BAAUG 09

Page 1

SOUTH AFRICAN Advertise in the Business Art Times call Eugene at 021 424 7732 E-mail: sales@arttimes.co.za

BUSINESS ART

See our Global Information family at: The SA Art Times: www.arttimes.co.za Global Art Jobs: www.globalartjobs.com SA Art Info Directory: www.saaid.co.za

AUGUST 2009 | Supplement to The South African Art Times | E-mail: subs@arttimes.co.za | Member of the Global Art Information Group

Risky Business, Anthea Moys throws herself to the Pirates, in her award winning show at The Everard Read Gallery, Jhb. Moys who won the prestigious Bait-Everard Read Award 2009 worked with the Pirates Rugby Team in Johannesburg. In her words she states: “In this performance I played the role of the ball. Throwing oneself into unfamiliar territory always involves risk. It asks of both performer and participant to engage in a shared space of play. For modern humans, this is a risky proposition, for there are no winners or losers in my rugby game. The outcome is the experience”. See her show at The Everard Read Gallery, 6 Jellicoe Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg from Thursday 30 July. Or visit there website at www.everard-read.co.za or www.antheamoys.co.za Photo: John Hodgekiss

Report back session from The Joburg Art Fair

Breaking Art News Daily at The Art Times

The SA Business Arts publishes 2 keynote speakers at the JAF disscussion held at the Narina Trogon restaurant in Braamfontein last month Clive Kellner’s speech In reflecting on the Joburg Art Fair, its past and future, I thought I might raise a number of comments, facts, contradictions and ideas about art fairs, the art market, curating and values as a means of addressing this post Joburg Art Fair assessment. In a sense, what is at stake here is the relationship between art and commerce. Often, it would appear that the two are diametrically opposed, more especially in relation to curating, academia, museums and art history. Damien Hirst’s now infamous two-day sale at Sotheby’s on September 15 and 16, 2008, brought in sales of 95.7 million Pounds, on the same day that the Lehman Brothers collapsed initiating a global financial crisis. Art has never been so popular! Art certainly does reflect its time and in the Warholian sense, appeals to everyone and is accessible to all. Art Fairs have become symbolic of a time where money and art are synonymous and everybody knows the name of Damien Hirst. There is a story that goes, in the 16th century, Mrs Albrecht Durer, would set up her stall of art works for sale in the public square in Bruges. The roots of the art market can be traced to the fairs of Brabant and Medina del Campo in the 15th century and during the 16th century the public sale of art became widespread particularly in the Netherlands. Art, for a long time has remained the domain of the select few, a rarefied field where connoisseurship, the canon and art history were the purveyors of knowledge and therefore taste. The more things change, the more they stay the same! I believe that during the Salon’s of the 17th century, where art works were hung wall to wall, floor

to ceiling (sounds like an art fair!); the art works were not for sale! Here the academic and artistic merit of the works were paramount and sales were for tradesmen. Art was not seen as a trade but as a higher activity. Far from where we are today! Today art’s value is created by headline newspapers, high prices and business managers. However the global financial crisis is beginning to show signs of a downturn, postwar and contemporary art auction have tumbled 77% from totals achieved a year ago. Although records prices for select artists continue to be established. It is a contradictory time. There are 284 art fairs and Biennale’s in the world today and they in total receive a total of 4.9 million visitors in a year. By comparison, the Tate Modern received 5.3 million visitors in 2007, MOMA 2.6 million visitors and the metropolitan 4.24 million. The Joburg Art Fair is in its infancy. Art Basel has been going for four decades and has changed significantly over this period. Perhaps one of the oldest, the cologne Art Fair which started in 1967 with just 18 galleries. Art Basel, started in 1968 when 3 Swiss gallerists – Trudi Bruckner, Ernst Beyler and Baltz Hilit decided that Switzerland needed an Art Fair too. One of the most celebrated newer Art Fair’s must be the Frieze Art Fair in London. However American art critic, Dave Hickey had some very controversial things to say about it at the keynote lecture he gave at Frieze in 2007. I will quote a few lines, “This is a great moment. There are people out there who like art more than money”. How do we know what makes for ‘good art’. We live in an age where money defines taste and images are everywhere. So much so that economists are beginning to define this era as the image economy or i-conomy. Sir Alan Bowness in his 1989 Walter

Neurath Memorial Lecture given at the University of London gives four factors that lead to an artist’s success: 1) peer recognition 2) critical recognition 3) patronage by dealers and collectors and 4) public acclaim. Art Fairs are not the all conclusive defining arbitrator of artistic taste or merit. But they are important vehicles in a network of artists, dealers, auctions houses, media, curators, collectors and museums. Increasingly they are changing their focus from purely economic, dealer booths to include collateral events and programs. These include: talks by leading figures in the art world, music and film pro-grams, education programs, curatorial programs, artistic commissions, awards, public art projects and collaborations. I remember in the 1990’s – there was an outcry by galleries and artists not being presented at the Basel Art Fair and they ended up creating the un-fair! The Joburg Art Fair is important in a South African context. It promotes an active and positive image of the contemporary South African art market internationally, contributes to cultural tourism and facilitates the growth and development of art collectors and patronage. Even more importantly, it brings contemporary South African art into the mainstream public domain. A recent article in the Art Newspaper runs with the heading, “At times of crisis, fairs should take a more ‘curated’ approach”. It would appear that there is a move toward bigger, better, more complex and more competitive art fairs as the pressures of success, hype and the ‘shock of the new’ are increasingly present. Art’s function, at least, one of them, has shifted from an academic role to that of a social function. It is now cool to be seen at Venice Biennale or Art Basel. In the end, does this help make better art?

The South African Print Gallery Presents:

GABRIEL CLARK-BROWN Mid Life Retrospective Exhibition Work from 1990 – 2007

Alex Dodd’s report back to The Art Times Before I begin, I feel it is necessary to state upfront that I undertook some media strategy work for Artlogic in the runup to this year’s Joburg Art Fair. There was an article published in a recent edition of SA Art Times that suggested that I was compromised or some kind of sellout as a result of this. So perhaps this is an opportune moment to respond and say that, as an independent writer and editor, it is my prerogative to associate with whomever I choose on whatever basis I choose. Those associations are often deep and implicated ones. I have never claimed to be a detached and unbiased onlooker commentating on the toings and froings of the art world. I write in the first person and have never striven to be some ideologically unstained bystander. For this reason, I have always had difficulties with the term ‘critic’, although it is often tagged on to my name. For me, it is too cool a term. I am far more interested in the generative possibilities that my writing may serve, than in criticising things in a manner that shows no concern for the potentially damaging impact of published words. I am not suggesting that criticism be discouraged, merely stating that I am personally more committed to constructive collaboration, translation and invention, than in detached deconstruction. This year’s Joburg Art Fair was the first big test for the local art market since the dreaded turbulence in the global economy

kicked in late last year. Despite the fact that the Fair’s attendance was up by 4 000 and that the production value of this year’s event way outstripped last year’s, art sales at this year’s Fair grossed about half of what was achieved last year. It was a jackpot of a Fair in every sense other than sales, which must surely be attributed to the dreaded slump having metamorphosed from a hazy projection into an uncomfortable reality. Since then we have seen the landmark closure of Warren Siebrits Contemporary and an article in the latest edition of SA Art Times in which just about all the key Johannesburg galleries, barring Everard Read, admit to having to tailor their strategies around an impaired art market and a limping economy. It is against this choppy backdrop that we are evaluating the Fair. And for this reason that I wish to encourage a spirit of treading gently, not roughly stamping on a seedling before it has a chance to put down roots. We South Africans are all too quick to slag off things and people when they’re still trying to find a foothold and then mourn the loss of them when they’re suddenly not there anymore. This said, the Joburg Art Fair is not the delicate young calf that needs my protection. It has already proven itself to be quite a strapping and muscular young event, drawing thousands through the doors of the Sandton Convention Centre and commanding a healthy chunk of airtime and page space across Johannesburg’s various media platforms. Yet the vinaigrette criticisms have also been fairly rife, centred

chiefly around the argument that fairs are nothing more than meat markets for art. The same criticisms have been leveled at Art Fairs the world over, and I quote Jerry Saltz from an article in The Village Voice a few years ago: ‘Art fairs are perfect storms of money, marketability, and instant gratification – tent-city casinos where art is shipped in and parked for five days. They’re adrenaline-addled spectacles for a kind of buying and selling where intimacy, conviction, patience, and focused looking are essentially nonexistent. They are places where commerce has replaced epistemology, and the unspoken contract that existed between artists, dealers, and collectors has been scraped.’ Eish! More than a touch of pulpit-style fulminating there. Since the 1990s, when art fairs started to become big events on the global art calendar, there have been countless articles comparing fairs to the other big international forums for contemporary art – biennials. Usually the biennale is introduced as counterpoint to protest against the gross commodification of art. But, in my view, although they are different animals, they are not at opposite ends of the art spectrum. Biennials are not exempt from conceptual trendiness or favouritism, and fairs generate a lot more than just cash. While biennials are curated with quite specific ideological or methodological aims, art fairs are hybrids combining elements of trade fairs, conferences, and big family get-togethers. Money might be their motive but community is their medium. Fairs can superficontinued on page 2

In an effort to break the monthly and even quarterly South African art news cycles The SA Art Times brings you daily breaking news stories from South Africa and beyond. See us at www.arttimes.co.za Also Read us at Facebook at SA Art Times as well as follow our Twitterings at www.twitter.com

People in the Spotlight Britz: Kebble’s Lost Orchid, not the Lost Orchid (27 Jul 09) After months of speculation, auctioneer Graham Britz has admitted, in an interview with Beeld, that a painting sold as Tretchikoff’s “Lost Orchid” earlier this year, is “without a doubt” not the original. Forensic tests have proved that the painting is definitely not the work it was billed as in the catalogue, but, says Britz, may still be an original work by Tretchikoff. According to the auctioneer, forensic tests prove that the work is at least 60 years old, while other tests and the opinions of experts suggest that the work, is “in all probability”, another work by Tretchikoff, entitled “After the Dance”. [more...] An arts adviser for Zuma? (27 Jul 09) Sean O’Toole writes a letter to president Jacob Zuma, in the Sunday Times, offering the president Kudzanai Chiurai as official cabinet photographer. ‘Sobriety Tool’, as the Art South Africa editor coyly signs the letter, says that he has already entreated the president to accept his services as an art consultant. “You didn’t reply. That’s OK, really, I understand”, says a mock hurt Tool. Chiurai, whose satirical posed photographs are currently on show at Goodman Gallery Cape, portrays “extreme stereotypes” of African success, and says he would love to photograph the real cabinet. [more...] ABSA L’Atelier 2009 Award Winners announced (24 Jul 09) The results of the 2009 Absa L’Atelier competition were announced last night at a gala exhibition in Johannesburg, and the this year it’s Eastern Cape artist, Stephen Rosin, who will be taking home the R110 000 prize money and jetting off for a six month jaunt in Paris, Die Burger reports. [more...] Babelaas after the festival: NAF Director reports back (24 Jul 09) National Arts Festival director, Ismail Mohamed compares himself to an alcoholic in a report-back on this year’s Grahamstown fest, on Artslink. “I guess there is much similarity between a festival producer and an alcoholic. As soon as the alcoholic’s bottle is empty he looks for the next.” The morning after the end of a successful festival, is, says Mohamed, like a “lekker babelaas”. [more...] START Nivea Art Award winners announced (22 Jul 09) The winners of the 2009 START The Nivea Art Award were announced at a packed gala award ceremony at the KZNSA last night. First prize went to Pinetown artist, Jane Oliver, who received R20 000 in cash, a sponsored art studio and art materials for six months, as well as an exhibition at the KZNSA in 2010. [more...] New CEO for NAC (14 Jul 09) The National Arts Council has a new CEO, in the shape of Annabell Lebethe, Mail and Guardian reports. Lebethe has a background in provincial government, where Newsfeeds continued on page 2

ARTTHROB PRINT EDITION Opens Saturday 27 August 09 11h30 - 14h00

including a brand new Robert Hodgins Print. Artists include: Guy Tillim, Mikhael Subotzky, Penny Siopis, David Goldblatt, Willem Boshoff more.

runs until Thursday 25 August 09

Creating our Eden, Etching 1996

South African Print Gallery 107 Sir Lowry Road, Woodstock Cape Town. Tel 021 462 6851 www.printgallery.co.za


02

BUSINESS ART | AUGUST 09

SA ART TIMES NEWSFEEDS Breaking art news daily continued from page 1 Read the full stories at www.arttimes.co.za she held the Director of Creative Industries post, and was responsible for the development of arts, music and other creative projects in the Gauteng department of sport, art, culture and recreation. [more...] Kentridge cops mixed reviews in States (15 Jul 09) “It’s quite a coups for the Modern to snag a show devoted to this rising star of the art world”, says the Fort Worth Weekly, claiming that Kentridge “has been winning raves for the exhibition William Kentridge: Five Themes”. Art Daily calls it “a searing body of work”. But not everyone is so happy. [more...] Hlobo “weird”? (14 Jul 09) Grahamstown festival visitors dubbed Nicholas Hlobo’s ‘Umtshotsho’ “weird”, but Anthea Buys suggests that this might have more to do with the extremely limited National Arts Festival art program, than Hlobo’s flowing rubber forms. In a review for the Mail and Guardian, Buys reveals that, as a socialisation ritual, Umtsho-sho provides “a place for marginial subjects – particularly gay men and women – within traditional Xhosa culture”. This is the point of departure for Hlobo’s works, which are, says Buys, “the worthiest follow-up on a Young Artist Award in years.” [more...] Hlobo in Grahamstown: exclusive pics (13 Jul 09) For those who didn’t make it to Grahamstown for the National Arts Festival, festival rag, Cue, publishes a slideshow of work by 2009 Standard Bank Young artist Award winner, Nicholas Hlobo.

Report back session continued from page 1

cially be viewed as crass reductions of art into exchange value, but the less cynical understand that they also offer something else to the inhabitants of the ‘art world’. For most visitors, the big fairs create a sense of kinship that overrides the whirl of air kisses and lipstick stained bubbly glasses. ‘Art fairs are the new biennials,’ declared The Village Voice a few years back. They are gigantic conventions where everyone sees one another, hangs out, and does deals. Fairs may even generate a valid sense of community in an art world so disparate that this experience is otherwise rare. Some even argue that they are more loose and egalitarian than curator-

‘Umtshotsho’, a “traditional youth dance”, comprises new sculptures made in Hlobo’s distinctive materials, rubber inner tube, leather and ribbon. [more...] Goldblatt and Subotzky are presented with prestigious photographic awards (13 Jul 09) David Goldblatt has been awarded the important Henri Cartier-Bresson Award (2009), for his project ‘TJ’, an ongoing examination of the city of Johannesburg. The award is intended for a photographer of exceptional ability who has an established career and has completed a significant body of work. This award will be followed by an exhibition of David Goldblatt’s essay of Johannesburg photographs at the Henri Cartier-Bresson in 2010. Goldblatt’s exhibition Joburg was on view at the Goodman Gallery in 2008. Goldblatt has been photographing and documenting South African society for over 50 years. Born in Randfontein in 1930 to parents who came to South Africa to escape the persecution of Lithuanian Jews in 1890. Motivated by his contradictory position in South African society, Goldblatt began photographing this society, and in 1963 decided to devote all of his time to photography. Mikhael Subotzky has been awarded the highly regarded Leica Oskar Barnack Award for his Beaufort West essay. An international jury is involved in the selection process, and the prize is awarded to a photographer who has the ability to capture and express the relationship between man and environment without being obtrusive while maintaining a poignant and strong vision throughout the series. South African photographer Mikhael Subotzky was born in Cape Town in 1981, and achieved both international and South African acclaim for his final year project entitled Die Vier Hoeke, which consisted of a detailed study of the South African prison system. In 2007 Subotzky went on to photograph

driven exhibitions in which one person tells everyone else what to look at. One of the most significant features of all fairs is that by making your way around the booths, individual galleries’ signature styles start to become clear and accessible. And, perhaps even more exciting than tracking the distinctive styles of each gallery present, is the thrill of having galleries from all three of South Africa’s major cities present under one roof. It’s the ideal opportunity to track regional trends. One of the themes that I picked up on that this year’s Joburg Art Fair was a trend in intimate, personal, psycho-sexual paintings. Paintings that grapple with psychological rather than socio-political realities or conceptual trickery, they explore loss, desire, memory, transience, an uncertain connec-tion to the notion

the town of Beaufort West, an area notoriously associated with violent crime and alcoholism. Exhibited as a solo show at Goodman Gallery Cape in August 2007, the series was then shown at MOMA, New York as part of their New Photography 2008 program.

African Art Downers Valuable Sumner self-portrait stolen (24 Jul 09) A Maud Sumner painting worth an estimated R150 000, has been stolen from the house of former art dealer, and Pretoria Association of the Arts director, Elbie Kachelhoffer. Kachelhoffer, who has been bedridden since October 2008, first noticed the theft on the 17th July of this year, when she visited her sitting room for the occasion of her daughter’s fiftieth birthday. [more...] Walsh’s work stolen at his memorial celebration (24 Jul 09) One of the last ten works painted by Aidan Walsh, before his death of cancer on July 11, was been stolen at the deceased artist’s Monday memorial ceremony at the KZNSA in Durban, Artsmart reports. Partner of 42 years, and fellow artist, Andrew Verster, said the theft was “an act of desecration to his memory.” “As the last works that an artist touched before they died, they have the aura of holy relics”, said Verster. [more...] Nigerian Gallery Officials charged with stealing $6.8m (23 Jul 09) While Nigerian president Umaru Musa Yar’Adua faces impeachment threats for ‘lopsided budget implementation’, five Nigerian government officials have been charged with the theft of $6.8m worth of funds meant for the National Gallery of Art, the BBC reports. Gallery director and artist, Joe Musa, and four colleagues, stand accused of siphoning off the money for their own personal use, over the past three years. [more...]

of place or home. Interestingly, these paintings came mostly out of Cape Town, with a strong showing at the João Ferreira stand, while the focus in Johannesburg seems to be more outward looking, with a strong foothold in photography cerebral/conceptual engagements with form, social documentary excursions, installation and urban interventions. Another common criticism of Art Fairs is that they dissolve into a meaningless whirl of freebee champagne and canapés, but from my point of view that really is a choice. And even with all the distractions, if you have your heart set on discovery and aesthetic exploration, the Joburg Art Fair is a great opportunity to encounter work by artists that are fresh and new. I was delighted not only to discover the bright fantastical collage paintings of Gabrielle

SA Art Uppers Arts sponsorship on the rise (21 Jul 09) The 12th Annual Business Day BASA Awards, supported by Anglo American, have received a record number of entrants this year, with 63 different projects putting themselves forward for the award, Artsmart reports. “The large number of first-time entries is also exciting as it indicates the diverse support of the arts through business,” said Michelle Constant, CEO of Business and Arts South Africa (BASA). The awards are set to take place on August 31, in Johannesburg’s Turbine Hall. [more...] ArtHeat gets remix (20 Jul 09) Cape Town-based artist, critic, “feminist, WWE fan” and cultural commentator, Linda Stupart has launched a new, collaborative blog, linked to Robert Sloon’s blog, ArtHeat.net. Stupart’s blog, Mixtape (‘collaboration, culture, chaos’), takes the form of a collaboration with fifty odd artists, critics, students and academics. The space will serve “as a space for each member of the project to post whatever they like.” This may be fiction, reviews, music, video, “philosophical meanderings, angry feminist rants and blatant self-promotion”. Contributors include Charles Maggs, Andrew Lamprecht, Julia Rosa Clark, Andrjez Nowicki, Wayne Barker and Ed Young amongst others. [more...] Arts Alive under new management (20 Jul 09) Johannesburg’s Art’s Alive Festival will be under new management, as of this year, with brand solutions company, Zanusi, taking over the festival program and event management, Artslink reports. The festival, which will take place in Johannesburg from 3 to 30 September this year, will include visual art, theatre, dance, comedy and poetry, amongst other things. Organisers hope

Manglou at Galerie Beatrice Binoche from Reunion Island, but to have the opportunity to talk with the artist herself about how she had drawn on old colonial photographs to conjure the ghosts of history and capture the postcolonial melee of island life on Reunion. Art Fairs also provide us with the valuable opportunity to see things in the flesh previously only encountered in reproduction. Before this year’s Joburg Art Fair I had only ever seen the work of Ghanaian waste sculptor El Anatsui in books. Despite the brilliance of reproduction, nothing compared to seeing these large-scale majestic sheets of goldenness, ironically crafted from the throwaway tops of booze bottles. Only one wealthy Sheik could afford to buy an El Anatsui masterpiece at the Fair, but there

to expand on the established festival, looking to models such as New Orleans’ Mardi Gras festival, and the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown for inspiration, as well as seeking the expertise of those who have been involved with the festival since 2003. [more...] Minnaar vs Maggs & Sloon (15 Jul 09) It’s gloves off for Melvyn Minnaar as he reviews Maggs and Sloon’s Whatiftheworld exhibition over at Tonight. The whole show, says Minnaar, has “been positioned with such evangelistic self-confidence... that one wonders whether they will even consider that what they are showing may not be all that interesting.” ‘Syndrome’, a two man show by artheat.net blogger Robert Sloon, and video artist, Charles Maggs is what Minnaar derisively dubs a “’conceptual’ show”, and has “been smothered in highbrow words and hype”. [more...] National Arts Festival triumphs despite recession (14 Jul 09) This year’s National Arts Festival saw visitor numbers increase by 13.21%, with a whopping 170 045 people turning out to support the various events. Growth in visitor numbers has been the trend over the past few years however this kind of growth is unprecedented. Previously, 2005 held the record with a 5.18 % rise in visitor numbers. [more...] Charity Auction rakes in the cash (10 Jul 09) A charity art exhibition at the Knysna Oyster Festival has outstripped all expectations, raising three times as much money as organisers had hoped on opening night. Organised by the Hospice Knysna fundraising committee, the ‘Night of 1000 Pictures” had hoped to raise R10 000 for the hospice,

they were at the October Gallery stand for everyone and his cousin to enjoy. I conducted several tours of the Fair, which were supposed to last for an hour. Mostly though they turned into wild discursive adventures with aunties from Cyrildene and visiting art teachers from Toronto that went on for more than two hours at a stretch, and only ended when I managed to drag myself out of the convention centre in search of a Strepsil for my burning throat. But the thematic connectivities that emerged on those tours were exhilarating. One of my personal high points being the moment when the emasculated wingless vulture at the centre of Jane Alexander’s gut wrenching Security installa tion, conjured up the memory of Kevin Carter’s 1994 Pulitzer Prize winning photograph of a

by selling donated works at R100 apiece. [more...] 2010 art project largest ever for Fifa World Cup (09 Jul 09) South Africa will “break new ground” with the arts festival accompanying the 2010 Fifa World Cup, says managing director of 2010 Fine Art, Craig Mark, The Herald reports. Never before has such a large arts festival accompanied the Fifa World Cup, according to the paper. The project is still growing to include more artists and will be promoted internationally and locally. [more...] Prisoners art on show in Grahamstown (09 Jul 09) “I did art at school, but after matric I did not practise my skills. In prison, they showed me how to do it again”, said Andile Jaha, an inmate whose work is currently on show at the Department of Correctional Services exhibition, The Times reports. Jaha produced a range of ceramics and vases embellished with flowers for the Department of Correctional services marquee, which is displaying prisoner’s art on the village green. A spokesman for the region’s Correctional Services said there was no policy regarding the sale of prisoner’s art in place. [more...]

Artists show their appreciation (06 Jul 09) Tammy Ballantyne, writing for the Weekender offers a more positive view of the Standard Bank young artist awards. Ballantyne, who attended the celebration of the 25th anniversary of the awards at the end of June, witnessed j many previous and current winners showing their appreciation for the exposure and acclaim the award had brought them. She also reports a new initiative, being launched in conjunction with Alliance Francais this year, which Read 3-4 daily news clips at www.arttimes.co.za

vulture stalking a starving Sudanese child. The parallel felt all the more prescient against the backdrop of the renewed hype around the work of the Bang Bang Club photographers whose work was on show at the Rooke Gallery stand. So, in my eyes, the Joburg Art Fairs is an invaluable forum that provides visitors with the opportunity to see the work of hundreds of different artists under one roof, assess at a glance what’s on the market and get acquainted with art and the people who write about it, produce it, appreciate it and sell it. As someone who passionately and fervently hopes to see the arts and culture sector flourish and grow in South Africa, it is my wish that every year we will see a greater number of art collectors, artists, dealers, curators, critics and art enthusiasts from around the world participating in the Joburg Art Fair.

Be Seen | Be Heard | Be Read : Be Understood Use our very extensive and active SA Art Community Network to get your message through SA Art Times: Business Art Times: www.arttimes.co.za SA Art Times Newsletters Join us on Facebook Twitter with us at Twitter

National circulation of 7000 National circulation of 7000 18 000 news stories read per month 6 000 per week (1 100 friends to date) (900 followers to date)

Our reasonable advertising rates include:

SA ART TIMES

BUSINESS ARTS

Full Page

R 6 500

Full Page

R 6 000

Half Page

R 5 000

Half Page

R 4 200

Quarter Page

R 2 800

Quarter Page

R 3 200

Eighth of a Page

R 1 200

Eighth of a Page

R 1 800

(horizontal & vertical)

Inserts: weight dependant: R 0.50 per insert

Newsletters and Website placement prices on request. Call Eugene now on 021 424 7732 or E-mail sales@arttimes.co.za see www.arttimes.co.za for more details


AUGUST 09 | BUSINESS ART

ART LEADERS PROFILE AND IN THE NEWS

Les and Taryn Cohn

Les and Taryn Cohn direct Artsource a Johannesburg based art promotions company Michael Coulson

Art Source, the consultancy run by mother-and-daughter team Les and Taryn Cohn, claims to occupy a “unique niche” in the local at world. That’s the sort of statement that raises any experienced journo’s eyebrows, but they make a convincing case. “Most artists are hopeless at career planning,” says Les, “and while galleries have the resources to help them, they tend to focus on short-term sales. We can help artists devise a longterm career strategy which can range from marketing individual works to museums or corporate collections to project development and organising travelling exhibitions that can tour museums both in SA and internationally, literally for many years.” Museum tours, they stress, are aimed at building an artist’s profile rather than immediate sales, though they hope the work has a commercial value at the end of the day. As a prime example, they cite the Transitions exhibition of Paul Emmanuel. Its appearance at this year’s National Arts Festival is its fifth outing in SA. Later this year it goes to Spier, in the Western Cape, and next year to Zylt, in Germany. This will open the door to other European venues. “We reckon Transitions still has another five years’ life in it,” says Les. As Emmanuel started conceptualising the project in 2004 (its first outing was at Jo’burg’s Apartheid Museum in 2008), this will give it a total lifespan of 10 years.

This is their second project for Emmanuel. Other artists for whom they’ve worked on projects include Rosemary Marriott, Leora Farber and, in association with art dealer Ralph Seippel, Mbongeni (Richman) Buthelezi, whose current mid-career touring exhibition opened in Pretoria in April 2009 and will visit five other galleries before coming to Jo’burg next year. Thereafter, they are hoping for international exposure. Fund raising for projects is a knotty area. Organisations like Art Source may not take fees from a grant or foundation. If finance is raised from a more commercial source, Les says Art Source may charge either a flat fee or take a percentage, but she stresses that this is done in consultation with the funder and will be on top of the project finance. Projects like this are only one aspect of Art Source’s activities, however. Broadly, it claims to interface between creators of art and providers of funds, both corporate and public-sector, and is branching out into marketing, public relations and communications. For the past six years Art Source has been a major fund-raiser for Jack Ginsburg’s Ampersand Foundation, which gives local artists the opportunity to spend time in New York. It has also raised funds for the Phum ani Paper craft-based national poverty alleviation programme and has been appointed to raise funds for the Keiskamma Trust’s art project, based in Hamburg, in the Eastern Cape. Art Source is, indeed, a member of the SA Institute of Fund Raisers,

though Les says the Institute’s requirements on how fund raisers may be rewarded can be inappropriate for artistic projects. Art Source has also acted as intermediary in the acquisition of art works by many major institutional collections, including BHPBilliton, Hollard Insurance, Spier. Sanlam, Sasol, the Iziko National Gallery, the Apartheid Museum, Constitution Hill and civic galleries in Kimberley, Johannesburg and Pretoria What qualifies the duo to offer this range of services, and how did they get into the business? Les has a BA Fine Art from UCT and a diploma in arts and culture management from the Wits Business School. In the 1980s, she returned to full-time study at the former Technikon Witwatersrand. One of her teachers was Kim Berman, who introduced Cohn to outreach work and the arts’ need to raise funds. In 1995 Cohn was appointed to start a residency program me at the Bag Factory, of which Berman was a major progenitor, and raise funds for it. Six years later she left to start Art Source. From 2006-2008 she was artistic director and curator of the Sasol Wax Art award, sadly axed in a precursor to Sasol’s more recent major retreat from sponsorship of the visual arts. Taryn was also involved in Sasol Wax as project manager or publicist throughout its existence. Taryn did a BA Fine Arts (Hons) at Stellenbosch, followed by a Master of Philosophy in Cultural development, in which Berman was one of her supervisors. Since 2002 she’s worked on various cultural projects. As well as the already mentioned Sasol Wax, she was with the first Brett Kebble Award but presciently quit the second, unhappy with how it was developing, and was marketing manager for Constitution Hill. She began working for Art Source part-time in 2006, and went full-time in October 2007. She still presents a weekly radio programme focusing on Jo’burg, Jozi Today, for the community station Radio Today 1485. Some may feel that consultancies like Art Source are parasites on the art world. But in truth, as Les and Taryn argue, most artists (like most journos!) are so bad at career development and financial management that, properly used, they can only benefit from their skill and services.

03

The Fine Art of Fifa

Work from “Real Heros’s” show by Clint Strydom

Peter Machen chats to Craig Mark from Kizo Gallery who is also the MD of 2010 Fine Art, a South African company that has acquired a global license to produce and distribute fine art related to the 2010 Fifa World Cup. Peter Machen: This is the first time in the history of the world cup that Fifa has licensed a fine art licence? What does a Fifa art licence actually mean? Craig Mark: It means that we, as the license holders, are allowed to assemble, exhibit and retail fine art collections that will be official licensed products of the 2010 Fifa World Cup. It also means that, as a South African company, we will have the opportunity to use the phenomenal international platform provided by the tournament to promote African visual arts to the world and have some of the world’s most talented contemporary artists celebrate Africa and South Africa through art. PM: Does your contract with Fifa allow the license to continue in subsequent world cups? CM: Technically our license is with the Global Brands Group – Fifa’s worldwide Master Licensee, and no, it is for 2010 alone – although, should this project succeed as we believe it will, we feel certain that there will be scope to negotiate licenses for Brazil 2014 and beyond. PM: And does it, in terms of Fifa’s 5km restraint of trade, mean

that only Fifa World Cup 2010 artwork will be allowed for sale in the defined radius? CM: No commercial or retail activity can happen in the so-called exclusion zones except through the on-site stores operated by Fifa’s commercial affiliates. Even our own products, if they were to be sold within those zones, would have to be carried by those retail stores. Those locations are not really our focus – the 2010 Fine Art collections will be more specifically retailed through exhibitions, although we may look at some targeted merchandising lines if there is a demand for them. PM: I presume that Fifa will be taking a large share of the profits? CM: There is a share of each work sold that is payable to the Global Brands Group – which is only fair in the sense that the value of the Fifa brand and the association with the tournament provides the raison d’etre for the collections. PM: At the launch, I think you said that there will be Fifa-licensed exhibitions in 80 countries. This sound like a massive project and a major undertaking. How have you chosen your partners around the world? And who is coordinating the global project? CM: The 2010 International Fine Art Collection will be exhibited in all 32 countries that qualify to play in South Africa in 2010 – this is being done through a gallery partner in each of the qualifying

nations. It is certainly one of the largest and most ambitious international art collaborations ever – befitting the first ever African Fifa World Cup. Our partner galleries are being chosen for their ability to exhibit the Collection to its best effect, their existing client bases, and their connections with their local media to assist in promoting the exhibitions. The project is being coordinated by our 2010 Fine Art team based in Cape Town. PM: And how will local artists benefit? Craig Mark: Local artists and artists from other African countries are being given the opportunity to submit works for consideration for inclusion in the 2010 African Fine Art Collection. We also firmly believe that the 2010 Fine Art project will benefit the broad community of African and South African visual arts by helping to showcase the talents of our communities to a very diverse international audience. PM: All of the works on show at the recent 2010 African Fine Art Collection were inspired by South Africa’s hosting of the 2010 Fifa World Cup and they have all been recognised as Official Licensed Products of the 2010 Fifa World Cup. What are the criteria for recognition or inclusion? CM: There are both thematic and technical criteria. In terms of the thematic brief, we have asked participating artists to draw inspiration from the return of the world to Africa, the energy and passion of the world’s largest sporting event and the national pride of their own country’s participation therein. The technical criteria address issues like medium, size etc. PM: The exhibition showed original artworks but sold prints of them. Will this be the standard format for all Fifa-licensed exhibitions? Who owns the original artworks? CM: Both the 2010 International Fine Art Collection and the 2010 African Fine Art Collection comprise originals and limited edition, signed, numbered prints. The originals are also planned to be offered for sale – but will only be made available for acquisition closer to the period of the tournament.

Be part of the incredible 2010

The South African Art Information Directory Early Bird Special prices until 15 August. Now in it’s 7th Edition The SA Art information Directory provides the user with a wealth of Art Information and access to the South African Arts Community. By advertising your art, art gallery and arts related company you will reach a large audience of arts professionals for a whole year.

2010 Early Bird advertising rates until 15 August 09 Double Page Spread ( 332 x 166mm ) Full Page ( 240 x 166 mm ) Half Page ( 120 x 166 mm ) Third of Page ( 75 x 166 mm) Artist Listings

R 7 200 R 3 800 R 2 600 R 1 100 R 420

R 6 400 R 3 200 R 2 200 R 900 R 400

Please call Eugene at 021 424 7732 or E-mail sales@saaid.co.za For more information see www.saaid.co.za


Eastern Cape East London

Ann Bryant Art Gallery 6-23 Aug, East London Fine Art Society Peep Show exhibition, an exhibition of miniature paintings 9 St Marks Road, Southernwood, East London T. 043 722 4044 Annbryant@intekom.co.za

Port Elizabeth Alliance Francaise Port Elizabeth 1-22 Aug, Clay 5 Artists 5 Directions 17 MacKay Street, Richmond Hill, T. 041 585 7889 www.alliance.org.za

Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Art Museum 4 Jun-10 Aug, Decade, A selection of works by some of South Africa’s most valued and emerging artists from the Sanlam Art Collection. 30 Jul-20 Sep, sculpture by 2009 Standard Bank Young Artist Award Winner, Nicholas Hlobo. 15 Aug-25 Nov, Poking Fun, works from the Art Museum’s permanent collection exploring humour, biting commentary and satire. 1 Park Drive, Port Elizabeth, T. 041 506 2000 www.artmuseum.co.za

Free State Bloemfontein

Oliewenhuis Art Museum 21 Jul-18 Aug, Dissemination, computer drawings by Jaco Spies, 7 Jul-16 Aug, Wilma Cruise, Cocks, Asses &, 16 Harry Smith Street, Bloemfontein T. 051 447 9609

Johan Smith Art Gallery Glass, Bronze, Ceramics, Old Masters, Contemporary works. Windmill Centre Main Street Clarens T. 058 256 1620 www. johansmith.co.za

S O U T H A F RIC A N A RT G A L LERY SH O W LISTIN G S A U G U ST 2009 T. 011 339 6040/082 388 6870 Fax: 086 547 5195 Email: avanwyk@constitutionhill. org.za www.constitutionhill.org.za Coolart Space From 28 Jul, sculptures and paintings by Avril Kentridge-Kayser. 17 6th st, cnr 4th Ave, Parkhurst, Johannesburg. T.011 442 6469 David Brown Fine Art 20 Aug-20 Sep, Aidon Westcott 39 Keyes Ave,off Jellicoe, Rosebank, Johannesburg. T. 011 788 4435 www.davidbrownfineart.co.za

Art on Paper 25 Jul-12 Aug, mixed media works by Senzeni Marasela; 15 Aug-12 Sep, prints and watercolours by Fiona Pole 44 Stanley Ave, Braamfontein Werf (Milpark), T. 011 726 2234 www.artonpaper.co.za

Artspace – JHB 29 Jul-22 Aug, Six Small Stories, group exhibition of contemporary jewellery design by Liz Loubser, Marchand van Tonder, Geraldine Fenn, Eric Loubser, Nannette Nel and De Villiers Venter. 26 Aug-16 Sep, paintings by Dylan Graham Chester Court, 142 Jan Smuts Avenue, Parkwood, Johannesburg. T. 011 880 8802 www.artspace-jhb.co.za

Brodie/Stevenson 9 Jul-8 Aug, photography by Zanele Muholi. 13 Aug–5 Sep, solo show by Conrad Botes. 373 Jan Smuts Avenue, Johannesburg T. 011 326 0034, http://www.brodiestevenson.com/

Constitution Hill From 6 Aug, Innovative Women, work by ten contemporary black South African female artists Dineo Bopabe, Zanele Muholi, Nandipha Mntambo, Ernestine White, Ingrid Masondo, Nontobeko Ntombela, Usha Seejarim, Senzeni Marasela, Lerato Shadi and Bongi Bengu.

Market Photo Workshop 8 Jul-13 Aug, Alternative Kidz, an exhibition of photography by Musa Nxumalo. 2 President Street, Newtown, Johannesburg, 2000 T. 011 834 1444 www.marketphotoworkshop.co.za

David Krut Projects 30 Jul-29 Aug, I Knew you in this Dark, an exhibition of paintings by Jessica Webster 142 Jan Smuts Avenue, Parkwood, Johannesburg T. 011 447 0627 www.davidkrutpublishing.com

Museum Africa 25 May-24 Dec 2010, l’Afrique: A Tribute to Maria Stein-Lessing and Leopold Spiegel; co-curated by Nessa Leibhammer and Natalie Knight. 121 Bree Street, Newtown, Johannesburg, T. 011 833 5624 www.knightgalleries.net

Gallery MOMO 9 Jul-3 Aug, Long Live the Dead Queen, work by Mary Sibande. 6-31 Aug, ‘Agony and Ecstacy’, David Tlate and Charles Storr. 52 7th Avenue, Parktown North, Johannesburg T.011 327 3247 www.gallerymomo.com

Origins Centre 5 Aug-10 Oct, From Abidjan to Joburg, Veronique Tadjo Cnr Yale and Enoch Santonga Str. University of the Witwatersrand T. 011 717 4700 www.origins.org.za

Gallery on the Square For Aug, contemporary South African artists, including: Paul Blomkamp, Wilma Cruise, John Kramer, Colbert Mashile, Hermann Niebuhr, Carl Roberts, Jenny Stadler among others 32 Maude Street, Nelson Mandela Square at Sandton City, Sandton, Johanesburg. T. 011 784 2847 www.galleryonthesquare.co.za Gold of Africa Museum Gallery 30 Jun-30 Sep, Headgear, drawings by Jeannette Unite. Turbine Hall, Jeppe Street, Johannesburg T. 07829251834 www.goldofafrica.com Goodman Gallery 6-22 Aug, Eliza Kentridge 163 Jan Smuts Avenue, Parkwood, Johannesburg, T. 011 788 1113 www.goodman-gallery.com

Blou Donki Art Gallery Contemporary Art, Steel Sculptures, Functional Art, Photography, Ceramics. Windmill Centre Main Street Clarens T. 058 256 1757 www. bloudonki.co.za

Gauteng

Johannesburg Art Gallery 30 Jun-27 Sep, Musha Neluheni: Vantage, in the artist’s project room #5. 26 Jul-1 Nov, Vik Muniz, Stephen Shore and Janaina Tschape. King George Street, Joubert Park, Johannesburg T. 011 725 3180 www.joburg.org.za

A Better World is Possible, by Lisa Brice in her exhibition entitled: More wood for the fire Until 01 August 09 at The Goodman Gallery, Jhb

Everard Read Gallery Jhb 30 Jul-23 Aug, solo show by Brait-Everard Read Award-Winner, Anthea Moys. 11-25 Sep, sculptures by Dylan Lewis 6 Jellicoe Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg T. 011 788 4805 http://www.everard-read.co.za Grahams Fine Art Gallery 16 Jul-16 Sep, Imaging and Imagining: South African Art circa 18962008 Shop 31, Broadacres Lifestyle Centre, Cnr. Valley & Cedar Roads Fourways, Johannesburg. T.011 465 9192 www.grahamsgallery.co.za GordArt Gallery 11 Jul-1 Aug, Family by Lettie Gardiner and Sticks and Stones (Dodge Burn) by Carla Crafford. 8 Aug-29 Aug, Cast and Crew, by Alex Hamilton, and Mtkidu, an interactive performance by the collective Shop 1 Parkwood Mansions, 144 Jan Smuts Ave, Parkwood, t/f 011 880 5928 http://www.gordartgallery.com/ gordon@gordartgallery.com Manor Gallery 2-26 Aug, 6th Black Like Us Exhibition of 2009 Norscot Manor Centre, Penguin Drive T. 011 465 7934 Email: gallery@wssa.org.za www.wssa.org.za

Resolution Gallery For Jul/Aug, The Wealth of No Nations, works by Pat Mautloa and Godfried Donkor. 142 Jan Smuts Avenue, Parkwood, Johannesburg T. 011 880 4054 www.resolutiongallery.com Sally Thompson Gallery 2-29 Aug, Drawing from Memory, paintings by Hazel Frankel and Judy Shear 78 Third Avenue, Melville, T. 011 482 9719 www.thompsongallery.co.za Standard Bank Gallery 4 Aug-19 Sep, SBYA 25th Anniversary exhibition. Cnr. Simmonds & Frederick Streets, Johannesburg, 2001 Tel: 011 631 1889 www.standardbankgallery.co.za The Art Place, Gallery & Art Centre 11 Jul-8 Aug, All Creatures Great and Small, a group show. 144 Milner Ave, Roosevelt Park, T 011 888 9120 University of Johannesburg Arts Centre Gallery 29 Jul-22 Aug, Boarding House, photographs by Roger Ballen. 2 Sep-14 Oct, Braam Kruger. 2 Sep – 14 Oct, retrospective of oil paintings by Braam Kruger University of Johannesburg, Auckland Park Kingsway campus cnr. Kingsway and Universiteits Rd, Auckland Park T. 011 559 2099/2556 www.uj.ac.za/artsacademy

Magpie Gallery 18 Jul-6 Aug, Dear John, postcard works by a selection of South African artists. 8 Aug-17 Sep, If I were a girl it is, works by male artists, curated by Debbie Cloete Shop 21B, Southdowns Shopping Centre, Centurion T. 012 665 1832 www.magpie.co.za Naude Modern 1-26 Aug, Face Look, portraits by Cathy Giordano and Leonie van der Loo 254a St Patrick’s Road, Muckleneuk Ridge, Pretoria, T. 012 440 2201 www.art.co.za/andrenaude Platform on 18th 30 Jul-15 Aug, bronze sculpture by Andre Otto and Sua Havenga. 20 Aug-5 Sep, Narrative Video art, paintings and sculpture by 22 Open Windows students. 232 18th Street, Rietondale, Pretoria T. 084 764 4258 Pretoria Art Museum 14 May-16 Aug, Mbongeni Buthelezi’s first touring national exhibition of “plastic painting”. Until 1 Dec, A selection of artworks tells a brief story of South African art from the time of the first San artists, includes early 20th century painters, Resistance artists and artists of the 21st century. Also on show until Dec, the Corobrik Collection, showcasing the development of ceramics in South Africa in the past thirty years. T.012 344 1807/8 http://www. pretoriaartmuseum.co.za Pretoria Association of Arts 14 Aug- 2 Sep, etchings, monoprints and mixed media works by Gerda Scholtemeijer 173 Mackie Street, New Muckleneuk, Pretoria, Gauteng, 0181, T. 012 346 3100 www.artsassociationpta.co.za Tina Skukon Gallery 19 Jul-12 Aug, Worker, by Helen Hugo Plot 6 Koedoeberg Road, Faerie Glen, Pretoria T. 012 991 1733 St Lorient Fashion & Art Gallery 30 Aug-26 Sep, Rooftop, outdoor sculpture exhibition curated by Gordon Froud 492 Fehrsen Str, Brooklyn Circle, Pretoria. T. 012 460 0284 www.stlorient.com

Northern Cape Kimberley #William Humphreys Art Gallery From 30 Jul, David Walters and Friends, an exhibition of top South African ceramicists. Civic Centre, Cullinan Crescent, Kimberley, T. 053 831 1724, www.museumsnc.co.za

Mpumalanga The Loop Art Foundry & Sculpture Gallery Casterbridge Complex Corner R40 and Numbi Roads White River T. 013 751 2435 www.tlafoundry.co.za

Western Cape Cape Town

KwaZulu-Natal Durban

Alette Wessels Kunskamer Exhibition of Old Masters and selected leading contemporary artists. Maroelana Centre, Maroelana. GPS : S25º 46.748 EO28º 15.615 T. 012 346 0728 C. 084 589 0711 www.artwessels.co.za

Artisan Contemporary 10 Aug-20 Sep, Vista, a collection of fibre art by Fibreworks, and beaded sculpture by Ceasar Mkize and Thase Dlamini 344 Florida Rd, Morningside, T. 031 312 4364 Email: sue@artisan.co.za

Cameo Framers and Gallery 1-12 Aug, Glass art by Tersia du Plessis, sculptures and prints by Marinda du Toit and monoprints, paintings and drawings by Hardus Koekemoer 198 Long Street, Waterkloof, Pretoria T. 082 923 2551 trent.art@gmail.com

Art Space - DBN 3-22 Aug, Body of Work, a solo show of paintings by Coral Spencer Domijan, 24 Aug–12 Sep, mixed media works by Martin Burnett and Life Journey by Di van Wik 3 Millar Road, Durban. T.031 312 0793 www.artspacedurban.co.za

Fried Contemporary Art Gallery 8 Aug-12 Sep, Recent work by Johann Moolman, Diane Victor and Rossouw van der Walt 430 Charles Str, Brooklyn, Pretoria T. 012 346 0158 www.friedcontemporary.com

Durban Art Gallery Until 2 Aug, Working in Warwick, by Denis Gilbert. 12 Aug- end Oct, PAST/PRESENT, works by Andrew Verster. Until Dec 2009, Pic(k) Of The DAG, South African works from the gallery’s Permanent Collection. Second Floor, City Hall, Anton Lembede Street, Durban T. 031 311 2268 Email:strettonj@durban.gov.za www.durban.gov.za/durban/discover/museums/dag Durban University of Technology (DUT) Gallery 31 Jul-14 Aug, Architectural exhibition, 20 Aug-1 Sep, National Creative Youth Arts Festival Steve Biko Campus, Cecil Renaud Theatre 2nd floor, Durban artgallery@dut.ac.za or 031 373 2207 Elizabeth Gordon Gallery A variety of new South African artworks, including new black and white acrylics and charcoals by Chris Buchner and Wim Rautenbach. 120 Florida Road, Durban T. 031 303 8133 eqqart@iafrica.com Imbizo 13 Aug-13 Sep, Black and White, a show including black and white works in all media. Shop 7A, Ballito Lifestyle Centre, Ballito 4418 T. 032 946 1937 info@imbizogallery.co.za KZNSA Gallery 21 Jul-8 Aug, START! The Nivea Art Awards, an exhibition by the 23 finalists of this year’s awards. Lerato Shadi: Hema (or six hours of out-breath captured in 792 balloons, video work. 166 Bulwer Road, Glenwood, T. 031 2023686, www.kznsagallery.co.za Tatham Art Gallery 25 Jun-6 Sep, Into the Light, work by KZN women artists of the early part of the 20th Century. 9 Jul-13 Sep, Heath Family Retrospective, paintings by Jack, Jane and Jinny Heath. Cnr. Of Chief Albert Luthuli (Com-

24 Jul-4 Sep, Works by Christiaan Diedericks, Chad Barber, Ian Cattanach, Mark Stanes, Glen Green, Philip Marinig, Aphelele Sikwebu and Karin Miller. 2 Long Street Cape Town, T. 021 419 8888 www.focuscontemporary.co.za Gallery F Contemporary and archival South African Art 221 Long Street, Cape Town, T. 021 422 5246 www.galleryf.co.za Gill Allderman Gallery For Aug, Group Exhibition 11, including new works by Dathini Mzayiya 278 Main Road, Kenilworth, Cape Town T. 083 556 2540 www.gillalldermangallery.co.za Goodman Gallery, Cape 16 Jul-15 Aug, Dying to be Men, works by Kudzanai Chiurai, 20 Aug12 Sep, Hentie van der Merwe 3rd Floor, Fairweather House, 176 Sir Lowry Road Woodstock, Cape Town T. 021 462 7573/4, www.goodmangallerycape.com Infin Art Gallery Wolfe Street Chelsea Wynberg T. 021 761 2816 and Buitengracht St Cape Town T. 021 423 2090 www. infinart.co.za

Alliance Française For August, Nina Barnett, a sound, video and stop-motion animation exhibition, investigating urban spaces. 155 Loop Street, Cape Town. T. 021 4235699 www.alliance.org.za

Irma Stern Museum 8-29 Aug, functional ceramics by four potters Cecil Road, Rosebank, Cape Town T. 021 685 5686 www.irmastern.co.za

Art B Gallery 29 Jul-19 Aug, mixed media works by Marieke Kruger and sculpture by Paul de Jongh Library Centre, Carel van Aswegen Street, Bellville T. 021 918 2301, www.artb.co.za

#Iziko South African National Gallery 2 Jun-16 Aug, Jol, paintings and prints on the subject of jolling. Includes work by William Kentridge, Bob Gosani, Michael Wyeth and Gerard Sekoto, amongst others. 9 Jun-25 Oct, Cross-Pollination, South African artists working from 1930-50. Includes work by Laubser, Stern, Kibel, Pierneef, Sekoto and Lipshitz. 30 Jun-25 Oct, Choices 2008, showcasing new artworks acquired in 2008 by the Acquisitions Committee. From 14 Jul, The Art of Relief Printing, an exhibition demystifying print processes. Includes woodcuts, wood, engravings and linocuts. Government Avenue, Company’s Garden T. The 021 467 4660, www.iziko.org.za

Association for Visual Arts (AVA) 17 Aug-4 Sep, Flatlands, photography by Marc Shoul. 35 Church Street, Cape Town T. 021 424 7436 www.ava.co.za

UNISA Art Gallery 15 Aug-11 Sep, New Acquisitions exhibition Theo van Wijk Building, Goldfields entrance, 5th floor. Unisa Campus, Pretoria. T.012 429 6823 www.unisa.ac.za/gallery

Pretoria

Kraal Studio 29 Aug-10 Oct, Solitude and Things Collected. 364 Milner Road, Waterkloof, Pretoria T. 082 464 6767 Email:hanlieandclive@kraalstudio. co.za

mercial) Rd. and Church Street (Opposite City Hall) Pietermaritzburg. T. 033 342 1804 www.tatham.org.za

Brenda, The Mexican Sports Bar, Hillbrow, 2006. Photo from Marc Shoul’s show entitled ”Flatlands” to be seen at the AVA Gallery, CT 18 of August 04 September 2009

Atlantic Art Gallery A permanent display showcasing leading contemporary South African artists. 25 Wale Street Cape Town, T. 021 423 5775 Blank Projects 5-25 Aug, Black: the antithesis of the fraudulent sensuality of culture’s façade an experiment in voluntary asceticism. A group show including works by Zander Blom, Liza Grobler, Nomthunzi Mashalaba, Kathryn Smith, Michael Taylor, Hentie van der Merwe and Mary Wafer 198 Buitengracht Street, Bo-Kaap, Cape Town, T.072 1989 221, www. blankprojects.blogspot.com Cape Gallery 26 Jul-14 Aug, prints by Lorraine Vivian and Ellen Norbu; 16 Aug-12 Sep, Annual Wildlife exhibition, including painting, sculptures and mixed media 60 Church Street, Cape Town, T. 021 423 5309 www.capegallery.co.za Carmel Art Dealers in Fine art, exclusive distributers of Pieter van der Westhuizen etchings 66 Vineyard Road, corner Cavendish St, Clarement T.021 671 6601 Constantia Village Shopping Centre, Main Road, Constantia T. 021 794 6262

Johans Borman Fine Art Gallery 15 Aug-12 Sep, 10-20 Anniversary Exhibition: Art That Inspires In-Fin-Art Building, Upper Buitengracht Street, Cape Town, T. 021 423 6075/082 5664631 www. johansborman.co.za Kalk Bay Modern Winter Showcase: art works on paper by Cecil Skotnes, Penny Siopis, Colbert Mashile, Michele Tabor, Jane Eppel, Lyn Smuts, Rory Botha, Nat Mokgosi. 1st Floor, Olympia Buildings, 136 Main Road Kalk Bay. T.021 788 6571 kbmodern@iafrica.com Kunst House 18 May–31 Aug, a varying collection of work by resident artists 62 Kloof Street, Gardens, T. 021 422 1255 www.kunsthouse.co.za Lindy van Niekerk Art Gallery Exhibition of SA’s leading artists. 31 Kommandeur Road, Welgemoed, Belville T. 021 913 7204/5 www.artpro.co.za Michael Stevenson Contemporary 4 Jun–1 Aug, Everything Matters, paintings by Deborah Poynton; Ingubo Yesizwe, new installation by Nicholas Hlobo; This is my Africa, documentary by Zina-Saro-Wiwa; Shroud, sculpture by Katharine Jacobs. 6 Aug-26 Sep, Wim Botha, Sidestep by Simon Gush and Middlesea, a video work by Zineb Sedira. Ground Floor, Buchanan Building, 160 Sir Lowry Road, Cape Town, T. 021 462 1500 www.michaelstevenson.com

Christopher Møller Art Dealers in South African contemporary art and South African masters. 82 Church Street, Cape Town, T. 021 439 3517 www.christophermollerart.co.za David Porter Antiques Buyers and sellers of South African art T. 021 683 0580/083 452 5862 david@davidporterantiques.com Erdmann Contemporary /Photographers Gallery 25 Jul-29 Aug, Painting, Drawing, Sculpture, Photography and Vintage Printmaking group show, featuring work by Walter Battiss, Abrie Fourie, Mark Hipper, Jan Neethling, Jurgen Schadeberg, Themba Shibase, Manfred Zylla and more. 63 Shortmarket Street, Cape Town T. 021 422 2762 www.erdmanncontemporary.co.za Exposure Gallery For Aug, an exhibition of contemporary photography The Old Biscuit Mill, 373 Albert Road, Woodstock. T. 021 447 4124 www.exposuregallery.co.za Focus Contemporary, Fine Young Art 27 Jun-15 Aug, All Together Now, work by Ian Cattanach, Mark Stanes, Glen Green, Chris Diedericks, Philip Marinig, Karin Miller.

Rorschach (After Velázquez), Linoprint, by Wim Botha in his show Joburg Altarpiece & Amazing Things from Other Places 6 August - 26 September 2009 at The Michael Stevenson Gallery

Michaelis School of Fine Art Michaelis Gallery: 28 Jul-21 Aug, Legacies of the landscape, landscape prints from the Katrine Harries print cabinet. Rosedale Gallery: 28 Jul-16 Aug, Anaphora, work by seven Wits MFA students:

Colleen Alborough, Francki Burger, Maja Marx, Anthea Moys, Richard Penn, Mary Wafer and Amy Watson. 31-37 Orange st, Gardens, Cape Town T. 021 480 7147 Raw Vision Gallery New digital prints by Mike Fisher available for viewing. Upcoming show: Athol Lewis 89 Sir Lowry Road, Woodstock. T. 076 581 9468 fishermike@mac.com Rose Korber For Aug, Prints from the Graphic Drawer 48 Sedgemoor Road, Camps Bay, Cape Town T. 021 438 9152 e-mail: roskorb@icon.co.za www.rosekorberart.com Rust-en-Vrede 4-20 Aug, Through my Eyes, an inspired mosaic exhibition. 25 Aug-17 Sep, Judy Woodborne, Paul Birchall and Chris Diedericks 10 Wellington Road, Durbanville. T. 021 976 4691 www.rust-en-vrede.com Salon91 Contemporary 12-29 Aug, Fate Amenable to Change, a solo exhibition of paintings by Shui-Lyn White 91 Kloof Street, Gardens, Cape Town 021 424 6930 www.salon91art.co.za South African Museum 25 Jul-Mar 2010, Subtle Thresholds, the representational taxonomies of disease, a mixed media show curated by Fritha Langerman. 25 Queen Victoria Street, Cape Town T. 021 481 3800 http://www.iziko.org.za/sam/index. html South Gallery Showcasing creativity from Kwazulu-Natal including Ardmore Ceramic Art. Fairweather House, 176 Sir Lowry Road Woodstock, Ground Floor. T. 021 465 4672 info@southgallery.co.za These Four Walls Fine Art Gallery 14 Aug-5 Sep, an exhibition of sculptures and paintings by P L Anderson 169 Lower Main Road, Observatory, T. 021 447 7393. www.thesefourwalls.co.za The South African Print Gallery Until 26 Sep, prints by gallery artists. 27 Aug-28 Sep, ArtThrob Print Editions Exhibition, works by Jane Alexander, Willem Boshoff, Lisa Brice, Nontsikelelo ‘Lolo’ Veleko, Guy Tillim, Mikhael Subotzky, Peet Pienaar, Penny Siopis, David Goldblatt, Hentie vd Merwe, Tracey Rose, William Kentridge and Zwelethu Mthethwa, as well as a new Robert Hodgins print, hot off the press. 107 Sir Lowry Road, Woodstock, Cape Town, T. 021 462 6851 www.printgallery.co.za UCA Gallery 29 Jul-21 Aug, Voight-Kampff, curated by Chatherine Ocholla, will feature works by Shani Nel, David Scadden, Justin Allart, Niklas Wittenberg, Catherine Ocholla, Linda Stupart and Andrew Lamprecht. 26 Aug-18 Sep, Elysian Fields, group show. 46 Lower Main Road, Observatory, Cape Town T. 021 447 4132 www.ucagallery.co.za VEO Gallery From 1 Sep, The Concept, group exhibition Jarvis Road, De Waterkant, Cape Town. T. 021 421 3278 www.veo.co.za What if the World… 5-29 Aug, solo show by Athi-Patra Ruga. First floor, 208 Albert Road Woodstock T. 021 448 1438 www. whatiftheworld.com

George Strydom Gallery For Aug, General exhibition Marklaan Centre, 79 Market Street, George, T. 044 874 4027. www.artaffair.co.za

Oudtshoorn

A ArtKaroo Gallery From 6 Aug, Klein Karoo Kleur en Geur Exhibition, Judy Bumstead, Francois Tiran, Francois Gerber, Lisl Barry 107 Baron van Reede Str, Oudtshoorn Tel/Fax: (044) 2791093 janet@artkaroo.co.za / www. artkaroo.co.za

Paarl The Hout Street Gallery 30 Jul-20 Sep, the 34th annual Winter Gala, including paintings by 25 South African artists, as well as sculptures, glass work and ceramics. 270 Main Street Paarl T. 021 872 5030

Stellenbosch Art on 5 Permanent exhibition of paintings and ceramics by Maryna de Witt, Pera Schillings, Karen Kieviet. 7b Andringa Street, Stellenbosch. T. 021 887 7234 Dorp Straat Gallery Until 31 Aug, Winter Warmers Exhibition, featuring work by Henk Serfontein, Anthony Sherratt, Anya Adendorff, Maraleen Jonker-Arangies, Kelly John Gough, Louis Nel, Cornelia Stoop, Jenny Parsons, Anthony Johnson Anton Momberg and ceramics by light from Africa, Laura du Toit and John Newdigate. 144 Dorp Street, Stellenbosch T. 021 887 2256 www.dorpstraatgalery.co.za

Red Black and White 30 Jul-29 Aug, Beesboude en Blompotte, by Johann Slee A 5a Distillery Road, Bosman’s Crossing, Stellenbosch. T. 021 886 6281 www.redblackandwhite.co.za

H SMAC Art Gallery 25 Jun-1 Sep, On Skin, works by Ricky Benett; Abstract South African Art from the Isolation Years, part III; Collection 11 in the library De Wet Centre, Church Street, Stellenbosch T. 021 887 3607 www.smacgallery.com Stellenbosch Art Gallery Permanent exhibition of Conrad Theys, John Kramer, Gregoire Boonzaier, Adriaan Boshoff and other artists. 34 Ryneveld Street, Stellenbosch T. 021-8878343 www.stellenboschartgallery.co.za University of Stellenbosch Art Gallery 4 Aug-25 Aug, Propositions, works by Postgraduate students of the Department of Visual Arts, University of Stellenbosch. Participating artists include Lunga Kama, Larita Engelbrecht, John Henry Foster, Corlia Harmsen, Niel Vosloo, Berry Meyer, Gina Heyer, Lara Kruger, Gussie van der Merwe, Wessel Snyman, Zahn Rust, Rachael Colette, Ferdinand Kidd, Hendrick L. Coetzee, Doret Ferreira, Janienke van Zyl, and De Villiers Venter. cnr Dorp & Bird Street, Stellenbosch T.021 808-3524/3489 Email: us.max.09@gmail.com

Knysna Knysna Fine Art 20 Aug-1 Sep, Decade, 10 Years of Collecting for the Sanlam Art Collection 8 Grey Street Knysna, T.044 382 5107 www.finearts.co.za

Elgin Oudebrug Gallery Showcasing oil paintings, pastels and sculptures in the sculpture garden Grabouw, Elgin T. 021 859 2595 www.ridley.co.za The backyard picture by Robert Sloon, part of the “Syndrome” exhibition featuring Charles Maggs and Robert Sloon at the Whatiftheworld Gallery, Cape Town see www.whatiftheworld.com for more details

Hermanus

Worldart 27 Jul-22 Aug, The Plot Thickens, paintings by Michael Taylor. 54 Church Street Cape Town CBD, T. 021 423 3075 www.worldart.co.za

The Old Harbour Gallery Works including sculpture by Colleen Madamombe No.4 Warrington Place, Harbour Road, Hermanus T. 028 313 2751 / 0822595515 www.oldharbourgallery.co.za

Franschoek

Philip Harper Galleries Specialising in South African old masters and select contemporary artists. Oudehof Mall, 167 Main Rod, Hermanus T. 028 312 4836 www. philipharpergalleries.co.za

Galerie L’ Art A permanent exhibition of old masters Shop no 3, The Ivy, Krugerstreet, Franschoek T. 021 876 2497 www.galart.co.za Gallery Grande Provence From 9 Aug, new works by Guy du Toit and Pacual Tarazana, jewellery by Boezaart & Bauermeister Main Road Franschoek, T. 021 876 8600 www.grandeprovence.co.za

Abalone Gallery 8 Jul-31 Aug, Uitkyk – Outlook, etchings and collages by Titia Ballot and sculptures by Susanna Swart 2 Harbour Rd, The Courtyard, Hermanus. T. 028 313 2935 www.abalonegallery.co.za


COLUMNISTS & RECOMMENDED UPCOMING SHOWS

Johannesburg Alex Dodd

Furniture designer and chef Lientjie Wessels and her husband Robert Denton of the cult Pretoria eaterie and homegrown design outlet, Libel, have recently taken to regular Facebook postings on the theme of winter to draw people’s attention to the hearty cuisine on offer at their establishment. The one that seemed to most aptly summarise the dusty and gusty spirit of late July on the Highveld was a nugget by American author and billiard’s champion player Robert Byrne, who quipped: ‘Winter is nature’s way of saying “Up yours”.’ Among the myriad events clustering in my inbox, like kindling for a fire to ward off the decimations of winter, was an email subtitled: ‘This presentation will address the shifting curatorial practices affected by the current economic crisis.’ The terms ‘curatorial practice’ and ‘current economic crisis’ seem to be in such urgent circulation at the moment, I couldn’t resist contending with the parking crisis at Wits University to make my way to the School of the Arts for this Diva Talk by Tumelo Mosaka. Mosaka graduated from Wits with a BA Fine Arts and completed his Masters in Curatorial Practices at Bard College in New York. He is currently the curator of contemporary art at the Krannert Art Museum at the University of Illinois, after working as associate curator at the Brooklyn Museum in New York, where he curated the exhibition, Infinite Islands: Contemporary Carribbean Art (2007), among others. He was most recently in town in April as a guest curator at this year’s Joburg Art Fair, for which he curated Here a nd Now, an exhibition of DVD work by artists from around the globe.

I was drawn to Mosaka’s easy going unpretentious manner, which stood out against the attitude of that other ‘blue-chip’ (a term Mosaka applied to artists) curator Simon Njami, who succeeded in alienating several local audiences at public events surrounding Africa Remix with his stand offish pop star shades and his supercilious one liners. Mosaka judiciously hedged his bets when one audience member asked him to comment on the stereotyping effect of Njami and Fernando Alvim’s Africa Pavillion at the 2007 Venice Biennale, which agglomerated the art of a continent, whilst the rest of the world was represented on country-by-country basis. But he did stake his claim by expressing a degree of skepticism in relation to ‘mega-shows’, which are ‘driven by political ideology’, and asserting that he was more drawn to the ‘complexities of specificity’ that lie in smaller, more nuanced exhibitions. But his presentation was sadly lacking in specificity. Although he did present slides of a few works from shows he has curated, he didn’t mention any artists’ names or offer much insight into their conceptual motivations. That said, his time was limited and his focus was on emerging curatorial strategies in the light (or should I say the gloom?) of the current global crunch. Giving us a sense of the New York climate, he said ‘about 20 galleries had shut down in Chelsea in the past month or two, with about 30 having closed before that’ and that the Brooklyn Museum, where he used work, had recently laid off about 70 people. He said that, in this tight climate, institutions are tending to turn inwards, showing work from their established collections and opting for exhibitions of master works, which guarantee an audience. More artists are working as collectives and, in the absence of gallery spaces, are redirecting their energies away from commercial pursuits, using available materials and occupying vacant lots and empty buildings. The picture he painted signaled the rise

Nurturing the real thing

climbed up and down a ladder 1 850 times to create two luminescent blocks of delicate, almost invisible chord that catches the light in the most ephemeral ways. In one structure a suspended mass of feathered fishing flies resembles a swarm of insects caught for one fleeting moment in time, or a handful of dandelions thrown up at the sky. A solitary African Monarch Butterfly has been pinned to the Perspex base of the other structure in a way that subtly calls for an interrogation of outmoded Victorian modes of collection and display. Meanwhile Sadie walked 30km within the small block of space contained within the room to install 1 000m of galvanized steel wire rope. The suspended trails of wire start to resemble the electricity cables that run along the sides of freeways evoking vast landscapes in a way that makes you wonder about scale and about the kinds of distances and vastness that can be traveled in one enclosed room. The project arose out of ongoing conversations between Lace and Sadie around the creation of platforms in South Africa for experimental and experiential work. To me it was a blazing affirmation of the fact that some South African artists are rising to the challenges of the reduced and strapped art context described by Mosaka in the most fabulously future-minded ways.

10-20 Borman Birthday exhibition celebrates the artist as hero

Cecil Skotnes - ‘Head’

JH Pierneef - ‘Bushveld’

Johans Borman will be celebrating ten years in their Upper Buitengracht Street Gallery, and twenty years in the business with a “10-20 Anniversary exhibition”. Opening on the 15th of August, the exhibition will deal with notions of heroism in art making. “The concept of ‘heroism’ first surfaced during my research of the early Sekoto painting, ‘Family with candle’”, says gallery director, Johans Borman. “Barbara Lindop describes how Sekoto managed to successfully capture ‘the heroism revealed in ordinary human life’ in most of his early works. It required a talented artist, an ‘art hero’ in his own right, to identify this and communicate it truthfully.” The more research Borman undertook, the more the concept seemed appropriate; “it became the golden thread throughout this collection of work which was produced over more than a century - from 1906 to 2009”.

Many of the masters included on the show had to overcome adversity to produce their work, says Borman. Pieter Wenning, whose early life was plagued by malaria, also suffered bad health and poverty during the last years of his short life. Despite this, he managed to produce a respected body of work, influencing the work of second generation Cape Impressionists such as Gregoire Boonzaier, Terence McCaw, Piet van Heerden and David Botha. Gerard Sekoto is another inspirational artist included on the show. “He progressed from a rural, Pedi background to become a Modernist painter with dogged determination - leaving the relative comfort of early fame and the repressive political situation in South Africa to brave a new beginning in Paris, the ‘centre of the art universe’ at the time, in spite of the handicaps of being black, poor and not knowing the language or culture.” Works

from both before and after Sekoto’s exile are included on the show. Maggie Laubser is another artist on the show. “Laubser grew up on a farm at the end of the 19th century, but liberated herself through her studies of German Expressionism at a time when it was most unusual for an Afrikaner woman to have such dreams.” Work by contemporary artists such as Susqya Williams, Jaco Sieberhagen, Jacobus Kloppers, Ben Coutouvidis and Walter Meyer are also included on the show, which comprises 72 works overall. Though the challenges facing artists today are somewhat different to those faced by our early masters, artist today still require a measure of heroism to succeed. Says Borman “The art world today is more competitive than ever... it has become far more challenging to be unique and authentic in the creative process”.

top ten finalists last year. This year however, was third time lucky for the Rosin, the artist taking home the winning prize of R110 000, and a six month tenure at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris. It’s dream come true for Rosin, who living as he does in a rural area, says he doesn’t get much exposure. Rosin’s winning work is the eponymously titled, “The devil makes his Christmas pie out of politician’s tongues and banker’s fingers”, a low relief group portrait shot of a suited group of men. Worked up with layers of pinstripe, bespoke suiting, fake suede and velvet, the men might be “a government cabinet or a corporation’s board”, but for their heads, which

have been replaced by devil horns. A subtle jibe at corporations, it is perhaps a brave choice for ABSA, a sign perhaps that the organisation is open to laughing at itself. Rosin, for his part, is interested in contemporary geopolitics and globalism, and is highly critical of the power held by a small number of individuals at the heads of such businesses. He is currently working on a piece using hundreds of bank bags, one of the few items, which, Rosin points out, one can still get for free from banks. “Soon they’ll be charging a cover charge just to enter”, jokes Rosin, who has seen the effects of the recession hit the small town of Plett. Rosin is also fascinated by

At least we can’t fault the brandnew CEO of the National Arts Council, Annabell Lebethe, on noisy enthusiasm. Unlike the previous (useless) lot, she can speak (well) in public, it seems - and laugh chirpily. This she did in an interview with Nancy Richards on SAFM shortly after taking on the job last month. What is worrying is that Ms Lebethe, in chatting to Ms Richards, was using the usual (bureaucratic) jargon which throws out words like ‘facilitate’, ‘economics’, ‘opportunity’, ‘empower’, ‘community’ and the like. The subtext of this kind of talk is that the land is inhabited by millions of creative people, who only needs to be shown the way to fame and fortune. A fresh-faced CEO, not yet untainted by the wear-’n-

tear of real life and art politics, no doubt would tackle this in an academically-designed, scientific way. (May the force be with her.) Only towards the end of their conversation, did the word ‘creativity’ appear; the word ‘artist’ never did. For all her gusto, the new CEO showed little appreciation that real, good art and real, talented artists are rarities. Which is exactly why it and they need the pampering which an fully-effective NAC would provide. Not every one is an artist. (Even though some art schools, numbed in their postmodern haze, would like to teach that hackneyed concept. And Cape Town has a solid gang of youngsters who believe that of themselves.) Making paintings or videos, or staging performances, or weaving wire, doesn’t make you an artist, nor is a painting, video, performance or wire toy per se an artwork. True invention is measured against expectation and something a little higher tuned. A good artist kicks butt; good art re-wires audience minds; the excited reviewer revels in that originality. A lot has happened in South Africa’s dynamic art world since democracy fifteen years ago. Plenty of that has been very exciting, but

a great deal has been falsely pampered and promoted. Some of that had to do with political correctness, some with the usual buddy-buddyness in the fragile world of artists, and much of it with incompetence or lack of knowledge, not to mention expertise. (If the grumblings of ‘elitism’ sounds up against this notion, it’s simply insulting to those who have worked hard to encourage real talent the last decade or two. One or two curators and perhaps a couple of local galleries can take a bow.) When, at the beginning of the 1990s, the battle cry was about breaking down the boundary between so-called ‘high’ and ‘low’ art - and the ‘art-versus-craft’ thingy kept museum curators oh-so busy - it was a legitimate, liberating move. But, two decades down the line, it is not obvious that we’ve managed to nurture the real thing - true creativity, great invention properly. Mediocrity abounds. Artists (not crafters who can paint, make videos or wire cars they have another kind of job) have a vital role to play in the culture and well-being of society. It is not only a matter of money and opportunity, as those NAC people (and, for that matter, the Western Cape’s relevant provincial department who

has just again embarked on some such calling-all-artists scheme) seem to believe. One needs only to take a look at the nonsense that goes for art on the fringe of art festivals like last month’s in Grahamstown, to know that art-making or craft in the bread-and-butter stratagem delivers little. You may feel a little less guilty after buying a piece, but nothing more will come from that bought object. Of course, what you paid will make a welcome difference to the economic status of the crafter. But that is not the point. It is time that the NAC and the useless official department of arts and culture step out from this way of thinking. It is on the one hand paralysing genuine invention - and great art-making. On the other, it is creating expectation that a township scheme painted for and sold to gullible tourists will put you on a great career path. By all means encourage as many crafters as you like. Polish their skills and excellence; give them opportunities. But let’s not forget about the preciousness of the real thing. If these officials did, we’d have had a brilliant presence at the current Venice Biennale - with all the positive spin-offs.

Durban Peter Machen A few Wednesdays ago marked the first time that I missed an event because I wasn’t on Facebook. Well, kind of, almost, missed. I was actually next door to the event in question – at Bean Bag Bohemia, having a drink – when the owner, Guy Wood, dragged me along to some random function a few metres away at St. Mary’s church, one of Durban’s most beautiful and flexible spaces where religious dogma hasn’t excluded a good spread of fairly risqué entertainment over the years. The function happened to be Durban’s inaugural Pecha Kucha event, another global phenomenon spread by the web, where creative people get up and talk for 400 seconds (that’s 6 minutes and forty seconds) while they show 20 images, each for twenty seconds. We arrived as people were flooding out into the courtyard for the interval. A small army of cigarettes lit themselves up into the evening air – a brisk winter night for Durban but still warmer than nearly everywhere else in the country – and after a few minutes, everyone was herded back inside. And I was so glad I joined them. Not for the whole Pecha Kucha ticked-that-done-that thing but for the presentation which followed from Garth Walker. Walker, who is widely acknowledged as one of the kings of global graphic design, has also always been a rabid documenter of the idiosyncrasies of local design language and iconography, something which has never been separate from his design work and his appreciation

Photo: Guy Wood

of culture in the broadest possible sense of the word. In fact his documentary photography is seldom presented as such – with Walker, content is king – the things he photographs are so intriguing and fascinating – that you don’t even see the photograph. Which is, I suppose the sign of a good documenter. And one of the things that Walker has been obsessed with documenting is burial sites. For more than forty years, he has been photographing grave sites in Southern Africa. “I’ve got millions of these”, he said, and I’m sure he was only slightly exaggerating. But if you’re thinking neoclassical tombstones and doves and angels think again. In South Africa – where for all our embrace of the West, we tend to do things on our own terms - grave sites are often, as Walker pointed out, more about life than death. And so the headstones included such graphic elements as guitars, turntables and motorbikes, all of which can now be constructed with digital assistance. And while Durban might not have got the Picasso

exhibition or Africa Remix, we’ve got Chatsworth cemetery. These things even out in the end. The motorbikes were particularly great, encased in joyful, deadly irony. There was one image in particular, which was one of the most beautiful, amazing things I’d ever seen. It didn’t just make my night but made me glad I’d lived to see it. The photograph was of five bikers astride their machines, riding towards the viewer, two in front, three behind; riding on for all eternity, perhaps as Walker suggested, on their morning run. It wasn’t just me who fell in love with the image; the whole room cooed and aahed like five-yearsolds watching bubbles being blown, before breaking into fits of laughter. It makes sense that Walker lives in Durban. The biker image I loved so much wasn’t – as far as I can remember – from a Durban cemetery, but it is exactly the kind of deeply human craziness you find in the streets of eThekwini. Just spend an afternoon reading the taxis and marvelling at the graphic design of the city’s

buses (those few that are left on Durban’s streets at the moment since our municipal service have kind of evaporated - but that’s another story). On a good day, I find myself in awe of the chaotic visual expression that is exercised in the Durban’s public spaces even though we ain’t got much public art. Even the city’s bridges and walls which retain freeways have images etched into them. Check out the architectural drawings, from Zulu huts to Cape Dutch gables, on Essex Terrace in Westville, or the animated drawings on the Umgeni Road freeway interchange. In the more formalised space of the KZNSA, where the Penny Siopis survey show Red was about to take hold of the city, Siopis spoke about how important this freedom was to her during the time she spent in Durban. It was in Durban, she said that she found the confidence to be experimental, and where she found that experimentalism to be encouraged and accepted; when she subsequently moved to Jo’burg her experimental cake paintings weren’t nearly as eagerly received, and it was some time before she re-embraced her now seminal exploration of the material nature of painting. If Siopis gave Durban a compliment, the city more than repaid her. I don’t remember a show that has had such an overwhelmingly emotional response from the public. Durbanites are often reticent about darker work but Siopis’ blend of terror and tenderness seemed to cut through that reluctance. A colleague who is particularly withering about most of modernity, said “it restored her faith in art.” Me, I don’t need no faith. Finally, I must bid a sweet and teary-eyed farewell to talented painter and former gallerist Aidan Walsh, one of Durban’s sweetest souls, who died last month. He is deeply, deeply missed.

What to watch out for in August Ben Coutouvidis - ‘The windmill’

The gallerist who spent ten years dealing in Pretoria, Stellenbosch and Onrus with his wife, prior to opening his Cape Town space, puts his success down to relationships. “The success of any gallery business depends on maintaining a healthy equilibrium between the three groups participating in such an enterprise -the artists, the art lovers or clients, and the gallery.” The opening is on Sat 15 August at 12h00. Dr Elza Miles will be the opening speaker. Show runs until until 12th September.

Winner of the ABSA l’Atelier Award

The winner of this year’s ABSA L’Atelier competition is an unlikely suspect. Thirty-four year old Stephen Rosin runs a family pie-making business, and lives in a rural area near Plett, where, until last September, he had no electricity. Winning the award, held at Gauteng’s ABSA gallery on the 23rd July came as something of a surprise to the artist too. “I wasn’t even supposed to be going,” says Rosin, “it was completely unexpected!” Rosin, who studied painting at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Museum in Port Elizabeth (though he never painted a single canvas in his final year), has entered the competition for the previous two years in a row, making the list of

05

Cape Town Melvyn Minnaar

of a new conservativism in the arts, with less new commissions and less institutions being willing to go out on a limb for the sake of something fresh and dangerous. My spirit was renewed by a visit to a collaborative installation by Bronwyn Lace and Vaughn Sadie at the Sci-Bono Discovery Centre, which shed a bright new light on the fertile possibilities of reexamining the kinds of objects and spaces that lie dormant in existing institutions. This project, Unit for Measure, presents a challenge to rigorously explore spatial practices in ways that reinvent the architectures of museums, presenting new landscapes and possibilities for displaying objects that trigger fresh thoughts and associations. Lace and Sadie’s immaculately rendered installation was forged in tandem with a workshop process that encouraged the education officers of local museums to think about new experiential modes of exhibiting. Practising what they preach, Lace and Sadie, uncovered a rubble-strewn storage area in the cool depths of the Sci Bono building, and transformed it into a sparsely sensual space of wonder. The project’s other manifestation will take place at the Durban Art Gallery in November where the exact same materials will be applied to a completely different space. Using 6 000m fishing line, 3mm of perspex, 2 000 fishing flies and an African Monarch butterfly, Lace

AUGUST 09 | BUSINESS ART

the American political situation at the moment. He is horrified by the apparent neo-colonial project with which the country is occupied,“working on the strategy for a new American century”, as politicians claim to be. The pie season being what it is, Rosin says he will only be able to head to Paris after December, possibly in January of 2010. He is however, thrilled at the prospect. “It’s incredible,” says Rosin, “amazing”, to be afforded the opportunity not only to travel to Paris, but to receive so much exposure. Until then, he plans to set up a proper portfolio, framing the works he hasn’t had funds to frame, and saving up for his European sojourn.

Cape Views this month – Some to venture out for...

Black, Michael Taylor The young and the talented are in our sights this month – such as students in their sprint stage towards becoming artists (or whatever they become). In Stellenbosch, some 20 of the local art school’s postgraduates have gone public with their Propositions in the cute university art gallery (until August 25). Special about this show is that students, under a scheme they call MA|X09, work completely independently in managing the project. In the city, at the Michaelis Art Gallery, the curiously-named Anaphora is an exhibition by seven fine art masters students from Wits (until August 18). While at Michaelis, don’t miss the wonderful collection of prints from the university’s famous Katrine Harries print cabinet now on show (until August 21). Talking of prints, Dianne Victor’s masterly series The Disasters of Peace is in the groups show at the old wine cellar at Spier in Stellenbosch (until August 14). And even more about prints: Not to be missed is Wim Botha’s enormous lino-prints, part of his Joburg Altarpiece, at Michael Stevenson (until September). Then there’s Fritha

Langerman’s installation Subtle Thresholds at the Iziko SA Museum in the Gardens (until March). Prints, of a very different kind, are also part of talented Michael Taylor’s portfolio of work. His solo show at World Art in Church street, called The Plot Thickens, is long anticipated (until August 22). Most artists-on-show this month seem to be the youthfully talented. One such is the bright Kudzanai Chiurai, originally from Zim-babwe, whose Dying to be Men is at the Goodman Gallery Cape (until August 15).The equally sharp Hentie van der Merwe follows him here (until September). In a similar vein of challenge and flash is Athi-Patra Ruga’s art - on show at Whatiftheworld (until August 29). At Blank Projects, Black: the antithesis of the fraudulent sensuality of culture’s façade – an experiment in voluntary asceticism sounds a top-notch conceptual show (until August 28). Another such fresh group show is Voight-Kampff at the UCA in Observatory (until August 21). If these are more of the pretty young things, an oldie (he’s 60 this year) can also catch plenty of attention. Ricky Burnett’s On Skin at the small Smac space in Stellenbosch is teasing the matronly locals by their Twombly-esque outrage (until August 14). Nice. Finally, the one thing that is sure to be a gallery hit, is Zineb Sedira’s new film at Michael Stevenson as part of the Forex series. If MiddleSea (2008) ) is as stunning as Saphir, shown in 2007, we’re in for a treat. Enjoy.

On Show in Durban in August Heath Family Retrospective at the Tatham Art Gallery Although their work has not been fully acknowledged, The Heaths are one of KwaZulu-Natal’s most influential artistic families. Between them, they taught in the Fine Art Department at the University of Natal (now University of KZN) for more than 70 years. Jack Heath was the head of department for many years, while his wife Jane, taught there until her retirement, as did their daughter Bronwen, who has restored much of her late parent’s work for this exhibition. Regarded as artists’ artists, the Heaths’ talents have thus far been recognized only by colleagues, their students, the South African art museums and a handful of private art collectors. This Family Retrospective is an excellent place to start for everyone else. Closes 13 September.

Penny Siopis at the KZNSA Siopis, who taught at DUT (then the Natal Technikon) for several years in the 80s, returns to Durban for

her first show here in many years. ‘Red’, subtitled ‘the Iconography of Colour in the Work of Penny Siopis’ is curated by KZNSA director Brenton Maart. The exhibiton includes many of Siopis’ most seminal works from her Cake painting to ‘Melancholia’ to the Pinky Pinky and Shame series, and even includes a reconstruction of her 1997 video installation, My Lovely Day, complete with the original mini-cinema and plush red seats. Closes 19 July.

Roger Ballen at the Durban Art Gallery In ‘Boarding House’, Ballen continues to zoom in on the physical and psychological details of his artistic landscape. Although it is clear to anyone who has been following the arc of Ballen’s career that ‘Boarding House’ evolves directly from his earlier work, at the same time the work recalls the dadaism, primitivism and surrealism that fueled the western art world in the late 20s and early 30s. When looking at Ballen’s images it easy to forget that photography is considered by many to be a figurative art form. Closes 19 July.

Pop in See more Daily News at www.arttimes.co.za


06

BUSINESS ART | AUGUST 09

By Sean O’Toole

All that survives, at least with any fidelity, are his recordings, those paper-thin slivers of Cape Town’s unlovely and unloved. Of the man who made these photographs, a man whose family name recalls an exuberant American jazz pianist of the same name, all we have is legend. This we know: Billy Monk was born William John Monk on January 11, 1937. Since his death 27 years ago, on July 31 1982, the biography of this skollie with an artistic eye has taken on the character of myth. Meaning, there are a lot of gaps in the life story of this one-time nightclub bouncer whose balled fist also sensitively wielded a camera. In the imagination of the editors of Revue Noire, that posh Parisian poodle of an art journal who in 1999 released 432-page anthology of African photography, Monk was killed in Johannesburg, “struck down by two bullets in the heart”. The mental image this conjures is of Billy Monk as Saint Sebastian, the Christian martyr whose body was treated like a pincushion by Roman bowmen. The truth about this chiselled Capetonian with a big bust nose planted between his dark eyes is far less gilded. Monk was neither a model Christian nor a saint. His unwritten autobiography could easily have been titled Chipped Nails and Worn Heals. My colleague Lin Sampson tells the story of Monk’s death in a house with turquoise-blue walls with great aplomb. She originally did it in 1982, her article on Monk for this paper later delivering the title for her 2005 book, Now You’ve Gone ‘n Killed Me. “Now you’ve gone and killed me.” It is what Monk exclaimed after two bullets from .22 pistol felled him on a rainy Saturday evening off Somerset Road in Cape Town (not Johannesburg).

GALLERY BUZZ

Artb Gallery, Cape Town July exhibition openings of ‘Peripheral Vision’ participating 4 artists Sean Cameron, Stasa Hlava, Miona Janeke and Yolanda Warnich.

Zizamele ceramics and artists Sisanda Mbana, Eignoria Eononisi, Vuyelwa Khatswa and Joyce Mfene.

National Arts Festival Rhodes Art School student exhibition where students from First year through to the Honours year exhibit at a National level.

artSPACE durban 13 July – 1 August 2009 ‘Flavours’ – Emerging Jewellery Designers from Durban left to right: Indira Munthree, Taryn Coleman, Taryn Koekemoer, Sean Leipoldt, Chantell Wehmeyer with Romela Mudaly in front of her, ChristyAnn Bestwick with Lusanda Mgugudo in front of her, Jadi Clark with Nomfundo Cebekhulu in front of her, S’bhekile Lukhele and Chris de Beer

Artists Mbongeni Buthelezi and Paul Emmanuel together on the island of Sylt. They were both (individually) invited and their trips co-incided to the Foundation, The Kunst: Raum Sylt Quelle The Sylt-Quelle Foundation is located on the island of Sylt in the North Sea, off the coast of Germany. The Kunst:Raum Sylt-Quelle Foundation is for artists interested in multiple areas of interaction and co-operation. The Kunst:Raum Sylt-Quelle Foundation is intended as a place of beginnings: of ideas, of creative projects throughout the year. Artists, actors, musicians and writers come to this foundation to work on projects, to participate in events, and to exchange ideas. Its South African branch, Jozi Art:Lab, works much the same way – the setting up of cultural projects with local artists, actors, musicians and writers and has coordinated projects in Kliptown and Johannesburg CBD.

Mad Bad Monk Two men, one of them a friend of Monk, were embroiled in an argument over furniture. Someone was at fault for not showing up to help move the stuff. A gun was produced. Monk leaped to save a life, in the process sacrificing his own. Monk was 45 when he died – at least according to Sampson and Revue Noire who correctly give his birth date as 1937. When I meet photographer Jac de Villiers, who in 1979 stumbled on Monk’s unpublished archive when he took over a photographic studio on the corner of Hope and Wesley streets in Cape Town, he categorically states that the big bruiser died aged 50. Details. Let’s agree that Monk lived, a very hard and sexually rampant life by all accounts, and then he died. All that survives are his recordings, crisp black and white photographs that read like spare, uncompromising short stories. Which prompts a thought. Amongst his many vocational attributes – add petty criminal, jailbird and gentleman to those not already mentioned – I would add another, storyteller. Monk used his Pentax like Hemingway did his Royal typewriter, beautifully rendering brutal stories. To quote the “dark-haired Frenchman” from Revue Noire who visited De Villiers, Monk “brought a tragic but in no way indulgent sensibility to bear on the nocturnal world” of Cape Town’s foreshore. It was here, near the harbour, that dodgy nightclubs like the Catacombs and Navigator’s Den mushroomed, selling booze to foreign sailors. Since their patrons represented all nationalities, these establishments tended to be exempt from the strict separate amenities laws of the day. Not that this social context was important to Monk. “I think he was a documentary photographer without the ideals of a documentary photographer,”

says De Villiers, who together with friend Andrew Meintjes put together Monk’s first exhibition of his Catacombs pictures. Held at Johannesburg’s Market Gallery in 1982, Monk died without seeing the outcome; he was trying to hustle a lift up north at the time. “He documented by default,” adds De Villiers. “He was there to make money from his pictures.” In between bouncing rowdy customers, a little too roughly it is generally agreed, he made pictures of bleached blonds high on brandy and gaunt hipsters with pointy shoes. Jollers seeking reprieve in imagined republics, which is what nightclubs often

were in an embattled apartheid society. Ever the schemer, Monk sold his photographs back to his subjects. “I think he just saw it as a job,” ventures De Villiers. “But he was genuinely interested in photography. He worked as an assistant for a commercial photographer, a guy called Leslie Dektor.” Monk even accompanied Dektor, now a big name in moving images the US, on a shoot abroad. “He was very disciplined,” insists De Villiers of the seemingly dissolute figure whose work he is the custodian of. When he first discovered Monk’s photographs, he says they were carefully archived, everything annotated in

a neat script. For those who have never see Monk’s social snapshots from the late 1960s, they are currently on view at the South African National Gallery. Titled Jol, the exhibition features a selection of work by painters Gerard Sekoto and Johannes Phokela and photographers David Wise, Graeme Goddard and Michael Wyeth that collectively depict a society at ease, a nation carousing. Monk is the star act. “I love the grittiness of his photographs,” says Pam Warne, a curator of photography and new media at the National Gallery. “It’s not only what is the immediate focus of the image, but also

what you see on the periphery – the broken bottles underfoot, the faces of other club-goers in the background – that tells a story, the darker side of jolling.” Like De Villiers, Warne is intrigued by the rapport Monk had with his subjects. “He wasn’t a spectator, he was a participant,” states De Villiers. This gave Monk license to push the boundaries and show his subjects in less than flattering scenarios. “He took some pictures that he could probably never have sold to anybody,” states De Villiers. What about the widespread rumours that Monk didn’t take the pictures, or that he wasn’t

their sole author? “I think when an artist dies there are always these myths about the person,” responds De Villiers. “We’ve had four exhibitions. No-one has come forward and claimed any of the pictures.” Case closed. It bears stating that Monk wasn’t a longsuffering shutterbug. “In 1969 Monk stopped taking pictures in the Catacombs,” wrote De Villiers in a 1991 article for Vrye Weekblad. “He later complained to me that Polaroid film had become the vogue for social photographers and he had no feeling for this instant product.” It wasn’t the end of Monk. In

the mid-1970s he cashed in on his notoriety and opened up a small leather shop on Long Street called Mad Monk. A decade later he found a modicum of respectability as a diamond dive r. Two bullets ended it all. Sean O’Toole is a journalist and editor of Art South Africa The following article was published in an abridged form in Sunday Times Lifestyle, July 5, 2009

Jol is on at Iziko South African National Gallery until October


SOUTH AFRICAN ART AUCTIONS

Strauss & Co Auction Important British, Continental and South African Paintings, Drawings, Prints and Sculpture 7 September 2009

AUGUST 09 | BUSINESS ART

07

Upcoming South African art auctions

South African Artist Jacob Hendrik Pierneef’s Royal Pictures on Sale at Bonhams

Country Club, Johannesburg, Woodmead Corner Lincoln Road & Woodlands Drive, Woodmead, Johannesburg For online catalogue see wwww.straussart.co.za

Gregoire Johannes Boonzaier SALDANHA BAY R300 000 - R500 000

4 & 5 August 2009 – Johannesburg Stephan Welz & Co. In Association with Sotheby’s Fine & Decorative Arts, Furniture, Silver, Ceramics & Jewellery Venue: 13 Biermann Avenue, Rosebank 7 September 2009 – Johannesburg Strauss & Co Important South African Paintings, Watercolours and Sculpture (Entries open till 3 July 2009) Venue: Country Club, Johannesburg, Woodmead at 8 pm 8 October 2009 – Cape Town, 8pm Strauss & Co (Entries open till 15 July 2009) Venue: The Vineyard Hotel, Newlands

HJ Pierneef, Cape Avenue

Edoardo Villa South African 1915Figure signed and dated 1993 painted steel 270 by 60 by 40cm R200 000–250 000

Edoardo Villa South African 1915Sentinel signed and dated 1970 painted steel 111 by 22 by 22cm R120 000–150 000 LITERATURE Karel Nel, ELizabeth Burroughs and Amalie von Maltitz, Villa at 90, Jonathan Ball, Johannesburg and Cape Town, 2005, illustrated on page 219. This maquette was submitted for a proposed monumental sculpture at the Jan Smuts Airport, the project, however, never came to fruition.

Edoardo Villa South African 1915Massai Warrior signed and dated 1963 painted steel 168 by 40 by 40cm R600 000–800 000

On view: Friday 4 September, Saturday 5 September and Sunday 6 September 10.00 am to 6.00 pm Auction: Part I at 3.30pm South African Paintings, Drawings, Prints and Sculpture Lots 1-222 Part II at 8.00pm Important British, Continental and South African Paintings, Drawings, Prints and Sculpture Lots 1-143 Edoardo Villa is one of South Africa’s most enigmatic sculptors who, in both in style and personality, indelibly stamped his African Vision onto his works and into our consciousness over a period of more than 50 years. The thirteen Villas in our upcoming sale are remarkable in that they represent a range of stylistic diversity and evolution not usually seen except in a specifically curated exhibition.

This impressive group of works has not come from one source as one might be tempted to assume but from various owners. The works span a period of thirty years, the earliest work dating from1963 and the most recent 1998. One seldom has the privilege of working with such a wonderful range of iconic pieces – not likely to appear again in one sale, and the finest examples I have dealt with in my career! Mary-Jane Darroll

It is indeed surprising to see so many works by the prolific Italianborn sculptor Edoardo Villa on auction. This leads one to surmise that they might have belonged to a single collector, as the pieces cover a wide range of Villa’s oeuvre. The “Masai Warrior” of 1963 attests to his masterful use of prefabricated mechanical metal parts, which he blends in iconic figures, standing proudly tall and assertive. This verticality, which embodies the mammal who stood up, i.e. the human, is characteristic of much of Villa’s work, as can be seen in subsequent sculptures of Lot 100, The Sentinel,1970, Lot 102, Conversation, 1971, and Lot 104, Figure,1993, where the formal language changes, but the vertical core remains. Ever exploring, however, Villa may swing from works that are bursting with fecund energy in their massive rotundity, as does the bronze Lot 60, Figure of 1970, to the slender, almost disembodied

Edoardo Villa South African 1915Abstract Form stamped IMI (Mike Edwards Foundry,) dated 90 and numbered 37.17, mounted on a cylindrical steel plinth bonze with green patina 50 by 20 by 24cm on a plinth with a total height of 163cm R60 000–90 000

Irma Stern, Ripe Fields

forms of the highly polished steel Lot 102, Conversation, 1971. Another venture into the lesser known, is his exp loration of the use of polystyrene packaging materials; this smaller “Abstract form” is a unique cast, as the original disappears during the mould-making process. Here again, he masterfully adapts mechanical geometrical formal elements in expressive combinations, while the expert casting by Mike Edwards retains the texture of the original material. While Villa’s assistant Lucas Legode was on leave, Villa reverted to modelling for bronze, and in these works his gentler, more emotive side comes to the fore in small intimate groups. Earlier pieces were more figurative, later ones as these of 1998 and 1988 become more vegetable/ animal, but no less expressive of gentle interrelationships. Amalie von Maltitz

Three Pierneef paintings, which once belonged to Queen Victoria’s granddaughter, Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone, will be sold at Bonhams South African sale on October 14th in New Bond Street, London. Princess Alice accompanied her husband when he served as Governor-General of South Africa from 1924–1931. During their time in South Africa, Lord and Lady Athlone had a coastal beach house constructed at Muizenberg, a beach suburb of Cape Town, which still stands today and is one of South Africa’s national monuments. The Cape Town suburb of Athlone was named in honour of the Governor-General. Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone (1883 – 1981) was the longest lived Princess of the Blood Royal of the British Royal Family and the last surviving grandchild of Queen Victoria. Bonhams smashed the previous world record for a South African work of art with the sale of J.H. Pierneef’s ‘The Baobab Tree’ for £826,400 (ZAR 12,400,000) as part of their September 2008

auction, the biggest sale of South Africa art ever held, grossing over ZAR100million. These three paintings by Pierneef (18861957) include a scene of a sleepy town in the Cape, depicting a sun-drenched avenue with typical Cape Dutch cottages and Dutch Reformed Church beyond. It is estimated to sell for £80,000 to £120,000. It is signed and dated 1929, the same year Pierneef was commissioned to paint 32 panels for the Johannesburg railway station, which occupied most of his time over the next three years. Once owned by HRH Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone, it has been passed by direct descent to the current owner. The second picture is a Karoo landscape with a rural dwelling, also oil on board, that is estimated to sell for £40,000-60,000. The third picture is ‘Government House, Pretoria’, oil on board, estimated to sell for £15,000-20,000. The Presidential Guesthouse, designed by Sir Herbert Baker in 1902, was known as Government House when the work was painted, presumably as

a commission or gift to Princess Alice who would have lived there during her husband’s tenure as Governor-General. It is not certain whether these pictures were gifts or works commissioned by Princess Alice. What is certain is that she was an admirer of Pierneef’s work. In October 1930 Pierneef held an exhibition of 47 paintings in Pretoria, which Princess Alice visited and where she selected two paintings for the Women’s Committee of Pretoria to present to her. The Princess chose `Karoo’ and `Bushveld Rustenberg’. Two months later she and the newly retired Governor General visited Pierneef’s studio and chose a large painting – a landscape of the northern Transvaal that they wished to donate to the museum in Cape Town, because they felt that South African artists were poorly represented in the museum. Today that work takes pride of place in the South African National Gallery, opened by the Athlones on 3rd November 1930. Giles Peppiatt, Head of African Art at Bonhams comments: “This charming painting has the added interest and significance of having once belonged to a British Royal married to the Governor General of South Africa. Pierneef is artistic royalty in South Africa and painted a number of commissions for South Africa House in London. So this picture is a very potent link between Britain and South Africa.” Also appearing on the market for the first time is a rare landscape by the grand dame of South African art, Irma Stern. Betterknown for her exotic portraits and luscious still-lifes, this is an idyllic rural scene in early summer during the wheat harvest. Other sale highlights include works by Maggie Laubser, Cecil Skotnes, Anton van Wouw, Gerard Sekoto and Alexis Preller among many others. For further press information please contact Julian Roup on 0207 468 8259 or julian.roup@bonhams.com or press@bonhams.com

13 & 14 October 2009 – London Bonhams The South African Sale 20 & 21 October 2009 – Cape Town Stephan Welz & Co. In Association with Sotheby’s Fine & Decorative Arts, Furniture, Silver, Ceramics & Jewellery Venue: Kirstenbosch 1 February 2010 – Cape Town, 8pm Strauss & Co Important Paintings, Furniture, Silver and Ceramics (Entries open till 10 December 2009) Venue: The Vineyard Hotel, Newlands Auction Houses Contact details Ashbey’s Galleries cc Antique & Fine Art AuctioneersValuers & Appraisers For an appointment please contact: Inge Beck 43 Church Street Cape Town Tel: 021 423-8060 Fax: 021 423-3047 email: info@ashbeys.co.za www.ashbeysgalleries.co.za Bonhams Contact for SA Artwork: Hannah O’ Leary sapictures@bonhams.com www.bonhams.com/southafrica +44 (0) 20 7468 8213 Stephan Welz & Co. In Association with Sotheby’s Johannesburg 13 Biermann Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg Telephone: +27 (11) 880-3125 Fax: +27 (11) 880-2656 Email: jhb@swelco.co.za www.swelco.co.za Cape Town The Great Cellar, The Alphen Hotel, Alphen Farm Estate, Alphen Drive, Constantia 7808 Tel: +27 (21) 794-6461 Fax: +27 (21) 794-6621 Email: ct@swelco.co.za www.swelco.co.za Strauss & Co Johannesburg 89 Central Street, Houghton, Gauteng, 2198 Tel: +27 11 728 8246 Fax: +27 11 728 8247 General Information jhb@straussart.co.za Cape Town The Oval, 1st Floor Colinton House, 1 Oakdale Road, Newlands, 7700 General Information ct@straussart.co.za Tel: +27 87 806 8780 Fax: +27 86 654 6100

The South African

ART TIMES &

BUSINESS ART Purchase the SA AArt Tmes & SA Business Art 1 year’s subscription for ist R180,-

How to purchase your

SA Art Times & SA Business Art 1 years subscription SA Art Times with SA Business Art 1 years subscription R 180,Pay by Cheque: simply write out the Cheque to SA Art Times, and send it with this form with the enclosed addressed and postage paid envelope to us. By Internet or Bank transfer please pay: Account: South African Art Times. First National Bank, Acc. number: 62171029856 Branch code: 201511 and email, or fax proof of payment to accounts@arttimes.co.za Tel: 021 424 7733 Fax: 021 4247732. see more details at www.arttimes.co.za

Name

Receive a year’s subscription to South Africa’s leading published art newspaper together with the SA Business Art Newspaper to your door for just R 180,-

Address (code) Tel (code)

Contents of titles include in depth coverage of the SA artworld, art news, interviews with both artists and art market professionals, listings, art auction and a whole lot more.

(number)

Additional details:

E-mail


Suburban house, Cape Town, etching, 1996

The South African Print Gallery Presents

GABRIEL CLARK-BROWN Mid Life Retrospective Exhibition Work from 1990 – 2007 runs until Thursday 25 August 09

ARTTHROB PRINT EDITION Opens Saturday 27 August 09 11h30 - 14h00

including a brand new Robert Hodgins Print. Artists include: Guy Tillim, Mikhael Subotzky, Penny Siopis, David Goldblatt, Willem Boshoff more.

South African Print Gallery 107 Sir Lowry Road, Woodstock Cape Town. Tel 021 462 6851 www.printgallery.co.za


Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.