Represent Review: 12 Naked Men
Our citizen journo AmorAmor popped into the new kid on the Rosebank art block for the opening of the gallery and a photographic exhibition. We were thinking, the city should consider naming the greater Rosebank towards Parkhurst area “Art Precinct”. It’s brimming with galleries that are filled with fascinating local and international artists… and all for mahala…Go Go Go. It does wonders for the artist in you. See pics here.
13th June – July 6th
David Brown Fine Art
39 Keyes Avenue
Rosebank
Johannesburg
(011) 788 4435
Gallery Gallery hours Mon-Fri 9am – 6pm and Saturdays 9am – 1pm
The provocatively titled opening exhibition at the David Brown Gallery Rosebank is as deceptive as the gallery owner and artist in question.
I dropped into the new David Brown Gallery, 39 Keyes Avenue, Rosebank, early yesterday morning. It was the best decision I made that day. Walking into the quiet and minimalist space you realize that this gallery is a work of heart. The austerity of the space makes it absolutely clear that this is where art is the focus, not ego or image.
If, like me, you looked at the title of the exhibition and expected to see another photographic glorification of the (hu)man form, you could be a little disappointed.
I was not. On the contrary, I was wonderfully surprised by how wrong an assumption could be. I guess I did have forewarning. The picture on the invitation is Michael Meyersfelds’ ‘Custom’, No. 6 in his series of twelve. This was not another Da Vincian “Universal Man” study, nor was it a Jean Paul Gaultier ad campaign. This was different; as Michael explained, “These twelve images were made to depict and convey the conditioning of man”.
Michael’s pictures bear such titles as ‘Born’, ‘Repentance’, ‘Bewildered’, ‘Deceit’ and ‘Acceptance’. Each picture portrays the title, within the context of man’s conditioning, in wonderfully surprising and enlightening ways. From the attention to detail in the composition of each photograph to the variety and uniqueness of the models he chose, each piece shows you man/men in ways that are completely familiar and utterly new. The unfettered clarity of ‘Born’ and the stark reality of ‘Fear’ strike a chord of recognition somewhere in the region of your belly button.
You feel a silence descend as you move from picture to picture that is somehow enhanced by the soundtrack that fills the room like smoke. The play of light in ‘Entitled’ and ‘Greed’ focuses your attention on the subjects so completely that it takes you a moment to realize there is a bigger picture both in and outside the frame.
Perhaps that is the beauty of Michael’s work: its ‘uncomplicated complexity’ and I am not only referring to the symbolic messages in the composition of these pictures. As Michael pointed out, while he was walking me through the exhibit, we are faced with our own conditioning every day, we see it around us, we read about it, we see it’s repercussions. Even in our reactions to the pictures, our conditioning; the conditioning of man, is revealed. But are we aware of it? Do we recognize it?
Michael Meyersfeld is a fascinating, deeply aware yet unpretentious and approachable person. A rarity among artists, he actually spoke to me in words I could understand and did not scoff or belittle my (what I thought were) simple questions. So often we see so-called ‘brilliant’ people wrapping themselves in a cocoon of their own brilliance and making us mere mortals feel a little un-evolved. I mean seriously! I’m sure I’m not the only person who thought the whole ‘Million dollar, Perspex encased Hoover’ phenomenon of the early 1990’s was a moment of mass insanity, when the art world lost the plot and got caught up in it’s own myth.
Well I am glad to say the plot has been found again. David’s sincere devotion to art and Michael’s subtle, almost intuitive understanding of life made this the perfect pairing for the opening exhibition of this promising new gallery. Make the effort to see it.
