Coffee + Medium = Inspiration

In this edition of Intraparadox, I talk to Mxolisi Vusimuzi Beauchamp on his curatorial debut exhibition Coffee + Medium. For this exhibition Beauchamp, who is also an entrepreneur in the coffee business, invited a group of nine artists from diverse backgrounds to participate in an exhibition of works made from using coffee as a painting medium.

The idea of this project exhibition first came to Beauchamp when he saw his friend and artist Asanda Kupa working with this non-traditional art medium. He was struck with an idea to extend the use of this medium as a challenge to other artists that he has kept contact with over the years. Initially the telephonic invitation with artists to encourage them to use this material to produce art did not take off with all of them. It was not until he physically visited them and presented his brand of coffee to them as a gift to brew and use in their art practice before there was a stir. The exhibition Coffee + Medium is a collective response to that artistic challenge.

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Check-out the Irie Ambient 20XXIeD.2.eXpanded version of the interview

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*I would like to thank Bra Vusi for making a space for us to talk about a remarkable moment in his ensuing career trajectory within our contemporary art plane, uVukile uMuzi Vusimuzi. Partaking as both artist and curator, the latter a career first, he has teamed with other artists to exploit coffee as an alternative non-traditional art medium.[1] He proclaimed in our telephonic interview, held on the afternoon of 24 March 2021 that he is disinterested in tribal differences and opts to work with artists across all cultures. A probe into the backgrounds of the featured artists in Coffee + Medium exhibition might make vivid the plurality of Beauchamp’s ideology. – mmutle arthur kgokong © 2021   

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[1] The space for the exhibition has been made possible by Themba Mutwera.

+All images featured on this site have been used with permission of the artist and may not be re-used without consent of the artist. **Graphics for the blog post teaser poster is property of Mmutle Arthur Kgokong.

++The audio version of this interview, encountered in either version Irie Ambient20XXIeD.1 or Irie Ambient20XXIeD.2.eXpanded remains the property of Mmutle Arthur Kgokong except where his name appears alongside that of a featured artist or artists.

To reference this text & audio documentation please cite:

Kgokong, M.A. 2021. Intraparadox, Interview with Mxolisi Vusimuzi Beauchamp: Coffee + Medium = inspiration. Mmutleak.com-Intraparadox. https://mmutleak.com/2021/03/26/intraparadox-interview-with-mxolisi-vusimuzi-beauchamp/

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