Kendell GEERS (b. 1968)

BIOGRAPHY

Kendell Geers was born in was born in Leondale, a working-class suburb on the East Rand outside of Johannesburg and now lives and works in Brussels.

Geers describes himself as ‘AniMystikAKtivist’, weaving together diverse Afro-European traditions, from animism and activism to alchemy and mysticism. Employing diverse references – from the realms of art history, linguistics, poetry, protest and play – his works question artistic value and mock notions of originality.

While at art school, he met fellow artist Neil Goedhals, and they formed the post-punk/industrial performance art group KOOS with Marcel van Heerden, Gys de Villiers, Megan Kruskal and Velile Nxazonke.

At the age of 15, Geers ran away from home due to an abusive, alcoholic father and joined the anti-Apartheid movement. Geers applied to the University of the Witwatersrand to avoid compulsory conscription into the South African Defence Force (SADF).

At Wits University, he became an activist working with the National Union of South African Students (NUSAS) and the End Conscription Campaign (ECC). In 1988, he was one of 143 young men who publicly refused to serve in the SADF. Facing a six-year prison sentence, he went into exile in the United Kingdom. From there, he moved to New York City, where he worked as an assistant to artist Richard Prince.

With the release of Nelson Mandela and other political prisoners in 1990, Geers returned to South Africa and worked as an art critic and curator while continuing to make art. The first work of art he created back on South African soil was called Bloody Hell, a ritual washing of his white Afrikaner Boer body with his own fresh blood.

At the 1993 Venice Biennale, he officially changed his birth date to May 1968, a momentous year in world history for political protest and equality. This act represented Geers’ rejection of his cultural heritage and his rebirth as an artist and activist.

Spanning a wide range of media, his paintings, sculptures and interventions employ wordplay and densely layered motifs to expose ideological structures. His work reveals razor-sharp humour, combining the raw energy of punk with the spiritual philosophy of poets such as Arthur Rimbaud, William Blake, and William S Burroughs.

Geers’ book Duchamp’s Endgame, exploring the mysteries of Marcel Duchamp, was published by Yale University Press in 2024, accompanied by a solo exhibition at Wilde Gallery, Basel, Switzerland.

He exhibited in the 2024 Malta Biennial; 2022 Setouchi Triennial, and the 2021 Bruges and Kortrijk Triennials in Belgium. He participated in Documenta 14 in 2017 and Documenta 11 in 2002 in Kassel, Germany. His work was included in the Venice Biennale in 2019, 2007 and 1993.

A major retrospective of Geers’ work curated by Okwui Enwezor was held at Haus der Kunst, Munich in 2013. His exhibition Irrespectiv toured from Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst, Ghent, Belgium; BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, UK; Musée d’Art Contemporain de Lyon, France; Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Trento and Rovereto, Trento, Italy; and DA2 Domus Artium 2002, Salamanca, Spain (2007–2009).

Geers’ works are held in the permanent collections of public institutions including Centre Pompidou, Paris, France; MAXXI, Rome, Italy; Magasin III Museum & Foundation for Contemporary Art, Stockholm, Sweden; Johannesburg Art Gallery, South Africa; Iziko South African National Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa; Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois, USA and ArtPace, Austin, Texas, USA.

SOURCES
‘Kendell Geers,’ Stephen Friedman Gallery, https://www.stephenfriedman.com/artists/38-kendell-geers/.
‘Kendell Geers,’ Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kendell_Geers.