Local Art • 1956 • II
Christo Coetzee undertakes a four-month study period in Italy; his visit to the Rome Quadriennale where he sees work by Lucio Fontana and Alberto Burri. He moves to Paris where he is mentored by critic Michel Tapié, influential theorist of 'l'Art Informel'. Celestial Bicycle (1958/1960) is made during this period of experimentation. He exhibits in Japan, Europe and the US between 1958 and 1961, coinciding with the growth of Neo-Dada practices internationally. Coetzee remains in Paris for the next 10 years.
An entry from the timeline included in the exhibition Dada South? Experimentation, Radicalism and Resistance (2009–2010) at the Iziko National Gallery, which proposed connections between art production in South Africa and abroad against the social and political contexts that framed them. A revised version of this timeline was later featured in the retroactive Flight Paths (2011) exhibition guide commissioned by Clare Butcher.