2nd Jun, 2019 9:00
Modern & Contemporary Art
8
Kay Hassan (South Africa 1956-)
Portrait
paper construction
Artwork date: 1999/2000
Signature details: twice signed and dated bottom right and left
paper construction
Artwork date: 1999/2000
Signature details: twice signed and dated bottom right and left
(1)
110 x 105 cm
Notes:
Kay Hassan’s work is instantly recognisable. An integral part of Johannesburg’s artistic fabric since the 1980s, he was also an influential long-term inhabitant of Fordsburg’s well-known Bag Factory Studios, and has exhibited widely and internationally, including at the second Johannesburg biennale in 1997 and the Venice biennale in 2015.Hassan’s work is fascinating for its implicit socio-political critique. His ‘paper constructions’, of which the work on auction is a fine example, take ubiquitous ‘township’ advertising imagery and recontextualises it in a fine art idiom, similar to the collages of his friend Sam Nhlengethwa.This approach to the ‘defamiliarising’ of everyday objects also extended to Hassan’s installation work of the same period. Johannesburg by Day (1999-2000) illustrates perfectly the artist’s method of an almost situationist dérive around the city, deploying everyday objects to comment on the daily lives of its working class black citizens.This particular paper construction was made around the time that Hassan became the first recipient of the prestigious DaimlerChrysler Award for South African Contemporary Art in 2000. It is a powerful example of Hassan’s approach to these works. Comprised of recycled advertising billboard imagery, they are reconstituted, layered and constructed in such a way as to seduce the viewer with their painterliness, despite being composed of found materials. The recontextualising of the advertising images demonstrates Hassan’s ability to transform the mundane into the visually powerful and aesthetically pleasing. At the same time it implies a wry commentary on the extent to which the working classes of the townships are deprived of such aesthetic experiences in their lives. Taking these mundane commercial materials and turning them into beautiful painterly constructions makes Hassan’s work as powerful as that of many other artists who profess to be explicitly politically engaged.
James Sey
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Auction: Modern & Contemporary Art, 2nd Jun, 2019
Aspire Art Auctions presented a focused and insightfully compiled selection of top-quality modern and contemporary art in their latest sale in Johannesburg.
The company’s commitment to innovation led to a bold and signature move in this sale, which featured a special section dedicated to photography. The medium has been traditionally strong among South African artists but has been without a proper focus in the local auction market. The ground-breaking segment featured a wide range of the most important South African photographers, including Pieter Hugo, David Goldblatt, Guy Tillim, and Zanele Muholi. In addition, the sale starred a number of the market’s big signatures – Alexis Preller J.H. Pierneef, Gerard Sekoto, and Maggie Laubser and top contemporary artists including, Diane Victor, and Wim Botha.
HIGHLIGHTS
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