Kalashnikovv Gallery continues to exhibit edgy art by emerging artists in its new home in Parkhurst

By Edward Tsumele, CITYLIFE/ARTS Editor

When you get into Kalashnikovv’s new gallery in Parkhurst the first thing that will strike you is the use of colour by the three artists. The colours on the painting hung on its walls are bold, and not every artist can use colours generously and still achieve beauty in their art objects.  The careless use of bold colours risks the danger of creating an art object that becomes a riot of colours, putting off a viewer. That is why these emerging artists are quite brave, and it shows in their brush strokes. I also liked the format the gallery has chosen to display these artists’ art works.

Each one of them has a section of their own, practically making that section their solo exhibition. Makwakwa’s exhibition is titled The Blue Print, Diale’s is called No Matter How Far I Run, while Khumalo’s solo exhibition goes by the title Learning About Ourselves: Back to Water.

Welcome to the new home of Kalshnikovv after its migration to the north this year, leaving Braamfontein without a gallery to speak about. Actually it was a matter of time before the gallery made the usual migration to the north, If, the truth be told.

This migration to the north by iconic institutions, such as galleries for example, might give a wrong impression about what has become of old good Braam, that it is as if Braamfontein is dead. Actually Braam is as alive as it has always been, with a certain demography having taken over the place as part of Braam’s new human feature. It is still home to mainly students, but lacks that cosmopolitan touch that comes with the mix of students and professionals with disposable income and whose lifestyle tastes and ambitions extents to art collecting.

That is what once defined Braam’s demographic feature in the recent past, particularly from 2013 up to 2017. But by the end of 2017, suddenly there appeared to be a steady shift in the demographic make-up of the place. Instead of the upward mobile class of professionals, it is now predominantly a student city, with only a sprinkling of professionals, mainly those working for the banks and in the academy. But that is certainly not enough to make business sense for businesses aimed at an exclusive class such as art collectors.

Braam’s story actually is not different from that of the rest of Johannesburg CBD, as the whole area has undergone a major demographic shift as well. It is the same shift that also happened in Maboneng, also starting in 2017. Currently both these places are busy, but mainly with the youth demography, whose tastes in lifestyle is quite hyper active really.

But it only works for certain businesses to be located in such areas. Restaurants and night clubs are clearly big business in both Braamfontein and Maboneng of today.  In fact on weeknds both these places play amapiano and other sounds aimed at the youth market. But unfortunately, such a vibe tends to not go well with collectors of art, and hence the migration of galleries from Maboneng and Braamfontein to the north. In other words, the art galleries are following the money, relocating to places and areas that are convenient to their customers.

First to move out of Braamfontein was Stevenson Gallery, followed by a gallery owned by fashion designed turned-artist Banele Khoza, and this year, Kalashnikovv, which became the last art gallery to leave Braam. All the three galleries that actually gave Braamfontein its arty aspect were next to each other.

However Kalashnikovv in its new home, continues with the tradition of exhibiting artists and art works whose work and art practices are quite edgy, as opposed to mainstream. It is a formula that has worked for this gallery since it started in Braamfontein, and now has an international presence at major art fairs around the world.

The gallery’s journey is one of those inspirational stories from South Africa that make the country a creative hub of note within the global art context. Having commenced from its humble background in a place like Braam, its tentacles have slowly spread throughout the world as the gallery continues to give a platform to especially emerging artists from South Africa.

This hence the exhibition of fresh talent The artists Tinyoko Makwaka, who works with fabric, Boemo Diale, a young artist to watch and Mummy Khumalo, also another artist to look out for. When I visited the gallery on Saturday, it was the opening of this group exhibition. It is worth visiting, especially for collectors looking for fresh art talent.