Kin Bentley In Line

Friday, September 2, 2011

Jackson Hlungwane, SA heritage, Norman Catherine, Kendell Geers, Adam's Navel

Still reeling from an attack on my role as an art critic by a Rhodes art professor, I nonetheless continued to try to cover the shows as they occurred in Port Elizabeth in 2005. This posting starts with a badly mutilated version of my review of an exhibition of African art. There is also an article about what the cultural emphasis was likely to be in the 2010 World Cup opening ceremony, a review of an exhibition by Norman Catherine, a little letter taking a dig at Kendell Geers and a review of a fascinating book about the human body.

Jackson Hlungwane's carved sculptures are absolutely priceless South African africana. This is my badly hacked crit of Voice Overs, an exhibition of African art from the Wits collection, which appeared in the Herald on April 6, 2005. (Please click on the text to see it larger.)

My article on how the 2010 World Cup opening ceremony should be handled, which appeared on April 14.

I don't know Norman Catherine but feel a kinship for him, if you'll forgive the pun, since we both attended the East London Technical College art school under Jack Lugg. This appeared in April, 2005, but I had not dated the clipping.

I went rather overboard with this letter attacking Kendell Geers, run in the Sunday Times on May 15, 2005.

My review of Michael Sims's book, Adam's Navel, which appeared in the Herald's supplement, TGIF, on May 27, 2005.

Brenda Schmahmann and me, Claton Holliday, the Kamatuka San Cultural Project

In early March, 2005, I received in the mail my quarterly copy of the newsletter of the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Art Museum (formerly the King George VI Art Gallery), which is Port Elizabeth's premier municipal gallery. Imagine my surprise when I came across a six-page character assassination attempt by Brenda Schmahmann, art history professor at Rhodes University. This followed my review of an exhibition she curated, which was published in the Herald, Port Elizabeth, in October, 2004. I posted it on this blog on August 31, this year. Anyway, this posting also includes a piece I wrote, based on an interview with Clayton Holliday, on the decay occurring in the historic heart of Central. There is also a review of an exhibition by San people based near Kimberley.

The first of three parts constituting Brenda Schmahmann's attack on yours truly. The rest follow. My response, along with another vitriolic attack on me by Jeanne Wright and a further lengthy riposte from Schmahmann before the subject was closed, appeared in the June, 2005, newsletter, which I'll post when I get there. (Please click on the text to see it larger.)

The second part of the Schmahmann article.

The concluding part of her article.

The first section of my piece on Clayton Holliday's views about Central. He was the director of the King George VI Art Gallery for many years until around 1990.

The second part of my piece on Holliday.

My review of an exhibition of works by the Kamatuka San Cultural Project, which appeared in the Herald on March 14, 2005.

Umberto Eco, historic Port Elizabeth, colonialism, Aidon Westcott

Umberto Eco is best known for his novel, The Name of the Rose, which was made into a cracking good film. But this Italian writer is also one of the great thinkers of our time. In 2005 I reviewed his book, On Beauty. Also in this posting is a piece I wrote condemning an ANC plan to expand the historic Port Elizabeth City Hall, thereby destroying a treasured vista. There is also a letter attacking my views on colonialism and a review of an exhibition by Aidon Westcott.

My review of Umberto Eco's On Beauty, which appeared in the Herald's TFIG supplement on February 18, 2005. (Please click on the text to see it larger.)

My piece criticising the ANC council's plan to disfigure a treasured part of the old part of Port Elizabeth, which appeared in the Herald on February 21, 2005.

Back then my views were even deemed worthy of official comment from the Herald's leader writers. This sub-leader appeared on February 22, 2005.

Taking the broader view on the impact of the colonisation of this part of Africa was not always welcomed. This letter appeared in the Herald on February 28, 2005.

My review of Aidon Westcott's exhibition, Fish Symbolism, which appeared on March 1, 2005.

Thursday, September 1, 2011

Malegapuru Makgoba, Grey High School, Michael Moore, affirmative action

Prof Malegapuru Makgoba wrote an article in the Sunday Times in January, 2005, which sparked a welter of responses. Mine was among them. This posting also includes an article by Mkhuseli Jack proposing that Grey High School's name be changed, and my reaction as well as that of others. There is also a review of a Michael Moore book attacking George W Bush.

The writer, Rian Malan, led a page of letters in the Sunday Times of January 30, 2005, in response to a piece supporting affirmative action by Prof Malegapuru Makgoba. Unfortunately I don't have that original article. Note the piece on the left, by Dan Roodt, which concludes below. (Please click on the text to see it larger.)

My contribution to this debate, alongside the concluding part of Roodt's letter.

Meanwhile back on the Herald in Port Elizabeth, former anti-apartheid activist Mkhuseli Jack had a go at colonial names, especially that of Grey High School. This appeared on February 1, 2005.

I seemed to get a response in almost immediately, on February 2.

These letters on the subject were run on February 4.

My review of The Official Farhenheit 9/11 Reader by Michael Moore, which appeared in the Herald's TGIF supplement on February 4, 2005.

The affirmative action debate in the Sunday Times continued the following week. These are some of the letters which appeared on February 2, including one attacking yours truly.

Social integration, Penny Siopis, Thabo Mbeki

It is late 2004 and we've been a non-racial democracy for more than 10 years. But it is only now that I get the sense that social integration is starting in earnest. I wrote about this in the Herald, Port Elizabeth. Also included in this posting is a review of an art exhibition and another reminder of just how Thabo Mbeki was failing us as a country.

My article about living in a non-racial South Africa. It concludes below. (Please click on the text to see it larger.)

The concluding part of my piece on integration.

My review of Drawing the Line, an exhibition at Port Elizabeth's main art gallery. The work of Penny Siopis seems to really have caught my attention.

My piece on integration got a positive reaction from a Korsten reader.

My piece on Mbeki, which appeared on January 14, 2005. It concludes below. This was actually a photocopy, hence the colour.

The rest of my piece on Mbeki.

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Saki Macozoma, BEE, Brenda Schahmann, Cosatu, Port Elizabeth, Anton Momberg

For a small coterie of conveniently connected comrades, the advent of democracy in SA brought wealth beyond their dreams. One of them was Saki Macozoma. I took a little dig at him in the Sunday Times in 2004. This post also carries an art crit I did for the Herald, Port Elizabeth, which ruffled a few sanctimonious academic feathers. I again tried to encourage Cosatu to split from the ANC and criticised plans to ditch the name, Port Elizabeth. Finally, there is a review of an exhibition by scultpor Anton Momberg.

My letter criticising Saki Macozoma led the page on October 17, 2004, in the Sunday Times. I see there was also a letter of support for David Bullard. We all know what became of him a few years later. (Please click on the text to see it larger.)

I printed out my original on Saki. This shows how editing can change the nuances of a letter.

The first part of my review of Through the Looking Glass, an exhibition curated by Brenda Schmahmann, professor of fine art at Rhodes University. The piece continues below. Imagine my surprise, a few months later, to find a lengthy personal attack on me by this academic in the pages of the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Art Museum's newsletter. Re-reading this, I think what probably most irked her was that it was wittily written and maybe just a little too close to the truth. I've mislaid her attack on me, and my response, but hope to uncover them soon. Please watch this space.

The concluding part of my review of the Through the Looking Glass exhibition.

I hoped, against hope, that the fact that Cosatu boss Zwelinzima Vavi and a few of his mates were booted out of Mugabe's Zimbabwe dictatorship might lead to some sort of split within the ANC-led alliance. Seems the split, if it is to be, will instead be led by Julius Malema.

Mkhuseli Jack again got up my nose with his clamour for Port Elizabeth to lose its name. This is the top part of the article, which concludes below. It was published in the Herald on November 4, 2004.

The conclusion of the name-change article.

A review of Anton Momberg's exhibition. I remember the wonderful job he did in the early 1990s restoring and cleaning the marble statue of Queen Victoria outside the Main Library in Port Elizabeth.

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Global rock legends, Pollok Beach, Esme Goosen, Mara Sapera

I am an unashamed advocate of the view that the music of the 1960s and 1970s, when I was growing up, was so ground-breaking that groups subsequently have battled to make an impact in the wake of what happened in those decades. I wrote an A-Z of the best musos of that period and it is posted here. Also in 2004, I wrote condemning a plan to put a conference centre at Port Elizabeth's Pollok Beach. There are also a couple of art reviews I had published in the Herald.

This article on the greatest musicians of the 1960s and 1970s filled a page of TGIF, the Herald's Friday supplement, on August 27, 2004. It continues in two parts below - but read the U and V sections now as they aren't repeated. (To see the print larger, please click on the text.)

The second part of my piece on the greatest musos of our time.

The final part of my piece on the greatest musos (remember U and V are in the first take). Subsequent to this article I started the mammoth task of compiling a blog about the musicians listed here. I've got pretty damn far and you can read it at http://globalrocklegends.blogspot.com

My piece on the conference centre plan, which appeared on August 31, 2004.

I got some support for my article on the musicians.

This letter, also in the Herald, appeared on September 6, in response to a debate on affirmative action covered in the previous posting.

The wonders of the steam age! I got backing for my views on the conference centre in this letter from Brazil, thanks no doubt to the online edition of the Herald.

My review of an exhibition featuring top PE artists Esme Goosen, Stephanie Liebetrau and Andre Dalton, which appeared on October 6, 2004.

My review of an exhibition by Mara Sapera, which appeared on October 14.

About this blog

This blog has morphed from one thing to the next, and will continue to do so.

The latest offerings are of a political nature, though the main role of the blog is to put online scanned versions of my sketches, which make up the bulk of the first part.

* Earlier, I returned to a project I suspended on September 12, 2011, namely posting clilppings from my writings in the Herald newspaper in Port Elizabeth. From those you'll have gleaned that I was first prevented from writing political letters and articles critical of the ANC government.

Then my art reviews came under fire - from the hallowed halls of academia, no less.

* Before this, I posted a series of book reviews and an account of recent travels.

* There is also a short autobiographical novel, Little K and the Big World.

Below is a summary of what was posted before that. (NB. To view pictures larger, hold down "shift" and left click on the mouse. Click again to see it even larger.)

* During the 27 years I have worked as a journalist, I have kept random samples of my work. Initially, when I joined the Evening Post in Port Elizabeth in 1984, I kept a scrapbook, so those first years – when the anti-apartheid struggle really started hotting up – are fairly well covered.

By the time I joined the Eastern Province Herald in about 1988, I’d stopped collecting my stories, but I have one article I wrote that year which I think captures the mood of those dark times.

During two years in the UK – 1990 and 1991– when I worked as a correspondent for the SA Morning Newspaper group, I kept no cuttings. The same applies to the early 1990s when, back on the Herald, I covered the gradual transition to democracy. After the April 27, 1994, first non-racial elections, I moved to the sub-editing department, where I have been ever since.

When Robert Mugabe started his crackdown in 2000, I took up the pen again in a big way – and was lucky to have been given space by then editor Ric Wilson to vent my spleen in the Herald. In between, I wrote numerous book reviews and art crits, which balance out the offerings. I began this section with the more recent stuff, from 2000 onwards, and will take up this project again in 2012.

* Having all but exhausted my sketches on this blog - though I have yet to post pictures of my paintings and a few carvings - I thought I would digress into other areas of interest, and use a few of my photographs to illustrate them.

As Thabo Mbeki and the ANC set about rubbishing everything to do with our colonial past, I found myself rather cherishing what our ancestors had done here, notwithstanding my obvious detestation of the apartheid system which, had Jannie Hofmeyr lived to succeed Smuts after the Second World War, may not have happened. It is interesting to note that the National Party came to power in 1948 despite polling 100 000 fewer votes than the United Party. This was the effect of "loading" the urban constituencies.

Anyway, the East Cape has seen a fair share of interesting history down the centuries, some of which is covered here.

There is also history in stamps and envelopes. A few years back I went to a Port Elizabeth antique shop in the hopes I could acquire some old SA stamps from my youth. At first things looked bleak. The dealer only had posh albums of expensive stamps. But wait, he said, I do have a couple of black bin bags cluttering up the place somewhere, full of useless old stamps and envelopes. He gave them to me for about R100, if I recall correctly.

From these I have made several postage stamp-based artworks, photos of which I'll be posting, eventually. I also discovered a treasure trove of envelopes which had been posted to the City Treasurer of the PE Municipality as well as to the Divisional Council and another whole batch sent by dealers around South Africa to the Ford Motor Company in PE. These all date from the early 1960s, so we're talking 50 odd years ago. Each envelope tells a story.

* Initially I started this blog to illustrate how I learnt the art of drawing, after many years of toil, and how, once learnt, this skill has accompanied me throughout my life.

At each step, since about the mid-1970s, I have, where possible, made drawings that are often a more telling record than any photographs.

You will find a plethora of styles and techniques, but the bottom line – forgive the pun – is an attempt to get at the visual truth. As we go along, I explain each work and how I came to do it – that is, where I remember precisely when they were made.

* Remember, as this is a blog, the story starts from the first post and works its way upwards, as it were.

Click on the images to see them in a larger format. If you want an image to fill your computer screen, press F11. Press the same key to escape.

My thanks, again, go to my son, Douglas, who was just 16 when he helped me put together the header for this blog. Most of the more creative ideas - and all the technical expertise - in this regard were his.