ART AGAINST COVID-19

A digital exhibition in support of the people of Alex

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The Daville Baillie Gallery, at Victoria Yards in Johannesburg, is acutely aware of the dangers to the aged and disabled in Alexandra Township, in the present time of covid19.

In response we, and our devoted artists, are donating 50% of the proceeds of sales to the Alexandra Society for the Care and Welfare of the Aged and Disabled Persons. The renowned society – founded by Linda Twala, known as the ‘Father of Alex’ – is a cornerstone of the community, distributing vital aid to the needy.

Joining us in this campaign is our partner National Pride based in Soweto, a South African manufacturer and distributor of surgical masks and diapers, and other health and sanitary products. Ours is a developing support system that we are confident will benefit the aged and disabled, and their caregivers. These are people who may not be able to travel to commercial centers due to the present lockdown, health issues and financial constraints.

We at the Daville Baillie Gallery, with our artists and partners, are hugely concerned for the wellbeing of the aged and disabled communities in Alexandra township. We are hoping that by making these essential products available, we will alleviate burdens while acknowledging our shared destinies, in this time and in future. We will be exploring the possibility of taking this project forward, beyond the Covid-10 era.

We invite you to join us in ensuring the success of this important endeavour.

PROFILE OF NATIONAL PRIDE

National Pride (Pty) Ltd. is a proudly South African personal care business. A manufacturer of baby and adult diapers, as well as sanitary products, the company supplies both the local and export markets. The National Pride product stable includes the Baby Panda, Absorbers, Baby Time and Simply Dry brands.

DAVILLE BAILLIE GALLERY CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS

FRINGE | Gift Msane | Jimmy Law | Nomvula Hoko | Luzuko Dayile | Nicolene Joffe | Andrew Ntshabele | Mfundo Mthiyane | Gerhard Buckholz | Xana Abreu | Steve Maphoso | Dumile Feni | Nep- | Auguste | Ari Hersch | Jason Bronkhorst | Joe Suzuki | Zolile Phetsane | Leila Batha | Solomon Mugutso Thabiso Dakamela.

The Daville Baillie Gallery

Daville Baillie Gallery

presents

NO SERIOUSLY

An extraordinary contemporary art experience by FRINGE, South Africa’s undisputed King of Pop

1 MARCH TO 2 APRIL 2020

We are pleased to announce that FRINGE’s new exhibition NO SERIOUSLY will happen in his resident gallery space in Johannesburg, the Daville Baillie Gallery in March.

South Africa is fortunate to have an artist of the ilk of FRINGE, a sly and exuberant commentator on the times in which we live.

The paintings, sculptures and prints created by FRINGE take as their beginning point the ubiquitous popular culture of a now-globalised world. The title of the show provides a clue as to the artist’s present outlook: an exploration of the tension between high art and commercial popularity.

FRINGE has a totally unique and fresh approach to comic characters and situations that people of all backgrounds, and cultures, can relate to. Mickey Mouse, Superman and Popeye are household names almost everywhere on earth. As brands they are valued in billions, and that is fair game for FRINGE.

His new works extend his major preoccupations: fame and fortune, and conspicuous consumption. Generally, the art of FRINGE takes into account the universal pop culture of aspiration and envy and turns it on its head. The clash of icons and symbols causes a resounding visual explosion that tickles the senses and leaves one reeling with delight.

NO SERIOUSLY will further the artist’s individualistic approach to exhibition, at Johannesburg’s acclaimed Victoria Yards art development. It will present a multi-layered, sensory experience intended to provoke and amuse.

The artworks of FRINGE have undergone a remarkable journey given that the artist is anonymous. The present collection bears testimony to his phenomenal rise as an enigmatic figure on the South African art landscape.

Interview with FRINGE

FEBRUARY 2020

What have you been doing since your last show?

Experimenting with notions of horror and humor, and thinking about what makes for good composition. Spending some time with my dealer from Europe just to kind of get the feel for the market there, like in Germany where things have gone quite well. We had two exhibitions in a great big schloss, it’s a public venue with the ability to host private exhibitions also.

But on a more serious note, I’ve been like in between issues in my life. On the one hand the drive to be an artist comes completely naturally to me, but on the other hand it sometimes feels like a wart that’s stuck on me somehow, that I need to get off.

I suppose that is why I went for the anonymity thing in the first place because I don’t really know if I’m cut out to be a major player in the art world as it is.

Well, what is it that puts you off? Have your reasons for being anonymous stayed consistent throughout the last five years that you’ve been producing work under this pseudonym?

Obviously, this way I don’t have to make any overtly personal or political statements.  Although there are some who say that all art is overtly personal and political. But in Jo’burg it all becomes very personal and that is something I am happy to stay away from: the social media and the need to talk about my work endlessly. That is what my gallery, the Daville Baillie Gallery is there for. I have the privilege of being able to just close myself off and dream up these epic paintings and sculptures. Sometimes I feel like the mad professor…

Let’s talk about what that is, these days, as you prepare for your third solo exhibition titled NO SERIOIUSLY.

Paintings about the size of a bedroom window. The proportion is very important to me because I do see my work in a domestic setting. I’m aware that they play with the decorative element of pop art but I also want them to be unsettling in a way that you can’t pin down. I want my pictures to remind you that you are alive, here and now, in the early 21^stCentury that is really still recovering from the 20^thCentury.

How does that work? Is it because what you’re doing is showing us the icons of our youth?

No, not only that. Yes, and that of course. But I have a feeling that this whole comic world seems to come across as something true to us because we are brought up with it from such a young age. And it is so much a part of our concentration and distraction as young people that we take it as a kind of basic truth. We just believe in the power of popular culture and we buy into it without asking questions about it. But at the same time it lies on the floor and gets trampled on in newspapers and comics. I like it when it gets elevated to a higher form of art – and that’s why I think I fit in with the Daville Baillie Gallery that has this iconography going on from artists all over the world.

And is that why the show is called NO SERIOUSLY?

Yes, for sure. It’s called NO SERIOUSLY because I am able to take all these heroes and anti-heroes that we don’t take very seriously and put them on the walls, framing them in the context of a more serious art.

BIOGRAPHY OF FRINGE

Born in 1976 in Johannesburg, South Africa, the artist who goes by the pseudonym Fringe was educated in the Natal Midlands. Thereafter he studied design in Cape Town.

After plying his trade with various agencies, in 2003 he shifted his focus to art production, experimenting with notions of objectivity and subjectivity within the confines of the gallery space.

In 2015, after more than a decade of success in advertising, Fringe moved to New York to absorb an alternate train of thought. With a newfound understanding of the importance of communication through street art, in 2016 he returned to South Africa to begin creating unique artworks based on pop symbols, advertising campaigns and graffiti techniques.

The year 2017 was a breakthrough for Fringe. In April he held his first solo exhibition at the Daville Baillie Gallery in Norwood, Johannesburg. And he began to gain wider recognition beyond South Africa and, with the support of an agent in Luxembourg he found an international base. His work has begun to sell in London and Amsterdam.

In September 2017 an artwork by Fringe was sold in London on an auction to benefit the African Ukuthemba Foundation. The work was auctioned by the Irish celebrity Graham Norton, and in the process the art of Fringe received extensive exposure abroad.

In 2018 he held a sold-out Solo exhibition with Desom Wine Estate in Luxembourg to commemorate the 70th anniversary of Porsche.

Fringe held his second, sold out solo exhibition, titled Don’t Blink, at the Daville Baillie Gallery at Victoria Yards in Johannesburg, in September 2018.

In October 2019 Fringe held a solo exhibition at the prestigious Schloss Monaise in Trier, Germany and a second artwork was auctioned in London and sold for a record high.

Bram Reijnders, Thrill of Life, mixed media, 2019