bkhz gallery

Banele Khoza (2 weeks prior to opening the space): This is a complicated one, can I just call it a space? (Laughs) The space has been rumoured to be a gallery/shop/studio/ artist project/ project space. Perhaps it is a collective of all the mentioned, that is why I myself do not know the actual answer to it. I also do not know how it will adapt going forward as there will be plenty of projects taking place, there will be an activation of talks, there will be curated shows, open studios. This is a space for creativity, driven and led by expression. I thank the landlord as he agreed to all my absurd requests of wanting to paint the floors green- he had no problem with it, that is what I hope to achieve with the space, where people are given the maximum expression of the space. That is what I am interested in.

Being an artist will not confine the space to artworks only, but I would love to create a dialogue between art and design. Design has a soft spot in my heart, perhaps because I grew up with desire to become a fashion designer, with that I have been able to appreciate design and designers. I was schooled by Nate Berkus on tv- on how to shift spaces and design on a budget. All that influence and watching design related shows fuelled my love for interior design.

Blue Is The Warmest Colour (Johannesburg Edition)
BKhz has committed itself to reshaping and expanding perceptions of contemporary art in South Africa. Since the second half of 2018 they have allocated as much — if not morespace, visibility and time to the work of emerging artists as it does to that of the more established.

Titled Blue Is the Warmest Colour, the group show takes its title from the 2013 French film and graphic novel of the same title. Here a teenager who is uncertain of her sexuality cathects with an art student who opens up her up to an unrestrained existence that welcomes desire and passion.

Throughout the film the colour blue is a focal point that is seen in the lighting of rooms, the clothes they wear and the love interest’s hair and eyes. Much like the melancholic Blue Period that Pablo Picasso went through, the colour blue stands as a symbol of the intense emotion, curiosity, sadness and passion that the protagonist is going through during a period focused on self discovery. As the intensity wanes, so too does the film’s blue.

“It’s about understanding the dynamics of blue in the arts,” says BKhz’s director, Banele Khoza. In addition to mentioning the influence of Picasso and his own connotations to the colour, Khoza references French artist Yves Klein’s development and sole use of an ultramarine blue in his work.