DEC/JAN 2021/2 ARTTIMES.CO.ZA
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Willem Hermanus Coetzer | A ROAD IN THE DRAKENSBERG
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Art Times Dec/Jan 2021/2 Edition
CONTENTS Emma Nourse: Tangled in a Vase, 2021, Oil on silk, 825 x 625 mm, Framed From What a blooming mess by Emma Nourse, salon91.co.za
10. M.O.L 25 - UNPACKING EUROPE Ashraf Jamal Column 16. CONNECT THROUGH ART FROM AFRICA AND THE WORLD Investec Cape Town Art Fair 2022 24. SASOL NEW SIGNATURES 2021 Winners and Exhibition Announced 30. DIANE MCLEAN Mystery in the Everyday 36. POP AND EARTHSONGS EXHIBITIONS By Lethabo Gumede 42. PRINCE ALBERT OPEN STUDIOS Summer Edition 52. EXPERIENCE GLEN CARLOU Delight In The Extraordinary 58. AN ENCHANTING SUMMER SEASON AT LA MOTTE A Cut Above The Rest 64. PHANTASMAGORIA A Collection of Fantastical Dreamlike Artworks 72. BUSINESS ART Fine Art Auction highlights 78. ARTGO Exhibition Highlights 99 Loop - ICTAF 2022, Ilené Bothma, Remnant II, 2021, Oil on canvas, 90 x 125 cm
Editors Note
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s the earth turns and completes its yearly orbit around the sun, things, in essence, should hopefully slow down for the holidays allowing a period of welcome retrospection and rejuvenation. The art world is no real exception as artists, collectors and dealers go to the couch, country, and coast, and the world breaths a sigh of relief. In this combined December – January edition we have sought to include incredible art destinations. As a country we are still well blessed with quality art establishments that include The Norval, Zeitz MOCAA, Rupert Museum, Dylan Lewis Sculpture Garden, Rust en Vrede Gallery, Javett, Nirox Art Centres, and Oliewenhuis Museum. Also included are the many galleries in town that are a pleasure to pop into while you have time - a few to look up would include Salon91; Daor; The viewing Room at St Lorient; Gallery2; Nel; Deepest Darkest; Art Is Art; Ground Art Caffe; Melrose; Eclectica Contemporary; Cape Gallery. Many wine estates such as Spier, La Motte, Glen Carlou combine art, food, and accommodation- lifestyle in a sense of holistic pleasure, escapism, and in a sense healing. The ultimate get away would be the Art Towns of Riebeek Kasteel and Prince Albert- who are celebrating with their colourful Open Studio’s. As I advise all our readers to do on their holidays, go out of your way and make a mark, a drawing, take an A4 piece of paper out your printer tray crunch it up, unfold it and make it yours, then draw something that means something to you: your pet, flowers, or portrait or a draw a picture that you would want to see, and make a discovery, and then another one.I would like to thank you for your support for the Art Times this year, and wish you a very blessed Christmas and festive season. PS : I thought that would include a lovely description of a title of an exhibition I saw at 131A Gallery: ‘Playing With Catastrophe’ is a reconnaissance into surviving the present tense – A rollercoaster ride through the strangeness of our time. The trashy online culture of everyday catch phrases juxtaposed against the severity of our impending climate catastrophe highlights the bipolarity of negotiating the present human experience. Mood swing melodramas and existential melt downs find a counter balance with depictions of tenderness, camaraderie and escapism. This body of work is an attempt at seeking some levity and perspective within the overwhelming pendulum of modern life.” - Olivié Keck Olivié Keck - Soul Time, 2021 Acrylic on board, framed, 39,5cm x 28cm see more at 131agallery.com
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SOUTH AFRICA’S LEADING VISUAL ARTS PUBLICATION
CONTACT ART TIMES Tel: +27 21 300 5888 109 Sir Lowry Road, Woodstock, Cape Town PUBLISHER Gabriel Clark-Brown editor@arttimes.co.za ADVERTISING & MARKETING Eugene Fisher sales@arttimes.co.za DIGITAL MEDIA & EXHIBITION LISTINGS Jan Croft subs@arttimes.co.za ART DIRECTION Brendan Body ARTGO CONTENT info@artgo.co.za Rights: the Art Times magazine reserves the right to reject any material that could be found offensive by its readers. Opinions and views expressed in the sa art times do not necessarily represent the official viewpoint of the editor, staff or publisher, while inclusion of advertising features does not imply the newspaper’s endorsement of any business, product or service. Copyright of the enclosed material in this publication is reserved. Errata: Hermanus FynArts - would like to apologise for omitting the name of Karin Lijnes from the list of artists who are exhibiting at Sculpture on the Cliffs - 2020. Her work, Freedom Tree comprises of a large steel mobile of five ceramic bird forms.
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EXHIBITIONS 2021
ANY GIVEN SUNDAY Artful Chance Encounters 29 June - 16 January 2022
THE JOHANNESBURG STATION PANELS Pierneef’s Journey ICONography The symbols of Rembrandt, Rorke’s Drift and Ardmore 3 August - 30 January 2022
FESTIVE SEASON We will be closed on 24 - 28, 31 December & 1 January Sydney Kumalo (1935-1988) St Francis, 1961 Red stone Rupert Art Foundation Collection
Stellentia Road, Stellenbosch Tue – Fri: 10:00 – 17:00 Sat – Sun: 10:00 – 16:00 info@rupertmuseum.org 021 888 3344 www.rupertmuseum.org
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UNPACKING EUROPE Ashraf Jamal
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n an era in which we are quick to indict others for ‘cultural appropriation’, Johannes Phokela, thankfully, has been redeemed from this charge. Is this because he is a black artist re-interpreting European art? Are some accorded liberties, while others not? No matter, this is the subject of another boxing match. What intrigues and delights me here is Phokela’s playful immersion in the artists of the Southern and Northern Renaissance, namely Caravaggio, Breughel, Rubens, among many others. While the artist’s adaptations or reworkings are cavalier, off-the-cuff and deliberately rough in execution, one cannot ignore their allusive power. Standing in front of a Phokela painting, we feel that we are in the midst of a secret, allowed free entry into a playful conspiracy. However, for Storm Janse van Rensburg, co-curator of the show, Phokela’s ‘vision is of a world history drenched in the spoils of violence’. This is true, but it is not the entirety of the story. How so? Because Phokela is not solely perturbed by the absence of black bodies in the European narrative, or their servitude therein, but – through his reworking of the story – their integral role and place within it. He never forcibly reintegrates blackness into white history. Neither does he believe, like Titus Kaphar, that white history must be amended, in the manner, say, of the amendment of a legal constitution. Phokela, unlike Kaphar, is no ideologue or politician.
On entering the show, the first painting one sees is of a black man on the verge of clubbing a white man to death – whether he does or not is another matter. The black man wears a loin cloth, the white man is in 17th century gear. The scene is set on a rocky beach, in the distance, bizarrely, we see an oil rig. Clearly, we are caught in a temporal mashup. Framing the whole in white is the declaration: EATING PEOPLE ISN’T ALWAYS WRONG. Humour is key. This is because Phokela is primarily inspired by a comic perversity. Aware that we are acutely conversant with the devastation of colonial extraction and exploitation – the paintings of the Renaissance are profoundly informed and shaped by Imperialism – Phokela nevertheless seeks not to rub our noses in an incontrovertible historical fact, but, reflexively, playfully, entertain, or edutain, us. His revisionist take is a jolly act of cannibalism. Phokela engages our attention by skewing the received context and culture of reception; and does so without puffed up moral outrage. Comprised of works from various periods, the Phokela retrospective can be seen on our doorstep, Zeitz MOCAA (Museum of Contemporary Art Africa), located at the southernmost point of Africa – Cape Town’s Waterfront – far removed from the hub of European power, and yet, profoundly connected to it. Cape Town, after all, played an integral role in imperial maritime traffic between West and East. As a port-city, it is a construct of empire.
“Phokela nevertheless seeks not to rub our noses in an incontrovertible historical fact, but, reflexively, playfully, entertain, or edutain, us.” Portrait of Johannes Phokela in his studio, Johannesburg, August 2021. Photograph by Anthea Pokroy, courtesy of Zeitz MOCAA
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Above: Flight of Europa, 2015, Oil paint on canvas, 200 x 170cm Opposite Page: Porch Resolution, 2021, Oil on canvas, 122.5 x 91cm
Long before the 1500s, however, Africa was recognised as a font of dread and inspiration in the Western mind. It is not for nothing that the Roman, Pliny the Elder, should declare – ‘Semper aliquid novi Africam adferre’ – out of Africa something new emerges. Indeed. In Phokela’s case, novelty comes with a sucker punch. A monkey in a prison is acquainted with the writings of Darwin, Marx, and Nietzsche. A Bacchus inspired revelry displays zero inequality amongst its mixed-race male party animals. A pastoral scene – inspired by Rubens? – reveals
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a bounteously plump white naked male grandee and his child and black wife, in an apron, her firm round buttocks exposed, as she erotically poses between Springbok and a washing line. This last pastoral scene is a delight, because it refuses irony, defuses skepticism, and wholly embraces the normalcy of what, for those repressed, or bigoted, may seem atrociously off-kilter. But that is Phokela’s point. He is less interested in the revisionist desire to correct an historical wrong, than he is concerned with spoofing history, and delighting in what
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it refuses to reveal. Egalitarian revelry, dance, the orgiastic, macabre, and comedically radical – in the case of the Lucio Fontana inspired slit canvases – converge in a story boarded exhibition which mines many years, moods, and phases of painting, willing nothing other than the audience’s pleasure. Phokela is never high-minded, never moral, and most certainly never righteous. In this breast-beating-pompous-shameful/shaming time, his art is a breath of fresh air, and a great relief. Phokela possesses none of Titus Kaphar’s politically correct provocation, nor Kehinde Wiley’s parodic flatulence. He is neither excessively earnest nor lite. If Phokela’s pitch is healthy, it is because he hotwires historical pain and forgotten fun. Most of all, Phokela understands the value of painting as pleasure and entertainment, something which the pious and dour among us long forgot. Of course, one can justly argue that there is also great seriousness in what Phokela does – he is, after all, rethinking history. However, it does not follow that he must instruct us as to the moral inequities that undergird this history – the black body as the phantom and slave of Empire. That is true, but it is not the entire truth. Notwithstanding my view of Kehinde Wiley as a painter who errs on the side of triviality, the ephemeral that is Pop, he has of late informed us of a wish to depict positive visions of black life in the 21st century. But then, this desire is the rage. Now, more than at any other point in a Eurocentric/Western history, black life is being readdressed, reenvisaged. The panoply of emergent black artists is rapidly expanding, their works avidly sought. Johannes Phokela, however, has been banging this drum for decades. It is unsurprising, therefore, that Koyo Kouoh, the Director of Zeitz MOCAA and co-curator of the Phokela show, should remind us of the artist’s immense importance domestically, on the continent, and across Europe. For Kouoh, we need to shift from our provincial purview, and ‘reconstruct a continental perspective’, if we are to reintegrate ourselves in an increasingly divided and divisive world. In this regard, Phokela is the arsenal and the glue. Parity, mutuality, conviviality, are the driving energy in paintings which never lose sight of the presence and beauty of Africans in a white narrative and mythology.
Above: Laplandish Dream, 2014, Oil on canvas, 200 x 70 cm Opposite Page: Cult of Reason, 2021, Oil on canvas, 122.5 x 91cm
Yet another in a series of major solo exhibitions at Zeitz MOCAA, Phokela’s show – with the enigmatic title, Only Sun in the Sky Knows How I Feel – (A Lucid Dream) – is an encouraging choice, because of its buoyancy. Revisionism can be dull and tiresome, no matter how necessary. In Phokela’s case, thankfully, is comes with the ‘sun’, a positive healing source. That he has subtitled the show ‘a lucid dream’ is a further reminder that Phokela finds greater clarity in the oneiric, in realms inscrutable to logic, propelled wholly by wonder. In the end – after a gruelling two years, our brows knit with despair – what better way to wrap up the year?! ‘A large part of Johannes Phokela’s practice is to interrupt the past with the present’. This is true. Phokela never defers to the past, but shows us how we belong to it, and how we can alter time’s continuum. Rupture is not necessarily innovative. Sometimes all that is needed is to embrace one’s inheritance, the better to shapeshift it. Irrespective of race, gender, or sexual persuasion, Phokela’s democratic show is one that carries much surprise. There is nothing predictive within it, nothing designed to force the hand, convert the mind. No demagoguery lurks about, no sanctimony. Rather, Phokela’s is a world irresistibly lovable and uproariously profane. It is not only Europe which Phokela unpacks, but also each one of us here in Africa, whatever we are, wherever we reside, irrespective of what we imagine ourselves to be. Truly progressive art is rare. Art that truly delights more so. Enjoy!
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Book Review
ASHRAF JAMAL: STRANGE CARGO
“He has written with equal intensity about artists old and young, dead or alive, famous or relatively unknown, black or white, trending or not.”
Written primarily between 2019 and 2021, and set to be published by Skira in January 2022. It can be regarded as the twin of Jamal’s previous book, In the World: Essays on Contemporary South African Art (2017), which Afonso Dias Ramos described as ‘unlike any publication on the topic . . . a masterclass in arts criticism.’ In this, Strange Cargo is no different. Both form part of a single venture to celebrate and entrench the rich complexity of South African artists in a global imaginary. The artists that Jamal chooses to reflect upon refuse to fit into a predictive algorithm. He has written with equal intensity about artists old and young, dead or alive, famous or relatively unknown, black or white, trending or not. Love and empa-thy—his indifference to difference—is hisengine room, and much like the artists featured, Jamal does not only write for the moment we are in, but for a readership to come.
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A painful, beautiful, and incisive portrait of what was, what is, and what might come. Ashraf Jamal makes the tension between artistic practice, history, and society palpable in this series of searing essays, capturing the spirit and essence of the South African landscape of contemporary art.’—Koyo Kouoh, Executive Director and Chief Curator of Zeitz MOCAA and Founding Director of RAW Material Company. Available in March 2022 from good bookshops near you Pre-orders: to: no.ism.no.skism@gmail.com by 10 January 2022 to secure your copy at a discounted rate of R900 (while stocks last).
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CONNECT THROUGH ART FROM AFRICA AND THE WORLD
Investec Cape Town Art Fair takes place from 18 - 20 February 2022 at Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC).
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fter two years of physical events cancelled globally, Cape Town will once again welcome the art world to connect for an in-person event for the ninth edition of Investec Cape Town Art Fair. During the unprecedented times brought on by the pandemic, viewing rooms became the new Art Fairs and white cube galleries navigated their way off floor plans and on online platforms. Investec Cape Town Art Fair joined forces with Artshell (a customized web and app platform) and launched a digital event in 2021 and will deliver 2022’s hybrid physical and digital edition of Africa’s largest Art Fair showcasing international artists and those from the African Diaspora. For Art Times Summer Edition cultural historian PETRA MASON spoke to Investec Cape Town Art Fair Director, Laura Vincenti
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and guest-curators Nkule Mabaso, Luigi Fassi and João Ferreira about what to look forward to for the hybrid physical and digital event happening next year. Laura Vincenti, Director of Investec Cape Town Art Fair What role do you think Investec Cape Town Art Fair plays in the art ecosystem? Laura Vincenti: Investec Cape Town Art Fair is the largest Art Fair on the African continent, providing a platform for connection and interaction between artists, exhibitors, curators, museums, cultural institutions, collectors and art appreciators. It creates an opportunity for engagement that welcomes meaningful dialogue, education and farreaching interaction around contemporary art from Africa.
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The Fair facilitates space for the art network to evolve, lending support to the visibility and celebratory exchange of art. It is a cultural teaser for local institutions to collaborate on exchanges and a unique opportunity to connect through art with the world under one roof in a very short time. What do we have to look forward to in the new section ALT Laura Vincenti: ALT debuts in 2022 and is dedicated to projects that reflect the many ways in which the art world had to adapt in response to the global shift from physical to virtual. Young, non-traditional exhibitors have the opportunity to showcase their artists in a nonconventional way, though in the conventional setting of an Art Fair, opening
a dialogue on representation and physical versus virtual connection. ALT features installation-based works and innovative booth formats with a fresh vibe. What can we expect/ are there new approaches to MAIN and SOLO? Laura Vincenti: In this upcoming year SOLO will explore how artists have reacted to intimacy and introspection caused by the pandemic, as well as the effect that exchange and collaboration have on artistic practice as a whole. SOLO is an extension of Investec Cape Town Art Fair’s project, Insight-out, launched in 2020 - a playful Q&A addressed to artists during isolation highlighting their everyday lives. In its fourth iteration, SOLO will feature
Botho Project Space, [Main], Cinthia Sifa Mulanga, Shades of Ambition, 2021, Mixed Media on Canvas, 80cm x 120 cm
work from artists including Luyanda Zindela (South Africa) of SMAC Gallery in South Africa, Thebe Phetogo (Botswana) of Guns and Rain in South Africa, Brett Seiler (Zimbabwe) of Everard Read in South Africa, Osvaldo Ferreira (Angola) of THIS IS NOT A WHITE CUBE in Angola, Duduzile (DuduBloom) More (South Africa) of Berman Contemporary (South Africa), Johannes Phokela (South Africa) of Eclectica Contemporary (South Africa). More than ever our MAIN section will see collaboration between different exhibitors and artists, a platform to be seen as an opportunity to commit on new projects that go beyond the geographical and cultural barriers. A more meaningful way to connect and/or reconnect people through art. Has your role changed because of Covid-19 and the move to online viewing and collecting? Laura Vincenti: There is a transformation happening in the art world. The first Investec Cape Town Art Fair Digital Event gave us the opportunity to support and showcase South African artists, whilst continuing to connect with international exhibitors, partners, visitors, media and creatives.
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While we still firmly believe that a digital event cannot replace the transformative nature of an in-person art experience, the digital event has provided benefits to the overall experience of viewing and collecting art. Investec Cape Town Art Fair 2022 is a hybrid event intersecting the physical and the digital spaces of the art world, and offers a multi-faceted opportunity for all participants of the fair. Luigi Fassi and Nkule Mabaso are the cocurators of TOMORROWS/TODAY section at the Fair. What do we have to look forward to / is there a new approach for TOMORROWS/ TODAY in 2022? Luigi Fassi: As a post pandemic edition (and not even fully post pandemic, since we’re all still coping with its consequences), we decided to focus more in 2022 on African practices and galleries based in South Africa and in the continent, to create a stronger statement on what the scene is offering. We’ve decided not to build the section by predetermining thematic or narrative topics and there are no privileged conceptual models to define its nature. The visitors will for sure come across different painting practices and this mirrors the
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Everard Read, [Main}, Daniel Naude, Study For Portrait 1, Homing Pigeon, 2016, C-PRINT, ED OF 7, 100 X 125cm
strength of this medium in the current moment. In general the architecture of TOMORROWS/ TODAY 2022 is given by the emerging force of the projects presented, which all bear witness to a critical and uncompromising urgency with regard to artistic work, capable of raising questions and reflections on the current changes underway in the global scenario. What are some of the interesting aspects of curating between Africa and Europe? Luigi Fassi: It’s a wonderful privilege. I have been working in Europe and in the US and the chance to get to know the African art scene is hugely enriching. I only wish I could have spent more research time in Africa in the last two years, however, the global situation didn’t allow for that. I have been lucky to keep working with Nkule Mabaso, in our capacity as co-curators of the section. We started working together in 2019 for TOMORROWS/TODAY 2020 and from the very beginning of our cooperation we created a mutual trust that has helped us a lot sharing ideas and overcoming constraints in a smoother way. I think it’s because we have been both curious to get to know each other and learn from one another. This established our professional partnership and helped us during lockdown doing our research.
What are the burning curatorial issues to focus on in global art right now and why? Luigi Fassi: Identity politics, as well as the debate on history and the way we are supposed to evaluate it from a contemporary perspective. Artists can offer an incredible contribution to such debates. I personally strive for art that makes us think in slow terms, nurturing our need of criticality and at the same time offering us a space for emotion and inspiration. Nkule Mabaso: Global art is a contested framework. But curating responds to the times so I would venture to say is that together with the zeitgeist the pressing concerns are around new imaginaries that move from surveillance capitalism, speak beyond catastrophe and engagement methods that are inclusive and anti-racist… some where there lies the enact of shared concerns through the curatorial… What role do you think Investec Cape Town Art Fair plays in the art ecosystem? Nkule Mabaso: Investec Cape Town Art Fair is important for the local scene and a public moment of presentation and meeting, facilitating different conversation and because it happens so early in the year it sets the
Laura Vincenti, Investec Cape Town Art Fair Director
Luigi Fassi
scene and pace of the art scene for the given year! It gives the highlight and sets a kind of momentum that is very generative and stimulating. In the wider sense because it’s not only internally focused on South Africa and brings in exhibitioners form the rest of the continent and other geographies, it’s seminal moment of convening that extends beyond the commercial and generates relationships that last past the moments of the fair. João Ferreira is the curator of the PAST/ MODERN section, focused on curated work by modern masters offered with discerning collectors in mind. What are the burning curatorial issues to focus on in global art right now and why? João Ferreira: Feminine expression to empower and reconcile. Post ‘Black Lives Matter’ discourse and the appropriation of contemporary culture, identification with public monuments and the return of Historical artefacts that were stolen during colonialism. What do we have to look forward to for PAST/MODERN? João Ferreira: Quality, modern masters sold by specialist dealers with a curatorial focus on connoisseurship and collector motivation. Has your role changed because of Covid-19 and the move to online viewing and collecting?
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João Ferreira
João Ferreira: I am old school, I like to close a deal over coffee with the collector and the painting. It has been exciting to modify my business model with the use of online platforms and media. “We cannot wait to welcome old and new friends and partners to Investec Cape Town Art Fair in 2022 and provide a platform to connect, re-connect and interact with one another. Nothing to me is as rewarding as to exchange opinions, emotions and ideas being in a physical art environment and nurturing the natural human needs of learning and sharing,’’ concludes Vincenti. The ninth edition of Investec Cape Town Art Fair will take place from Friday 18 to Sunday 20 February 2022 at the CTICC and via the online platform Artshell. Tickets can be purchased via the Webticket link on www. investeccapetownartfair.co.za For more information, updates, Covid-19 protocols1 and how to register log onto the website and follow Investec Cape Town Art Fair on Twitter @ICTAF, Instagram @investeccapetownartfair and Facebook @ICTArtFair. Use the hashtag #ICTAF.
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Olamide Ogunade Olisco, Waiting for a While, 2021, (Detail) charcoal and acrylic on canvas, 91.4 x 91.3 cm - Christopher Moller Gallery
MULTI-DISCIPLINARY ARTIST ANDREA DU PLESSIS WINS SASOL NEW SIGNATURES 2021 C
ape Town-based artist, Andrea du Plessis, 40, has been announced as the winner of the 2021 Sasol New Signatures Art Competition.
Du Plessis won the coveted title for her mixed media work Paloceae Lupantozoa. The work is inspired by Martin Johnson Heade’s “Orchids and Hummingbirds” series. The artwork consists of a painting created through the traditional oil on canvas technique that can also be experienced as a multi-sensory animated video. The video component of the artwork, which includes sound, is accessed via an Augmented Reality (AR) animation of the oil painting. By downloading an App on their digital device and pointing their camera towards the painting, viewers activate the Artificial Intelligence sound and video animation sequence which literally brings the painting to life on their digital device. “The oil painting and AR video create a link between past and contemporary representations and experiences of nature. By juxtaposing the 19th century Romantic tradition of painting with emerging technologies, the artwork creates a tension-filled interface, momentarily transporting the viewer into a familiar yet alien world. But most crucially, experienced in its multiple modalities, the artwork offers the viewer an opportunity to reflect on their relationship with nature and our changing landscape,” said du Plessis. As the winner of Sasol New Signatures, du Plessis walks away with a cash prize of R100 000 and the opportunity to have a solo exhibition at the Pretoria Art Museum in 2022. Sasol has been the sponsor of the competition for 31 years. “We remain committed to play our part in supporting the arts through this prestigious competition because we recognise the integral role it plays to mirror and record where and who we are as a society, both collectively as a nation and for artists’ personally. Our role in the arts is a shining
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Winner, Andrea du Plessis, Paloceae lupantozoa
Runner-up, Dalli Weyers, Forward: A manifesto
Cate Terblanche Art Curator Sasol Art Collection
Pfunzo Sidogi -Chairperson SNS
example of our purpose in action. A purpose we will live up to as we continue to play our part in advancing the interests and developmental needs of artists at all levels. We are not just a sponsor, we are a partner in the development and growth of the arts.” said Elton Fortuin, Sasol Vice President: Group Communications and Brand Management.
The 5 Merit winners were:
Pfunzo Sidogi, who was appointed Chairperson of the competition in 2019 said, “It has been an absolute privilege to oversee the return of the Sasol New Signatures Art Competition. As I contemplate my first year as Chairperson, I am humbled by the significance this competition holds in the imaginaries of visual artists throughout the country. I was impressed by the amazing response we received from artists at all the regional collection points, and equally gratified by the quality and narrative power of the artworks submitted. Thank you to all the artists who entered the competition - your art indeed matters”. Coming in second place and winning R25 000 was Dalli Weyers from Johannesburg. He wins for his work titled Forward: A manifesto created in the artist’s preferred medium, plastic bags. “Plastic bags, through a process of photo-degradation, disintegrate but don’t break down completely. Instead, they turn into microplastics that remain in the environment for centuries. The use of this medium thus reflects both the detritus and progress made throughout history – both present and unseen – that the manifesto hopes to draw from and address” he said.
Nico Athene (Cape Town) Cultivating our Unbecoming: with Gabrielle Youngleson and Johno Mellish (2021) Diasec Michèle Deeks (Pretoria) Pandemic Mixed media Sibaninzi Dlatu (Umtata) A story of resiliency Fired clay (bisque) Eugene Mthobisi Hlophe (Durban) The new crazy normal Photography Monica Klopper (Pretoria) Choice Shed snake skin and epoxy Each Merit Award winner received a R10 000 cash prize. “The arts remain as relevant as ever. With an increased emphasis on mental well-being during times of isolation and quarantine, we have seen many people turn to creative activities to help work through these trying times. We salute all artists who, despite the current challenges, have continued to practice their craft and dream of the impossible. Each and every artwork submitted this year has an inspiring story to tell” added Elton.
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Merit Winner, Sibaninzi Dlatu, A story of resilience
Merit Winner, Monica Klopper, Choice
Merit Winner, Michele Deeks, Pandemic
Merit Winner, Eugene Hlophe, The new crazy normal
Merit Winner, Nico Athene, Cultivating our Unbecoming with Gabrielle Youngleson and Johno Mellish
Patrick Rulore, winner of the 2019 Sasol New Signatures Art Competition will have his first solo exhibition that forms part of his prize. The exhibition comprises of 15 paintings, all of them oil on canvas. The series explores human connections against the backdrop of an ephemeral world of light and shadow. “These paintings form part of my Stage 4 moments series which captures typical moments in many South African households during load shedding. While it is undeniably unwelcome, load shedding has disrupted the normal scenario where individual family members are effectively isolated from each
other, being immersed in the escapist realities offered by electronic devices like cellphones and televisions” said Rulore.
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Patrick Rulore’s solo exhibition and the Sasol New Signatures Art Competition exhibition, featuring the work of the 2021 winners and finalists, takes place at the Pretoria Art Museum from 11 November 2021 till 9 January 2022. All the finalists are included in the highly respected competition catalogue.
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S A L O N NINETY O NE P R E S E NTS TARA DEACON. SKINNY DIPPING, 2021. GOUACHE ON ON PAPER.
15.01 - 12.02.2022
The Island C h l o e To w n s e n d Joh Del Kirsten Beets Lucy Stuart-Clark Ta r a D e a c o n
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DIANE MCLEAN
Mystery in the Everyday: Solo at the Prince Albert Gallery 16 December to 22 January 2022 By Estelle Marais
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n Diane McLean’s spacious studio, a former mill, in De Rust in the Klein Karoo, she works on a variety of subject matter from still lives to figures to landscapes, although it is mainly for her iconic enamelware paintings that she has become known. The latter paintings demonstrate a tactile quality which is so intense that it goes beyond mere realistic rendering. Perhaps because of the centrality of these objects (of which she now has a huge collection) in her oeuvre, possibly because of her ability to express both the coldness of the metal and the warmth of the enamel, her combining and contrasting it with other objects with the potential of being interpreted as a symbol rather than a mere object, it led her to creating a personal mythology in which the seemingly mundane is elevated to something with sometimes deeply emotional, historical, sociological or economic reference and depth … the discarded object of the ‘have’s” which become the collectible of the “have-nots”, the contrast of the “dead” object in the form of an old enamel dish containing the handful of eggs, symbol of life, of nourishment, in its “belly”. This spiritual dimension in her genre paintings is what separates her from those who imitate her in terms of subject matter and style. It reminds one that style can be immensely empty when this ‘other’ dimension is absent. Combining her enamelware with animals or birds, e.g. the owl in its wisdom, or a rabbit, animals which were often brought to her to be taken care of after they had been injured, thus creating an intimacy between her and the animal, again strengthens the sense of a deeper meaning than simply of objects put together to create an attractive still life. Very often there is a sense of an awareness of the fragility and brevity of life, for example as when she includes the skull of a young baboon or the shell of a little tortoise. Karoo Still Life II, oil on board, 200mm x 240mm
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Late Afternoon, Gariep River I, oil on canvas, 360mm x 480mm Opposite Page: Lighthouse, Cape St Francis, oil on canvas, 710mm x 710mm
Karoo Still Life I, oil on board, 200mm x 240mm
Underlying these thoughts are objects drawn with immaculate accuracy and understanding, sensitivity to colour, tone and tonality, as well as compositional design, unity and balance. The balance here refers to both what is visually visible in its concrete form and what is suggested by its reference to the times and histories it evokes. It is thus becomes understandable why this solo carries the title: mystery in the everyday. However, it is not in the rendering of genre paintings that McLean has made her mark. She is also a true master of the art of portraiture - in itself not unrelated to the discipline and exactness demanded of genre painting. She approaches it with the same innate respect she affords the object.Like in still life painting, the cool objectivity demanded by the rendering of the object, is balanced by the empathy and warmth for the subject, the awareness of a personal history which often shaped the history of others. Thus the sitter is never approached without an underlying suggestion of the human drama which hides behind even the most austere and formidable sitter.
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Ginger Jar & Three Green Bottles, oil on canvas, 265mm x 265mm
Whilst never failing to create a strong likeness in her portraits, her portraits of family members and friends allow for her to explore moments of tenderness or the split second when a sitter who is not used to the role of model reveals his or her personality without being aware of it. Thus the dreamy tenderness is revealed in “Girl with Dog”, the young woman selfconsciously turning her profile to the viewer revealing the withdrawnness of the shy sitter (Alex in satin tunic).One of the striking qualities of her work seems to be the ability to handle and express different textures, e.g. the pelt of the dog as compared to the skin of the girl’s hand, the starched satin quality of the pleats in the young woman‘s dress. In her landscapes she seems to feel more at liberty to use heightened colours, stronger linear elements for example in the structuring
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of rocks which reveals her remarkably sensitive drawing ability. And once again her sense of sculptural form, her strong feeling for compositional design and her understanding of light as a source of revelation, as is present in her studio-bound work, come forward as almost defining characteristics of her work. At the same time the mystery of history and all that that history may suggest, is also prevalent in these landscapes, making them, while fully realistic, also deeply romantic. Certainly diverse in terms of subject matter, this exhibition hangs together through the artist’s single-minded pursuit of suggesting a greater presence than that which merely touches the surface.
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POP AND EARTHSONGS EXHIBITIONS By Lethabo Gumede www.themelrosegallery.com
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he Melrose Gallery presents the POP exhibition which runs from 12 November 2021 to 30 January 2022. The exhibition brings together an array of colour, a modern aesthetic and contemporary African art collaged into The Diamond Walk, Sandton City. As you enter the exhibition, you are greeted by two bold and boisterous artworks by Paul Blomkamp which provide a befitting interpretation of the exhibition’s inspiration by featuring two renowned popular culture icons: Oprah Winfrey and Richard Branson. Drawing inspiration from a period that generated revolutionary ideas and tastemakers, the POP exhibition brings together a refreshing selection of 21st century sculptures, paintings, and mixed media. The neat curation of diverse works brings together a playful yet contemporary African art experience. Afterall, popular culture has the longstanding reputation of transcending the ordinary and bringing the thrill of contemporary to the masses and that is exactly what the POP exhibition articulates. The exhibition is a celebration of Pan African contemporary artists and their daring approach to contemporary African art. As a group exhibition, the confluence of ideas between the different medium is a radical coming together of established artists such as Dr Esther Mahlangu and Dr Willie Bester as well as emerging artists such as Aza Mansongi, Papytsho Mafolo and Ronald Muchatuta.
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POP, installation.
Paul Blomkamp, Oprah...Rhe True Electric Essence, 2021, Acrylic on canvas
Paul Weinberg, Exhibition Installation.
Installation view of Pascal Konan’s wosks.
“EarthSongs takes us on a spiritual journey traversing known and unknown South African landscapes.” POP Exhibition Participating artists include: Paul Du Toit, Isabelle Scheltjens, Gavin Rain, Christiaan Diedericks, Andries Visser, Mark Swart, Tumelo Mphela, Louis Chanu, Anton Smit, Pascal Konan, Aza Mansongi, Barry Sullivan, Simon Zitha, Denis Mubiru, Pascal Konan, Strijdom Van der Merve, Mederic Turay, Elizabeth Balcom, Edozie Anedu, Papytsho Mafolo, Paul Blomkamp, Mark Chapman, Senzo Shabangu, Richard Mason, Uwe Pfaff, Ronald Muchatuta, Mandlenkosi Mavengere, Vusi Khumalo, Dr Esther Mahlangu, Wilma Cruise, Dr Willie Bester, Sandile Radebe, Andre Stead, Vusi Beauchamp, Ndabuko Ntuli, Kenneth Shandu and Clint Strydom, Meanwhile, back at The Melrose Gallery, Johannesburg, esteemed South African photographer Paul Weinberg offers a downto-earth visual offering of a collection of photographs. Captured between 2019 and 2021, EarthSongs is a quiet exploration of South African land and the scared relationship
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its inhabitants have formed. With a specialised interest in archaeological, historical, and cultural sites the exhibition portrays a communal sense of spiritual belonging from a wide range of religious beliefs. EarthSongs takes us on a spiritual journey traversing known and unknown South African landscapes. Paul Weinberg has travelled extensively in and around South Africa which provides his detailed approach to curation. He is also the recipient of many awards including the Mother Jones Award (an essay on the fishing community of Kosi Bay). Weinberg continues to work as a photojournalist, documentary photographer and filmmaker. His latest exhibition EarthSongs is on at The Melrose Gallery, Johannesburg until 05 December 2021. For more information visit themelrosegallery.com
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PRINCE ALBERT OPEN STUDIOS Summer Edition: 31 December 2021 To 02 January 2022 www.princealbertopenstudios.co.za
Deidre Maree at her Prince Albert studio.
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he pared-down Summer Edition of Prince Albert Open Studios offers a special way for art lovers to begin the New Year. It begins with the official opening of the Group Show, which takes place at the Prince Albert Gallery on Thursday 30th December at 6pm. Then, for the next two and a half days, studios will open to the public, allowing for personal interactions with the participants and relaxed viewing of their newest work. There will be something for everyone, as visitors take a gentle meander through the widely varied studios of some of our local artists and spend time hanging out with them, getting to know the person behind the art. Find out what motivates them and how they go about creating their personal brand of artistic expression. Collette Hurt: “I love collecting, and work with found materials and upcycled ‘junk’. My signature pieces are Bull and Buck horns, made from repurposed objects. I take great pleasure in my work, which involves frequent foraging missions, tetanus shots, and a scrapyard in the back yard!” Deidre Maree: “I fell in love with the Karoo on our very first visit there. It inspires me to create paintings that show its sometimes-overlooked beauty, to capture its imperious silence and this allows viewers to become lost, briefly, in something bigger than themselves. Currently this exploration of the “secret beauty and infinite variety” (Eve Palmer) of the Karoo is based on the images taken after light rain had fallen, and the veld responded almost immediately with a profusion of easily overlooked tiny wildflowers – a magnificent blessing.” Di Johnson-Ackerman (guest artist Paul Ackerman): Di is well known for her printmaking, both linocut and intaglio etching and aquatint, as well as her nostalgic, lightbathed acrylics of Karoo doorways and stoeps. “I am very pleased to say that I have a number of new etchings and paintings to add to my portfolio which will be on show at the Summer 2021/2022 Open Studios.” Di Smith: As a late starter and with no rules to break, I ‘fearlessly’ express my thoughts, feelings, ideas and experiences in a wide variety of non-verbal ways.
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Wabi Sabi - the Japanese aesthetic of finding beauty in things incomplete, imperfect and impermanent probably best sums up my love of found objects that I use in my sculpture and assemblage. All I really want is to continuously get lost in the creative process and I would love my work to evoke some thought, emotion or comment by the viewer. Di van der Riet Steyn: Jewellery designer and manufacturer Di’s work frequently features locally found porcelain shards. “In a ‘dorp’ which is rich in history, one often walks nose down in the veld, searching for that piece… bits of karoo blue and red shards. I wonder who used that piece of crockery 150 years ago? Someone else’s precious plate or cup, treasures in the ground, discarded in the garbage heap. These little gems are wrapped in pure silver and transformed into wearable Karoo Blues”. Erika van Zyl: “I am an impressionist landscape artist, working in oils. I prefer to work en-plein air and alla prima. I do larger works in studio, using plein air studies as reference. The unspoiled raw landscape and lovely old buildings of the Karoo speak to me, and I am always thinking of the story behind a painting. I paint what I see and hope to speak to my
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viewer in such a way that they can have the emotional connection I had when they look at my work. Painting the light is my main intention and I’m forever in search of that in a scene. Heleen de Haas: Internationally known calligrapher and conceptual artist Heleen has a different outlook on the concept of Open Studios. Her farm, Aswater, is her canvas, and visitors experience a guided journey through its large-scale land art routes and creative features. She uses the written symbol to convey motion, sound and meaning in ways that go far beyond recognised words. Joshua Miles: has exhibited his paintings, reduction woodcuts and linocuts widely for the past 25 years and now divides his time between Scotland and South Africa. Joshua’s inspiration comes from Japanese linocuts and the impressionists’ style of mark-making and he is drawn to capturing how light moves over landscape. Karoo Looms: Sophia Booley welcomes you to visit the weavery, which has been handweaving rugs and fine weavings to the trade and public market, nationally and internationally, since 1983. Offering a range from traditional to contemporary design, Karoo Looms works closely with its clients in supplying of the best quality mohair rugs
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available in South Africa, rugs that add aesthetic value to homes and businesses alike. Meet the ladies behind the highly skilled craft of hand-spinning and handweaving, while gaining knowledge on the process involved in producing an authentic Karoo Looms weave. Striking Metal: Fusing ancient techniques with traditional and contemporary design, artist blacksmith Kashief Booley has adorned many homes and buildings with his signature work. The forge was established in 2001, producing exclusive bespoke, mainly architectural metalwork. Now focusing more on his own creativity and product, Kashief welcomes you to visit his forge and showroom, where you will experience and learn more of this ancient craft and his works. Kevin de Klerk: “I have done extensive research into the psyche of the human race using wild animals as a vehicle to express the similarities between man and beast. I am particularly drawn to the mysterious behaviour of African Wild Dogs and Hyenas. I use these two species as metaphors for the complexities of being human and everything that comes with it.” Maruanda Wynne: Thread artist Maruanda Wynne and her husband moved to Prince Albert earlier in 2021. She specializes in embroidery and hand quilting under the name Hartlap. “I prefer to use fabric that had a previous life as a curtain, cushion cover etc. My favourite to work with is vintage Sanderson’s fabric, which is now very hard to come by. With my embroidery, I emboss a single flower, preferably a rose, in the same colour contrasts and compilations one would use with paint in a painting. The whole process is “painting” with thread. It is very time consuming, but the richness of colours and the texture it adds to the fabric makes for a unique art work.” Prince Albert Community Trust: A community-based initiative which hosts exhibitions at the POP Centre. The featured artists are: Elcado Blom, from Leeu Gamka, who paints in oils. Selwyn Maans and Nathan Maans, who do photography. Jeffrey Armoed, who does wire art. Prince Albert Gallery : Hosts the Prince
Albert Open Studios Group Show, featuring a work from each participating artist. Guest artist Lisl Barry: “I believe that art, in any form, is vital to opening our eyes anew to the world around us; to make us see everyday things or situations in a way which we may not have previously experienced and, with regards to my own work specifically, to reflect upon our relationship as humans to the environment - on a local and global level.” Sue Hoppe: “Moving to Prince Albert three years ago has impacted strongly on my art. I’m enjoying newfound freedom, surrounded by incredible light and space, so my current work has morphed into a celebration of ‘Karooness’. I seek to express the essence of the Karoo, relishing the paradoxical contrasts which define this place, from small details to huge open spaces. This coincides with a shift in materials and methods, building on what went before, from oils and photographs, to coloured encaustic wax and shellac. Turid Bergstedt: Turid has been making kaleidoscopes since 1992, after completing her studies in Fine Art, Journalism and Photography at Rhodes University. Her passion for kaleidoscope manufacture is not only the science and mathematics involved in the process, but that the making puts one in touch with oneself. “While viewing it, both sides of your brain are used, and it puts you into a trancelike state. It helps with problem solving and creativeness. Everyone sees something different and every time you look in a kaleidoscope you see something different. It can give you a fresh perspective on a problem.” Watershed Gallery: Celebrating Africa, the Karoo and all things beautiful, Watershed comprises of four interlinked showrooms of art and interior design, situated inside a beautifully restored Victorian house typical of the architecturally rich town of Prince Albert. Along with an impressive collection of local and international art, including that of Kevin de Klerk and J.P. Meyer, Watershed houses selected prints of world-renowned photographer Jürgen Schadeberg. Open 9am-1pm and 3pm-6pm (Sunday 9am-2pm)
RUPERT MUSEUM www.rupertmuseum.org
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t the bottom end of historic Dorp Street, on the banks of the Eersterivier, is what appears to be a whitewashed cellar set in a vineyard. It is actually the Rupert Museum, home to a superb collection of modern South African art from 1940 to early 2000. The Rupert Museum houses the private art collection of well-known South African industrialist the late Dr Anton Rupert and his wife Huberte. An electrical short at the Rupert home, that almost caused a fire, led to Huberte Rupert’s decision to establish the art museum. She commissioned the building in 2003, choosing Hannes Meiring as the architect, who is known for his love of historic architecture. To many art lovers a highlight visiting the Rupert Museum has been the exhibition of JH Pierneef’s Johannesburg Station Panels – considered to mark the highpoint of his career. This national treasure, the property of the Transnet Foundation, was relocated in 2009 from Graaff-Reinet to Stellenbosch where they now fill one of the four galleries at the museum. Pierneef was commissioned by the then South African Railways and Harbours to paint panels depicting places of natural beauty and historical value for the new Johannesburg Park Station in 1929. The architecture of the concourse specifically included spaces for the panels to be affixed. This determined both the size and number of the panels – 32 in total. As of 2018 granddaughter Hanneli Rupert has taken over the mantel with a dedicated vision to make the museum an inclusive space for the community. The short and intensive renovation project that started October 2018 had a firm goal in mind “a museum without walls”. Since the reopening of the Rupert Museum in May 2019, the museum has featured various exhibitions, relooking and rehanging the known favourite works inclusive of the Johannesburg Station Panels.
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The museum’s public programmes includes a diverse spectrum of activities for everyone. Programmes include the vibrant Museum Saturday’s (taking place on the last Saturday of each month) that boosts artist talks, walkabouts, master and kid workshops, a pop-up menu for the day from the Museum Café and live music with tastings ranging from wine, whiskey, beer and champagne. Our next Museum Saturday will be on 29 January 2022. Join our newsletter to be the first to know about our upcoming workshops & events. For those looking to get more active – Yoga Thursday’s might just be the thing for you. Presented from the MakerStudio
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every Thursday, 13h00 – 14h00 (bookings essential), if you are working from home or not close by, no problem, these classes are also streamed live. Find out more by visiting our social media pages. The vibrant Museum Café is open for all to enjoy. On Tuesdays & Thursdays students can present their student cards and enjoy our coffee & breakfast special for R50. The library is a space that promotes literature and offers a quiet space for studying and working. The library, gallery spaces, café and MakerStudio can also be hired exclusively for a meeting, presentation, training, workshops or private functions. View our VENUE HIRE tab on our website to find out more.
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We have an exciting opportunity for a Museum Intern to join our team! Rupert Art Foundation Internship Programme Internship position available: Museum Assistant Deadline: 12 January 2022 We are offering an 11-month, paid internship at the Rupert Museum in Stellenbosch from 1 February 2022. The successful candidate will work closely with the museum’s curatorial team in the areas of art collections management, exhibitions, tours, media, marketing and events.
There will also be an opportunity to assist in developing educational and general public programming. The range of duties will give the candidate valuable experience and exposure to a wide variety of museum related roles. To find out more visit www.rupertmuseum.org and head to CONTACT US to view the requirements.
View of the Restaurant at Glen Carlou.
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EXPERIENCE GLEN CARLOU AND DELIGHT IN THE EXTRAORDINARY www.glencarlou.com
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f you are making your way to the winelands in search of good food, wine, and art this month, the Glen Carlou estate must be on your destination list. With a panoramic view overlooking the Boland mountains, there is nothing more invigorating and enriching than enjoying lunch or a glass of wine in the cool breeze on a hot summer’s day, after meandering through the impressive 400 square meter art gallery. Glen Carlou is located less than 15 minutes away from Stellenbosch.
Two exciting new art exhibitions will be opening on the 5th of December. The annual Summer Salon opens in the gallery entrance hall, showcasing a wide variety of works from artists such as Alex Hamilton, Carin Dorrington, Marguerite Roux, JP Meyer, Marinda du Toit, and Strijdom van der Merwe and many more. This exhibition has something for every discerning taste, with works on paper, oil paintings, sculpture, and assemblage – it will be a feast for the eyes. In her solo exhibition, titled Matrix, Elfriede Dreyer explores the idea of an ‘other’ space, simulated, embodied and different to the experienced, physical real space. Her works are filled with grids, lines, and areas of separation – thresholds transporting the viewer through time. Images of a tropical environment repeat in neon emerald greens – possibly suggesting something is better on the other side – a utopia which brings about a sense of longing for faraway places. The works themselves are continuously fluid, shifting between the painted and digital surface. With images of boats and bicycles, the works also remind the viewer of the fleeting transience of time and human life that is fundamentally reroutable.
Glen Carlou View Boland mountains.
Food and wine pairing.
Gallery Views from Previous Exhibitions.
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Panoramic View over the Paarl Mountain from the Restaurant.
Glen Carlou’s tradition of winemaking, as with food preparation – is also suitably represented by time and change. Often for wine and food, the sum of the parts is enhanced as the components mingle over time, to infuse layered aromatics and flavours blended into the finished product. The seasonal menu at the Glen Carlou Restaurant is paired with Chef Johan Stander’s beautiful plates of food, brought to life from his family’s legacy of recipes, with the estate’s award-winning wines. One such wine is the Grand Classique. Cellarmaster, Johnnie Calitz guides the grapes through their journey in the cellar with a time-honoured art of balancing elements to result in an individualistic blend of wine. This splendid red wine is comprised of the famous
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5; Cabernets Sauvignon and Franc, Merlot, Malbec and Petit Verdot. As a cheeky treat, enjoy the texture of a Danish Lakrids fine liquorice with a swirl of Grand Classique wine as you toast to friends, near and far. Glen Carlou is open seven days a week from 10:00 – 17:00. Contact gallery manager Christa Swart at gallery@glencarlou.co.za should you wish to book a guided walkabout of the exhibitions. Contact our restaurant for a lunch booking or wine tasting at restaurant@glencarlou.co.za For more information visit www.glencarlou.com
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2021 WINNERS ANNOUNCED As the longest running art competition in South Africa, Sasol New Signatures has been a platform for promoting emerging artists and their work to the art-loving public at large. Art plays an important part in the cultural fabric of our nation and competitions serve to encourage greater creativity across age, gender and education, as well as to acknowledge the wealth of talent that we have in our country.
Andrea du Plessis from Cape Town was selected as the overall winner of the competition for her mixed media work Paloceae Lupantozoa. She wins R100 000 and the opportunity to have a solo exhibition at next year’s event. Dalli Weyers from Johannesburg is this year’s runner-up and was awarded R25000 for his work titled Forward: A manifesto created in the artist’s preferred medium, plastic bags. Five merit awards of R10 000 each were awarded to: Nico Athene (Cape Town), Michèle Deeks (Pretoria), Sibaninzi Dlatu (Gqeberha), Eugene Mthobisi Hlophe (Durban) and Monica Klopper (Pretoria). The Sasol New Signatures exhibition is held at the Pretoria Art Museum and runs from 11 November 2021 - 9 January 2022. This exhibition of compelling artworks, created by South Africa’s best emerging talent, is not to be missed.
OVERALL WINNER
RUNNER-UP
Andrea Du Plessis Paloceae Lupantozoa Multimedia – oil on canvas - augmented reality interaction 53 cm x 63 cm
Dalli Weyers Forward: A Manifesto Plastic bags 124,5 cm x 88,5 cm
AN ENCHANTING SUMMER SEASON AT LA MOTTE
2022 Great Wine Capitals Best of Wine Tourism Winner Arts & Culture www.la-motte.com
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ituated in the beautiful Franschhoek Valley in South Africa’s Cape Winelands, La Motte with its picturesque setting, traditional cuisine, and historic charm, is an enchanting choice for those who appreciate the finer things in life. Not only are guests invited to the elegant Wine Tasting Room for an introduction to La Motte’s renowned wine portfolio, the team at the La Motte Restaurant also enjoys sharing the best of local and seasonal flavours with patrons. La Motte enjoys sharing its passions with guests, and visitors to the estate will be treated to a host of internationally acknowledged experiences. The La Motte Museum hosts the South African Old Master J.H. Pierneef’s heritage collection, while a series of 128 linocut editions are displayed in various visiting areas on the estate. The collection was acquired from the artist’s daughter Marita Pierneef-Bailey in 2009 and features artworks dating between 1908 and 1955, as well as memorabilia including books, artefacts and Pierneef’s painting equipment. The museum also presents curated art exhibitions. The current exhibition, Threads of Synergy Contemporary South African Tapestry Art, is on display until 2022. Join the Art Experience for a walkabout of the exhibition and an overview of the collaborative process by which the Stephens Tapestry Studio creates these magnificent large-scale mohair tapestries alongside renowned local artists. Guests can further book a Sculpture Walk (or purchase a booklet for a self-guided walk) along all the female sculptures on the estate. This experience reaffirms La Motte’s appreciation of the arts and celebrates the important role played by women in society.
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Tapestries, current exhibition.
Pierneef Collection
Pierneef Station Panel reconstruction
The history and heritage of the estate is also presented in a Historic Walk through La Motte’s rose garden and an overview of the historic Cape Dutch houses gracing the Franschhoek Valley landscape.
Other summer activities at La Motte include appreciating the breath-taking views of the Franschhoek valley on a self-guided mountainside hike, which explores the wealth of fauna and flora of the natural environment.
Continuing the Christmas tradition, music lovers are treated to a Classical Music Concert in the Historic Red Wine Cellar. The Songmakers Guild will present a selection of songs and carols complimented with readings of the Christmas Story by Johann Nel.
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For more information and to book any of the above experiences, please visit www.la-motte.com
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PHANTASMAGORIA A collection of fantastical, imaginary and dreamlike artworks RK Contemporary, Riebeek Kasteel 5 Dec 2021 – 27 Feb 2022 By Judy Woodborne www.rkcontemporary.com
Lynda Kropman, Phantasia, tin art, 31x38cm 2021
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hantasmagoria originating from the French “ fantasme & fantasmagorie” entered into use in the English language in the early 19th century and was the title of a London exhibition of optical illusions produced by “magic lanterns” in 1802. Fantastical, imaginative and dreamlike are all descriptions of this term as defined by Merriam-Webster. The phantasmagorical exists in the music of the cantata “Carmina Burana” (1936) by Carl Orff, “Le Rossignol” (The Nightingale), a musical fairytale in 3 acts (1908-14) by Igor Stravinsky and the work of Jacque Offenbach amongst others.
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In 1866, when journalist, Jules Vallès wrote “we have had our fill of gravitas and morality! Our thanks to those who have added generous handfuls of gaiety to counterbalance these scales”, he was referring to Jacques Offenbach’s “La Barbe bleu” the irreverent and frivolous operetta which stood in opposition to the “pompous, grandiose aesthetics of the Second Empire.” We took our cue from in creating the brief for invited artists to extend the challenge to create
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Vallès critique and this exhibition, we their creativity with anew, redefine, re-
Christiaan Conradie, The Songs of Sad Men stain your Eyes, 2021, oil on canvas, 130x118
Above: Bastiaan van Stenis, Stray to Sanctum, oil on canvas, 130X130, 2021 Opposite Page: Fanie Buys, The Melody of a Fallen Tree, oil on canvas, 30x23cm 2021
think and re-invent themselves through fresh eyes, a pinch of irreverence and the ability to play with their work. Artists have always had the license to dream and we hoped to stimulate a creative outpouring from this source of inspiration. In selecting artworks for Phanstasmagoria, works were filtered through the traditional criteria of technical competency and ability with the innate content reflecting the sublime inner world or vision of the artist. Yet at the same time we were looking for art that displays another magical quality - the ineffable. This describes a feeling evoked a sensation that lies beyond language, that confirms you are viewing an artwork that is inspiring, tantalizing and unique. The artists represented vary from established artists working in their favourite medium to lesser-known artists with a curious and quirky sense of expression. Ceramic work, paintings,
mixed media works, crafted work, sculpture, stitchcraft and art on paper comprise this festive exhibition. Curated by artist, Judy Woodborne and gallery owner, Astrid McLeod, this promises to be a feast for the eyes and a counterbalance to gravitas with a celebration of life, colour and festivity in “generous handfuls”. (References: Offenbach’s Bouffonnerie, Wagner’s Reverie:The Materiality and Politics of the ineffable in Second Empire Paris. The Opera Quarterly, volume 32, Oxford Academic). www.rkcontemporary.com 32 Main Street, Riebeek Kasteel queries 083 53 33607
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FREE STATE WINNER OF 2021 NEW BREED ART COMPETITION BOLDLY PUSHES BOUNDARIES www.newbreedart.co.za
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n deciding on the overall winner of the 2021 New Breed Art Competition, the conversation between the judges highlighted the Free State artist’s bravery, boldness, and conceptual skill in fearlessly exploring the topic of gender and sexuality, and in particular, how the female body is often sexualised and commoditised. With instances of sexual transgressions against women dominating global headlines in recent times, the judges couldn’t agree more on the relevance and timeliness of Baitumetse Moloabi’s series of thought-provoking works entitled “Ntho tse snaXXX”, and were unanimous that she deserved the highest accolade in this year’s competition. She was awarded R50,000 in prize money. Now in its fifth year, this one-of-its-kind art competition is presented by Phatshoane Henney Attorneys, in association with Oliewenhuis Art Museum, the Art Bank of South Africa, and the Free State Art Collective. “What stood out for our judges this year was the broad variety of mediums used, a freshness in approach, and a boldness by artists in raising and grappling with difficult topics. This made finding the winners an arduous task, with a number of artists being in the running for recognition. But as always, not everyone can win and hard decisions had to be made,” Lesley Mokgoro, competition spokesperson and CEO of Phatshoane Henney Attorneys remarked at the prestigious awards evening in November. The Runner-Up Award and R20,000 in prize money went to Gabriele Jacobs for his expertly crafted, and technically and conceptually strong sculptures entitled “Silent moments, meditative poses” and “Daddy Long Legs”. The first of two R10,000 Merit Awards, with which the judges had a bit more leeway to identify emerging talent that should be recognised for their promise and potential, went to Miró Van der Vloed for his sophisticated and superbly
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Pictured with Lesley Mokgoro, competition spokersperson, are from left, Miró Van der Vloed, Merit Award winner, Baitumetse Moloabi, Mfundo Mbali, Merit Award winner and Gabriele Jacobs, runner-up. Jakie Madide, the Public Choice Award winner, was unfortunately unable to attend. iFlair Photography
New Breed Art Competition winner, Baitumetse Moloabi’s, Ntho tse snaXXX
executed steel and laser-engraved wood work entitled “Holy viewfinder – Constructing Utopia”, which talks about shifting viewpoints and the process of transformation leading to social change. The judges agreed that this work is profound and that its simplicity underscores the complexity of the message of the artist. The second R10,000 Merit Award went to Mfundo Mbali in recognition for his large, arresting oil painting entitled “Social distancing” – which so dramatically depicts the distressing tendencies of many to ignore Covid- 19 regulations, which we have witnessed since the pandemic started. The work also talks to issues of a social nature, that were disturbingly highlighted by the pandemic. These winners were chosen by die official competition judges out of a total of 40 top Free State artists whose 48 works formed part of this year’s official New Breed Art Competition exhibition. The judging panel consisted of artists Usha Seejarim and Wessel van Huyssteen, and Nonto Msomi, Project Manager of the Art Bank of South Africa. Finally, with nearly 20% of the over 2500 votes cast online, the Public Choice Award went to Jakie Madide for his striking pen and pastel work entitled “In desperate time”, wherein he speaks about how art is a form of expression and exploration, and how this specific work speaks to times when he struggled to juggle his studies and art career all at once.
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Mokgoro stressed once more that the that the judges were full of admiration for the incredibly high standard of this year’s entries. Since quite a number of works were also in the running for the merit awards, the judges consequently felt that the following artists also deserved special mention: • Daniëlle Pretorius for “Middagslapie” • Ditshwanelo Mosiea for “The narratives of the backbone” • Johandi du Plessis for “Friend of a Friend” (digital installation) • Lyrene Kuhn-Botma for “Quick Response” • Zanoxolo Sylvester Mqeku for “Immortal coils” Mokgoro finally reflected on the huge value that the two new competition partners who have come on board this year, namely the Art Bank of South Africa and the Free State Art Collective, adds to the competition and the artists that enter. “In addition to the fact that we have for the first time allowed digital media to be submitted and that we are coming out of a world-wide pandemic that has changed the world for ever, it is not surprising that the entries and competition this year feels different and more relevant than ever. It bodes well for the future of the competition and the quality of Free State art.” For more information: www.newbreedart.co.za.
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Business Art
STEPHAN WELZ & CO. www.swelco.co.za
Peter Clarke (South African 1929 - 2014), Homage To The Poet Langston Hughes, Sold for: R 16 380 (Cape Town June 2021)
T
he last two years have been filled with many challenges, changes and improvements. A global pandemic saw changes in the way we worked, lived, and interacted. 2021 was a year that largely involved discovering what a post-Covid auction world looked like and what it meant for us moving forward. Stephan Welz & Co. redefined our approach to auctions during strict Covid restrictions, and has continued to build on the infrastructure implemented to ensure our collectors not only have access to our auctions from the safety and comfort of their homes, but that they also have an improved bidding experience. While our hybrid auction model has continued to gain traction, we have seen an exciting new combination of eras, movements and mediums within our Fine Art Department, reflecting our new space within the auction world, particularly in the current global climate where traditional is meeting online. It has been particularly exciting for our art specialists to work with many more contemporary works of art, while maintaining our interest in established artists and quality items. Our sales have seen the amalgamation of artists that are represented by some of South
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Jacobus Hendrik Pierneef, (South African 1886 - 1957), Malutis, Sold for: R234 000 (Cape Town June 2021)
William Joseph Kentridge, (South Africa 1955 - ): Untitled (Four Shadows), Sold for: R 76 050 (Johannesburg July 2021)
Jacob Hendrik Pierneef, Willows, Sold for R 72 540 (Johannesburg March 2021)
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Vladimir Grigoryevich Tretchikoff (South African 1913-2006): Still Life With Chrysanthemums In An Oriental Vase, Sold for: R585 000 (Johannesburg Nov 2021)
Ndikhumbule Ngqinambi (South African 1977 - ), Union Jack, Sold for: R11 700 (Cape Town October 2021)
Angus Taylor (South Africa 1970 - ): Grounded Iv, Sold for R 76 050 (Johannesburg July 2021)
Africa’s blue-chip galleries, with works by some of South Africa’s old and modernist masters. Contemporary works by Andrzej Urbanski, Angus Taylor, Mongezi Ncaphayi, Marlene Dumas, William Kentridge and Ndikhumbule Ngqinambi have sat alongside J.H Pierneef, Maggie Laubser, Peter Clarke, Sydney Kumalo, Anton van Wouw and Robert Hodgins. This juxtaposition of approaches has resulted in a consistently exciting selection of art throughout the year, offering collectors of all interests excellent investment opportunities. As 2021 draws to a close, we would like to thank our loyal collectors who have adapted to an auction world that has constantly changed, updated and modified as needs have dictated and for their unwavering support and interest in the art that we are fortunate enough to present to them. We encourage collectors to mark their diaries for the Stephan Welz & Co. February Premium Auction, which will kick-start our 2022 auction calendar. We are actively consigning for this sale and welcome consignment enquiries at ct@swelco.co.za and 021 794 6461.
Robert Griffiths Hodgins (South Africa 1920 - 2010): Untitled, Sold for: R468 000 (Johannesburg July 2021)
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ARTGO
DEC/JAN 2021/2
NEW GALLERIES, ONGOING SHOWS AND OPENING EXHIBITIONS A.MORE gallery Milano [Tomorrows Today], Aldo Salucci, Versace on top - 91x120cm, ICTAF 2022
ARTGO: DECEMBER 2021
OPENING EXHIBITIONS
SALON NINETY ONE
ART@AFRICA CAPE TOWN
NEL SUMMER SALON 21/22 THIS YEAR FEATURES TRUE GEMS FROM ESTABLISHED ARTISTS AS WELL AS FRESH TALENT. 02/12/2022 UNTIL 14/01/2022 WWW.NELART.CO.ZA
OLIEWENHUIS ART MUSEUM ARE YOU GAME? AN EXHIBITION CURATED BY THE ART MUSEUM GUIDES 02/12/2021 UNTIL 13/02/2022 WWW.NASMUS.CO.ZA
THE ISLAND CHLOE TOWNSEND, JOH DEL, KIRSTEN BEETS, LUCY STUART-CLARK,TARA DEACON 01/12/2021 UNTIL 23/12/2021 WWW.SALON91.CO.ZA
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CELEBRATING AFRICA IN ALL ITS DIVERSITY AFRICAN HORIZONS SOLO EXHIBITION BY KOBUS WALKER 02/12/2021 UNTIL 12/01/2022 WWW.ARTATAFRICA.ART
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GALLERY AT GLEN CARLOU MATRIX A SOLO EXHIBITION BY ELFRIEDE DREYER 05/12/2021 UNTIL 22/01/2022 WWW.GLENCARLOU.COM/ART-GALLERY
RK CONTEMPORARY
PHANTASMAGORIA 05/12/2021 UNTIL 27/02/2022 A FANTASTICAL, DREAMLIKE AND IMAGINATIVE COLLECTION FOR ARTWORKS WWW.RKCONTEMPORARY.COM
GALLERY AT GLEN CARLOU
SUMMER SALON 21 A GROUP EXHIBITION CELEBRATING WORKS FROM VARIOUS ARTISTS. 05/12/2021 UNTIL 22/01/2022 WWW.GLENCARLOU.COM/ART-GALLERY
UNISA UNCANNY STORIES THE EXHIBITION FEATURES WORK FROM UNISA STAFF MEMBERS, THIRD LEVELSTUDENTS AND MAQUETTES FOR THE DEVELOPING UNISA SCIENCE CAMPUS ART WALK. 07/12/2021 UNTIL 11/02/2022 WWW.UNISA.AC.ZA
ARTGO: DECEMBER 2021-JANUARY 2022
OPENING EXHIBITIONS
RUST-EN-VREDE GALLERY VULNERABILITY LAID BARE ROSEMARY LAPPING-SELLARS CERAMIC WORKS AND INSTALLATIONS 11/01/2022 UNTIL 26/01/2022 WWW.RUST-EN-VREDE.COM
SMAC CPT MONGEZI NCAPHAYI LET THE WATERS SETTLE... SOLO EXHIBITION 11/12/2021 UNTIL 21/01/2022 WWW.SMACGALLERY.COM
CAPE GALLERY
EBONY/CURATED SUMMER EXHIBITION 15/12/2021 UNTIL 18/01/2022 WWW.EBONYCURATED.COM
ONCE AGAIN THE CAPE GALLERY SEEKS TO BRIGHTEN YOUR DECEMBER WITH THE DELIGHTFUL WORKS OF DAVID KUIJERS AND TANIA BABB. A SELECTION OF SCULPTURES, CERAMICS, AND PAINTINGS. 13/12/2021 UNTIL 31/01/2022 WWW.CAPEGALLERY.CO.ZA
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PRINCE ALBERT GALLERY DIANE MCLEAN MYSTERY IN THE EVERYDAY SOLO EXHIBITION 16/12/2021 UNTIL 22/01/2022 WWW.PRINCEALBERTGALLERY.CO.ZA
INVESTEC CAPE TOWN ART FAIR AT THE CTICC AND VIA THE ONLINE PLATFORM ON ARTSHELL 18/02/2022 UNTIL 20/02/2022
WWW.INVESTECCAPETOWNARTFAIR.CO.ZA
PRINCE ALBERT OPEN STUDIOS
THE SUMMER EDITION THE MAGICAL CREATIVE HUB OF PRINCE ALBERT IS ALWAYS A TREAT 30/12/2021 UNTIL 02/01/2022 WWW.PRINCEALBERTOPENSTUDIOS.CO.ZA
131 A GALLERY, CAPE TOWN Conrad Botes The Anatomy Lesson - Solo Exhibition 6/12/2021 to 20/01/2022 www.131agallery.com
Aviwe Plaatjie, The Podcast, 2021, Oil on Canvas, 170x200cm Image: Ebony Curated
ARTGO: DECEMBER 2021
ONGOING SHOWS
THE VIEWING ROOM ART GALLERY PRICES TO GIVE CHEER: ART TREASURE TROVE AFFORDABLE ART FOR THE HOLIDAY SEASON 27/11/2021 UNTIL 15/12/2021 WWW.THEVIEWINGROOM.CO.ZA
DEEPEST DARKEST
PLANE - ARLENE AMALER-RAVIV, DAVE ROBERTSON, MARK RAUTENBACH, BYRON MASIXOLE EKSTEEN 20/11/2021 UNTIL 22/12/2021 20 DIXON STREET, DE WATERKANT WWWDEEPESTDARKESTART.COM
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EVERARD READ JHB ANDRZEJ URBANSKI IRREGULAR SOLO EXHIBITION UNTIL 22/12/2021 WWW.EVERARD-READ.CO.ZA
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ARTGO: DECEMBER 2021 - JANUARY 2022
ONGOING SHOWS
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ART IS ART [UN] FRAMED GROUP EXHIBITION UNTIL 31/12/2021 ARTISART.CO.ZA
PRETORIA ART MUSEUM SASOL NEW SIGNATURES EXHIBITION OF WINNING WORKS 11/11/2021 UNTIL 09/01/2022 WWW.SASOLNEWSIGNATURES.CO.ZA
CAPE PALETTE ANNUAL SUMMER SHOW CURATED GROUP EXHIBITION OF CONTEMPORARY SOUTH AFRICAN ART 25/11/2021 UNTIL 10/01/2022 WWW.CAPEPALETTE.CO.ZA
NORVAL FOUNDATION
CONGRESS: THE SOCIAL BODY IN THREE FIGURATIVE PAINTERST TREVOR MAKHOBA, GEORGE PEMBA & STHEMBISO SIBISI 02/10/2021 UNTIL 10/01/2022 WWW.NORVAFOUNDATION.ORG
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DEPARTMENT OF ART AND MUSIC AND THE UNISA ART GALLERY OPEN THE GROUP EXHIBITION
CURATED BY DR GWEN MILLER
Gwenneth Miller. Mycelium Series 1, 2021. Ultrachrome inks on Hahnemühle Paper. Framed in Oak 260mm x 327mm
Art, antiques, objets d’art, furniture, and jewellery wanted for forthcoming auctions
Le Corbusier, Totem, colour lithograpgh,1963 SOLD R46,000 View previous auction results at www.rkauctioneers.co.za
011 789 7422 • Bram Fischer Centre, Lower Ground, 95 Bram Fischer Driver Cnr George Street, Ferndale, 2194
ARTGO: JANUARY 2022
ONGOING SHOWS
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SMAC JHB SIMON STONE NEW PAINTINGS SOLO EXHIBITION 20/11/2021 UNTIL 15/01/2022 WWW.SMACGALLERY.COM
SURFACE GROUP EXHIBITION FROM THE ROOIELS AREA AT OLD LUTHERAN CHURCH, 138 DORP STREET, STELLENBOSCH 07/11/2021 UNTIL 23/01/2022
OLIEWENHUIS ART MUSEUM ĀVĀHANA – INVOCATION SOLO-EXHIBITION BY AMITA MAKAN 05/10/2021 UNTIL 23/01/2022 WWW.NASMUS.CO.ZA
GROUND ART CAFFE WINDOWS TO LIFE BY ALLY HALL SOLO EXHIBITION UNTIL 31/01/2022 WWW.GROUNDARTCAFFE.CO.ZA
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ARTGO: JANUARY 2022 - FEBRUARY 2022
ONGOING SHOWS
THE ARTIST PROOF STUDIO BODY – PLACE – SPACE 3RD YEAR STUDENT EXHIBITION 04/11/2021 UNTIL 31/01/2022 VIEW AND BUY ONLINE WWW.ARTISTPROOFSTUDIO.CO.ZA
MELROSE GALLERY POP A CELEBRATION OF PAN AFRICAN CONTEMPORARY ARTISTS 12/11/2021 UNTIL 30/01/2022 WWW.THEMELROSEGALLERY.COM
Daor Contemporary Coode Crescent Port of Cape Town
(Enter from South Arm Road, through the security booms)
Wed-Fri 9am - 5pm Sat 10am - 2pm
www.daor.co.za info@daor.co.za
+27 71 624 7130
OLIEWENHUIS ART MUSEUM CONTAINMENT: STITCHED AESTHETICS TO CULTURAL CONSTRAINT 06/08/2021 UNTIL 30/01/2022 WWW.NASMUS.CO.ZA
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THE VIEWING ROOM ART GALLERY ROOFTOP X 09/10/2021 UNTIL 30/01/2022 WWW.THEVIEWINGROOM.CO.ZA
GALLERY 2 THROUGH THE WINDOW A COLLECTION OF VISUAL NARRATIVES 06/11/2021 UNTIL 26/02/2022 WWW.GALLERY2.CO.ZA
OLIEWENHUIS ART MUSEUM
FROM DESOLATED RECOLLECTIONS TO ANTICIPATED CEREMONIAL FESTIVITIES, CURATED FROM THE PERMANENT COLLECTION OF OLIEWENHUIS ART MUSEUM BY YOLANDA DE KOCK. 25/11/2021 UNTIL 20/02/2022 WWW.NASMUS.CO.ZA
ABE OPPERMAN GALLERY
NEW SUMMER EXHIBITION, 11 HUGUENOT ST
PRINT AUCTIONS CALL FOR CONSIGNMENTS FEBRUARY AUCTION SEND YOUR IMAGES TO INFO@ PRINTAUCTIONS.CO.ZA FOR MORE INFORMATION GO TO WWW.PRINTAUCTIONS.CO.ZA
Gregoire Boonzaier (SA 1909 - 2005) Hand-Coloured Linocut, Figure Amongst Trees, Signed In Pencil, 23 X 15 Sheet Size
GARY SHEAN 1977 - 2021 Words by Kate Lagan
“A life so beautifully lived, and a heart that loved so hard” Gary Shean passed away in Cape Town on the 30th of August 2021 at the age of 44. He was a prominent figure in the Cape Town art community and made a significant contribution to the wider South African art world having spent over a decade as an auction-house art specialist before establishing his own consultancy, Gary Shean Fine Art, in 2019. Gary will be remembered for his vibrant personality and his loving and sincere nature. He had an engaging passion for art and people. Gary often took emerging artists under his wing and aided them in achieving recognition in the market. His deep admiration of the work of late artist Peter Clarke led to both a professional relationship and personal friendship. Gary’s enthusiasm and support substantially assisted in Clarke’s emergence as a highly collectible and valued artist locally and internationally and in 2018 Gary became the curator of the Peter Clarke Private Collection.
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Gary’s memorial was recently held at the Norval Foundation, an institution close to his heart, and tributes poured in from friends, family and members of the art community. Artist and close friend, Matthew Hindley, captured the essence of the man as he paid his own tribute to Gary: “as an artist, I am grateful to be able to hold the gifts he brought to my world. For Gary, his involvement in the artworld was not merely a job, but a calling. He believed in art with a capital A, with all the power of his huge romantic heart. He believed in the power of art to soothe and heal, to create an escape from the mundane, the routing, the troubles of the day to day. He always made me feel like I had the most special job in the world, one almost as good as a rock star. A true believer, who kept my dreams alive through thick and thin”. His untimely death came as a shock to all who knew him. He leaves behind his wife, Yolande, and daughters Emily and Tori (12 and 6). His loss is deeply felt and his spirit will be greatly missed.
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Daor Contemporary Coode Crescent Port of Cape Town
(Enter from South Arm Road, through the security booms)
Wed-Fri 9am - 5pm Sat 10am - 2pm
www.daor.co.za info@daor.co.za
+27 71 624 7130
Manfred Zylla (1939), A Watchman, 4 Colour Etching, 1984. 74 x 53cm
THE SA PRINT GALLERY PRESENTS SUMMER SALON A CURATED EXHIBITION OF SOUTH AFRICAN FINE ART PRINTS 07 DECEMBER 2021 - END OF JANUARY 2022 WWW.PRINTGALLERY.CO.ZA 109 SIR LOWRY ROAD, WOODSTOCK, CAPE TOWN
