Group Exhibition: Urban Interpretation

Graffik Gallery and 34FineArt are pleased to announce a collaborative exhibition in Notting Hill, London, scheduled to open on 11th July 2013. Urban Interpretation is a group exhibition which brings together works from South African and British artists. South African artists participating in the exhibition include Esther Mahlangu, Asha Zero, Motel7, Jade Doreen Waller and Warren Petersen; and from the UK, Dotmasters, iCON, Robin Coleman and T.Wat. Though not all Street artists, all provide a reflection on urban art and art-making in disparate cultural and political locations.

Jade Doreen Waller and Motel7's work incorporates elements of South African kitsch, juxtaposed with contemporary styles and concerns, while Mahlangu's canvases similarly represent features from a rich and nuanced cultural past. One of the highlights of Mahlangu's career remains the BMW she painted in the traditional Ndebele style in 1991. The work remains a prime exhibit in the BMW Art Cars Collection in Germany, alongside others by Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol and David Hockney. Asha Zero and Warren Petersen's works on the other hand engage more specifically with a (de)construction of the portraiture medium, incorporating contemporary iconography and urban cultural imagery in untraditional ways.