AVAMP opens at National Art Gallery

WINDHOEKGORDON JOSEPH The third Annual Visual Art Museum Programme Exhibition opened last week at the National Art Gallery of Namibia. The exhibition is collaboration between the Arts Association Heritage Trust (AAHT) and the National Art Gallery of Namibia (NAGN) as artworks from both organisations' permanent collections are on display. The works in the exhibition have been collected from Namibian artists from 1947 to present. The exhibition consists of work on paper including drawings, lithographs, etchings, cardboard prints and linocuts, balanced by the incorporation of sculpture and pottery. Speaking at the opening, artist and lecturer Rika Nel said: “For me graphic works are the classics of all the different art forms. They are like a music collection, you can take them out and play, in this case look at them again and again and never tire. “Graphic art is the fine or applied visual arts associated techniques involving the application of lines and strokes to a two-dimensional surface, and when images are produced from blocks and plates as in engravings and lithographs.” This year's AVAMP exhibition focuses on the first part of the development of graphic art in Namibia, starting with the early etchings of Erich Mayer in 1928, to the pastel drawings of Anita Heystek in 2012. Other artists whose works are on display are Johannes Blatt, David Amukoto, Hans Anton Aschenborn, Trudi Dicks, Alfrieda du Plessis, Kaleb Haipinge, Shiya Karuseb, Fritz Krampe, Joseph Madisia, Herman Mbamba, Samuel Mbingilo, John Muafangejo, Alpheus Mvula, Heinz Pulon, Jo Rogge, Imke Rust, Otto Schroeder, Fillipus Sheehama, Ndasuunje Shikongeni, Anita Steyn, Andrew van Wyk, Hercules Viljoen, Joachim Voigts and Eberhard von Koenen. The exhibition aspires to showcase some of the best graphic works in the history of Namibian art. A catalogue featuring an article entitled 'The teaching of Graphic Art in Namibia', with 71 colour pictures of the works on display, is available for sale right now.