A new gallery focussing on group shows Lizamore on Keys launches in Rosebank

By Edward Tsumele, CITYLIFE/ARTS Editor

The work of artist Jaco van Schalkwyk, an artist I met a few years ago at ABSA gallery in Johannesburg CBD, caught my eye as I moved around the exhibition in this new gallery in the heart of what is fast becoming an art precinct in the north of Johannesburg, Keys Art Mile in Rosebank It sitauted just off Louis Botha Avenue. When I first met Jaco, he had just won the ABSA L’Átelier Gerard Sekoto Award. Subsequently we have bombed on each other in several art events over the years, art fairs and the opening of exhibitions. His career has since taken off, becoming a significant visual voice on the country’s contemporary art scene.

The two art works placed next to each other on the wall are clearly concerned about the environment –one is a painting in black and white of trees that are alive and the leaves are healthy and nourished, and yet below the trees lie dead, lifeless logs that seem to have been cut off the trees. They look dead and yet the message is poignant. They too would prefer to be alive and nourished, just like the leaves of the trees above them. The title of this painting is telling: The Jungle refused to answer. That makes you think. Right?

The other painting has a striking resemblance to the other one. They look so similar to the extent that they could easily be mistaken to be depicting the same scene or to be rather one painting, the difference being that this one is in colour. But anything else is a replica of the other –dead logs and trees who leaves seem to be alive and well nourished. The title of this painting is Florida Dreamscape, somehow giving a hint that it is a scene in the State of Florida in the US.

“The black and white painting is actually from a scene in Makgobaskool (in Limpopo) while the other painting depicts a scene in Florida in the US. Both pictures talk to the idea of the environment,” Jaco explains to me and my mates as we lingered our gaze on these two powerful art works.

But in this group exhibition titled Here& Now, the issues of concern to the participating artists are diverse even though they answered the same brief –creating work that speaks to the now instead of the past or the future.

For example well known Johannesburg painter Olwethu De Vos who is known for creating powerful works, often of abstraction using bold colours in a tasteful fashion, has two paintings in this exhibition, that though abstract will make the viewer to reflect of the moment we are,  in,  in South Africa. I could not help but ask her to stand next to her art pieces for a quick picture.

Another artist’s work in this exhibition that caught my eye, particularly when it comes to their appropriateness in defining current events occupying many people’s imagination, is Johan Steigmann’s two prints. The first one that absorbed my attention is that of the Hillbrow Tower. This is the artist’s interpretation of the magnificently looking famous tower that looms large above the skyscrapers that define the architectural landscape of this densely populated inner Johannesburg suburb, that for years gone by during the apartheid years, was home to immigrants from all over the world, mainly Europe, (currently the suburb just like in the past, is still a home to immigrants, but this time mainly from the rest of the African continent). The artwork is titled Hillbrow gets Stralink. 

This title draws a viewer to the current debate about whether not the South African government is conveniently bending the BEE rules to suit the desires of the richest man on , Elon Musk,  to bring Starlink to South Africa, following the recent widely scrutinised meeting between US President Donal Trump and President Cyril Ramaphosa in the Oval office. That is  where a number of hot issues, including the Afrikaaner ‘refugees’  to the US and their baseless claims about ‘White Genocide’ in South Africa, and business in general, were discussed between the two presidents. That was smart of Johan to create this art work and be able to link it to a current debate occupying many South Africans right now.

Another art work of his, also a print is titled Refuges are our Allies. I can bet you, if you entered a competition for guessing what this art work refers to, you are not going to be a solo winner.

I must state that when I saw Johan’s name as one of the participating artists in this exhibition, I immediately had a feeling that I had come across his name somewhere else in the recent past. However I struggled to pin point exactly where and when.

My puzzlement however was soon answered when by way of introduction, Jaco told me that Johan was a curator of an important project at this year’s Latitudes Art Fair, focussing on fundraising for a Non-profit Organisation (NPO), formed by doctors, including his medical specialist father, that assists elderly people in Limpopo villages to access medical services at the specialist eye hospital for cataract operation, cataracts being the main cause of premature blindness that affects, mainly the elderly in the region estimated at over 10 000.

The organisation behind these efforts is called Hope for the Blind, operating in Modimolle, offering  offering free or affordable cataract surgeries to those affected and who cannot afford medical expenses  for this simple and straight forward surgery that restores people’s sight immediately after the surgical procedure.

A group of artists who include William Kentridge and Nelson Makamo, Laurence Lemoana and Mary Sibande through an art initiative project called First Light Project, have come together donating their art to raise money for the NPO, and its is through this project that when I was at the Latitudes Art Faitr OI found myself touched by a documentary, screened alongside the art works donated by the participating artists. Johan curated the booth.

(For more information or to support their work, visit Hope for the Blind.)

It was then that I remembered how I was emotionally touched, almost driven to cry at the art fair when I watched that documentary that showed the desperation and helplessness of the elderly in Modimolle, who prematurely go blind, unable to see their own off-springs and loved ones, but who through the work of Hope for the Blind, get operated on and their lives normalised again with full sight. It is a powerful bitter sweet documentary this one that Johan and his team made to tell a story of the struggle for the elderly of Modimolle and the assistance they are getting to restore their sight through the work of this Hope for the Blind in association with First Light Project.

The point is in this inaugural exhibition for the opening of this new gallery called Lizamore on Keyes Avenue, on Saturday, June 7, 2025, which is a resurrection of the closed Lizamore & Associates, which used to be situated not far from the new gallery on Jan Smuts Avenue in Parkwood, the participating artists are articulating their understanding of the here and now concept, which is essentially a reflection of the liminal spaces between the past and the future. The artists have done a good job of that.

These artists are Olwethu de Vos, Siphamandla Ex, Ayobola Kekere-Ekun, Thabang Lehobye, MJ Lourens, Tumelo Mphela, Haidee Nel, Johan Stegmann, Mark Swart, Jan Tshikhuthula, Jaco van Schalkwyk, Adele van Heerden, and Judy Woodborne, and the evnt was made even classier by a piano solo musings by Dean Barret.

The keynote speaker at the opening of this new gallery, an event attended by several people, who enjoyed drink and cake was by Taryn Cohn, a well known visual art consultant and brand strategist.

To explain the curatorial backdrop underpinning the exhibition Cohn quoted internationally renowned author Margaret Atwood who in one of her books, refers to the past as a memory or a set of memories.

“Änd, so the past and the future do not exist. The past has happened and the future has not happened. The call was therefore clear to the artists –that is to answer the question of the here and now.”

Gallerist Teresa Lizamore confided that she was ready to retire when her friend Berdine Bosman approached her with regards to the building she owns where the new gallery is housed.

“When Berdine Bosman, the owner of this building approached me, I was ready for retirement, but now I am back in full swing. We met sometime ago, but a few months ago, she said she had a building and would like to explore what we could do together with the building. I am a person who for years, has mentored artists and have run a gallery. In this new space we will host mainly group shows, but here and there we might have a solo show,” Teresa revealed.

Venue Details

Lizamore on Keyes. 29A Keyes Avenue Studio Maxx Rosebank.