Ann-Marie Tully: Pointure - A curated exhibition by Ann-Marie Tully and Jennifer Kopping

Pointure

Curated by Ann-Marie Tully and Jennifer Kopping

University of Johannesburg Gallery (Auckland Park Campus)

8 – 29 August 2012

Opening 18h00pm on the evening of the 8th August.

Opening address by Professor Gavin Younge (Michaelis School of Fine Art, University of Cape Town).

In his 1978 article, ‘Restitutions of the truth in pointing [pointure]’ Jacques Derrida explores his prevailing discursive theme of the inside and the outside of a text in relation to Heidegger’s Origin of the Work of Art, a philosophical exploration of etymological themes of presence in application to Vincent Van Gogh’s painting, Oude Schòenen (Old Shoes) (Payne 1993:220-221). ‘Restitutions’ operates through a set of metaphors: Pointure is a key metaphor relating to printing in terms of the “small iron blade with a point, used to fix the page to be printed on to the tympan”, as well as the “the hole which it makes in the paper” (Payne 1993:228). Derrida (cited in Payne 1993:228) also links the practice of shoemaking with the term Pointure, referring to the stitching-together of the shoe. In his characteristic way of remarkable connections, Derrida ties this term to the act of reading paintings and in-so-doing mobilises a trinity of sub-metaphors: the word lace is the first of these, referring to the lacing of a shoe − Michael Payne (citing Derrida 1993:229) notes that language punctures the canvas, less like a knife and more in the manner of lacing a shoe. Derrida’s ‘Restitutions’ does not miss a further understanding in the word lace. The French word for lace is le lacet, which can also mean trap or snare (Payne 1993: 229). In this sense Van Gogh’s empty shoes with open laces represent an empty trap, a vacuum of presence to delve into – where only ghosts can be found. Ghost is then the last metaphor in ‘Restitutions’. Notions of dispossession, melancholia, unrequited desire, loss, longing and absence spring from this textual ectoplasm.

This exhibition draw together established and emerging contemporary South African artists, whose artworks express thematically and in their inherent material and creation, notions relating to pointure (lace, trap and ghost). The curators undertake to create visibility for an expansive and under explored area of art practice in

South Africa

including but not limited to media involved with stitching, suturing, puncturing, printing and weaving; and to do so in a manner that situates this work within the discourse of contemporary art and cultural theory.

Prominent and emerging artists featured on the show include:

Paul Boulitreau; Celia De Villiers; Christiaan Diedericks; Suzanne Erasmus (du Preez); Stephan Erasmus; Leora Farber; Gordon Froud; Jeanette Gilks; Sue Pam-Grant; Diek Grobler; Kim Gurney; Mike Hyam; the Keiskamma Project; Jennifer Kopping; Michelle Legg; Kim Lieberman; Kai Lossgott; Amita Makan; Gerhard Marx; Tamar Mason; Rosemarie Marriott; Jurgen Meekel; Musha Neluheni; Gina Niederhummer; Walter Oltmann; Sarel Petrus; Richard Penn; Landi Raubenheimer; Andrea Rolfes; Claire Rousell; Sally Rumball; Saran Sunder; John Shirley; Ann-Marie Tully; Yda Walt; Gavin Younge.

The Pointure exhibition is also accompanied by a colloquium in August 2012 of the same name (hosted by the Visual Identities in Art and Design Research Centre at the University of Johannesburg) with keynote presentations from Bracha Ettinger, Jane Taylor and Meredith Jones.

References

Payne, M. 1993. Reading paintings. Reading Theory: An introduction to Lacan, Derrida and Kristeva. Oxford: Blackwell, pp. 212-233.

Some Installation Views:

Crating and artwork by Claire Rousell

Pointure installation view - artworks visible L-R: Ida Walt, Andrea Rolfes, Amita Makan, Ann-Marie Tully, Sue Pam Grant, Chris Diedericks, Sarel Petrus

Pointure installation view

Pointure installation view - artworks L-R: Andrea Rolfes, Ann-Marie Tully

Pointure installation view - artworks visible L-R: Sue Pam Grant, Chris Diedericks, Sarel Petrus, Diek Grobler & Marinda Du Toit, Jennifer Kopping

Pointure installation view: Jennifer Kopping

Pointure installation view - artworks visible L-R: Nicole Diffenthal, Diek Grobler & Marinda Du Toit, Amita Makan, Mike Hyam, Kim Lieberman, Jeanette Gilks

Pointure installation view - artworks visible L-R: Diek Grobler & Marinda Du Toit, Amita Makan, Mike Hyam

Pointure installation view - artworks visible L-R: Nicole Diffenthal, Sarel Petrus, Kim Lieberman, Jeanette Gilks, Gavin Younge, Kai Lossgott, Celia de Villiers, Landi Raubenheimer, Stephan Erasmus, Gavin Younge, Moira Macmurray

Pointure installation view - artworks visible L-R: Kim Lieberman, Gina Niederhumer, Paul Boulitreau, Kim Gurney, Tamar Mason, Jurgen Meekel, Walter Oltmann, Kai Lossgott, Gavin Younge, Celia de Villiers, Landi Raubenheimer, Stephan Erasmus, Gavin Younge, Moira Macmurray, Anitra Nettleton, Musha Neluheni

Pointure installation view: Tamar Mason

Pointure installation view: Kim Gurney

Pointure installation view - artworks visible L-R: Paul Boulitreau, Kim Guerny, Tamar Mason, Jurgen Meekel, Walter Oltmann; Gavin Younge (both floor pieces)

Pointure installation view - artworks visible L-R: Gavin Younge (foreground), Stephan Erasmus, Anitra Nettleton, Celia de Villiers (floor installation)

Pointure installation view - artworks visible L-R: Moira Macmurray (sampler collection), Anitra Nettleton, Mike Hyam

Pointure installation view - Mike Hyam, Celia de Villiers, Leora Farber, Keiskamma project

Pointure installation view: Landi Raubenheimer

Pointure installation view: Celia de Villiers

Pointure installation view: Mike Hyam

Pointure installation view - artworks visible L-R: Musha Neluheni, Richard Penn, Gerhard Marx, Rosemarie Marriott, Gavin Younge (floor)

Pointure installation view: Rosemarie Marriott

Pointure installation view - artworks visible L-R: Suzanne Erasmus (nee Dupreez), Gordon Froud, Rosemarie Marriott

Pointure installation view: Gordon Froud

Pointure installation view: Suzanne Erasmus (nee Dupreez)

Pointure installation view - artworks visible L-R: Kim Gurney, Jeanette Gilks, Jonna Slappendel, Nicole Diffenthal, Claire Rousell, Chris Diedericks

Pointure installation view: Chris Diedericks

Pointure installation view: Nicole Diffenthal

Pointure installation view: John Shirley (above), Sally Rumball (below)

Pointure detail: John Shirley

Pointure installation view: Chris Diedericks and Michelle Legg

Contact Ann-Marie for more detailed views - also see the digital catalogue at:

issuu.com/andrea.rolfes/docs/pointure_3_final_version_22072012_issu?e=8275276/2487343

Publicity images: