Cape Town-based musician and artist Zander Blom is once again showing at Cape Town's Stevenson Gallery. A new show, simply entitled 'New Paintings', will be his sixth solo show with the gallery. For this exhibition, his most divulging, he 'followed the medium instead of trying to make it follow me'.
Known for his expression of modernism through the eyes of a young person living in a politically and socially interesting Johannesburg at the inception of the 21st century, Blom’s new work is an extension of exactly that. 'I have believed in the idea of perpetual change as a vehicle for innovation and discovery in painting for a long time,' confesses Blom. 'Even though the overarching themes in my work have much remained the same over the last decade, my style and techniques have gone through many transformations.'
Blom characteristically creates modular forms in paint or printmaking that are then constructed and deconstructed whilst being documented at all stages. The documentation, in the form of photography, is mostly staged in his home. 'My current home studio is more or less the shape of a shoebox. One-third of the shoebox is the safe side, a painting-free zone with a couch, coffee table and two working tables. The other two-thirds is full of canvas and paint,' he says.
By his own declaration he decided early on in his career to be a 'productive, prolific and non-suicidal artist' following his own whims and impulses. His new expression collects this awareness and reveals some of his inner workings – including what he calls 'cabin fever' in his studio.
Despite the deceptively simple title 'New Paintings', Blom's new show is his most divulging yet. Pictured left: Untitled [1.767], 2016. Right: Untitled [1.763], 2016
Blom's art is conceived through the eyes of a young person living in a politically and socially interesting Johannesburg. Pictured: Untitled [1.760], 2016
Blom explains, 'I have believed in the idea of perpetual change as a vehicle for innovation and discovery in painting for a long time.' Pictured: Untitled [1.761], 2016
By his own declaration, he decided early on in his career to be a 'productive, prolific and non-suicidal artist' that follows his own whims and impulses. Pictured: Untitled [1.765], 2016
INFORMATION
'Zander Blom: New Paintings' is on view until 9 April. For more information, visit the Stevenson Gallery's website (opens in new tab)
Photography courtesy the artist and Stevenson Gallery
ADDRESS
Stevenson Gallery
Buchanan Building
160 Sir Lowry Road
Woodstock 7925
Cape Town
VIEW GOOGLE MAPS (opens in new tab)
-
Wallpaper* wants… non-wearable sleep solutions to make the best of bedtimeThese ten bedside accessories, low to high tech, aim to help you sleep, wake, and keep abreast of all your slumbering statistics
-
BITE Studios: ‘We want to have a brand which makes an impact’
BITE Studios is marrying sustainable textiles – from seaweed fabric to pea silk – with designs by a team including alumni of Proenza Schouler and Acne Studios
-
Crush hour: Richard Mille’s sports watch has all the tools for perfect timekeeping
Discover the new Richard Mille sports watch
-
Faith Ringgold on capturing the complexity of the American experience: ‘It takes courage to be free’
We interview Faith Ringgold, whose major retrospective exhibition ‘American People’ runs until 27 November at the de Young Musuem, San Francisco
-
Zizipho Poswa’s new ceramics and photography explore hair as a medium for sculpture
At Southern Guild Gallery, Cape Town, Zizipho Poswa draws on the elaborate hairstyling practised by African women in a new series of ceramics, bronze sculptures and photographs
-
London art exhibitions: a guide for this weekend
Your guide to the best London art exhibitions, and those around the UK, as chosen by the Wallpaper* arts desk
-
Rashid Johnson in Menorca: a journey through migration, longing and togetherness
We visited Rashid Johnson’s Brooklyn studio ahead of the artist’s show at Hauser & Wirth Menorca, which contemplates drift – physical and emotional
-
Remembering Pierre Soulages (1919-2022), a pioneer of post-war abstraction
Pierre Soulages, the pioneering French printmaker, sculptor and ‘painter of black’, has died aged 102
-
Artist Karin Schaefer blends divine order and queer joy with hard-edged geometry
We explore the life, work and Massachusetts studio of American artist Karin Schaefer, ahead of her solo show ‘Continuum’ at Sears Peyton Gallery, New York
-
Amy Sherald’s vivid, triumphant portraits reframe Black personhood in Western art
In ‘The World We Make’ at Hauser & Wirth London (until 23 December), American painter Amy Sherald raises critical questions about the position of Black bodies in Western art
-
Tracey Emin interview: ‘If I hadn’t made art, I would be dead by now’
We speak to British artist Tracey Emin in her hometown of Margate, where she has created a new painting to raise funds for TKE Studios, a pioneering complex serving the next generation of radical creatives. ‘I don’t want to die being an artist that made really interesting work. I want to make a future.’
