The Norval Foundation in Tokai is one of those landmarks guaranteed to get a surprised gasp of acclaim from visitors to Cape Town.
Fronting onto the busy Steenberg main road, the facility casts itself as “a modern pavilion for art” but it has the feel of something more formal and imposing.
The foundation with its no-holds-barred architecture and extravagant triple-volume atrium, manages to achieve an element of spatial ambiguity with the Steenberg winelands at its back and the nearby wetlands that have been incorporated into the foundation’s indigenous gardens.
The facility clearly has a massive footprint and the estimated size of its internal exhibition and event space plus extensive landscaped grounds is rumoured to be in excess of 3000m².
In effect it manages to hover on the threshold between the urban edge and natural and rural landscapes.
Directly across the road skulks the imposing US Consulate, a stately but not exactly inviting presence.
The consulate however is offset by its neighbour, the exclusive Reddam School, where the happy shouts of school children echo across elite sports fields and playgrounds.
Norval fits in rather well with its swish neighbours and so unsurprisingly, gaining access to the art or the music concerts is a pricey undertaking.
The trick to enjoying Cape Town’s exclusive cultural treats is to take unabashed advantage of the specials and your otherwise valueless SA ID.
As a family we are constantly alert to birthday specials, pensioner discounts and even the occasional throwing open of doors during a quiet/damp week in winter.
This is the way ordinary people get access to the Norval Foundation, whose tickets would otherwise present eye-watering extravagance.
It is worth checking the website for specials, pensioner and student discounts and the like.
In the tested tradition of well-heeled galleries and foundations, many of the artists exhibited at Norval represent not an artistic elite but the values and concerns of the vulnerable and the politically conscious.
During our most recent visit the main exhibition space was dominated by sculptor Brett Murray — and this term is used advisedly because Murray’s work is large, monolithic and in your face.
Murray was a political activist who was widely recognised for tackling apartheid and issues of political oppression at the cultural level.
In the dying days of apartheid Murray had no shortage of subject matter dutifully provided by a crumbling but still malevolent military/police state.
Murray’s work made you snort with derision while you stifled a scream of horror.
Some of it was rooted in startlingly familiar pop culture but is still very unsettling — the Simpsons, the Pink Panther, the Oros man, Colonel Sanders, Casper the Friendly Ghost and Richie Rich were roped in to deliver Murray’s outrageous take on power and despotism.
At some levels Murray’s work seems glaringly obvious or even literal but that’s probably because I don’t always get it.
One reviewer used the term: “Subtle as a brick to the face”.
Actually, I think this was to describe the thugs who pre-empted an ANC lawsuit to ban The Spear by defacing the painting…but it could also be applied to some of Murray’s work.
Murray’s exhibition at Norval carries forward many of his well-established symbols of authoritarianism, self-congratulatory elites, cultural attrition and censorship.
It would be easy to misinterpret Murray. Maybe sometimes he is simply ‘having a laugh’ at his audiences’ expense but there is undeniable poignancy in the gorilla with his face turned to the wall and the huge rabbit staring entreatingly at the sky.
According to the information on hand, the latter is part of Murray’s “Limbo” and “Brood” series and references a traditional Japanese belief that placing a heaven-facing rabbit sculpture outside homes or businesses can attract good luck, prosperity, and fertility.
The work was apparently inspired by Covid-era mental stress but in a world facing constantly renewed fears and anxiety, that huge heaven-staring rabbit made a lot of sense.
I was also struck by the feats of engineering represented in his work — massive sheets of metal moulded to the gentle curves of comic ‘wildlife’ figures.
Gorillas, rabbits, monkeys, elephants and owls beautifully posed but somehow luring you into Murray’s deep satirical embrace.
Portia Zvavahera is a Zimbabawean painter whose exhibition is titled Tanda rima — loosely translated as “Chase away the darkness”. Curated in a large bare room with much empty space, it seems the plan was to use the stark space to give full reign to her huge pieces that translate dreams onto canvas.
Zvavahera’s work is deeply metaphorical and seemingly draws upon personal experiences of community, religious and family life. There is a sense of vulnerability, loss and perhaps again, supplication that pervades much of her work.
Githan Coopoo’s Tears Now But Heaven Tomorrow is a mixed bag of symbols like vases, handbags and jewellery rendered in brightly glazed clay.
Clearly playful but possibly also taunting, Coopoo’s purpose remained a little fudgy to me although I was strongly drawn to his creations.
Perhaps that’s over-complicating things and the answer lies in the satirical slogans that appear on many of his designs.
Possibly an admission of falling prey to rampant consumerism, expressed as “Plastic Girl, Plastic World” or the dread of consequence, “you spent me — insufficient funds”.
The curators included notes to the effect that “Coopoo sculptures invite us to consider how bodies and spaces hold memory, desire, and history, while questioning value, permanence, and identity”. So now you know.
Amid disturbing rumours of the closure of the Irma Stern Museum at The Firs in Rosebank, where the artist had worked from 1928 until her death in 1966, it was a relief to find that Norval had come to the rescue at least temporarily.
The Foundation will ensure that Stern’s work remains accessible while the Irma Stern Museum is closed and will mount four exhibitions over the next two years that will explore Stern’s life, travels and the influences on her art.
Titled A Life of Displacement, the series explores themes that have great contemporary resonance such as geopolitical upheavals, war and anti-semitism. It further seeks to reveal Stern’s sense of cultural and physical displacement and her search for identity and artistic expression.
Norval punts itself as more of an art museum than a gallery and the current run of exhibitions fits that mould.
The exhibition programme constantly evolves so it will be interesting to see how the foundation deals with emerging issues in the world of culture and especially African art forms.
The Skotnes Sculpture Garden is more permanent and brings the natural environment into the visitor’s interaction with modern African outdoor sculptures and 3D installations in a beautiful garden and protected wetland which also features indigenous fynbos and more than 1,000 plant species.
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