The World Needs Us, curated by Heidi Erdmann is a group exhibition of South African artists: Norman O’Flynn, Nomusa Makhubu, Karlien de Villiers e Collen Maswanganyi. They are four emerging talents who live and work in Grahamstown, Cape Town and Johannesburg.
Well known for his big ironic paintings and sculptures, Norman O’Flynn is deeply interested in the human condition. His visual language is reflected in his canvasses full of comic strip hero’s, half-gods and the typical cow-hide spots.
In his work Nomusa Makhubu assembles the inputs of what he sees around him, between identity and history. He uses in fact his own self image in the majority of his photographic works.
Karlien de Villiers explores the murky waters of the sub conscience, but is not looking for either explanations or interpretations of the visions created by dreams and nightmares.
The works of Collen Maswanganyi are wooden hand-carved and painted sculptures, inspired by typical South African stereotypes and idiosyncrasies.
Whereas some of these artists reflect the reality around them, others address the more complex issues affecting their society.
This is therefore an occasion to get to know the young art of the most vivacious of African countries, whose great achievements in terms of democracy and multiculturalism not hide to the artist perception political and economics contraddictions already existent.
The Centro Luigi Di Sarro keeps on promoting international exchanges, by hosting the South African artists as part of a cultural project with Erdmann Contemporary, whose second stage will be the exhibition of an Italian artist in few months time at PhotographersGalleryZa in Cape Town, under the supervision of Heidi Erdmann, who has also selected the artists for the exhibition in Rome.
The collaboration between the “Accademia di Belle Arti” (Academy of Fine Arts) of Rome and the South African Universities of Grahamstown and Stellenbosch has allowed the organisation of some conferences and workshops with Italian students from different disciplines of art. A similar initiative is being planned with the Italian artists that are going to be hosted in South Africa.
The project has obtained the patronage of the South African Embassy in Rome, the Italian Embassy in Pretoria, the Italian Consulate in Cape Town, the Province of Rome (office for cultural policies) and the Academy of Arts of Rome. Sponsor: Alpitour World
