Kendell Geers; South African 1968-; After Love Poster Bomb
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Notes : Kendell Geers produced After Love as a lithograph edition in 1993. At the same time he made unsigned Poster Bombs, like the present lot, that he pasted on city walls throughout downtown Johannesburg where real bombs could potentially explode. The letters BOMB make reference to the iconic 60's work LOVE by Robert Indiana because, according to Geers "love was in very short supply in South Africa" at the time. It was three years after Mandela's release and a year before the first democratic election in South Africa. The extreme right wing wanted to destabilize the nation and they were setting off bombs across the country. As fate would have it, Geers was in the Johannesburg Art Gallery (where he had pasted one of his Poster Bombs) on the 24 April 1994 when a deadly car bomb exploded a block away killing 21 and injuring 100 people. This Poster Bomb is dedicated to Durant Sihlali who was Geers' close friend and mentor. They shared a studio in Newtown together with other important artists like Ezrom Legae, Pat Mautloa, David Koloane, Joachim Schönfeldt and Sam Nhlengethwa.
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