Oliewenhuis Art Museum Presents Zak Benjamin Retrospective

South Africa Thu 15-09-2011

Oliewenhuis Art Museum Presents Zak Benjamin Retrospective
Press Release | Oliewenhuis Art Museum

The opening of the Zak Benjamin Retrospective at Oliewenhuis Art Museum, Bloemfontein, on 20 September 2011 coincides with this veteran South African artist's 60th birthday. It will be the first time that such a large number of his works spanning more than four decades will be seen together in one venue, and it will also be his first exhibition in Bloemfontein.

Zak Benjamin-Retrospective

One of the works on show at Zak Benjamin's Retrospective Exhibitionon 20 September 2011

Upon hearing of the intended exhibition, Fernand Haenggi of the Haenggi Foundation Inc. wrote: “...– at last! Recognition of this artist has been long overdue.”

Oliewenhuis Art Museum is indeed privileged to host this exhibition. The Museum's mission includes bringing previously neglected artists to the attention of the public, and although Benjamin's work is represented in public and private collections both locally and internationally, it is not very widely known.

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Zak Benjamin completed his BA Fine Arts at the University of Pretoria in 1979 after first studying architecture, dropping out, and then working as a stoker and a pipe-fitter. He made decor for the State Theatre, ran an art school in Cape Town, and was a teacher and a lecturer in the Vaal Triangle and the University of the North West. In 1996 he was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. He currently lives in Vereeniging.

The artist's early work fell within the mainstream of social and political commentary, but since the latter half of the 1980s it became much more difficult to classify. One reviewer has said "...bright gaiety and humour [is] combined with an ethereal seriousness. Like the unusual world of One Hundred Years of Solitude (Gabriel Marquez), the paintings hold together, as natural, the most outlandish realities."

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Breyten Breytenbach commented "Truly astonishing stuff - a kind of indigenous surrealism - complex and original." A word that recurs in the catalogue that accompanies the exhibition is ‘numinous’ - but the viewing public will have to make up its own mind about this artist's wide range of subjects, media and styles displayed in the large body works to be seen in Bloemfontein.

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Some of the works from the exhibition will travel to other venues around the country during 2012, but this comprehensive collection is not to be missed. A detailed catalogue and limited edition commemorative T-shirts, displaying a drawing by the artist will be on sale at Oliewenhuis Art Museum, while a free user-friendly education supplement will also be available.

The artist will be present at the opening, and will conduct a walkabout at 10:00 on Wednesday, 21 September as well as a special after-work walkabout at 18:00 on Thursday, 22 September 2011. The exhibition closes on November 6.

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The opening on 20 September 2011 is supported by the Arts & Culture Trust (ACT) in association with Nedbank Arts Affinity.

For more information or to RSVP for the opening, please contact;

Ester le Roux,
Oliewenhuis Art Museum,
Tel : 051 4479609
Email : oliewen@nasmus.co.za.

Posted By: Allan Kapten

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