KZNSA’S MEET THE ARTIST: CALLAN GRECIA

(“Loiter” - Mixed media on fabriano by Callan Grecia, 2020. 70 x 100 cm. R5,834)

During this lockdown, the KZNSA Gallery in Durban would like to introduce artists it has worked and collaborated with, in its new series: Meet the Artist. Have some fun with them, collect their art, and watch their Q&A videos on the Instagram and Facebook pages.

Earlier this year, the KZNSA exhibited the work of Durban artist, Callan Grecia, at the Investec Cape Town Art Fair. Grecia holds a Master of Fine Art degree in painting from Rhodes University, obtained in 2017. As a young man actively engaged in music, fashion and photography, he discovered in painting a way to explore new modes of expression. He credits his early experiences in hip hop and fashion with unlocking an experimental, almost playful approach to painting; the result is an energetic portfolio of work that has evolved organically with the artist’s taste in music and fashion. Interested in more of his background, read his bio online here .

Q: How do you know the KZNSA?

When I was a kid, my parents took me to the KZNSA because I'm sure that they were aware that I enjoyed art, I was drawing and everything. After University I went back to the KZNSA, because I wanted to keep up to date with what was happening in the arts in Durban. Which was great for me, as I ended up working there over the holiday period for the BUZZART fair, and ended up going to the Cape Town art fair.

Q: What do you wish you’d stocked up on, and what are you using instead?

Phthalo blue, should have ordered phthalo blue. Didn't. So now I am using van dyke brown and cerulean blue to kind of compensate, but it's not even close, which is a bit annoying.

Q: Can you give us a little known fact about you

This one's a tough one, hey. I don't know, people know a lot about me already, or they don't know anything and I'd like to keep it that way. 

Q: Name three creatives (living or late) to lockdown with you in your studio.

Daniel Rector, Jonathan Meese, Tal R. Just three German painters, hey!

Q: What is the best part about being an artist?

Probably waking up in the morning and going to the studio. I'm quite privileged to do that, maybe not necessarily monetarily, or stress-wise, or whatever, but I still probably wouldn't do anything other than that.

For more information visit https://kznsagallery.co.za/Artists/Profile/679/callan-grecia

The KZNSA Gallery can be contacted on 031 277 1705 or email: gallery@kznsagallery.co.za

SASOL NEW SIGNATURES ART COMPETITION CANCELLED

The Sasol New Signatures Art Competition 2020 has made the difficult decision to cancel this year’s competition and all associated events. This follows health and safety concerns arising from the COVID-19 pandemic as well as logistical challenges related to restrictions to contain the spread of the disease in South Africa.

“Given the challenges we face in the next few months, we don’t believe that we will be able to run the competition safely and viably enough this year. We made this decision after much consideration and due diligence in seeking alternate ways to run the competition under the restrictions we face due to the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Pieter van Heerden, Director of the Association of Arts Pretoria.

“While we are deeply saddened at having to cancel the event, the safety of our artists, staff and attendees has to remain our key priority. We encourage you all to stay safe, and keep creating during this time of lockdown,” van Heerden continued.

For more information, contact the Association of Arts Pretoria at artspta@mweb.co.za or 083 288 5117.

SUCCESSION FOR M-NET BINGE

M-Net Binge (channel 114 on DStv) is home of sterling HBO series. The pop-up channel has been tailor made for the #Lockdown period.

Due to the high age-restricted content, the opening time for channel 114 has changed from Friday 1 May.

Weekdays (Mondays- Fridays) channel opens at 20h00.

Weekends (Saturdays and Sundays) channel opens at 19h00.

M-Net Binge – The Home of HBO will be on air until June 28.

NB: M-Net Binge line-up start times and dates are subject to change.

M-Net Binge – The Home of HBO - Series Starting

May 3 at 20h00. Start of Season 2 of the drama Succession. Power, politics and money weave their way through this drama following the Roy family- a patriarch and his four children who control one of the biggest media and entertainment conglomerates in the world. However, their world changes when their father steps down from the company. Rating 18L

Further episodes:

Episode 3 and 4 (Sunday May 10, 20h00 and 21h00)

Episode 5 and 6 (Sunday May 17 at 20h00 and 21h00)

Episode 7 and 8 (Sunday May 24 at 20h40 and 21h40) 

Episode 9 and 10 (Sunday May 31 at 20h25 and 21h25)  

Rating 18SL

BASA SUPPORTS DIGITAL COLLABORATORS

(Right: Ashraf Johaardien. Pic by Jan Potgieter)

Business and Arts South Africa NPC (BASA) encourages projects between creatives and businesses, with a focus on online collaborations, to submit expressions of interest to be considered for grant support.

According to BASA CEO, Ashraf Johaardien, “There is real power that comes from deep collaboration between the right partners, and the purpose of the Supporting Grants’ platform is to ignite partnerships that are able to effect meaningful social change. As the South African government contemplates risk-adjusted approaches to resuming economic activity, it seems an opportune time to support and amplify business and arts partnerships that are exploring digital frontiers or innovating in virtual spaces.”

Johaardien explains why the BASA Supporting Grants platform offers a slightly different lens to conventional funding in that the focus is on amplifying and extending existing partnerships between arts and businesses: “The public-private partnership that led to the formation of BASA in 1997 was a key part of South Africa’s strategy to secure greater involvement in as well as support for the arts from businesses in South Africa. To this end, the Supporting Grants programme was designed to assist in activating sponsorship for a cross-section of arts projects in different regions of the country, by providing financial support to a project that is in an already existing business and arts relationship.” He adds that, while the team is encouraging applications between digital collaborators, all planned business and arts partnerships are eligible for consideration.

The application process for Supporting Grants has now been simplified, with interested parties merely submitting a formal letter of interest as a first step, and BASA then inviting eligible applicants to complete an online application. There is no deadline, and applications are considered throughout the year. Visit http://tiny.cc/basaSG for criteria and application guidelines, or e-mail enquiries to sipho@basa.co.za.

BASA Supporting Grants are made possible with the generous support from the Department of Sports, Arts and Culture.

To link direct to the BASA website, click on the advert to the right of this article or visit www.basa.co.za)

SARAH RICHARDS BRONZE SCULPTURE SALE & FUNDRAISER

(Some of the sculptures on sale)

Artist Sarah Richard is currently having a big sale of all her editioned bronzes. This offers a really good opportunity to buy a bronze at up to 40% off the usual selling price and help the vulnerable children from Angels's Care Centre in Howick receive food during this Covid-19 lockdown.

View the sale page and featured bronzes on the website http://www.sarahrichards.co.za/sale.html?utm_source=newsletter_51&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=sale-bronze-sculptures-by-sarah-richards-april-2020

One of the sculptures on sale is Neighbourhood Watch – Meerkats. Approximately 3.75 x 8 x 19 cm each. Edition 20. Normal price R38,000. Sale price R22,400. Weight in total 9 kg.

“My connection through the creating of the Tree relief mural at the Thembelihle Primary School led me to be associated with Angel's Care centre in Howick. These children are from very under-privileged homes which are without food during Covid-19 lockdown. All contributions are welcome so anyone wishing to donate directly to the Centre should contact https://www.angelscare.co.za/

For more information contact Sarah Richards on 083 707 0126 or email sarah@sarahrichards.co.za or visit www.sarahrichards.co.za

CANSA ART OF GIVING ONLINE AUCTION - ITEM 4

Deadline: May 3, 2020

(“Light”, acrylic on canvas by Corrie van der Wath)

CANSA has recently launched the Art of Giving online auction which will run over the course of the next few weeks in order to raise much-needed funds to continue its essential services to cancer patients, in spite of the lockdown to curb the spread of the COVID-19 virus. One item per week will be auctioned.

The current item on auction is Light, an acrylic on canvas by artist Corrie van der Wath. 

The work is unframed but it can be hanged unframed as the sides are painted. The size is 500mm x 500mm and the value is R5,000 (no reserve). The bid closes on May 10, 2020.

Bidders can place their bid with Munnik Marais email: mmarais@cansa.org.za by May 3, 2020.

MANIFEST FOR M-NET

(Josh Dallas & Melissa Roxburgh)

M-Net (channel 101) will launch the drama series Manifest on May 4, 2020, at 20h00.

After being presumed dead, 191 passengers of the Montego Air Flight 828 try to reintegrate into the society. However, disturbing realities come to light which unsettle them.

A gripping season two premiere of this mystery thriller as the Stone family reel in the aftermath of a shooting, Ben goes on a mission to locate two Flight 828 passengers who have gone missing.

Created by Jeff Rake, the series stars Josh Dallas, Melissa Roxburgh, Athena Karkanis, J. R. Ramirez, Luna Blaise, Jack Messina, Parveen Kaur, and Matt Long.

Rating: 13L

LET THE SUNSHINE IN FOR M-NET

(Juliette Binoche)

M-Net (channel 101) will show the romantic drama Let The Sunshine In on May 3 at 22h40.

This 2017 French romantic drama film directed by Claire Denis is an adaptation of Roland Barthes's 1977 text A Lover's Discourse: Fragments (French: Fragments d’un discours amoureux). Novelist Christine Angot and frequent Denis collaborator Jean-Pol Fargeau have both been reported as Denis's co-writers on the project. It opened the Directors' Fortnight section of the 2017 Cannes Film Festival. At Cannes, it won the SACD Award.

The film stars Juliette Binoche and follows Isabelle, a middle-aged Parisian artist and divorced mother, as she looks for love and meets different characters. The cast also includes Xavier Beauvois, Philippe Katerine, Josiane Balasko and Sandrine Dumas.

STUBER FOR M-NET

M-Net (channel 101) will show the action movie Stuber in their Sunday Night Blockbusters slot on Ma7 3, 2020, at 20h05.

Dave Bautista and Kumail Nanjiani form an unlikely partnership in this crime comedy directed by Michael Dowse. A detective recruits a reluctant uber driver and a night of unexpected adventure ensures.

A quick-tempered cop who's recovering from eye surgery recruits a mild-mannered Uber driver to help him catch the heroin dealer who murdered his partner. The mismatched pair soon find themselves in for a wild day of stakeouts and shootouts as they pursue violent criminals through the seedy streets of Los Angeles.

CENTRE FOR JAZZ ONLINE CONCERT: MAY 6, 2020

(Left: Riley G)

Centre for Jazz and Popular Music and iSupport Creative Business in proud association with Casio have taken the initiative to marshal their resources by presenting a weekly concert, featuring three artists that will present a 20-minute set each. The fifth edition of the new online concert series will take place on May 6, 2020, and features a diverse line-up featuring pianist Sibusiso Mash Mashiloane, drummer Riley G. and guitarist Fabrizio Savino from Italy.

Sibusiso Mash Mashiloane

Sibusiso Mash Mashiloane is known to be both a virtuoso player and conductor with his live performances being the drawing card that have garnered him audiences across the world. He is an integral performer of African Jazz music and has built an enthusiastic fanbase whilst touring South Africa, USA, Mozambique and Tanzania.

He released four albums since 2016 that were all nominated and winners of a variety of awards, such as the Mzantsi Jazz Awards, AFRIMA Award and nominations for the SAMA Awards and the Urban Music

His academic credentials speak volume on the kind of discipline and passion he has for music. He has a Masters in Jazz Performance, graduated Cum Laude from University of KwaZulu Natal and is a University lecturer. He is currently working on his PhD [studying concept of home through SA jazz lens].

Fabrizio Savino

Italian guitarist Fabrizio Savino was born in Bari in 1981 and is one of Italy’s most interesting jazz musicians. He has released three albums up to date - his first in 2009 called Metropolitan Prints (Alfamusic), in 2012 his second album, Aram (Alfamusic) and his third, Gemini, was released in 2016. This recording marked a significant step in his artistic career where he challenges himself with one of the most difficult ensembles in music, namely the guitar trio.

Moreover, Gemini was nominated as one of the “Best 100 European jazz albums” according to “Jazzit” magazine and “Album of the week” by the famous radio show Fahrenheit on the National Public Broadcasting Company of Italy" RAI Radio Tre. In 2019 Savino introduced his new project Rebirth during his tours, two of which took place in South Africa.

Savino’s Music Company, Inner Urge Music, (a music company that works as music booking agency, record label publisher and is also involved in educational projects) had to cancel the release of Rebirth, due to the current pandemic. A tour to the USA and one to South Africa also had to be cancelled due to the spread of COVID-19. Fabrizio loves the South African audience and is honoured to play virtually at the Centre for Jazz & Popular Music. He hopes to be able to perform soon in front of a live audience in South Africa.

Riley G Riley

Drummer Riley G Riley Joseph Giandhari (Riley G) was born in Durban. He started playing drums at the age of three and was mainly inspired by his father Pravin Giandhari who is also a professional drummer. At the age of 15, Riley started playing the drums at church and with a few gospel bands. Although he has considered degrees in other fields of study, he has always been drawn back to music and therefore enrolled to study Jazz at UKZN in 2013. Apart from studying music, he is currently a session drummer who records and performs with various musicians and artists. Riley has performed with artists such as Hugh Masekela, Neil Gonsalves, Brian Simpson, Mike Del Ferro and Raphael Clarkson. He also teaches drums at Kearsney College and gives private lessons in drums, keyboard, and music theory.

Notable performances include the Standard Bank Joy of Jazz Festival, the Oslo Jazz Festival, Cape Town International Jazz Festival, and Zakifo Music Festival. In 2018, he won two awards at the SAMRO Overseas Scholarship for Composers Competition. His debut album titled Riley G – A Groove For The Nation was released in December 2019.

To watch the concert there is a minimum charge of R40 and tickets are available on Webtickets. The full contribution of the audience will go straight to the artists in an effort to support and sustain South Africa’s beloved musicians through this testing time

Submissions

Musicians can submit a video that is created especially for the concert, which is likely to be a solo performance or very small ensemble in this period of social distance. You can also submit previously recorded videos that are not widely available on the internet, and are part of your personal archive.

Tickets

Get your ticket on www.webtickets.co.za where you can also get a monthly concert pass and donate. 

MATT VEND EP ONLINE LAUNCH

(Photo by Samora Chapman of one of the homeless men staying at the Denis Hurley Centre reading a book donated by the Street Lit vendors)

Raising funds for the StreetLit Durban Vendors, Matt Vend launches his new EP online tomorrow (Saturday, May 2, 2020).

Vend will be doing a live stream on Bandcamp tomorrow at NOON, introducing the world to the new EP Lost Inside the Static.

The talented Vend will be on vocals, harmonica, Melodica, guitar and banjo.

From his website, Vend is described as a South African born singer/songwriter/journalist/traveller and nomad Matt “Beard” Vend has been playing music in bands since 1999, from the “tender” age of 14.

The EP features five brand new songs that explore the stripped-down nature of folk/punk and rock 'n roll. Vend tried something new for this one in the use of samples from random Asian television shows and news broadcasts as a return to his song-writing roots - as all he had was a guitar as the primary instrument.

All the profits from the EP will be donated to the Booksellers of Mzanzi that will help support the Denis Hurley Centre Street Lit book vendors in Durban until they can operate safely again. These efforts have been inspired by and are driven by Anivesh Singh from Micromega Publications. Singh has a selection of books available for perusal online: www.madeinchatsworth.co.za.

The public can support the vendors by buying their books. Books can be purchased now and picked up from Pick ‘n Pay Durban North once it is viable to do so.

Log onto @Mattvend031 at 12 noon this Saturday / tomorrow, for the show.

For now, look out for the link at https://groundsweeprecords.bandcamp.com/music

CAROLINE SMART TRIBUTE TO CLINTON MARIUS

(Left: Clinton Marius with some of his puppets)

artSMart Editor and owner Caroline Smart pays tribute to the late actor, playwright and puppet-maker, Clinton Marius

My dear long-time friend, colleague and fellow actor Clinton Marius passed away on February 26, 2020. Just over two months ago and I’m still battling to accept the fact that he is no longer with us.

Although Clinton moved to Knysna with his partners, William Charlton-Perkins and Riaan Timson, some months ago, we still stayed closely connected. William and Clinton’s Q & A of me after I won the Arts & Culture Lifetime Achievement Award for Arts Advocacy is one of the most precious items in my scrapbook. The Awards were held on February 21, 2020, so I only got to answer the questions properly after he had gone. A very heartbreaking process but I tried my best to produce the answers he would expect from me.

(Right: Clinton Marius & Caroline Smart. Pic by Margaret von Klemperer)

I have been using the lockdown period to catalogue my scrapbooks of my various theatre activities which has brought me closer to all the memories that Clinton and I shared. I came across a little note from him saying “Thank you for making my dreams come true”. I hope I did and I was always very honoured to be called his “Mummy No. 2”.

I first met Clinton about 20 years ago when he was running an art gallery/gift shop in Glenwood called Big Sky.

I was fortunate to direct one of Clinton’s first productions in 2003. This was Vergissmeinnicht which he performed with Thomie Holtzhausen. It went to the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown, the first of a number of Clinton’s plays to be seen at the festival.

(Left: An image from “Guru”)

I went on to direct his fascinatingly satirical Guru in 2004 … and the outrageous send-up of Hollywood and the cult of celebrity, Thank you Very Much (Hooray for Wallywood!), in 2006. Another production was iLobolo in 2007 for the NLDTF/PANSA Festival of Contemporary Theatre Reading of New Writings, which won the Audience Award.

I cast him in Shades of Marguerite Poland which I directed in 2004 and which played to school audiences. He sometimes asked me to help put the finishing touches to a production like the delicious The Fantastical Flea Circus and the poignant Sweetie Darling.

In 2006, I was contracted by Lotus FM to direct their radio drama productions. I encouraged Clinton to try his hand at writing for radio which requires a different approach from stage work as the listeners only have their ears and imaginations.

He wrote several short plays and then I persuaded him to take the plunge and go for a series. With his fine sense of comedy and observation of human behaviour, his Lollipop Lane series took off immediately and eventually clocked up an impressive total of 800 episodes. Lollipop Lane was revised as a stage show and had a few performances at the iZulu Theatre and Catalina Theatre.

He later wrote a serial titled Eh Heh which ran on Gagasi 99.5FM but unfortunately, this was short-lived.

Clinton made his own puppets and loved to create theatre for young children. He worked closely with the ASSITEJ organisation. One of his most delightful plays was The Fantastical Flea Circus. The Calf with No Name, which introduced many children to theatre, is a Grade 8 setwork.

Clinton was a mentor to many and he was involved in the selection and mentoring of writers, for ASSITEJ’s first AFRICAN Playwriting Competition. He was a featured playwright at the DUT Children’s Festival, with which ASSITEJ collaborated over several years.

Clinton and film producer Ravi Govender collaborated on Ravi’s first movie, which was due to be released in December last year. Unfortunately, this has had to be placed on hold.

It was during a rehearsal for his play White Christmas, destined to go to this year’s National Arts Festival, when Clinton had his heart attack, the result of a burst aortic vein. Who would think that such a large and generous heart would eventually be the vehicle to take him from this earthly life?

Among the masses of tributes that came in to honour Clinton, the following from Ismail Mahomed, former Artistic Director of the National Arts Festival now CEO of the Market Theatre said it all:

“When an artist dies those of us who know the artist lose more than just a friend and colleague. We lose a national treasure. We lose a person who has been our conscience, allowed us to reflect and re-examine ourselves and to envision the kind of society we are living in and shaping for future generations.

In many ways, Clinton was an unusual giant. His reservoir of talent, his passion for the arts and his deep humanity stood far taller”.

Clinton handled the artSMart Facebook page and my great thanks are due to Riaan Timson for taking over this duty.

My heartfelt condolences go to Riaan, William, Clinton’s mother Trudi and the rest of his family. He is sorely missed.

Caroline Smart (Editor/Owner of the artSMart website)