Gary N. Van Wyk

Region of Interest

Africa

Primary Country of Residence

United States of America

Title

Ph.D.

Affiliation

Curator, Axis Gallery; Exec. Director, Alma On Dobbin.

Email

GaryNVanWyk@gmail.com

Phone/Fax Number(s)

973.731.7046

Countries of Specialization

South Africa, Tanzania

Education

EDUCATION (US degree equivalents)
1995 Ph.D., Dept. of Art History, Columbia University, New York
1991 M.Phil., Columbia University
1988 M.A., University of South Africa
1986 M.F.A., University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
1984 LL.B., University of the Witwatersrand
1981 B.A. (Industrial Psychology & Law), University of the Witwatersrand

Research Interests

Basotho mural arts; Beadwork of Southern African peoples (Xhosa, Zulu, Ndebele); traditional art of Tanzania; contemporary art and photography of Africa, Hungarian modern art and photography, Pop Art

Teaching Interests

Art history; curatorial practice.

Publications

Books:
2018 Our Anthropocene: Eco Crises, Center for Book Arts, New York
2014 József Jakovits: Surrealist, Primitivist, Kabalist, QCC Art Gallery, CUNY, New York.
2013 Shangaa—Art of Tanzania, QCC Art Gallery, CUNY, New York.
2013 Pop Art: 50 Works of Art You Should Know. Random House/Prestel, London/Munich.
2004 A Decade of Democracy: Witnessing South Africa (ed).
1998 African Painted Houses: Basotho Dwellings of Southern Africa. Abrams, New York
1997 Shona, Rosen Publishing Group, New York.

Selected Articles:
2016 “Zulu-Sushi and African Dim Sum: Snapshots of African-Asian Relations,” Afrique-Asie, Presses Universitaires de Rouen et du Havre.
2013 “Basotho Wandmalerei,” Kunst&Kontext # 6 Autumn, Berlin, Germany.
2003 "Illuminated Signs: Style and Meaning in the Beadwork of the Xhosa- and Zulu-speaking Peoples," African Arts, Fall/Winter 2003.
2002 “La danse dans la lumière: sémiotique de l’abstraction” [Dance in Light: Semiotics of Abstraction], essay for Ubuntu: Arts et cultures d’Afrique du Sud, catalog and exhibition of South African art at Musée des Arts d'Afrique et d'Océanie, Paris.
2002 "Fragments," First Word column for African Arts, Spring 2002.
1998 "Erecting Capital Icons: High-rise Architecture," in Architecture of the Transvaal, Univ. of South Africa, Pretoria.
1998 “The Mural Art of Basotho Women.” African Arts 31:3 (Summer), pp.58-65.
1998 "Fertile Flowers of Femininity: South Sotho fertility figures " in Evocations of the Child: Fertility figures of the southern African region, Human, Cape Town.
1996 Africa: Art of a Continent, Guggenheim Museum, New York, catalog entries for southern Africa.
1996 "Meditation/mediation: l'art/l'anthropolgie," in Courtyard, Musée des Arts d'Afrique et d'Océanie, Paris.
1996 Basotho, Rosen Publishing Group, New York.
1994 "Convulsions of the Canon: 'Convention, Context, Change,'" in African Arts, Vol. 27, No. 4. Fall.
1994 "Through the Cosmic Flower: Secret Resistance in the Art of Sotho-Tswana Women," in Secrecy: African Art that Conceals and Reveals, Museum for African Art, New York.
1994 "Drawing the Bead on Blacks: Eastern Cape People Painted by Baines, Shot by Pocock," in Ezakwantu: Beadwork from the Eastern Cape, South African National Gallery, Cape Town.

Keywords

Anthropocene;Basotho; Tanzania; South Africa; Beadwork; South African art; South African photography