(detail) Waiting for Van Hunks

Invitation

Fried Contemporary is proud to present a group exhibition curated by Dr. Johan Thom opening Thursday 30 August from 6pm-8pm.

Black Humour is meant to refer to idea of ‘Black Humour’ both formally and conceptually. In our contemporary South African context the term ‘Black Humour’ may be read politically too – even as the concept continues to make reference to the darker side of humour generally. In this way notions of humour and blackness may simultaneously be explored as a formal property of things, paint on a canvas, a traumatic situation, and conceptually as a signifier of race, sex, death, the unknown, the macabre and the laughable.

The resulting tension serves for a highly charged situation where politics, the (inter)personal and the practice of art-making all stand precariously balanced on edge. It is here where humour may cheekily intervene, deflating pretensions and momentarily leveling the playing field by introducing the unexpected, the as yet unthought possibility.

The entire exhibition is conceived as an installation in which artworks exploring different aspects of the concept of ‘black humour’ will be placed together in order to generate a dynamic spatial and conceptual dialogue. Artists forming part of the exhibition include:
Bumba & Andre . Cazlynne Peffer . Conrad Botes . Cow Mash
Dylan Graham . Hannalie Taute . Johan Thom . Raimi Gbadamosi
Ricky Burnett . Shenaz Mahomed . Vusi Beauchamp