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Page 1: HUSH HUSH - a group show 30 May - 17 June 2017 · HUSH HUSH SMITH is delighted to present HUSH HUSH, a group photography exhibition seeking to test the scope of the contemporary photographic

HUSH HUSH - a group show 30 May - 17 June 2017

Page 2: HUSH HUSH - a group show 30 May - 17 June 2017 · HUSH HUSH SMITH is delighted to present HUSH HUSH, a group photography exhibition seeking to test the scope of the contemporary photographic

HUSH HUSH

SMITH is delighted to present HUSH HUSH, a group photography exhibition seeking to test the scope of the contemporary photographic medium as an

experimental art form. The exhibition will run from 30 May – 17 June 2017. Eight inimitable artists have been invited to contribute work to HUSH HUSH,

all of whom share a particular concern with the reinvention of the photographic landscape. While their means of manipulation differ as vastly as the various

methods and materials used, in each case the artist is an active participant in the fabrication of the final image. HUSH HUSH hones in on the way in which

intentional intrusions into a chosen landscape, scene or still life fundamentally changes the image that is finally captured by a camera, thus blurring – and in

some cases obliterating – the line between where an artist ends and an image begins.The artists involved are Nico Krijno, Thandiwe Msebenzi, Paris Brummer,

Johno Mellish, Bert Pauw, Andile Buka, Mitchell Gilbert Messina and Ashley Walters.

Nico Krijno’s three works explore the space between photography, painting and ephemeral sculpture. Krijno combines two-dimensional works with in-situ

temporary installations, which reference the formalism of wall-based art worked.

“I am deeply fascinated by the tension I sense beneath the surface of things, particularly that which underlies the everyday and the mundane. So, sometimes

by showing things out of context or by marrying opposites I try to force a conversation that combines irony, humour and melancholy,” says Krijno.

Thandiwe Msebenzi’s sole work, ‘Ingubo’, uses the scaffolding of colour, material and symbolism in setting – and then capturing – a pastoral early morning

scene against which her views on manhood and family are projected.

“In my family there is a belief that when you dream of someone in a green and lush area, that often speaks of death. The lush green eludes to the idea of

paradise, a space known for its abundance of beauty,” says Msebenzi.

Paris Brummer’s contribution confronts the challenge of photographing human beings as objects in a still life, treating them as no more or less significant

than the objects surrounding them. To this end Brummer’s photographs, taken at a local flea market near Cape Town, depict most of the subjects with their

backs turned to the viewer.

“These objects blend in amongst the found and dilapidated allowing the photographed situations to present themselves as still-lives,” says Brummer.

Bert Pauw’s white statue of the Goddess Nike adorned with cheap and garish clothes pegs is mounted flush against the wall to blur the division between

photographic print, frame and gallery space. The work is accompanied by a blue LED light, which is projected from an ADT security device mounted on the

wall. The purchased work will come with a 12-month security subscription to ADT.

Page 3: HUSH HUSH - a group show 30 May - 17 June 2017 · HUSH HUSH SMITH is delighted to present HUSH HUSH, a group photography exhibition seeking to test the scope of the contemporary photographic

“I am drawn to seemingly mundane functional objects from my environment, objects that have a subjective significance to me. This installation, ‘The Mess

of Polished Icons’ is inspired by the entropy of kaggelkakkies, camping at ATKV resorts, high walls, white Plascon PVA and the danger of being cosy,” says

Pauw.

Andile Buka’s inclusion of a repeated object – in this case a bicycle - against various backdrops is a contrivance of the point and shoot photographic tactic.

The deliberate corruption of these otherwise unassuming scenes imbues his images with tension as the imposed object variously fits or jars with its

surrounds.

With his series Rosetta 3301, Johno Mellish traces the steps of conspiracy theorist Elizabeth Klarer who, in her autobiographical text Beyond the Light

Barrier (1980), claimed to have encountered extraterrestrials in and around the Drakensberg mountains in Kwazulu-Natal.

Mellish set about following these questionable leads by photographically reimagining the events described in Klarer’s book and, by doing so, calling into

question the nature of photography to validate or prove truth while attempting to separate photography from its relationship to the so-called Real.

“If photography can’t or fails to represent the Real, then something you might ask yourself is, what are we left with?” says Mellish.

Ashley Walters, meanwhile, vacillates between complicity and indifference with the subject of his photographs. His work emphasises a non-spectacular

representation of reality; where some images show scenes of intimate, inhabited spaces, others invade non-territories that indicate uprootedness, scarring

and anxiety.

“In Monster, for example, I’m exploring the relationship between spatiality and social ordering within the representation of this place and the different

communities, gangs, religious and cultural groups, and landscape architecture,” says Walters.

Mitchell Gilbert Messina’s fundamental mistrust of the camera as a conduit for expression led him to construct an entirely virtual still life. With Portfolio

on Persian Rug, Messina’s fabricated image exists as a framing device for an assortment of other images – news clippings, reviews of his work - displaying a

visual portfolio acting as an engineered self-portrait.

“I’m kind of terrible at taking photos because there’s always a large gap between my expectation of the image and what the camera actually captures. So

constructing a virtual image bypasses all of that in a way, it allows you to skip the effort of taking the photo and just start directly in post,” says Messina.

Page 4: HUSH HUSH - a group show 30 May - 17 June 2017 · HUSH HUSH SMITH is delighted to present HUSH HUSH, a group photography exhibition seeking to test the scope of the contemporary photographic

Nico Krijno, Carcinus, 2017, Inkjet print on cotton photo rag paper, 85 x 60cm, Edition 1 of 5, R 40,000

Page 5: HUSH HUSH - a group show 30 May - 17 June 2017 · HUSH HUSH SMITH is delighted to present HUSH HUSH, a group photography exhibition seeking to test the scope of the contemporary photographic

Nico Krijno, Sculpture Study With Steel And Purple, 2017, Inkjet print on cotton photo rag paper, 60 x 85cm, Edition 1 of 5, R 40,000

Page 6: HUSH HUSH - a group show 30 May - 17 June 2017 · HUSH HUSH SMITH is delighted to present HUSH HUSH, a group photography exhibition seeking to test the scope of the contemporary photographic

Nico Krijno, Potato Palm, 2017, Inkjet prints on cotton photo rag paper, 85 x 60cm, Edition 3 of 5, R 40,000

Page 7: HUSH HUSH - a group show 30 May - 17 June 2017 · HUSH HUSH SMITH is delighted to present HUSH HUSH, a group photography exhibition seeking to test the scope of the contemporary photographic

Thandiwe Msebenzi, Ingubo, 2015, German etching archival paper, 30 x 20 cm, R 8,000

Page 8: HUSH HUSH - a group show 30 May - 17 June 2017 · HUSH HUSH SMITH is delighted to present HUSH HUSH, a group photography exhibition seeking to test the scope of the contemporary photographic

Paris Brummer, ‘Is it second-hand if I loved it first?’ Exhibit A, 2017, Photograph printed on paper, 30 x 21cm, Edition 1 of 5, R 2,000

Page 9: HUSH HUSH - a group show 30 May - 17 June 2017 · HUSH HUSH SMITH is delighted to present HUSH HUSH, a group photography exhibition seeking to test the scope of the contemporary photographic

Paris Brummer, ‘Is it second-hand if I loved it first?’ Exhibit B, 2017, Photograph printed on paper, 30 x 21cm, Edition 1 of 5, R 2,000

Page 10: HUSH HUSH - a group show 30 May - 17 June 2017 · HUSH HUSH SMITH is delighted to present HUSH HUSH, a group photography exhibition seeking to test the scope of the contemporary photographic

Paris Brummer, ‘Is it second-hand if I loved it first?’ Exhibit C, 2017, Photograph printed on paper, 30 x 21cm, Edition 1 of 5, R 2,000

Page 11: HUSH HUSH - a group show 30 May - 17 June 2017 · HUSH HUSH SMITH is delighted to present HUSH HUSH, a group photography exhibition seeking to test the scope of the contemporary photographic

Paris Brummer, ‘Is it second-hand if I loved it first?’ Exhibit D, 2017, Photograph printed on paper, 30 x 21cm, Edition 1 of 5, R 2,000

Page 12: HUSH HUSH - a group show 30 May - 17 June 2017 · HUSH HUSH SMITH is delighted to present HUSH HUSH, a group photography exhibition seeking to test the scope of the contemporary photographic

Paris Brummer, ‘Is it second-hand if I loved it first?’ Exhibit E, 2017, Photograph printed on paper, 30 x 21cm, Edition 1 of 5, R 2,000

Page 13: HUSH HUSH - a group show 30 May - 17 June 2017 · HUSH HUSH SMITH is delighted to present HUSH HUSH, a group photography exhibition seeking to test the scope of the contemporary photographic

Bert Pauw, Suspecting Obsolescence, 2017, Pigment print on Hannemuhle photo rag, 80 x 100cm, Edition of 5 + 2AP, R 12,000

Bert Pauw, I’m Not Worried (but I am), 2017, Blue/red LED, 0,5 x 0,5 x 0,5cm , R25,000 (Includes installation and a 12 month ADT subscription)

Bert Pauw, Silent Indications of Pandora, 2017, Wood and photographs, 25 x 15 x 20cm, R 4,500

Page 14: HUSH HUSH - a group show 30 May - 17 June 2017 · HUSH HUSH SMITH is delighted to present HUSH HUSH, a group photography exhibition seeking to test the scope of the contemporary photographic

Johno Mellish, Incoming , 2016, Photograph on cotton rag, 82 x 66cm, Edition of 6 + AP, R 7,000

Page 15: HUSH HUSH - a group show 30 May - 17 June 2017 · HUSH HUSH SMITH is delighted to present HUSH HUSH, a group photography exhibition seeking to test the scope of the contemporary photographic

Johno Mellish, Incoming II, 2016, Photograph on cotton rag, 66 x 65cm, Edition of 6 + AP, R 8,000

Page 16: HUSH HUSH - a group show 30 May - 17 June 2017 · HUSH HUSH SMITH is delighted to present HUSH HUSH, a group photography exhibition seeking to test the scope of the contemporary photographic

Johno Mellish, View of landing Photography spot (To the left), 2016, Photograph on cotton rag, 101 x 82cm, Edition of 6 + AP, R 10,000

Page 17: HUSH HUSH - a group show 30 May - 17 June 2017 · HUSH HUSH SMITH is delighted to present HUSH HUSH, a group photography exhibition seeking to test the scope of the contemporary photographic

Johno Mellish, Rose Red, 2016, Photograph on cotton rag, 45 x 55cm, Edition of 6 + AP, R 4,500

Page 18: HUSH HUSH - a group show 30 May - 17 June 2017 · HUSH HUSH SMITH is delighted to present HUSH HUSH, a group photography exhibition seeking to test the scope of the contemporary photographic

Johno Mellish, Evidence of Disturbance, 2016, Photograph on cotton rag, 101 x 82cm, Edition of 6 + AP, R 10,000

Page 19: HUSH HUSH - a group show 30 May - 17 June 2017 · HUSH HUSH SMITH is delighted to present HUSH HUSH, a group photography exhibition seeking to test the scope of the contemporary photographic

Johno Mellish, Flying Object I, 2016, Photograph on cotton rag, 32 x 28cm, Edition of 6 + AP, R 3,000 (Detail)

Johno Mellish, Flying Object II, 2016, Photograph on cotton rag, 32 x 28cm, Edition of 6 + AP, R 3,000

Page 20: HUSH HUSH - a group show 30 May - 17 June 2017 · HUSH HUSH SMITH is delighted to present HUSH HUSH, a group photography exhibition seeking to test the scope of the contemporary photographic

Ashley Wlaters, Black Sheep, 2011, Archival pigment ink on cotton paper, 57 x 86cm, Edition 7 of 10 + 2AP, R 15,000

Page 21: HUSH HUSH - a group show 30 May - 17 June 2017 · HUSH HUSH SMITH is delighted to present HUSH HUSH, a group photography exhibition seeking to test the scope of the contemporary photographic

Ashley Walters, Migration, Hong Kong, 2017, Archival pigment ink on cotton paper, 80 x 115cm, Edition 1 of 5 + 2AP, R 20,000

Page 22: HUSH HUSH - a group show 30 May - 17 June 2017 · HUSH HUSH SMITH is delighted to present HUSH HUSH, a group photography exhibition seeking to test the scope of the contemporary photographic

Ashley Walters, Monster, Ravensmead Annual High School Fair, Ravensmead, 2013, Archival pigment ink on cotton paper,

78 x 112cm, Edition 3 of 10 + 3AP, R 18,000

Page 23: HUSH HUSH - a group show 30 May - 17 June 2017 · HUSH HUSH SMITH is delighted to present HUSH HUSH, a group photography exhibition seeking to test the scope of the contemporary photographic

Andile Buka, Transitions |These Goodbyes, 2015, Photograph printed on paper, 21 x 31cm, Edition 1 of 3, R 7,500

Andile Buka, Transitions | Into Forever, 2015, Photograph printed on paper, 21 x 31cm, Edition 1 of 3, R 7,500

Page 24: HUSH HUSH - a group show 30 May - 17 June 2017 · HUSH HUSH SMITH is delighted to present HUSH HUSH, a group photography exhibition seeking to test the scope of the contemporary photographic

Andile Buka, Transitions | As I Walk, 2015, Photograph printed on paper, 21 x 31cm, Edition 1 of 3, R 7,500 Andile Buka, Transitions | The Land Of, 2015, Photograph printed on paper, 21 x 31cm, Edition 1 of 3, R 7,500

Page 25: HUSH HUSH - a group show 30 May - 17 June 2017 · HUSH HUSH SMITH is delighted to present HUSH HUSH, a group photography exhibition seeking to test the scope of the contemporary photographic

Mitchell Messina, Portfolio on Persian Rug, 2017, Digital print on perspex mount, 84 x 119cm, Edition of 5 + AP, R 10,000

Page 26: HUSH HUSH - a group show 30 May - 17 June 2017 · HUSH HUSH SMITH is delighted to present HUSH HUSH, a group photography exhibition seeking to test the scope of the contemporary photographic

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