Cameron PLatter
Cameron Platter (born 1978 Johannesburg) lives and works in Shaka’s Rock, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. He studied at Michaelis School of Fine Art, University of Cape Town (BAFA). His work is an intoxicating vision of Good vs. Evil, documenting contemporary morality through the telling of simple stories drawn from the media, TV, cinema, art, history, pornography, war and peace, politics, music, and religion.
His targets and influences include Lamborghinis, Kawasakis, Krug champagne and beautiful women in fishnets; megalomania and the mass media; James Bond and Richard Pryor; corrupt politicians; penis extension machines and strip clubs; children’s stories, crime fiction and gangster films; Southern African woodcut and craft masters; tabloid horror stories; wildlife, real life and things falling apart…
Mixing traditional and new mediums, his is an ultra-primitive, anti-aesthetic view on what it means to be alive today in South Africa.
Platter works in the time-consuming mediums of pencil crayon drawing, video animation, and carved sculpture to create comedy-noir, interactive installations filled with sex, irony, cynicism and approaching love.
He has been called, amongst other things: “the delinquent love child of Quentin Tarantino and Dr Seuss”, “the undisputed king of Afro-bling,” and “an agent provocateur with a sinister agenda”. His work has been exhibited extensively, and is in collections in South Africa, Europe and the United States. In 2010 he will be exhibiting in Vienna, New York and Cape Town.
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2010
Hard Times, Great Expectations, Whatiftheworld / Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
The Old Fashion, VOLTA NY, New York, USA
Cameron Platter, Rio Loco Festival, Toulouse, France
I Am Lonelyness, Hilger Contemporary, Vienna, Austria
2009
Black Up That White Ass II, YOUNGBLACKMAN, Cape Town, South Africa
2008
Studio, KNSA Gallery, Durban, South Africa
3 Stories, KZNSA Gallery, Durban, South Africa
Too Much of Anything is Very Dangerous, Hilger Contemporary, Vienna, Austria
2007
Kwakuhlekisa, Bell-Roberts Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
2006
Party Time, Blank Projects, Cape Town, South Africa
Beware the Curves, Labia Cinema, Cape Town, South Africa
3 Missed Calls, Bell- Roberts Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
2005
Life Is Very Interesting, Bell- Roberts Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
2004
Storm, NSA Gallery, Durban, KwaZulu- Natal, South Africa
The Love is Approaching, Joao Ferreira Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
Selected Group Exhibitions
2009
Clair/ Obscur Film Festival, Basel, Switzerland
Manifesto, CO-OP, Johannesburg, South Africa
Word Up!, AVA Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
Volta 05, Basel, Whatiftheworld/ Gallery
Sing Into My Mouth, Whatiftheworld/ Gallery, Cape Town
Johannesburg Art Fair, KZNSA Gallery
2008
On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, Hilger Contemporary, Vienna, Austria
Art 39 Basel, Hilger Contemporary
Prints & Editions 08, Whatiftheworld/ Gallery, Cape Town
Viennafair, Galerie Ernst Hilger, Vienna, Austria
2007
Love, South Beach Emporium, Miami, USA
Art Cologne, Galerie Ernst Hilger, Cologne, Germany
2006
Analog- Digital-Fractal, Galerie Ernst Hilger, PULSE, Miami, USA
Tour, a slice of life, Hilger Contemporary, Vienna, Austria
Rotterdam International Film Festival, Rotterdam, Holland
About Face, Klein Karoo National Art Festival, South Africa
2005
KO Video/ 1st Durban Video Festival, Durban Art Gallery, Durban, South Africa
Shots New Directors Showcase, London, England and Cannes, France
Printtttt, AVA gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
In Motion, Franchise, Johannesburg, South Africa
2004
Negotiate; Conciliation Johannesburg Art Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
Brett Kebble Art Awards, Cape Town, South Africa
In Motion, Erdmann Contemporary, Cape Town, South Africa
Saatchi and Saatchi New Directors Showcase, Cannes Lions Festival, France
Contra Mundi, AVA gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
ABSA Atelier, ABSA Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
2003
Picnic, Bell- Roberts, Cape Town, South Africa
Art as Usual, Johannesburg Art Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
Galerie Puta, 2a Dysart Road, Cape Town, South Africa
2001
YDETAG, South African National Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
Stolen Painting, Art Night Out, Cape Town, South Africa
2000
Returning the Gaze, One City, Many Cultures, Cape Town, South Africa
Emergency, Bell- Roberts Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
Filmography
The Attack of the Killer Zebras from Outer Space, 2004
The Love is Approaching, 2004
Jealous is the Freedom of Fools, 2004
Vexation Island, 2004
Strangers in the Dark and Stormy Night, 2004
My BM is Bigger Than Yours, 2005
Beware the Curves, 2006
How the Crocodile Got his Shoes and Other Collected Stories, 2007
The Stripper and the Zebras; Mr Muafangejo and the Lion; and the Crocodile and God (Also known as 3 Stories) 2007/08
Color Blind (Vivid Raw) Vol 2 2008
the Gaze
A Bird, a Machine, and Some Hard Work
