Provenance

Linda Givon Collection.

Literature

Nicholas Combrinck (2000) Norman Catherine, Johannesburg: Goodman Gallery Editions, illustrated in colour on page 47.

Josh Ginsburg and Jason Webb (2016) Off The Wall: An 80^th Birthday Celebration with Linda Givon, exhibition catalogue, Wits Art Museum, Johannesburg, illustrated in colour on page 71.

Exhibited

Pretoria Art Museum, Pretoria, Now + Then, 4 August to 3 October 2004, cat. no. 2004/6.

Notes

“Flamboyant, grotesque, psychotic and sexual, his imagery seemed to reflect a desire to voraciously feed off the city’s subcultures, immersing himself in its liberties and licentiousness.

‘From a distance, I could engage with Africa, through a better perspective of both my roots and routes. I fed off the frenzy, gangster culture and the sordidness of daily life in New York more than I did the art. Artists such as Jean Michel Basquiat interested me with his combination of primitive and contemporary imagery. Keith Haring’s graffiti and merchandising reminded me of some of Battiss’s work. And Kenny Scharf’s comic-book style encapsulated America for me.’

In America, Catherine also re-incorporated found objects into his work with a greater variety and freedom. He produced mixed media montages of urban and primitive imagery … But a sense of alienation infiltrated his exuberant response to the vibrant anarchy of street life.”

Hazel Friedman