100 000 works, I have had people who can afford expensive paintings. It is not about work on paper versus painting for them, it is about the excitement of an image.”

Her collaboration with Swedish-born Cape Town painter Tom Cullberg is a case in point. In 2008, working with Warren Editions, he produced a winsome study of an A-frame tent in blue and pale yellow tones. People still phone Warren Editions to enquire if this sold-out work is available.

All counted, she has worked with over 30 artists, among them colourist painters Michael Taylor and Georgina Gratrix. Colour, something that Walter Battiss made central to his prints, has not always found favour with local artists. Zhané hopes to correct this drift. “I refuse to print in sepia,” she states.

For the World Design Capital 2014, Zhané is planning to work with Luc Tuymans, the Belgian painter and printmaker celebrated for his washed-out portrait studies. Luc will get to work on a custom-made piece of machinery dubbed the “red lady” by Zhané’s three studio assistants. Proving that print and online are not mutually exclusive, Zhané is currently using Google to see if this press, the largest in South Africa, might not in fact be the biggest in the southern hemisphere!

021 461 6070, warreneditions.com

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VISI’s ubiquitous editor-at-large, Malibongwe Tyilo finally had a moment to pen his style observations from the Joburg Art Fair. Fashion and craft is what caught his eye.

Fashion fair

“Art fairs are the new fashion weeks” I overheard someone say as I was trying to photograph Marie Claire editor Aspasia Karras’s gorgeous skirt.

I think there definitely is some level of truth to that statement. I’ve been photographing and blogging about style at art openings for the past two years, and I have absolutely no doubt that for most attending these events, the swag is as important as the art on the wall.

Opening night itself was quite the buzz and the outfits were well calculated. In fact I felt the same way I feel when I am snapping away at fashion week; a quick peck on both cheeks, a brief conversation before one’s chat partner spots another person of interest and there’s another short-lived union of cheeks and lips, giving me a brief moment to snap pictures.

By the end of the evening I hadn’t paid nearly as much attention to the art as I should have, so I gave up and decided to revisit the fair on the last day by myself, sans camera.

Craft in art 

I was struck by how much a lot of the pieces on show, while being respectable art pieces that pose the predictable range of socio-political questions, also would do just as well as pretty decor pieces. In recent times, a lot of artists have gone beyond merely questioning or celebrating society in their works.

More and more artists are now challenging the very media they work in. Although Zander Blom did not show at the fair, think of his blobs of oil paint that are no longer about just creating an image but also about pushing the craft of oil painting.

Artists showing at the fair who made outstanding work that pushed this trend towards craft-driven art were Liza Lou who showed a magnificent piece made up of over 1.2-million beads. Wayne Barker created his typically irreverent work but instead of paint and the usual selection of found objects, he used glass beads. I didn’t get the bead count on that but I have no doubt it’s close to Liza’s.

Two other artists that have been pushing craft in their art since their beginnings are Athi-Patra Ruga and Dan Halter. Athi-Patra is as famous for his intricate and subversive tapestries as he is for his video installations. Dan’s woven paper manuscripts have to be seen to be believed. They suggest a rather obsessive compulsive personality, and that’s before we even get into their subject matter.

Redesign the medium 

There were many more artists whose works presented a leaning toward craft – Ed Young, Michael McGarry, Georgina Gratrix and Mohau Modisakeng’s costumes, to name but a few. I could go on and on about them, but that would require a different kind of article.

I am more fascinated by how this new love for craft changes the landscape, especially where decor and art meet. Back in Cape Town, I went to an opening recently with a group of friends who were also at the Joburg Art Fair. It was a bunch of paintings dealing with a variety of subject matter. While the paintings were nice enough, we felt a bit cheated.

We started asking ourselves how the artists could have maintained their questioning stance on socio-political issues but moved beyond it by challenging their medium, therefore challenging themselves.

Malibongwe “Mali” Tyilo is VISI’s ubiquitous editor-at-large, to be seen at all the fashionable openings snapping away for Skattie What Are You Wearing. Follow him on Twitter @skattie_what.

More Joburg Art Fair news

Kudzanai the rockstar
Winner of this year’s FNB Art Prize, Kudzanai Chiurai’s exhibition will form the centerpiece of the Joburg Art Fair, which starts tomorrow.

Shopping for art
With art fever in Jozi this week, we asked the likes of Sean O’Toole, Marianne Fassler, Ross Douglas, Roelof Petrus van Wyk, Joost Bosland, Jonathan Garnham, Fiona Mauchan, Gavin Rooke, Justin Rhodes and Michelle Constant: how do you start an art collection?

The verdict: Joburg Art Fair
Novelist Kathryn White donned her high heels, grabbed her champers and air-kissed her way through the Joburg Art Fair to bring us her personal verdict.

More art in Joburg

Our new street art blog
Photographer and visual anthropologer Sydelle Willow Smith is photo-blogging the I Art Joburg project in the Maboneng Precinct for us. 

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What do you get when you mix a girl, a paintbrush, bold colour, paint, and an interest in everything from animals to grunge to pop to rainbows to Chanel? Why, Georgina Gratrix of course…

This young Cape Town-based artist is making some pretty profuse waves in the local art scene, although she is by no means a newcomer. With previous shows all over the world – from Amsterdam to Berlin to London and Los Angeles – this month marks the third solo exhibition of the immensely talented Gratrix.

Educated at the Michaelis School of Fine Art, Georgina is a multi-disciplinary artist. Painting, however, is her primary modus operandi and what will no doubt make her deservedly rich and famous one day. At present, the majority of her work centres around portraiture – friends, family and celebrities all feature – but also prominent are animals, flowers and text. Gratrix’s work is by no means orthodox, run-of-the-mill stuff. Faces are distorted, eyes are manifold, and the paint thick and textured to the point that you almost want to eat it.

That she chooses to work with paint when, until recently, critics have been extremely disdainful of the form is an indication of the way in which she thinks and approaches her work. The current exhibition at SMAC gallery in Stellenbosch is a showcase of over 50 works, all created in the last year or so.

Despite her varied references, what holds Gratrix’s diverse oeuvre together is her unrelenting investigation into the limits of representation.

The show is on at SMAC until the 24^th May. Whether you live in Stellenbosch or not, this is one to see. Judging from the number of works already sold on the opening night, Gratrix is a name to watch.

We managed to speak to Georgina and ask her a few questions about her work and other things.

What is your first memory of painting?

I think it must have been in Class Two or perhaps Standard One. We had to paint a picture of what we did on the weekend. Apparently I went rowing in the rain with octopi. Or that’s what it looks like. My mom has that hanging in her kitchen.

How do you come up with new material? What are your prime inspirations?

I draw. I have a notebook that is my daily planner and sketch book in one.

If you could meet one artist or designer, who would it be?

Ed Young.

Where do you see yourself in 10 years time?

Somewhere nice where you can still smoke.

How do you perceive the current state of art and design in South Africa?

I think the National Gallery needs a coffee shop.

If you weren’t an artist, what would you be?

Probably a mom. I’m from Durban.

More info: www.smacgallery.com

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