Graffiti artist Mars takes it off the streets for a gallery show

MARS

Mars is a Joburg icon. Drive around Newtown, Fordsburg, and along Barry Hertzog Ave and you’ll see his telltale signs. The 25-year-old graffiti artist has pretty much made his mark across the city. This week his exhibition From The Ground Up is on at Two By Two Gallery in Newtown. It’s definitely worth seeing. Before Instagram and inner city gentrification there was Graffiti and with it came the mingling of exhaust and paint fumes, the scraping away of rot and unearthing urine-stained sidewalk weeds for the perfect spot. There was finding the best wall and owning it, but most of all burning the rest. This is graffiti and it all started from the ground up.”

This is the story of #Mars… Continue reading

Public Art in Joburg – The west side story Part II

Taking a walk to see Joburg’s public art would be incomplete without a few stops, so here’s my favourite 4 snack stops in the city.

 

Velo, Braamfontein. photo from Yaela's Stage

1. Velo (photo from Yaela’s Stage blog)

Where: The Grove, Melle Street, Braamfontein

What it is: A gallery/coffee shop/hangout/with free wifi/fresh food/great coffee. The kind of place you can stay for an hour/or a day. Continue reading

Best kebab in Johannesburg, dinner on a Mayfair pavement

Friday night and unusually free of family commitments we headed for Mayfair. In some ways my grandmother’s Mayfair is unchanged – it’s still the home of many immigrants, and where once they were Jewish families from Eastern Europe now they are families from North Africa, the Middle East and Turkey. Friday evening in that part of town has its own brand of magic. In the dusky light people swell the streets, the stores are open for the night and a thriving street market takes over Fordsburg.

We were on a quest – to find Burhan’s Butchery (halal), a specialist Turkish butchery Continue reading

Art auction raises thousands for Gerhard Marx vs BMW court case

#46. Head to Fordsburg for an art auction. With news that Minister of Health Manto Tshabalala-Msimang didn’t jump but was pushed and replaced by Barbara Hogan (see my previous post) and that the health of the country was now in capable hands, it was time to leave the comfort of home. We headed to the Bag Factory also known as the Fordsburg Artists’ Studios last night for an auction of South African art to raise money to support the case of local artist Gerhard Marx vs BMW. Continue reading