Exhibition Featuring Dutch Artists Viviane Sassen and Moshekwa Langa at Andrew Kreps Gallery

Fri, Oct 25 - Sat, Dec 21  2019

On October 25, Andrew Kreps Gallery and Stevenson opened an exhibition showcasing new works by artists Moshekwa Langa, Viviane Sassen, and Portia Zvavahera.

Organized in partnership by the two galleries, the exhibition seeks to explore new collaborative models between galleries and investigate the ways in which regional practices can function beyond geographic
borders, and resonate beyond their primary context. For the exhibition, the galleries have selected three artists from Stevenson’s program, Langa, Sassen, and Zvavahera, whose distinct practices are united by explorations of memory, the subconscious, and spirituality.

Moshekwa Langa (b. 1975) presents recent large-scale works on paper, which represent an ongoing psycho-geographic mapping project. The works’ intensively layered surfaces are named for significant places, events, and figures in the artist’s life. Belonging to his series Love Letters, Langa collages paper in the works in the exhibition to create tapestries of delicate inscriptions. In 2018, Langa’s work was
included in We Don’t Need Another Hero, 10th Berlin Biennale, Germany, and The Red Hour, The 13th Dakar Biennale, Senegal. Solo exhibitions of Langa’s work have been presented at venues that include Kunsthalle Bern, Switzerland, Modern Art Oxford, United Kingdom, The Rennaissance Society, Chicago, Krannert Art Museum, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, among others.

Image courtesy of Moshekwa Langa, Andrew Kreps Gallery, New York and Stevenson, Cape Town/Johannesburg Photo: Dawn Blackman

Viviane Sassen (b. 1972) presents a group of works originally created for the exhibition Versailles – Visible/Invisible at the estate of Trianon, Château de Versailles. Using the palace grounds as material, Sassen lends a dimension of historicism to her abstracted photographic language. The gilded backdrops and marble crevices emphasize the ambiguities in Sassen’s interventions with ink and paint, which first appeared in 2017. A survey of Sassen’s work titled Hot Mirror, originated at the Hepworth Wakefield, Wakefield, UK in 2018, and travelled to Musée Des Beaux-Arts, Le Locle in 2019. Other solo exhibitions include Deichtorhallen in Hamburg, 2017, and ICA London, 2015. Sassen additionally participated in The Encyclopedic Palace, curated by Massimiliano Gioni at the 55th Venice Biennale, 2013.

Image courtesy of the Artist (Viviane Sassen), Andrew Kreps Gallery, New York, and Stevenson, Cape Town/Johannesburg Photo: Dawn Blackman

For the exhibition, Portia Zvavahera (b. 1985) has created new works related to her recent exhibition Talitha Cumi (an Aramaic phrase meaning ‘Little girl, arise’), which express her dreams and spiritual processes. Zvavahera’s figures appear both spectral and exuberant, rendered in vivid color. Often surrounded, obscured, by radiating lines and crocheted patterns, these delicately composed, expressive gestures suggest protective veils, which serve to both embrace and elevate. Zvavahera participated in We Don’t Need Another Hero, 10th Berlin Biennale, Germany. She represented Zimbabwe at the 55th Venice Biennale in 2013 as part of the exhibition Dudziro: Interrogating the Visions of Religious Beliefs at the Zimbabwean Pavilion, and has additionally participated in group exhibitions at venues including the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow, and Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minnesota, among others.

Image courtesy of the Artist (Portia Zvavahera), Andrew Kreps Gallery, New York, and Stevenson, Cape Town/Johannesburg Photo: Dawn Blackman

Stevenson has spaces in Cape Town and Johannesburg, with an office in Amsterdam. Founded in 2003, the gallery has an international exhibition program with a particular focus on the region. It is jointly owned
by its 11 directors. This exhibition is Andrew Kreps Gallery’s first at 55 Walker, an exhibition space jointly operated by Bortolami, Kaufmann Repetto, and Andrew Kreps Gallery. 55 Walker is open Tuesday – Saturday from 10 am – 6 pm.