11 July 2008
	MUST SEE: WILHELM SAAYMAN

An epigram by the French writer Sebastien Chamfort offers a useful entrée into Saayman's bleakly funny pencil drawings: "Better on your arse than on your feet, flat on your back than either, dead than the lot." The epigram appears in a collection of poems and verse translated into English by Samuel Beckett, also inspired by "the darker side of life's spectrum", as Saayman explains himself. Mixing absurdity with ennui, outrage with moments of pure melancholy, Saayman, a key figure in the 1980s musically led alternative Afrikaans movement, is not averse to indulging in aphoristic humour himself. Aptly, his show is titled "Don't do business with family or friends". WHERE On until July 18 at Warren Siebrits, 140 Jan Smuts Avenue, Johannesburg. Tel: (011) 327-0000