Partial Observation at Artspace 
7 march 2009 - 28 march 2009

Young artist Happy Dhlame mounts a solo exhibition at Artspace on the 7th March 2009.

Entitled Partial Observation, this show reflects the artist searching engagement with the world around him. Large abstract works of mixed media on canvas, Dhlame's work reveals layer upon layer of texture and material, at once talking about things we add, as much as the things we take away.

The artist reveals that "through my work I am able to comment on issues that directly effect the local and global society - socio-political values of the past and present, and time and space. "

Using the metaphor of old buildings and constructed spaces, Dhlame's work talks of how we navigate interior and exterior spaces, and the public and private realms we occupy. Painted walls, as we find in most buildings also talk profoundly of a link between a past and a present. Paint layers and peel-offs, at once both covering and revealing things in the past - powerful metaphor for the construction of memory. Dhlame's paintings capture the effects of time on specific building structures. It compels the viewer to look afresh at his surroundings and to ask what these structures signify.

Dhlame graduated from Funda Community College in Johannesburg and went on to study further at the Ecole de Cantonale d'Art du Valais (ECAV) Switzerland and the Ecole Supérieure des Beaux-Arts (Quimper) France.

In 2002 he was awarded the Hansjoeg Wyss Scholarship in Switzerland which resulted in the production of a catalogue of his works and in 2004 he received the Aramus Scholarship from the European Council in the arts in France.

The exhibition will be opened by well-known artist and lecturer Charles Nkosi on Saturday 7th March at 11am at Artspace, Chester Court, 142 Jan Smuts Ave, Rosebank. Please join us for a glass of wine to celebrate this occasion.

The artist will be hosting a walkabout on Thursday 12 March at 15:30.

The show runs until the 28 March 2009,
Artspace is open from 10h00-17h30 Tuesday - Friday, 10h00- 15h30 on Saturdays.
www.artspace-jhb.co.za
ENDS.

For more information and images contact

Taryn Cohn
Media Liaison for Artspace Gallery
083 6715139
taryncohn@artsourcesouthafrica.co.za