Problem child
A solo exhibition by
MOTELSEVEN
Graffiti artist and painter MOTELSEVEN will have a solo exhibition at the WORLDART gallery in Cape Town from 5-26 October.
After years of living and working in the UK and Europe, she is excited about being back in her native Cape Town and is looking forward to settling down for a while.
Titled Problem child, this exhibition of paintings features her distinct surreal style where prettiness and sadness lie side by side and Japanese manga-style and graffiti influences set the tone.
This exhibition explores the reality of a world that seems increasingly overwhelming and frustrating to navigate, and how, in these times of uncertainty and chaos, we tend to reminisce about a childhood that bring about feelings of nostalgia and safety. To this extent she made use of bold primary colours, dreamy pinks and purples, and 80’s and 90’s pop culture.
“This show is about making peace with our inner child and to allow our flawed sense of self to be free from ourselves and the superficial world around us,” she says.
The exhibition will be on show at the WORLDART gallery at 54 Church Street and will open on the monthly First Thursday event when galleries in the Cape Town cbd stays open till 8pm.
Artist’s Bio:
MOTELSEVEN (b. 1987) is a Cape Town born artist who started painting graffiti at 16 and had her first solo exhibition at the age of 21. After a few successful gallery exhibitions the travel bug bit and for ten years she only did graffiti writing, outdoor murals and public art festivals, mainly in Europe and in the US.
She is a member of the notable graffiti crew 40HK and one of the first white women to paint graffiti in post-apartheid South Africa. Black South Africans were the first to embrace Hip Hop culture through political/conscious rap and dance before “non-political“ graffiti popularised in the late 1990’s.
When she started painting in 2003 she chose the name Misty to highlight her female identity but she soon adopted the name MOTELSEVEN. Oftentimes feeling like a social “misfit”, graffiti subculture became the world in which she explored herself with indulgence and without explanation.
The utilization of a gender-neutral tag like MOTELSEVEN allows graffiti writers and street artists to communicate a message and exercise their artistry without the stigma associated with their gender in everyday life. (From Routledge Handbook of Graffiti and Street Art by Jeffrey Ian Ross published in 2016).
She has since painted in cities all over the world. Her work is recognisable by the use of brightly coloured geometric letters deconstructed to the point of animation and sometimes accented with a goofy character to bring humour and accessibility to the image. Evolving from earlier works, the women featured in the art are now defiant and determined to break free. It incorporates Japanese manga-style paintings, where prettiness and sadness go hand-in-hand with a distinct dark and surreal undercurrent.
In 2010 Cape Town became the site of South Africa’s first anti-graffiti by-law which states that any “mural art applied to a wall facing the street requires permission by the city”. Painting walls with permission has meant painting less frequently outdoors for MOTELSEVEN. But after a solo exhibition in 2022 with Los Angeles gallery Thinkspace and a solo exhibition in October 2023 with Cape Town gallery WORLDART, as well as participation at the Investec Cape Town Art Fair and the RMB Latitudes Art Fair in Johannesburg, her legacy as a prolific female writer who claims unbridled self-expression through graffiti art remains.
EDUCATION
2007 Diploma in animation, Animation School, Cape Town
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2023 Problem child, WORLDART, Cape Town
2022 Waiting for Atlantis, Thinkspace Gallery, Los Angeles
2012 Daydreamers, 34 Fine Art, Cape Town
2010 Candy Store, KHK Gallery, Norway
2010 SOLO, Willem Kerseboom Gallery, Amsterdam
2009 Tears and Castles, 34 Fine Art, Cape Town
2008 Lovesick Posse, The Bin, Cape Town
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2022 Street smart, WORLDART, Cape Town
2012 New Arrivals, 34 Fine Art, Cape Town
2011 C.O.P guide to Etiquette, Strichnin Gallery, Berlin
2011 Fresh produce, Anno Domini Gallery, San Jose CA
2011 Outside, 34 Fine Art, Cape Town
2011 Winter Wonderland, Salon91, Cape Town
2010 Sweet Thing, Los Angeles CA
2009 Tears and Castles, Stephanie Hoppen Gallery, London
2009 Panorama, KHK Gallery, Oslo
2009 B-girl Be, Minneapolis, USA
For more information contact WORLDART at info@worldart.co.za or 021 423 3075