Booth 16

25 – 27 November

GALLERY AOP will be exhibiting artworks by Peter Clarke, Sandile Goje, Lorcan White, Fiona Pole, Willie Saayman, Jonah Sack, Jaco van Schalkwyk, Hougaard Winterbach and others.

A special feature of our exhibition at this year’s Food Wine Design Fair is the launch of artist-designed furniture by Marcus Neustetter and Kim Lieberman.

Marcus Neustetter coffee tables

Two coffee tables designed by Marcus Neustetter will be presented, each a one-off from a series, Study of the Vertical Gaze. The tables are made of wood and sandblasted glass and were produced in collaboration with WORK, a Johannesburg based design initiative.

Artist Marcus Neustetter is developing structures of observation and contemplation in varying locations in South Africa, from the astronomical observatory in Sutherland to the inner city of Johannesburg. He has recently been invited by the Nirox Foundation to propose such a structure for the Cradle of Humankind. This invitation presents him with an opportunity to further pursue his investigation into our existence in the universe between the astronomical mysteries and the archeological unknowns. 

His fascination with the vertical gaze, both up to the stars and below the earth’s surface, has led him to working with archeologists and astronomers, observing their understanding of time and space. Both practices look back in time and study recorded history respectively in light, such as the night sky, and fossils, such as stromatolites. 

The design for the coffee tables Study of the Vertical Gaze I and II, is inspired by the rich layers of stromatolite rock formations in the area of the Cradle of Humankind, the many cave openings Neustetter has been documenting here and the ever present possibility of discovering new information about of our human past. The sculptural forms of the tables and the lines in the drawings and sketches on display, reference the grid of an archeological site, the traces of cave openings, the lines of the stromatolite rock formations and Neustetter’s ongoing investigation into our sense of spatial depth and our notion of time.

Kim Lieberman bookends

Each set of bookends designed by Johannesburg artist Kim Lieberman is made up of four figures, cut from ‘black’ mild steel. The design references Lieberman’s own art (her concepts of the connection between supposedly unrelated humans as explored in her Human Currents and Human Connection bodies of work) as well as the history of Johannesburg. 

The owners of the 12 Decades Art Hotel in the Main Street Life building on the Maboneng Precinct, Johannesburg commissioned various artists, architects and designers to each furnish one of the 12 hotel rooms. They had to choose one decade from the 120 year old Johannesburg (1886 – present) as inspiration for decorating a room with art works and specially designed objects and furniture. Artist Kim Lieberman chose the period 1956-1966. 

Over and above Lieberman’s art that is housed in the period room, the owners also commissioned a unique object from her, also to be placed in the room. Lieberman decided on bookends and she used the silhouettes of the figures from her research as basis for her bookend design. Lieberman’s research led her to figures such as influential contemporary businessman, Benjamin Pogrund. In addition, she was inspired by people in Main Street today, capturing their images in her work. 

Each of the four figures making up a set of bookends refer to a specific person and has a ‘bibliography’ in the sense that documentary information of the person and the source photograph is engraved on the base of each bookend.