December’s First Thursdays promises to be a vibrant celebration of incoming summer fun and anticipating fresh energy which the incoming new year brings. In this spirit, art galleries are offering a great range of exhibitions featuring new ideas and exciting takes on contemporary topics. Welcome in the beginnings of the warm festive season, and enjoy this selection of solo and group exhibitions worth a visit.
What’s On In the Art World This First Thursdays
Vela Projects
Last chance to catch Alexis Schofield’s solo exhibition ‘Our Calves Demand a Wolf’, on show at Vela Projects. Don’t miss out on this powerful show, which closes soon-after, on the 7th of December.
The artist’s work often delves into the disorienting effects of modern visual media. In this new body of work, Schofield takes his artistic investigation a step further, using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to co-create his paintings, crafting a unique visual conversation.
Schofield’s practice begins by producing charcoal drawings on raw canvas, then improvising with ink to create texture. He then takes a photo of the unfinished composition and uses it to generate images with AI. The resulting images, collaged and rendered into a suitable composition, form the basis of the painting.
Guests can encounter resulting works that are both mesmerising and unsettling. Through evocative biblical imagery – reflected in this show’s title – the exhibition features paintings which interrogate the existential threats posed by humanity’s increasing reliance on technology.
Cost: Free
When: First Thursdays, 11am to 8pm | Wed to Fri, 11am to 5pm | Sat, 11am to 2pm
Where: Vela Projects, 66 Plein Street, Cape Town
Kalashnikovv Gallery
Recognising the end of one year, and anticipating the beginning of the next one, Kalashnikovv Gallery has a freshly opened summer group exhibition, titled ‘33.55°S’.
The co-ordinates in its name belong to the location of the Cape Town gallery, but also ask viewers to consider the philosophical and political influences which govern general perceptions of latitudes and locations.
There are an impressive number of artists in the line-up, including Boytchie, Alka Dass, JP Meyer, Tinyiko Makwakwa, Maja Maljević, and many others.
When: First Thursdays, 5pm to 8pm | Tues to Fri, 10am to 4pm | Sat, 10am to 2pm
Where: Kalashnikovv Gallery, 61 Loop Street, Cape Town
SMAC Galleries
Check out legendary painter Simon Stone’s solo show ‘Mid Stream’. His exhibition offers a powerful look into fragmentation.
In a world saturated with so many images, Stone offers painted compositions of different elements in a single picture, in order for viewers to reconnect and balance them for themselves. Through this, there are opportunities for great self reflection too.
Simon Stone is a prolific painter who lives and works in Cape Town. He has exhibited with SMAC multiple times, including at a collection of prestigious art fairs across the world.
Cost: Free
Cost: Free admission
When: Mon to Fri, 10am to 5pm | Sat, 10am to 3pm | Sun, Closed | Public Holidays, 10am to 3pm | Also open by appointment
Where: SMAC Gallery Cape Town, 25 Church St, Cape Town
99 Loop Gallery
In the spirit of summer, 99 Loop Gallery opens a new group exhibition on Thursday evening called ‘Hold That Thought’.
Looking into the topics common for this end-of-year time period, guests can expect works centering around renewal, reflection and annual transitions.
The show is rich with works from a long list of notable names. Expect works from favourites Baba Tjeko, Heidi Fourie, Xanthe Scout Lardner-Burke, and Zarah Cassim.
Cost: Free
When: First Thursdays, 5pm to 8pm | Mondays to Fridays, 10am to 4pm | Saturdays, 10am to 2pm
Where: 99 Loop Gallery, 99 Loop Street, Cape Town
Association For Visual Arts (AVA)
Contemporary artist ‘Boytchie’ (Phillip Richard Jannecke-Newman) has his fourth solo presentation called ‘DIS YOU HEAR THAT SOUND?’.
This exhibition features works from his ever-growing collection, ‘KASH OUT’. Viewers can contemplate the social ills that society struggles with today, and the incessant, exploitative drives for profit.
Expect paintings and drawings of greedy figures and disturbing scenes which clearly portray the realities of contemporary life.
Boytchie is young in age but greatly experienced in his art career, having already exhibited at a number of top galleries in South Africa, as well as RMB Latitudes Art Fair in Johannesburg.
Cost: Free
When: First Thursdays, 5pm to 8pm | Tues to Fri, 10am to 5pm | Sat, 10am to 1pm
Where: AVA Gallery, 35 Church Street, Cape Town
breakroom
This Thursday is the final day to view a collection of paintings in ‘For some but not for others’, featuring the work of Ala Rabiha Alhourani in his first-ever art show. Fairly new on the block, breakroom is the brainchild of iconic contemporary South African artist Igshaan Adams.
The artist is also a senior lecturer at the Department for Study of Religions at the University of Cape Town.
His work generally looks at the relationships between religion’s aesthetic values, and their influence on the daily lives of the public in South Africa.
Don’t miss this visual exploration into pressing discussions in academia and abroad happening this First Thursdays.
Cost: Free
When: First Thursdays, 6pm to 8pm | Every weekday by appointment, 8am to 4pm
Where: breakroom, 46 Bromwell Street, Woodstock, Cape Town
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