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.
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.
