What We Do
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Jonathan Garnham
Chairman
Jonathan Garnham is an artist and director of ‘blank projects’, an independent project space showcasing visual arts in Cape Town. He left South Africa in the late eighties and obtained his Masters of Fine Art at the University of the Arts in Berlin after which he co- founded ‘kunst+technik’, an association of artists and architects working between the disciplines and in new media who became well known for their legendary bar and exhibition space in Berlin-Mitte in the late nineties. He lived and worked in Berlin as an artist and independent curator for 10 years and in 2002 he returned to South Africa and now lives in Cape Town. He was the Head of the Department of Art and Design at the College of Cape Town from 2005 - 2006 and in 2007 was the Project Coordinator for the CAPE 07 Bienale. He was elected chairman of VANSA Western Cape in 2006 and continues to serve in this capacity.
Gavin O’ Connor
Treasurer
Gavin OConnor qualified as an attorney but went straight into tax practice at Arthur Andersen. He was one of the founding members of Boland Financial Services and became managing director of the company after it changed its name to Mettle. Mettle was bought out by HCI (Hoskens Consolidated Investments) and Gavin retired from corporate life in 2006. He lives in Paarl and has a wide variety of business interests and is an avid collector of South African contemporary art.
Sheryl Ozinsky
Sheryl Ozinsky has been involved in making things happen in the City of Cape Town for over 20 years. Her name is indelibly associated with tourism and a passion for the Mother City and South Africa. Sheryl believes that cultural indicators, such as the arts, are as important to business as demographic, geographical or political indicators. She is particularly interested in forging the relationship between the economic city and the artistic city in answering the question: How can the arts play a leading role in job creation, capacity building, and the branding and positioning of a destination - so as to lead to increased investment?
Ed Young
Ed Young was born in Welkom, South Africa in 1978. After a BA in Sculpture and Studio work, Young completed an MFA with distinction at the Michaelis School of Fine Art in Cape Town. He has had solo shows in Cape Town at Blank Projects, Bell-Roberts Gallery and South African National Gallery, the KZNSA in Durban as well as Locust Projects in Miami. He is represented in numerous collections.
His work has been included in over ninety group shows, including most recently; From Pierneef to Gugulective, Iziko South African National Gallery, Cape Town (2010) Grin & Bear It, Lewis Glucksman Gallery, Cork (2009): Hollywood Remix, Hayward Gallery, London (2008); The Art of Failure, Kunsthaus Baselland, Basel (2007); How Contemporary Videoartists See the USA (Part 1), Figge von Rosen Galerie, Cologne (2006);T1 - The Pantagruel Syndrome, Castello di Rivoli d'arte Contemporanea di Torino, Turin (2005).
Young is the co-director of YOUNGBLACKMAN, a gallery in Cape Town and has served on committees such as the Friends of The South African National Gallery. He is an active educator and teaches at institutions including The Michaelis School of Fine Art.
ATHI-PATRA RUGA
Athi-Patra Ruga was born in Umtata in 1984 and graduated from Gordon Flack Davison Design Academy with an Honours Diploma in Fashion History and Design.
Exploring the border-zones between fashion, performance and art, Athi-Patra Ruga makes work that exposes and subverts the body in relation to structure, ideology and politics. Bursting with eclectic multicultural references, carnal sensuality and a dislocated undercurrent of humor, his performances, videos, costumes and photographic images create a world where cultural identity is no longer determined by geographical origins, ancestry or biological disposition , but is increasingly becoming a hybrid construct. A Utopian counter-proposal to the sad dogma of the division between mind and body, sensuality and intelligence, pop culture, craft and fine art, his works expresses the eroticism of knowledge and reconciles the dream with experience. Stacy Hardy –Chimurenga Library 2010.
Recent exhibitions include: 'Beauty and Pleasure in Contemporary South African Art' at the Stenersen Museum in Oslo, Norway as well as the Guangzhou Trienalle in China (2008) and Daimler Collection; and Life less Ordinary - fFoto gallery, Wales.
Athi-Patra Ruga was also recently included in the Phaidon book 'Younger Than Jesus,' a directory of over 500 of the world's best artists under the age of 33. His works form part of private public and museum collections here and abroad, namely: Museion -Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Bolzano Italy; CAAC- Pigozzi Collection; Iziko -South African National Gallery.
Exploring the border-zones between fashion, performance and art, Athi-Patra Ruga makes work that exposes and subverts the body in relation to structure, ideology and politics. Bursting with eclectic multicultural references, carnal sensuality and a dislocated undercurrent of humor, his performances, videos, costumes and photographic images create a world where cultural identity is no longer determined by geographical origins, ancestry or biological disposition , but is increasingly becoming a hybrid construct. A Utopian counter-proposal to the sad dogma of the division between mind and body, sensuality and intelligence, pop culture, craft and fine art, his works expresses the eroticism of knowledge and reconciles the dream with experience. Stacy Hardy –Chimurenga Library 2010.
Recent exhibitions include: 'Beauty and Pleasure in Contemporary South African Art' at the Stenersen Museum in Oslo, Norway as well as the Guangzhou Trienalle in China (2008) and Daimler Collection; and Life less Ordinary - fFoto gallery, Wales.
Athi-Patra Ruga was also recently included in the Phaidon book 'Younger Than Jesus,' a directory of over 500 of the world's best artists under the age of 33. His works form part of private public and museum collections here and abroad, namely: Museion -Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Bolzano Italy; CAAC- Pigozzi Collection; Iziko -South African National Gallery.
