SA Art Times October 2018

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OCTOBER 2018 WWW.ARTTIMES.CO.ZA


Alexis Preller, Adam, 1972, oil on canvas, 102 x 102 cm, R8 000 000 – 10 000 000


SPRING AUCTION

Johannesburg 28 October 2018

Historic, Modern & Contemporary Art

PUBLIC PREVIEW 25 – 28 OCTOBER

VENUE | Gordon Institute of Business Science 26 Melville Road, Illovo, Johannesburg

ENQUIRIES & SALE CONTACT JOHANNESBURG +27 11 243 5243 enquiries@aspireart.net

www.aspireart.net


Modern & Contemporary African Art AUCTION LONDON 16 OCTOBER

EXHIBITION FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC 12 – 16 OCTOBER 34–35 NEW BOND STREET, LONDON W1A 2AA ENQUIRIES +44 (0)20 7293 5696 HANNAH.OLEARY@SOTHEBYS.COM SOTHEBYS.COM/CONTEMPORARYAFRICAN #SOTHEBYSCTPAFRICAN © EL ANATSUI © WILLIAM KENTRIDGE


(Right) WILLIAM KENTRIDGE Kinetic Sculpture (Bicycle Wheel) Estimate £70,000–90,000 (Left) EL ANATSUI TAGOMIZOR Estimate £550,000–750,000

DOWNLOAD SOTHEBY’S APP FOLLOW US @SOTHEBYS



CONTENTS

Art Times October Edition 2018 10 ABSA L’ATELIER WINNERS ANNOUNCED 2018 16 ART FRANSCHHOEK 22 FEATURED ARTIST JACO ROUX BY ANDREW LAMPRECHT 28 ART TIMES IN CONVERSATION WITH TERTIUS VAN DYK 34 LOST SOULS - A DISCOURSE ON THE SYRIAN HUMANITARIAN CRISIS 36 ARTIST FEATURE - MONTY MAHOBE BY PENE MANIERE 40 LIODA CONRAD’S INCENDIARY CONVERSATIONS 48 ROGER HOPELY’S BITTEREINDERS 52 CONTINUING CONVERSATIONS AT UJ ART GALLERY 56 NEW CURATOR FOR THE PETER CLARKE FOUNDATION 80 NEW BLOOD FOR A NEW WORLD 92 ARTGO CALENDAR OCTOBER OCTOBER COVER ARTWORK Larita, Engelbrecht Parachute 50 x 50cm Oil & Acrylic On Board Courtesy of EBONY/CURATED

Left: Jaco Roux, Venda Landscape III, 100 x 100 cm Christopher Moller Art

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Editorial SOUTH AFRICA’S LEADING VISUAL ARTS PUBLICATION

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e would like to thank the hundreds of School Art Learners for taking part in our Art Times New Blood Profile (see on our website www.arttimes.co.za/newblood and Facebook profile of over 790k followers). We are overwhelmed by the increadable talent and passon that has come in through your photo’s these past three months. We would like to encourage you and your art teachers to send in more images, as these have become a vital source of getting to know and appreciate the current issues our new generation of artists are facing and working through.

CONTACT ART TIMES Tel: 021 424 7733 P.O Box 428 Rondebosch 7701 EDITOR Gabriel Clark-Brown editor@arttimes.co.za

Please keep on sending more images of your increadable art, we look forward to recieving them and promoting young SA artists.

ART DIRECTOR Brendan Body

Best Regards, Gabriel Clark-Brown, Editor: SA Art Times

ADVERTISING & MARKETING Eugene Fisher sales@arttimes.co.za SEND AD MATERIAL sales@arttimes.co.za DIGITAL MEDIA & EVENT LISTINGS Jan Croft subs@arttimes.co.za ARTGO CONTENT info@artgo.co.za

Herschel Girls High School, Joelle Joubert, Grade 12

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.

@ARTTIMES.CO.ZA

Above: Krugersdorp Highschool, Monique Caterina, Grade 12 Right: Parel Vallei High, Michelle Lourens, Grade 11 08

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ABSA L’ATELIER ART AWARDS 2018 Exceptional SA women claim top spots in Pan-African Awards

Marguerite Kirsten, Embodiment



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arguerite Kirsten, a fine artist from Cape Town, fought off stiff competition from visual artists from across Africa to take top honours in the 2018 Absa L’Atelier awards. Her compatriot, Philiswa Lila, a fine artist and scholar from the Eastern Cape (based in Gauteng) walked away with this year’s Gerard Sekoto Award. Kirsten won the overall Absa L’Atelier Award for her installation Embodiment. Having grown up, and continuing to live, with various medical conditions, Kirsten feels her body has become an instrument of the medical fraternity. This work, comprising various fluids that represent the ephemeral nature of her body, sought to strengthen and dignify the artist’s physical body in the face of this perceived objectification. Lila scooped the Gerard Sekoto Award for Self-Titled, a series of self-portraits related to her name, Philiswa, which means ‘be healed’. The artist used her name to explore the nuances of language, meaning and experiences of individualism as recognisable or familiar to collective frameworks of culture, mainly in isiXhosa. The Gerard Sekoto Award for the most promising artist is sponsored by the French Embassy, Alliance Franciase and French Institute. It is only available to a South African artist who has previously entered the L’Atelier Awards and who has demonstrated continual improvement in their art-making. The three Merit Awards winners this year were Gillian Abe of Uganda (Seat of Honour), Henry Obeng of Ghana (Recycle Frame 2) and Kirsten Eksteen of South Africa (Patterns and Pattern Body) respectively. These three artists, along with overall winner Marguerite Kirsten, Carli Bassin (SA) (Shaped), Lameez Davids (SA) (Thank you for my lunch), Christiaan Kritzinger (SA) (Meltdown: new aesthetics in old landscapes), Ayo Akinwande (Nigeria) (Shrine), Lodewyk Barkhuizen (SA) (Hat disguised as map), and Sikelela Damane (SA) (Toyi, Toyi, Act 1) were selected as the Top 10 finalists for 2018.

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The Absa L’Atelier awards has become a touchstone for the concerns consuming young people on the continent. Works referencing hair styles as a form of expression, identity and a site of contestation were prominent in previous years and remained important to a number of this year’s entrants, such as Nonkululeko Sibande, Lebohang Motaung (both from South Africa) and Darlyne Komukama (Uganda). Some artworks offered insights into the particular conditions and contexts from the artist’s countries of origin – constant power outages in Lagos, Nigeria, accounted for the unexpected metaphor between electricity generators and religious shrines by Ayo Akinwande, for example. Pressing political issues regarding land ownership in South Africa surfaced in works by Vianca Malan, Mhlonishwa Chiliza, Karla Nixon and Ciara Struwig, while forced removals and land ownership were mirrored in Bya’bazzukulu (For Grandchildren) by Donald Wasswa. Challenging fixed gender roles was again a prominent theme, as seen in the work of Mzoxolo Mayongo and Matimu Lloyd Maluleke. These artworks affirm not only the dominance of sociopolitical discourse, but the artists’ perceptions that contemporary practice is irretrievably tied to addressing them. Absa L’Atelier has been shining a light on promising young African artists’ work for over 33 years. Not only do the awards identify bright young talent but they provide a solid foundation for the further growth of these artist’s potential, giving them the opportunity to step into the spotlight on the world stage. By highlighting the work of new artists from the African continent, Absa L’Atelier proves that they are committed to taking work from where it may have been unknown, in the dark, and presenting it to a global audience – bringing it to light. This essence reflects the 2019 L’Atelier theme, Give Art Light, which was unveiled at the Awards’ gala evening on Wednesday, 12 September 2018. Right: Philiswa Lila, Self-Titled

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Row 1: Henry Obeng (merit award winner), Avitha Sooful (National President: SANAVA), Lameez Davids, Marguerite Kirsten (winner), Carli Bassi, Kirsten Eksteen (merit Award winner) Philiswa Lila (Gerard Sekota Winner). Row 2: David Wingfield (Head Of Marketing Absa Group Limited) Ayo Akinwande, Sikelela Damane, Christiaan Kritzinger, Loedwyk Barkhuizen. Row 3: Paul Bayliss (Absa Art & Museum Curator), Daudi Karungi who is the Director of Afriart Gallery and Kampala Art Biennale who represented Gillian Stacey Abe (Merit Award Winner), His excellency Ambassador Christophe Farnaud (French Ambassador), Indra Wussow (founder of the Sylt foundation)

Dr Paul Bayliss, Absa Art and Museum Curator, says this idea is also in line with the ethos of Absa’s new Africanacity identity. “Bringing to light the best art on the continent, lighting up the careers of artists from all over Africa, putting the spotlight firmly on African artists for more than three decades, and investing in Africa’s creative economy for this length of time, all represent the spirit of Africanacity. These are the physical manifestations of the inspirational Africanacity idea in action,” he says. The Absa L’Atelier art competition is jointly sponsored by Absa and the South African National Association for the Visual Arts (SANAVA), and is one of the longest-running and most prestigious visual arts competitions on the African continent. It was established in South Africa 33 years ago, but in recent years has been expanded to include a number of other African countries in order to reach more young artists and further the unparalleled opportunities it affords those who participate in the competition.

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“The L’Atelier Awards embrace emerging artists from our continent. This competition has become the voice and lens through which we experience and access various societies, and has rendered the borders between our country and the rest of Africa, porous,” says Avitha Sooful, president of SANAVA. This year was the first time that the awards were extended to include Nigeria and Namibia. The newcomers really shone, with a vast number of outstanding pieces catching the eye of the adjudicators, who appreciated their interpretation of ‘the contemporary’ with the African visual art context. A total of 12 countries now participate in the competition which, aside from Nigeria and Namibia, include South Africa, Botswana, Ghana, Zambia, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, For further information please visit, lateliercompetition.com

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BEING A solo exhibition by Asuka Nirasawa Opening 4 October 2018

+27214224145 69 Burg Street,Cape Town www.eclecticacontemporary.co.za info@eclecticacontemporary.co.za

Global Reaching A group exhibition Opening 4 October 2018

+27214220327 179 Buitengracht Street, Gardens admin@eclecticadesignandart.co.za www.eclecticadesignandart.co.za


ART FRANSCHHOEK 27 October to 25 November 2018 www.franschhoek.org.za

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s with fine food and premium wines, so too fine art needs to be experienced to be appreciated. Visitors to Franschhoek can once again look forward to a month of artworks and exhibitions, as Art Franschhoek ‘opens it doors’ to the public from Saturday, 27 October to Sunday, 25 November.

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ver the years the valley has established itself as one of the country’s premier art destinations with its numerous art galleries and resident artists. Art enthusiasts can choose to leisurely browse the galleries situated along the village’s main road, and within comfortable walking distance from each other. Alternatively choose to view the artworks on display at some of the wine farms, which include Grande Provence and La Motte. Garden and art tours at Leeu Estate add an extra touch to your cultural outing. The month of Art Franschchoek celebrates these artists, and allows visitors to experience this unique part of Franschhoek. To celebrate the start of this festival of art appreciation some of the participating galleries will be hosting special events during the weekend of 27 and 28 October. One of the highlights during the weekend includes a special wheel throwing demonstration by wellrenowned ceramicist, David Walters. The world renowned Everard Read Gallery will be exhibiting major works by some of our country’s finest contemporary artists, in a variety of media. Everard Read Gallery’s involvement signifies that Art Franschhoek is without a doubt one of THE art events to experience. EBONY/CURATED, Hugh Byrne, Untitled, Latex Paint on Panel, 2018

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Thonton Kabeya, (Detail) Playful, mixed media and sculpting canvas, Courtesy of ODA Gallery

EBONY/CURATED, Lisa Ringwood, Hand Painted Ceramic Plates, 2018

Above: Schoolwork, 68 x 80cm by Makiwa Right: EBONY/CURATED, Larita Engelbrecht, “Parachute”, oil & acrylic on board, 2018

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Jimmy Law, I’m Not Lost, The Boutique Gallery

Manzart Gallery is the venue for Marie Stander’s solo exhibition. Marie, who has a large and fast growing following throughout South Africa’s collector community, is best known for her figurative charcoal drawings, large scale portraits, group drawings, as well as near life size drawings. These works will take prominence in the main gallery during Art Franschhoek. In addition to Marie’s exhibition, the Manzart Collection will also show works by collage artists Karin Miller and Caitlin TrumanBaker, amongst other prominent artists. Magnificent sculptures by self-taught, instinctual sculptor, Bruce Little, will be on display at Franschhoek Cellars. Bruce sculpts to capture the spirit of the wild African creatures he has observed and guarded most

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of his life. His technique captures the essential movement and attitudes of his subjects. Ebony/Curated, with its exquisite displays of fine arts, sculptures and ceramics, will host three solo exhibitions in their respective galleries. Embark on a journey of art discovery as you admire one of South Africa’s greatest masters, Jacob Hendrik Pierneef, at the La Motte Museum, with his Ink on Paper exhibition. A taster to tickle the art taste buds this is just a sneak peek of what you can expect during this time. For a detailed programme of the opening weekend events and the various exhibitions, visit www.franschhoek.org.za.

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Featured Artist

JACO ROUX

2 Landscapes, Christopher Moller Gallery www.christophermollerart.co.za

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n some ways I suspect we always inhabit two landscapes: one is the visual terrain which we perceive by sight predominantly, gazing out onto the distance; and this is perhaps augmented by the sounds of insects, wind or fauna and even the unique scents offered by the South African bushveld, should that be the landscape we are contemplating. The other landscape we inhabit is physically the same but is apprehended physically, not through a static gaze. We walk, traverse, encounter, stumble, engage. These two landscapes may seem to be one, however, experience is not the same as looking. One is viscerally active; the other perhaps more passive and contemplative.

The abiding feature of Jaco Roux’s paintings of landscapes is his seemingly magical ability to traverse these two states and, in my view, it is what sets his painting apart from so many other ‘landscapists’. For his paintings are not indolent ‘gazings out’ on a passive terrain but rather deeply energetic and highly activated explorations into the terrain he paints. His canvases exude energy, vitality and brim over with the life that resides in the domains he portrays. The deep love and respect he has for the land he selects to convey through his artworks are plain to see for anyone who stands before his work: marks that do not describe as much as evoke; colours that allude to, but do not slavishly replicate the ineffably ungraspable beauty of the open veld. The ‘naturalistic portrayals’ (if one can call them that for, as I have just argued they are more evocations of invocations of both sight and experience) of the beautiful open spaces of nature are Venda Landscape II, 100 x 100 cm

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severely juxtaposed with fields of raw colour and complex painterly compositions that owe nothing to the visuality of ‘surveying the field’ in a visual sense. Rather the ‘abstract’ layering he creates is a reflection of an experiential engagement with the world he inhabits, visits and admires. The balance between these elements creates a dialogue between us, the landscape and indeed the artist himself. For me, Roux is an exceptionally generous artist: how easy it would be to hold the true essence of encountering, feeling, living and breathing in the spaces he paints to himself, merely showing us ‘the view’. His masterstroke is to make us feel alongside him, through the conceptual elements that each painting incorporates and thus, giving us the gift of sharing the experiential aspects of landscape alongside him. I can think of very few ‘landscapists’ who do the same.

Left: Pag Island, Croatia II’, 120 x 100 cm Above Top: Levubu Rivier, 40 x 40 cm Above Bottom: Soutpansberg I, 40 x 40 cm

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“His paintings are not indolent ‘gazings out’ on a passive terrain but rather deeply energetic and highly activated explorations into the terrain he paints.” I characterise this as generosity but maybe it is also a gift of imagination and the ability to sense beyond what the eyes alone can take in. For me, Roux is more a conceptualist – perhaps an ‘evocationalist’ – than a ‘landscapist’. So these are the two landscapes that are obvious: one literal and figurative; the other abstract, experienced and felt. But there is another level at play here too, I believe. Jaco Roux divides his time between Croatia and Limpopo, South Africa, and the almost imperceptible intersection of these very different lands is also at play in his work, I would offer. Should the viewer need to think about the potential shifts that his dual geographical life implies in looking at his work, misses the point, so far as I am concerned. These artworks are not puzzles, they are something which I believe is impossible outside of the domain of painting: they are acts of direct communion with the viewer. There is no ‘answer’ or ‘solution’ to be had in gazing at Roux’s work. There is just feeling and experiencing and conceptually apprehending. And maybe, if you look long and hard enough, there is also the gift of sharing and experiencing the vision and spirit of a person who understands nature very, very well indeed. A gift: generous, fulsome, unambiguous that Roux proffers to anyone who desires to experience rather than merely look. – Andrew Lamprecht.

‘Matoks II’, 40 x 40 cm

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In conversation with

TERTIUS VAN DYK

The Art Times caught up with the surrealist artist in the midst of creating his new body of work. By Eugene Fisher



from nature like rocks, flat planes, old trees and all rusted things like derelict buildings etc, I would always try to vision in my mind’s eye, what they would have looked like back in the day and to imagine the memories that would be attached to them….. You seem to avoid cities and prefer living in less dense areas and have a love of open spaces. You document the state of the earth and your surrounds in a surreal manner through your dreamscape art. Whether a rusted screw or a ship anchored in the Karoo; what is it about your subject matter that inspires you to put it to canvas and give us an idea about the process involved. Strangely I do love the buzz of Cape Town, but will always want to live away from it as far as possible, hence me staying in the Hemel en Aarde Valley in Hermanus, with all the green around here, still nothing compares to the vast openness of the Karoo, and the peace I feel from it when I paint. We know very little about the talented Tertius van Dyk. Tell us a little about yourself... where are you from, where did you grow up.. what was your childhood like? I was born in the gorgeous Overberg Valley, the family moved inland just before I started with schooling. After matriculating, I left home and moved to Bloemfontein and in 2007 made the life changing decision to move back to the Western Cape and since then, I have never looked back. Share with us that very first moment that you decided to make art. Ha Ha! It was not my decision to make, but that of my mother’s, who is also a lover of the arts. At a very young age she would put crayons, pencils and paper in my hands to keep me busy, she said It made a lot less noise then playing with her pots and pans…. Very thankful for that lol! You use mixed media with a preference for acrylic in mostly subtle earthy shades. What other artists have been inspirational to you in your work? With all honesty, there has never been a particular artist. Most of my inspiration comes

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What has been your most touching or amazing moment you’ve experienced as an artist? Mainly because of my immense passion for trees and hatred for the destruction of the Rain Forests, I would say that my soul is mostly touched by the spirit of a man from India by the name of JADAV PAYENG, who has planted hundreds of trees since 1979, and therefore creating a manmade forest, amazing! What would you like our readers to know about your new body of work and can we look forward to a solo exhibition sometime in the near future? As I evolve, my art evolves….My exhibition in Cape Town at The Young Blood Gallery was a success and was very well received. There are talks of exhibiting in Johannesburg but no dates have been set yet. My new works will include something I have not done yet in the past, exciting stuff, watch this space! Follw on Facebook: Tertius van Dyk Art Artwork availabe at Walker Bay Modern Art Gallery - www.walkerbayartgallery.co.za Previous page: The Mist Right: Ice Solation

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Oasis

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Beautifull Life Building, 70 - 74 Bree Street, Cape Town youngbloodafrica in collaboration with Walker Bay Modern Art Present

LOUIS CHANU

An Exhibition of Illuminated Steel/Stainless Steel Sculptures 01 - 29 November 2018

Enquiries: +27 21 424 0074 / ina@youngblood-africa.com / youngblood-africa.com / walkerbayartgallery.co.za


LOST SOULS EXHIBITION

Anthony Lane exhibits at Eclectica Contemporary Cape Town, 04 October 2018

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nthony Lane and Eclectica Contemporay present a discourse on the Syrian Humanitarian crisis to Cape Town.

Patrick who shared this sentiment – along with others who have chosen to participate in bringing this project to life.

In September 2015 the photo of three - year old Alan Kurdi sent waves of intense empathy, sorrow and shock throughout the world, as the public was confronted with the Syrian crisis. His delicate and waif lifeless body washed ashore in Turkey as the rubber boat his family had boarded – capsized.

A powerful statement of solidarity has been made through this collaboration and the Eclectica Gallery Group’s owner Shamiela says “when Anthony Lane approached me with this proposal I was overwhelmed. It offered an opportunity to make a contribution to this complex, and unfolding human crisis. Viewing the shoes which he brought into the gallery conjures images of its inhabitants and their stories. We are emotionally touched as we imagine the trauma of these “Lost Souls”.

The message his image sent out was more powerful and gathered more public concern and action than any other report that had been created for the media – up until that point. Body counts had reached hundreds of thousands yet it took that devastating image to bring focus towards the Syrian humanitarian crisis. There were many more Alan’s and Anthony Lane was one of those individuals who could not turn a blind eye – to not only Alan but the tragedy that was occurring on his doorstep in Skopelos, Greece. He thus proceeded to collect the footwear which amounted to hundreds – because that was all that was left of these voyagers. Each shoe belonged to a human being, perhaps a child, perhaps someone who once owned their own business, perhaps a pregnant woman – the mind wonders as to who they were and where they were now. What is painful, and gut –wrenchingly painful is the knowledge that they saw beyond their current dystopian reality and one day took a step – a step of hope towards safety and normality and what ensued in their last moments would never be known. But what this exhibition reminds us of is that we can wonder and take time to consider who they were and what their plights means. The “Lost Souls” exhibition is Anthony’s contribution to using his platform as an artist in providing the voiceless with a voice and telling their story. It felt like the most natural thing to do to him, together with Shamiela Tyer and Clare

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The process has involved Clare Patrick individually photographing 300 shoes – capturing them as portraitures together with an installation that will be take residence at Eclectica Contemporary in Cape Town. The installation allows the viewers intimately close to the objects, the pain and reflection is unavoidable and so it should be – for this is not a project of desensitizing but a conscious awakening of human tragedy. The exhibition allows you to see, hear and imagine and take responsibility, it is confronting because it needs to be. It evokes questions of migration and displacement which we are all too familiar with but forget. As Anthony say’s “It is human nature to forget. As we are bombarded with so much new information on a daily basis, it is my wish for The Lost Souls Project to keep the dialogue alive. The plight of refugees the world over is ongoing. They are faced with the daunting challenge of building new lives in unfamiliar environments, carrying their memories of lost homes, families and countries with them. The possibility of returning to the lives they once had, a dream that may never be realized”. “Lost Souls’ will exhibit from the Thursday 4th October 2018 at Eclectica Contemporary, Cape Town.

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MONTY MAHOBE By Pene Maniere A history carved from life, available as a book entitled Portrait available from Artist Proof Studio.

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5-year-old Monty Mahobe’ face is etched and carved with a lifetime of memories – many of which are reflected in his staggering collection of 40 plus years of artwork, from; linocuts to wood relief carvings. Harnessing a lifetime of memories, Mahobe has drawn on his background, circumstance and history to slice, cut and sculpt out a narrative to his artwork. Born in Graaff Reinet in the Eastern Cape, he was raised in Sophiatown and later moved to Western Native Township. Mahobe attended St Peter’s College (now St Martin’s School) and was fortunate to be under the tutor ledge and encouragement of the founder, Father Trevor Huddleston, ‘a good man,’ says Mahobe, ‘who believed in the artist.’ It was during his years of studying art at school, that he found his biggest supporter and patron – Matthew Whipman, an artist himself and supplier of Mahobe’ much-needed art materials, mostly discounted or given to him for free. Whipman saw an enormous talent in the young artist, so much so that he organised a mini exhibition for him. At the time of the exhibition, Mahobe was attending the Polly Street Art Centre, and believes the confidence he gained from this exhibition was the catalyst in realizing that he would always be an artist. With encouragement from Father Huddleston, Mahobe’ life for a while played out in a different creative style; music, in the form of the double bass. From his teens to early twenties, he pursued the American dream, playing in a trio, with the likes of African Follies, and even a few times with Hugh Masekela, before deciding that music wasn’t his forte.

Right: Monty Mahobe, Soweto Uprising, Woodcut Carving , 42.2x59.2x0.5cm, 2016

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1957, Mahobe playing the upright bass

Life quickly caught up with Mahobe, he got married, found a job in a spring factory, in Wadeville, and had four children in succession. Although it was 20 years before he would create art again, Mahobe never forgot his calling as an artist and always believed that someday he would go back to it. It was his retrenchment in the early 1980’s, somehow fortuitous that set him back on this path. Encouraged by his sister, he attended the Molofo Art Centre, where he connected, shared and learnt from other attending artists. It was here too, that he learnt how to manipulate and wield lino cutting tools, which would eventually see him working with soft wood, as it was cheaper and scraps of wood were always easy to come by.

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Mahobe’ artworks are inked and stamped out of a lifetime of his memories, they serve as his autobiography - a life lived and depicted through the ever-changing political landscape of South Africa. Artist Proof Studio, together with published writer/ researcher, Barbara Adair, and artist and curator, Brenton Maart have managed to preserve the legacy of the creatively prolific Monty Mahobe. Over the course of several weeks, between midmorning easy conversations with Mahobe, an intimate recollection of his long life was forged, a collection of his stories, dreams, and experiences were put together in a Limited-edition book. Monty Mahobe – Portrait is currently available for R180.00 from Artist Proof Studio

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TWO LANDSCAPES Jaco Roux

Opens Fri 28 Sept @ 6pm Christopher Moller Gallery 7 Kloofnek Road, Cape Town; www.christophermollerart.co.za


Featured Artist

LIODA CONRAD

INCENDIARY CONVERSATIONS

www.galleryone11.com

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NCENDIARY CONVERSATIONS by Lioda Conrad is about the interaction between art works hanging next to each other and the ignition of somewhat challenging almost confrontational conversation between ” them” and the audience. On closer inspection each individual artwork stands alone with its own story, questions and vulnerability, invoking the viewer to engage in incendiary conversations. All artwork make use of fumage, a technique using fire to paint with smoke that is layered with mixed media. Conrad works on repurposed surfaces layering them with mixed media onto an initial creation generated by a medium as old as the beginning of mankind itself: fire! The application of this unconventional/ destructive medium creates delicate, fragile, deeply emotive works that touches our inner being. The work is somewhat uncomfortable and it’s loaded with layers of realizations that dreams are not as we imagined, that we have parts missing forever lost or squashed and contorted by the unforeseen that roll out in our lives, experiences that leave indelible lines drawn on our faces and eyes. Confronted with eyes that look back at their audience and ask to be worthy of their consideration. Lest we forget that each of us had our own dreams relegated to the back of our minds, almost forgotten and released as unattainable.

“Lioda Conrad’s work bravely asks of us to take time to be still and try to listen, to look deeper and release our compassion.” Red Afro

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The Dumas Girl

Lioda Conrad’s work bravely asks of us to take time to be still and try to listen, to look deeper and release our compassion. The compelling work will challenge the audience to make their own inward journey, when faced with images that question our version of the chase to exist, to be and to find. In Lioda’s words “We write words that lead others to thoughts, we paint pictures that emote, to show our souls and the dark within. We hold books in our hands not realizing it’s a man’s heart in the hands of another.” Art making is this artist’s truth and the honest, masterful intuitive mark making reveals the bravery in fragile revelations. There is an almost voyeuristic edge to this collection that emerges as one move from one pair of portraits

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to another. One get left with the distinct uncomfortable thrill of “listening in” and sharing in glimpses of other people’s stories and unfolding dramas, this adding another element of provocation albeit entertaining. GalleryOne11 invites you to the launch of this solo exhibition on the 10th October from 17h30 at 111 Loop Street, Cape Town. The artist will be in residence for the month to directly interact with visitors. Enquire about tickets for an evening of performance art, an art auction, canapés and wine tasting on 24 October, at GalleryOne11 directly admin@galleryone11. com and stand a chance to win an original Lioda Conrad art work.

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Cape Town Auction 29 & 30 October 2018 The Old Mutual Conference Centre Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens | Rhodes Drive | Newlands

Preview | 26, 27 & 28 October 2018 10am - 5pm Walkabout conducted by Anton Welz, Saturday 27 October, 11am Carpets, Rugs and Runners | Books and Maps | Furniture and Collectors’ Items | Coins African Art | Fine Art | Clocks | Watches | Jewellery | Decorative Arts | Textiles | Silverware

A SET OF FOUR TRINIDAD ARMCHAIRS DESIGNED IN 1993 BY NANNA DITZEL FOR FREDERICIA FURNITURE, 20TH CENTURY | R12 000 – R15 000

www.stephanwelzandco.co.za | 021 794 6461 | ct@stephanwelzandco.co.za

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D ow n l o ad the Ste pha n Welz & Co. a pp for eve n gre ate r acce ssa bility, ava ila ble on: GooglePlay

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VESTIGE

Irma Stern Museum October 2018 Artists Jacqueline Griffin-Jones and Louise Almon share the walls of the historic museum in their exhibition. On October 13, the Irma Stern Museum will host the opening of Vestige, an exhibition of oil paintings by Jacqueline Griffin-Jones and Louise Almon. In the rooms of Irma Stern’s old home, the two painters, with their shared medium of oil on canvas, will show some of their most recent works. The exhibition sees a maturation of their combined evolving thematic work which looks at their expressions around the intangibles of life. This show will be the third for Griffin-Jones at the Irma Stern. Her last show, in 2014, saw the first signs of her extreme realism in her paintings, while her series of works to be shown in Vestige will present the continuation of this technique some four years along. The artist, based in Grahamstown, Eastern Cape, will exhibit a series of large and small works which explore the unearthing of irrelevant memorabilia.

Above: Lou Almon, Presence V and VI, 500 x 400 Left: Jacqueline Griffin Jones, Dissipation, 100cmx100cm, oil on canvas

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Louise Almon, Filling the Spaces

Feelings of restlessness and turbulence spread across the real and abstract canvases as the artist grapples with values and traditions in the midst of change. Griffin-Jones paints objects that are buried or suspended across the canvas to evoke a world turned upside down. Well known for her series of oil monotypes, Louise Almon explores her subject with oiloncanvas, expressively using the medium to capture the emotion of her subject through light and colour. Almon portrays people and places with a simplified gestural technique. She uses a particular energy around her medium to allow her subject to portray the fragility of life and the space between people. She manages to capture the fleeting moments of busy environments, be it the vast spaces between strangers or brief moments of contact. Almon’s curiosity lends itself to the feelings of spaces and how people engage in the anonymity of cities, often far from home, seemingly directionless and out of place, space. Her recent move from Johannesburg

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to Cape Town sees a gradual departure from her scenes of rust-orange downtown Johannesburg to clues of a new space, closer to the blues of the sea. The two artists meet in the same space for the first time in thirty years, where they met at Rhodes University. This will be their first exhibition together. The show will run from 6 – 20 October, with the official opening from 12pm on October 13. Entrance is free on 13 October, however should you visit outside of the opening, there is an entrance fee of R20 for adults and R10 for learners. Irma Stern official opening times: Tuesday to Friday 10am-5pm Saturday 10am-2pm www.irmastern.co.za

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Bittereinders

ROGER HOPLEY

4 Nov - 25th Nov, Mok Gallery Mokgallery.co.za

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he ‘Bittereinders’ body of works deal with the Boere Plight presently but with strong reference to the past... where Nationalism and Patriotic Myth have little impact on a ‘reasonable’ outcome. I would like to revert to a Quote by the German writer, Herman Hesse, who nailed it for me in saying that the artist is not the message, nor the messenger... just the window. There is no intention for me as a painter to plan the outcome of the work at hand... it starts with some confusion and self-doubt... but miraculously developed a life of it’s own... almost intuitively guiding me to the end result. A result with which I cannot deny via the harshest self criticism, it’s validity to be shown... I cannot remember ever throwing away or destroying a work. Francis Bacon, one of my canvas heroes, did destroy a lot of works! The other thing I am almost proud of... strangely, is that the only works I have sold as a painter, have been commissions... flattering portraits of the rich and famous... but only a few of my ‘serious’ works. I do not paint for money... but these works are for sale... it is not the cheapest form of expression and shipping 50 paintings to South Africa from Germany... is almost a train crash. I was born in Somerset-West South Africa in 1959…went to various schools in the Western Cape and Natal, where I matriculated in 1977.I had been called up to perform my National Service in the South African Army in the Infantry Battalion in Bloemfontein… these orders came delivered to me and others directly to the classroom…

Right: Burning Proteas

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I was reported AWOL by the military in the early 80’s… for not reporting for my duty. The military Police had Hunted me for about 3 or 4 years without success… I am glad to say, as there was a 5 year prison sentence attached to my head. I had an uncle in the military HQ in Pretoria… a military judge!.. who I approached for Amnesty in lieu for my ‚return‘ for duty. This worked out well and I did my initial military 3 months in Kimberley, was then transferred to the Castle in Cape Town… where I painted Commissions for the Army. I left the country in 1990 for Europe to pursue my Art and Music…. in a more conducive environment… for me. A few other countries became home before settling in Germany, where I still live and work as an Artist and Musician .The exhibition ‘The Bittereinders’ at MOK gallery on Muratie Wine estate in Stellenbosch will be my first Solo exhibition in SA since 1985”. My work as an artist has taken me through a journey of continuous learning and of perpetual ‚improvement‘… from trying to Paint beautiful classical works in realism…which I still do, but with a totally different Motivation and Intention than before… I have left the road of trying to WOW and impress the Viewer with my painting skills and rather move the Viewer to Interpret the work as he or she can. I have moved away from painting for reward…even discarded my juvenile dream of becoming famous or rich by means of my art. I feel I have almost become a monk of sorts where I have become freed from any distractions which would harm or interrupt the work. Yes… I do put a price tag on my work… an unbelievably high one. The Intention not to limit my work to the sacred few with the Privilege of having Lords of cash and are prepared to put it on the table for art… for whatever reason. On the other hand… it is not important for me to have my work seen… but to be understood for what it is. My work is not a message… nor a political statement… probably more a social Statement. A statement of Social injustice! A statement of an Unjust and often cruel System.

Proteas Shacks 1

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CONTINUING CONVERSATIONS UJ Art Gallery, opens 17 October 2018

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he UJ Art Gallery is hosting ‘Continuing Conversations’, an exhibition of portraits from the permanent collection of MTN and the University of Johannesburg, as well as selected portraits from MTN and UJ’s joint Emerging Artists Portrait Development Programme.

Wilma Cruise, Phillemon Hlungwani, Maggie Laubser, Judith Mason, George Pemba, Cecil Skotnes, Irma Stern and Edoardo Villa. About 40 works have been selected from across the UJ collection, consisting of 1 500 artworks in total; and the MTN collection, consisting of 1 400 artworks.

The exhibition opens on 17 October and is curated by Niel Nortje, manager of the MTN Art Collection, and Annali Dempsey, curator of the University of Johannesburg (UJ) Art Collection.

Neil Nortje offers some context: “The MTN SA Foundation believes that forming strategic partnerships with reputable institutions such as the University of Johannesburg Art Gallery, enables both institutions to maximise the impact of their art collections and ensure increased visibility for both. Furthermore it strengthens relationships; broadens the pool of accessible services and resources to the arts fraternity; expands stakeholder engagement opportunities; supports the curation of meaningful mentorships in the field and enables the dissemination of knowledge for arts education utilising Information Communications Technology (ICT) solutions.”

Following last year’s successful ‘Shifting Conversations’ exhibition which engaged with works of colonial and post-colonial narratives, the curatorial focus in ‘Continuing Conversations’ is on portraits depicting concepts of power, the juxtaposition of power and powerlessness, identity and body politics, perceptions of the other and the exotic, memory, and the masks we wear. Works included in this exhibition are by artists such as Gerard Bhengu, Reshada Crouse,

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Above: Hamali Khoosal Right: Norman Catherine, Congo Fever

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In their aim to extend the reach and scope of this exhibition, Dempsey and Nortje facilitated three programmes specifically aimed at developing participation in the portraiture conversation: a Mentorship Programme, an Emerging Artists Portrait Development Programme and an Educational Programme, as Nortje explains, “Following on the success of previous collaborations with the UJ Art Gallery, MTN is proud to once again be working with this trusted partner. In 2017, we saw a successful exhibition titled Shifting Conversations, featuring works from both institutions’ art collections. The 2018 exhibition, aptly titled Continuing Conversations, sees not only artworks from both collections again being displayed, but also brought to fruition: a meaningful mentorship programme; an educational drive accompanied by an exhibition catalogue and learner material; and a platform for emerging artists to showcase their talents and interpretations of contemporary South African portraiture.” For the Emerging Artists Portrait Development Programme the curators invited artists through a public call - to submit an artwork in response to, or in conversation with, modern and contemporary South African portraiture. Ten works selected from the 30 entries received will be shown as part of ‘Continuing Conversations’, alongside the Bhengus, Hlungwanis and Masons of the world. The ten artists, in alphabetical order, are Lana Combrinck, Mogau Kekana, Hemali Khoosal, Neo Mahlangu, Modema Mayhew, Keneilwe Mokoena, Henrietta Scholtz, Nonukuleko Sibande, Selwyn Lloyo Steyn and Devlin Tim. Portraits in a surprising variety of media were selected – from oil on canvas and oil and sticker vinyl on mirror to microscopic prints and a video installation. The most promising artist will be awarded prize money of R30 000 and the other nine will receive R3 000 each, towards the development of their artist practice. The winner will be announced at the opening of the exhibition. In collaboration with UJ’s Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture (FADA), the Mentorship Programme facilitated by the curators and the project manager, Rika Nortje, offered three FADA B Tech students in visual arts – Mia van Schalkwyk, Nico Ras and Alexia

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Villa

Ferreira – master classes in curating, on collection management, practical in-house label making and marketing. These courses provided the mentees a first-hand experience in curatorial practice. Under the mentorship of the project manager and two curators, the mentees were also expected to design and run an Educational Programme. They had the opportunity to decide which age group should be targeted for this particular exhibition (and give reasons why), set up the educational programme and run the programme for the duration of the exhibition. An important part of the educational programme is to include school groups who regularly visit the UJ Gallery, and to work within the budget constraints. ‘Continuing Conversations’ is showing at the UJ Gallery, Auckland Park, Johannesburg, from 17 October to 21 November 2018.

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GARY SHEAN APPOINTED AS CURATOR OF THE PETER CLARKE FOUNDATION Gary Shean chats to Edwine Simon about the magic of collecting Peter Clarke artworks and about the launch of his Gary Shean Fine Art Consultation

“Buying and selling Peter Clarke: The art works of Peter Clarke are an investment obtainable at prices varying from R48, 000.00, for a graphic print to R1 800, 000.00 for a painting.” Peter Clarke - 1929-2014 Internationally acclaimed Painter, Poet and Printmaker. GS” I first met Peter Clarke in 2009 and we became friends and I spent many hours being personally invited to his home to discuss his art works. Together we walked around Ocean View in Cape Town to view the subject matter of his paintings, as his community meant a great deal to him as an artist.” “Peter worked from home; it was easy to spend hours in discussion, with regards to his work and where to place it on the open market through auction houses. In this way I was fortunate enough to have Peter’s personal insight into specific paintings, prints and mixed media art works and he was always available to provide a title or history of the work.”“As friends I often took Peter shopping, to the bank and collected and dropped him off to attend functions, as he never drove nor owned a car.” “I put the strength of my relationship, with Peter down to my being able to talk to

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him about his works and what he was trying to communicate through his poetry, paintings and prints to his audience and those members of the public buying his works.” “Peter Clarke enjoyed nothing more than to speak about the community, in which he lived and was devoted to its people and the environment” He used his domestic environment as subject matter in his art works, at first influenced by a stretch of coast line from Simon’s town to Muizenberg and after that his “Ocean View “community. ES “How did the “Peter Clarke Foundation come into being” GS “I was appointed curator and put in charge of the Peter Clarke private collection, by the family to help build his brand. I have been doing this for a number of years, with the intent of building on his legacy, in the hope that one day a permanent environment, would be initiated to house and show the collection. In this way the legacy of the Artist’s memory is kept alive, not only through auctions, but exhibitions, media releases, anniversary projects in conjunction, with the Iziko National Gallery and the Peter Clarke Art Centre in Cape Town.” “Currently the intention is to hold a solo

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exhibition and participate in group shows, with those works within the collection, which have not been seen by the public.” “When looking, at Peter Clarke’s work one gets a very clear picture of an artist’s life living in South Africa during Apartheid. “A social commentary on the life of the communities, in which he lived, was invariably infused, with a keen insight, which can be seen in his paintings.” (2011). “The period of Peter’s works that I enjoy the most is the Cubism period, I personally think, and knowing his collection as well as I do, that Peter painted in many different styles, with his

Cubism period being my favourite. Peter, in my opinion, was such a talent that his works, throughout his career, could not be defined as Cubism, or Expressionism. He painted how he felt – yes, periods dictated a certain style, but the Master that he was, he had the ability to excel in any style he wished, or felt as a poet, a printmaker and a story teller.” “I recall a conversation where Peter said, “I don’t paint in a style, I don’t paint how people want me to paint I paint what is around me and how I feel.” “He was “An Artist, who stayed true to his roots.”


Peter Clarke - 1929-2014 Internationally acclaimed Painter, Poet and Printmaker.

ES “Explain to the readers why Peter Clarke’s Art works are fetching such high prices” GS“I am often asked, with regards to Clarke’s works fetching such high prices – well, just like any collection is not complete, for example without a Stern, a Pierneef, or a Sekoto, there is a new champion on the block and no collection is now complete, without a Peter Clarke and similar to the artists above, certain periods or subject matter, within the artists life command a higher price.” GS “Buying and selling Peter Clarke: The art works of Peter Clarke are an investment obtainable at prices varying from R48, 000.00, for a graphic print to R1 800, 000.00 for a painting.” ES “Discuss “Gary Shean Fine Art” GS” It has taken me ten years to build on a solid foundation, experience and knowledge and it is now the right time to introduce “Gary Shean Fine Art” to the South African Art community. “I am now feeling comfortable, with whom I am within the art industry and that I can indeed provide a specialized service to clients. This gives me the tools that are needed to advise both corporate and private collectors about their collections.” “With “Gary Shean Fine Art,” I offer the service of advising on collections, with regards what

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to sell or what to buy. Often, I would suggest to a collector that its quality over quantity for example when dealing, with a client who has over 2000 works in their collection we would discuss, which works to sell and then invest the funds into current and more substantial works available on the market today.” “As a consultant one must be able to keep an eye on the Local, National and International Fine Art market movements globally. At the touch of a button one can see and find the works being sold together with their price estimates on a show in London, New York, Cape Town or Paris. I always advise clients to follow the sales of works purchased. Often the client will find that a work has sold for three or four times more than the estimate, this is an indication that the work was offered at a very conservative amount and that it was, in the general public’s mind, worth much more.” “I maintain that art is exciting in the sense that it evokes one of several emotions to be found in both the seller and the buyer. There is much to choose from in contemporary art, abstract, political, social/realism and expressionism for example and serious buyers need to be advised what to look for when wanting to invest in an asset for their home environment or family infrastructure. “ “Should they tire of the piece, it is likely that they would want to sell it again” “Forming a collection of paintings is a most interesting and rewarding experience. However, art must be wisely selected with professional advice. I assist clients to build collections that express their own individuality, providing the provenance and background to each painting, and advising on framing and hanging as well as other aspects of collecting.”(Green 1955). ES“A consultant, such as Gary Shean, with knowledge of the works, is needed to advise the buyer correct prices, as works vary in size and technique.” For further information or any enquries on Peter Clarke, please contact gary@garyshean. co.za or 0794925260 (Acknowledgment Richard Green 1955) www.richardgreen.com/about-us Accessed July 2018 Further quotes and information used in the article accredited to Gary Shean

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Business Art News

GERARD SEKOTO Top Lot At Bonhams South African Sale bonhams.com

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erard Sekoto, Portrait of a Man, sold for £380,750 against an estimate of £100,000-150,000

Gerard Sekoto, the widely recognised pioneer for black South African modern art, led the success of the Bonhams South African Art Sale today at New Bond Street (12 September). His top two works far exceeded their initial estimate. Portrait of a Man, achieved an impressive £380,750 against an estimate of £100,000-150,000, while Three School Girls made £308,750 from an estimate of £120,000180,000. Bonhams Director of the South African Sale, Giles Peppiatt commented, “The sale today demonstrates the continuous growth of popular interest in South African art, with particular enthusiasm for artists such as Gerard Sekoto and William Kentridge.”

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Other highlights include: • William Kentridge’s work Drive-in (drawing for ‘Felix in Exile’), sold for £106,250. The estimate was £40,000-60,000. • Irma Stern’s (South African, 1894-1966), The Visitation, surpassed its estimate of £25,00035,000, achieving an impressive £52,000. • Maud Frances Eyston Sumner (South African, 1902-1985), Village on a Lake, sold for £50,000. • Gerard Sekoto’s Portrait of a Woman, highly contrasted piece, completed in the artist’s ‘Blue Head’ period, sold for £47,500.

Above: Gerard Sekoto, Three School Girls Right: Gerard Sekoto, Portrait of a Man Seated

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Business Art News

SOTHEBY’S Modern And Contemporary African Art Auction In London 16 October 2018 sothebys.com/contemporaryafrican

Sotheby’s achieved outstanding results in its first two sales, breaking over 35 artist records and attracting collectors from 33 countries. Many of the works sold far above their high estimates, such as Nigerian master Ben Enwonwu’s ‘Africa Dances’ which rose high above its pre-sale estimate of £20,000 £30,000 achieving £187,000/$265,744. The upcoming October sale includes exemplary works from a variety of artists from across the African continent. South African art is well represented, with standout pieces by leading artists including Gavin Jantjes, Peter Clarke, Gerard Sekoto, George Pemba, David Goldblatt and William Kentridge.

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ince its creation in 2016, Sotheby’s Modern and Contemporary African Art Department has dedicated itself to championing the work of artists from Africa and its diaspora. Kicking off with a record breaking inaugural sale in May 2016 that totalled £2,794,750, Sotheby’s has quickly positioned itself at the helm of this emerging market. Sotheby’s Director and Head of Modern and Contemporary African Art, Hannah O’ Leary adds that “the international spotlight on Modern and Contemporary African Art is growing ever stronger as museums, critics and art fairs increasingly look to profile art from the region. Artists from the continent, who were previously overlooked by the secondary market, are finally starting to receive their due recognition.”

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Following on from Kentridge’s sell-out performance of ‘The Head & The Load’ at the Tate Modern in July in London, Sotheby’s is pleased to present the artist’s ‘Kinetic Sculpture’ (est. £70,000 - £90,000). Kentridge’s work is constructed out of found objects, demonstrating the artist’s process of reclaiming old objects for new uses. Similar to Kentridge, Kader Attia forms new work from old objects for example in ‘Mirror Mask’ (est. £30,000 - £50,000) which is an alteration of a traditional African mask, referring to the influence of African art on Western modernism. Ibrahim Mahama’s ‘JOHN ABRE 1’ (est. £30,000 - £40,000) demonstrates the power of Mahama’s choice of materials, which add a powerful sense of narrative to his work. He uses coal sacks, cloth and jute sacks which are materials synonymous with Ghana’s market trade, to create dramatic, hung installations. Top Left: Right: David Goldblatt, Margaret Mcingana at Home on a Sunday Afternoon, Zola Soweto, Johannesburg, 1970, est. £4,000 - £6,000 Right: Kudzanai Chiurai, Enterprise, est. £12,000 - £18,000

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Above: Ibrahim Mahama, JOHN ABRE 1, est. £30, 000 - £40,000 Right: Kader Attia, Mirror Mask, est. £30,000-50,000

Gavin Jantjes’ work ‘A South African Colouring Book’ (est. £40,000 – 60,000) combines technical skill with political motive. Jantjes moved from South Africa to Germany in 1970 to study at the Hamburg Art Academy; he experienced there the lack of knowledge and awareness of apartheid and South Africa.

Ikhamanga for excellence in the fields of arts and literature in 2005. ‘Untitled (Girl with Sunflower)’ (est. £15,000 - £20,000) features a sunflower being held by a figure to the right of the composition. The imagery of the sunflower is used by Clarke in other works such as his renowned triptych ‘Haunted Landscape.’

Through his ‘South African Colouring Book’ he presents material from archives and literature compiled into collaged pages. In April 1979 the work was banned under the South African Publication Act.

Sotheby’s is exceptionally pleased to present a selection of works by the father of South African documentary photography, David Goldblatt. Through his repertoire of photographic work he communicates the social and political change that took place during apartheid in South Africa from the 1950s onwards. He captured the day-today lives of those living during apartheid,

Peter Clark was one of South Africa’s most prestigious cultural figures in both art and literature, receiving The National Order of

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Peter Clarke, Untitled (Girl with Sunflower), est. £15,000 - £20,000

avoiding the more obvious clashes and dramatic news events, instead focussing on the subtleties of home and work life. His work ‘Margaret Mcingana at Home on a Sunday Afternoon’ (est. £4,000 - £6,000) is an example of Goldblatt’s ability to turn an ordinary scene into an iconic image. Sotheby’s is proud to feature the work of multi-disciplinary Zimbabwean artist, Kudzanai Chiurai. In 2016 he was involved in the group exhibition In Context: Where are we at the Goodman Gallery in Cape Town, South Africa. This year his work is being displayed at the Marianne Ibraham Gallery in Seattle in a solo exhibition of his work titled Kudzanai Chiurai/ We Live in Silence.

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‘Enterprise’ (est. £12,000 - £18,000) is a strong work by the artist that depicts one of the most dynamic cities in Africa. Sotheby’s is also delighted to present outstanding works from artists such as Kudzanai Chiurai, Cheri Samba, Bodys Isek Kingelez, Kendell Geers, Mikhael Subotzky, David Koloane, Malick Sidibé and Marlene Dumas. Catalogue now online Enquiries: +44(0)207 293 5696 Hannah.oleary@sothebys.com Sothebys.com/contemporaryafrican #sothebysctpafrican

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Business Art News

STRAUSS & CO

Important works by visionary collectors on offer at October sale straussart.co.za

Adolph Jentsch, SOUTH AFRICAN 1888-1977, Vlei on Farm Teufelsbach, signed with the artist’s initials and dated 1947, oil on canvas, 45,5 by 66,5cm, R 600 000 - 800 000, from the Late Peter and Regina Strack Collection

A magisterial floral still life by Irma Stern, South Africa’s foremost painter, is the highlight of Strauss & Co’s bountiful crop of offerings at its forthcoming spring sale in Cape Town on 15 October. Painted in 1947, Dahlias (estimate R8 – 12 million) is a peak-period Stern depicting a favoured flower and additionally claims an impeccable provenance. Originally owned by renowned art collectors Ben and Cecilia Jaffe, Stern’s brilliantly coloured oil was acquired by noted Cape Town collector Count Luccio Labia in 1994 at a sale handled by auctioneer Stephan Welz, who in 2009 helped establish Strauss & Co, now South Africa’s leading auction house. Part of a consignment of 22 paintings from the Labia Family Collection, Dahlias exhibits Stern’s masterful brushwork and authoritative handling of paint. Dahlias were a recurrent subject in Stern’s paintings from the 1930s and 40s. The artist produced five such still lifes featuring these

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sumptuous cut flowers, of which this painting is the fifth. Dahlias has been characterised by noted Stern scholar Marion Arnold as an “exuberant composition” that bursts “beyond the confines of the frame” (Irma Stern: A Feast for the Eye, 1995). The intersection of quality and provenance is a hallmark of Strauss & Co’s October sale. The catalogue includes 22 paintings released from the Labia Family Collection, as well as 20 works in various media from the Peter and Regina Strack Collection, notably three rare oils by Adolph Jentsch. Count Luccio Labia, who passed away in November 2016, was well known for his judicious taste, both in art and cars. The son of Count Natale Teodato Labia and Princess Ida Labia, nee Robinson, daughter of South African mining magnate and art collector Sir Joseph Benjamin Robinson (1840–1929), his art collection included works by South African, European and British artists.

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Fritz Krampe, SOUTH AFRICAN 1913-1966, Village Scene with Woman Smoking Pipe, recto; Fishing Boat, verso, signed and dated 58, oil on canvas, 128 by 95,5cm, R 250 000 - 350 000, from the Late Peter and Regina Strack Collection


Other notable works from single-owner collections on offer at Strauss & Co’s spring sale include two paintings and two drawings by Irma Stern released by the Irma Stern Trust Collection, as well as four relief paintings by Kenneth Bakker. Stern’s Castle, Madeira (estimate R2 – 3 million) dates from 1963 and depicts the Fort of São João Baptista do Pico with a tropical palette of warm ochres, yellows, pinks and red, off-set against a lively sea of emerald green tones. An earlier portrait from 1949, Woman with Orange Headscarf (estimate R250 000 – 350 000) also forms part of the release. Proceeds from the sale of these works will benefit the Irma Stern Trust. (Detail) Irma Stern, SOUTH AFRICAN 1894-1966, Castle, Madeira, signed and dated 1963; inscribed with the artist’s name, address and title on the reverse, oil on canvas, 90 by 70cm, R 2 000 000 - 3 000 000, From the Irma Stern Trust Collection

Aside from the excellent Stern, other notable works released from the Labia Family Collection include an important landscape painting from 1918 by Pieter Wenning. The Yellow House: Bishopscourt in Winter (estimate R500 000 – 700 000) executed on an overcast day in August 1918; the work shows Wenning at the pinnacle of his perceptive mastery. British modernist Ivon Hitchens’s Felled Trees (estimate R500 000 – 700 000) was painted in 1946 and originates from the same period as a work held in the Tate Collection. German-born Peter Strack immigrated to Namibia in 1950 and was a partner in the architectural firm Stauch & Partners. He began honing his skills as an artist and collector under the tutelage of Adolph Jentsch and principally collected 20th-century Namibian art, notably works by Jentsch, Fritz Krampe and John Muafangejo. Highlights include Vlei on Farm Teufelsbach (estimate R600 000 – 800 000), which offers a delightfully verdant view of the Otjihavera River, and Ibenstein, SW Afrika (estimate R600 000 – 700 000), a masterfully achieved night scene in grey. “Artworks owned by esteemed and visionary collectors are always sought after by newer generations of collectors,” says Bina Genovese, joint managing director of Strauss & Co. “Discerning collectors recognise that collecting not only involves connoisseurship but also custodianship, and by owning a work previously held by an important collector they are participating in a lineage of discernment.”

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(Detail) Irma Stern, SOUTH AFRICAN 1894-1966, Castle, Madeira, signed and dated 1963; inscribed with the artist’s name, address and title on the reverse, oil on canvas, 90 by 70cm, R 2 000 000 - 3 000 000, from the Labia Family Collection

Part of a neglected generation of mid-century abstract painters, Bakker was the first local painter to receive an award at the São Paulo Biennale. The four Bakker lots date from 1967 to 1980, and include Tidal Pool (estimate R70 000 – 100 000) and Relief Painting with Construction No. 2 (estimate R50 000 – 70 000), three-dimensional assemblages composed of overlapping sheets of perspex painted with layers of oil-paint to produce a physically textured surface. A global leader for South African art, Strauss & Co has sold nine of the ten most expensive paintings ever auctioned in South Africa. Stern’s Dahlias (lot 513) will go under the hammer on the evening of Monday 15 October at the Vineyard Hotel in Newlands, Cape Town. The public can view this important work, along with other works mentioned, from 12 to 14 October, from 10am to 5pm. Strauss & Co will also be hosting an extensive programme of public talks and social events in the lead-up to the sale.

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Pieter Wenning, SOUTH AFRICAN 1873-1921, The Yellow House (Bishopscourt in Winter), executed 12 August 1918, signedoil on canvas, 27,5 by 37,5cm, R 500 000 - 700 000, from the Labia Family Collection

Adolph Jentsch, SOUTH AFRICAN 1888-1977, Ibenstein, SW Afrika, signed twice with the artist’s initials and dated 1943oil on canvas, 68,5 by 97,5cm, R 500 000 - 700 000, from the Late Peter and Regina Strack Collection


Business Art News

STRAUSS & CO

Awarded prestigious Chairman’s Premier Award at 21st BASA Awards straussart.co.za

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eptember 16th 2018: Strauss & Co is thrilled to be the recipient of this year’s Chairman’s Premier Award at the 21st BASA Awards which were held today at the Victoria Yards complex in Lorentzville, Johannesburg. The prestigious award comes in the year of the company’s 10th anniversary.

The Chairman’s Premier Award is made at the discretion of the Chairman of BASA and recognises sustained and extraordinary commitment to the arts in South Africa. It is one of three BASA Special Awards that are not adjudicated by the judging panel. The announcement was made by BASA Chairman, Andre le Roux, at the close of an event which celebrated a range of business and arts partnerships that play a role in building an inclusive economy. Le Roux said Strauss & Co was being recognised for its diversity of arts projects—among them Pierneef: A Collector’s Passion, a specially curated exhibition and educational outreach at the 2017 Turbine Art Fair; the SA Pavilion at the 57th Venice Biennale: the Cassirer Welz Award, a project with The Bag Factory Artists’ Studios that was established seven years ago in honour of art dealer Reinhold Cassirer and in memory of Strauss & Co founder, Stephan Welz; The Stephan Welz/ Strauss & Co lecture series, presentations and valuation day during the Hermanus Fynarts Festival; a longterm partnership with the Association of Visual Arts in Cape town and August Art Month at Welgemeend. In his citation, Le Roux made special mention of Welz who founded Strauss & Co a decade ago with the vision to create, not only South Africa’s foremost fine art auction house, but an institution that plays a significant role in growing the country’s creative industries. “It’s such a special honour to receive this award in the year of our tenth anniversary,” said Bina Genovese, Strauss & Co Joint Managing Director Cape Town. “To be recognised for the many different projects that we are involved in is a powerful endorsement of our multifaceted commitment

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to the art world, outside of our day-to-day business.” “It’s fantastic to receive this honour from BASA,” added Frank Kilbourn, Executive Chairperson of Strauss & Co. “We are very aware of the fact that we are privileged to work in such an amazing industry. But we are also very aware that we have a role to play that goes far beyond what we do on a daily basis. Our outreach to improve the whole art eco-system, to introduce more people to art, to facilitate artists and promote art at every level is not coincidental. It is very much a part of our DNA. Being an active corporate citizen is integral to our business. It’s something that the whole team lives by—and, alongside honouring Stephan’s vision, this award is a wonderful recognition for the whole team.” Executive Director Susie Goodman pointed to the theme of the 2018 BASA awards which was “legacy”, and working with the current generation for the benefit of the next. “Stephan left a legacy that was built on connecting all the different areas of the art world, across generations” said Goodman. “Our various educational and art programmes play a really important role in making connections with young, emerging artists, with buyers and with a range of different stakeholders, and it makes our work meaningful, stimulating and hugely enjoyable. “This award is a wonderful recognition of our participation at every level where we can make a difference,” concluded Vanessa Phillips, Strauss & Co Joint Managing Director Cape Town. “And we are are not stopping here. We’re always looking at innovating more programmes and partnerships, as a way of making art even more accessible, and developing a love of art for an ever-widening audience.” Along with all the winners, Strauss & Co was awarded a trophy that reflected the legacy theme of the 2018 BASA Awards. Each trophy comprises a circular base atop of which are positioned four individually crafted, handmade rings making each trophy unique. Artists from across South Africa collaborated on crafting the rings including Smelt Studios and artist Ben Tuge, both resident at Victoria Yards.

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Ndikhumbule Ngqwinambe, (1977 - ), Walk of Numbers, 2010, oil on canvas.

A Century of South African Art from the Sanlam Art Collection 1918 – 2018 An exhibition of exceptional works from the Sanlam Art Collection tracing South Africa’s transformation in art over a century.

Sanlam Art Lounge Sanlam, 11 Alice Lane, Sandton

5 September – 14 December 2018 Viewing Times: Monday – Friday 12:00 – 16:30 Saturday 10:00 – 13:00 Other times by appointment Tel: 021 947 3359 / 011 778 6210 Email: sanlamart@sanlam.co.za


Business Art News

COLLECTING ALEXIS PRELLER

aspireart.net

Above: Gold Angel Right: (Detail) Adam

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he work of Alexis Preller remains among the most collectible in the country. While largely confined to South Africa, his reputation has steadily risen in the secondary market in the forty or so years since his last exhibition.

Preller was a unique figure in the history of South African art. His style evolved as an amalgam of different reference points and art histories, with his early exposure to European modernism in his years spent in the UK and France, and then with his committed interest in history and anthropology, in his travels in both Europe and Africa. Far from being simply an accretion of different styles, however, his work progressed as

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a unique development of his talents and vision as a painter. His use of his so-called ‘household gods’ – objets d’art, bric-a-brac, tourist paraphernalia and gleaned from his travels – in his often surrealistic later paintings, has been widely remarked upon. But as his style matured, so too did his thematic and philosophical concerns. A series of powerfully imagined fantasy figures people his later work, all serving to articulate Preller’s idiosyncratic and yet coherently and beautifully realised mature cosmology. These figures are all signs of the artist’s visioning of an alternative universe, informed strongly by African myth and legend, but also by the themes and images of European and Classical antiquity.

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Mirrored Image

Aspire Art Auctions has seen several highlights in sales of Preller’s work to his dedicated collectors over the last few years. In the company’s very first auction in 2016, Preller’s Profile figures (Mirrored image) from 1967, sold for a remarkable R7 048 160, one of the top prices ever fetched for his work, and the record price at auction for that year. This late work was one of the first works viewers encountered on entering his famous retrospective at the Pretoria Art Museum in 1972, and is perhaps the best late example of his depictions of eerie and powerful, deified female figures. The personal cosmology that marked his later work was again in evidence in another work sold by Aspire in March this year for R4 547 200. Gold Angel (Arêté) dates from 1970, and is one of Preller’s signature intaglio relief paintings which characterised the last few years of his career. A floating head in profile that combines many features of the deistic belief systems the artist was interested in, including Yoruba and ancient Egypt, it is a remarkable and compelling work. Now Aspire brings to market another of the artist’s late pieces, this one an electrifying oil painting from 1972. Adam is one of a small group of Adamic figures that concerned Preller

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in his late career. He was interested in both Adam as the first human figure at this time, and also with Adam as a version of the Apollo of Classical antiquity, in many ways an ideal of male beauty. This current work on auction fits exactly within this group, and demonstrates many of the key characteristics of Preller’s imagining of the male psyche in his oeuvre and in his personal mythography. In the Adamic and Apollonian works around this time there is often a gender ambiguity, and a certain eroticism, which this Adam figure embodies. Its saturated colour palette is also characteristic of some of his later work. Concludes Ruarc Peffers, MD of Aspire, “This rare and unique painting, which was one of only five works Preller selected to represent him at the São Paulo Biennale of 1973, is one that will tantalize his collector base. The market for his work remains strong – especially with respect to significant, museum-quality examples like this one, with this standard of exhibition history, enthusiastically endorsed by the artist himself and hailed as one of his top works at the time. We anticipate a very positive response.

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Art, antiques, objects, furniture and jewellery wanted for forthcoming auctions

Walter Battiss, Kalo Ei SOLD280 000 View previous auction results at www.rkauctioneers.co.za

011 789 7422 • 083 675 8468 • 12 Allan Road, Bordeaux, Johannesburg

5TH AVENUE FINE ART AUCTIONEERS J.H. Pierneef, Oil

N EXT AUCTION : 14 TH O CTOBER 2018 For Auction dates & catalogues, including results from 2007 to present, visit

www.5thaveauctions.co.za

Enquiries: stuart@5aa.co.za ~ 011 781 2040


Business Art News

STEPHAN WELZ & CO

Spring Sale 26-29 October 2018 stephanwelzandco.co.za

Jacob Hendrik Pierneef, The Karroo

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ur spring sale in Cape Town features a number of highlights across numerous categories which are sure to pique the interest of collectors. As one of South Africa’s most established auction houses we are proud to showcase quality across our various departments. Starting off with art, works by Alexis Preller, Walter Battiss, J.H. Pierneef and Robert Gwelo Goodman are among the 180 works on offer. The Battiss abstract is a wonderful example of the artist at his whimsical best while the Pierneef oil again shows why he was considered a master of the South African landscape.

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The decorative arts department have a number of interesting items. A Lalique Penthievre deep amber and white-stained glass vase, circa 1930 is something that is seldom seen at auction and is a fine example of Lalique’s work in moulded glass. A second Bacchantes amber frosted glass vase offers collectors another opportunity to acquire a work by Rene Lalique. Ceramics by Esias Bosch have been doing rather well of late and a small tile of three guinea fowl is sure to continue the trend at auction. Furniture has a number of mid-century modern items on the auction, continuing the emphasis that Stephan Welz and Co has placed on this category since 2010.

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Walter Battiss, Abstract With Blue Background

A set of four Trinidad chairs by Nanna Ditzel designed in 1993 for Fredericia Furniture is one of the more unusual lots in the sale.

In silver plate a Georg Jensen cutlery set showcases the elegance and simplicity of Scandinavian design.

One of the more interesting lots in the book session is 12 volumes of the New English Dictionary by James Murray. This was the first dictionary in history and the precursor to what became the Oxford English dictionary and will be sold with a bespoke fitted cabinet.

We have also launched our online auction platform, Welzonline, that enables bidders to register, view and bid from anywhere in the world. Combined with our app, available October from the ios and Google app store we have now well and truly joined the 21st century.

Silver and jewellery have a number of items of interest, in jewellery an 18ct gold chain and bracelet by Cartier is worth noting and the English silver epergne by Edward and John Barnard, London, 1864 headlines the Silver session.

We look forward to seeing you at Kirstenbosch Gardens from the 26th October for our viewing and at the sale on Monday the 29th and Tuesday the 30th of October.


Business Art News

THE ONLINE ART MARKET

Freedom to buy anywhere

By Alexia Walker First Published in Business Day. Read more at www.walkerscott.co.za

E-commerce has long revolutionised music and books but its impact on the art market is more recent. It was only a matter of time though. Over the past 10 years, the move online has been one of the biggest trends in the art market, second to the inexorable rise of the art fairs. “The biggest driver is the wider acceptance of e-commerce. This is how collectors buy everything else, so why not art?” says cultural economist Clare McAndrew.

The online art market has matured and buyers have a number of options. Traditional auction houses offer timed auctions where the bidding takes place online only and over a period of time, as opposed to live auctions. Early adopters like Sotheby’s launched their online formats as early as 2004. Next to this bricks-and-clicks business model are online-only auctioneers of the likes of Paddle8 or Heritage Auctions, the largest online platform for art and collectibles. Online marketplaces, such as online galleries and aggregators that offer fixed price options, are gaining traction too. Artsy, a New York based startup, partners directly with international galleries, auction houses and art fairs, to provide collectors a central destination to discover, buy

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and sell artworks from anywhere in the world. Not to be left behind, industry giants like Amazon and Ebay have also entered the art market. Amazon Art was launched in 2013 offering more than 60 000 artworks supplied by over 150 galleries and dealers. The story of Artsy highlights some of the challenges facing the online art trade. It also exemplifies why the uptake has been slower than in other industries. The art market, which is notoriously opaque, relies quite a bit on confidentiality. Dealers sometimes create a sense of scarcity and introduce collectors to works by certain artists as a privilege. Prices bound to subjective factors are highly volatile and when an artwork sells for either too little or too high, the future price of that artist may be affected. So at first the art world was resistant to moving online and relinquishing secrecy. When Artsy planned to take the galleries inventories and publish them online with a price tag, the reception was more than icy, eventually forcing the startup to overhaul its business model to maintain the status quo and redirect the actual sale transaction to the gallery. Artsy convinced two superstar galleries to come on board, Gagosian and Pace, and launched to the public in 2012 as a tech

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platform helping galleries expand their audiences across the globe and generating revenue through galleries subscriptions. Today Artsy is probably the biggest player in the online market, offering over 800 000 works from more than 2000 galleries and facilitating over $20m in art sales each month with an average distance of 4800 kms between buyer and seller. Artsy hosted more than 190 auctions in 2017 with top partners, including the world’s top three auction houses, Christie’s, Sotheby’s, and Phillips. Last year, the startup raised $50m dollars in venture capital, including Larry Gagosian and the co-founders of Airbnb, MTV and Zillow, among others. For collectors, there are many advantages to purchasing art online. It forms part of our new habits and it gives us access to artworks and artists from all around the world, making the art market truly global. It also bypasses what new buyers can experience as the pretence of the art world and find quite intimidating. In 2017, Sotheby’s announced the elimination of the buyer s premium for online-only sales, a step that makes art even more accessible. Price transparency constitutes both a barrier and an opportunity. Not surprisingly, younger buyers expect more transparency. Christie’s seems to be leading the way here. Last year, the company started publishing their online-only auction results while also selling art online for a fixed price. Art buyers have cause for concern however, starting with the quality of the art. An image is not as good as the physical object and cannot replace seeing and engaging with the real thing. A certificate of authenticity and a condition report can mitigate the risks. But then fulfilment can further complicate matters, with shipping, costs and implications including taxes, and return policies. But in spite of these vagaries, collectors seem to find the sale of artworks online adequate enough. According to the latest Hiscox Online Art Trade Report, the online art market grew by 12% last year and went from $1.5b in 2013 to $4.22b in 2017. It still represents a small portion of the collecting landscape but Hiscox predicts that it will grow in the next 5 years, roughly doubling to $8.37b by 2023.

Locally, the major art auction houses seem confident about the future of online sales. Aspire runs 5 online auctions annually and plans to concentrate on the online market to grow and diversify their collector base locally and globally. “Currently, we present less expensive artworks on this platform to encourage younger and new collectors. We are also able to use the online channel to run thematic, curated auctions as the overhead costs are significantly lower”, says Ruarc Peffers, a founding director at Aspire. Strauss & Co, who launched their first online platform in 2013, have 7 online auctions planned for this year. “Our total turnover for 2017 was R329m of which R21m was generated by our online only auction platform, accounting for 6,5% of our turnover. Considering that online auctions are focussed on more affordable art and decorative arts, we particularly welcome the income they generate” says joint MD Bina Genovese. Tech advances are likely to further transform the art market and can already benefit art lovers in their purchase decisions. Artsy has developed The Art Genome Project to give recommendations. Unlike Amazon or Spotify whose recommendations are based on what others like, the project focuses on similar objects and has an in-house team manually assigning traits and a value to individual artworks. The data science startup Art Advisor, snapped up by Artsy last year, has developed a system that focuses on art investment with algorithms to predict the potential future value of an artist. Not developed with art in mind, Instagram has gained extraordinary traction in the art world and become de facto the most popular app to share and discover art. Cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology are impacting the art trade too. London-based Dadiani Gallery announced last year it was the first British gallery to accept cryptocurrencies as a payment method. In August 2018, Paddle8 will accept Bitcoin. Blockchain has the capacity to deeply transform the art market. It can provide a global register for art objects and impart much needed transparency regarding transaction prices, title and provenance, condition and shipping reports.


The SA Art Times

NEW BLOOD WANTED FOR A NEW WORLD NEW ART BLOOD WANTED

FeaturedFOR Schools Young Artists A NEW WORLD

The SA Art Times pays homage to our young artists and their fearless quest in creating their space in a new world. View fresh artwork submitted by art teachers and learners throughout SA in the next few pages. View daily updates of fresh, original and topical young issues at www.arttimes.co.za/newblood as it comes into our mailbox.

SUBMIT YOUR ARTWORK TO ART TIMES NEW BLOOD SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORM Submit your Art Classes art or your own artwork directly to newblood@arttimes.co.za to have your work profiled to the global art world through our extensive SA Art Times social media platforms

The SA Art Times pays homage to our young artists and their fearless quest in creating their space in a new world. View fresh artwork submitted by art teachers and learners throughout SA in the next few pages. View daily updates of fresh, original and topical young issues at www.arttimes.co.za/ newblood as it comes into our mailbox.

SUBMIT YOUR ARTWORK TO ART TIMES NEW BLOOD SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS Submit your Art Classes art or your own artwork directly to newblood@arttimes.co.za to have your work profiled to the global art world through our extensive SA Art Times social media platforms, magazine and website. www.arttimes. wufoo.com/entries/new-blood-young-artist Instagram #sa_arttimes / Facebook @SAArtTimes

Top: Herschel Girls High School, Georgia Edwards, Grade 12 Right: Fairmont High School, Jenna De Abreu

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Herschel Girls High School, Georgia Edwards, Grade 12

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Pietermartizburg Girls High School, Holly Mae, Grade 11


Wittenberg High School, Angela Wheatley, Grade 11

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Trinity House Little Falls, Dominique Bruttomesso, Grade 11


Bethlehem Voortrekker High, Liezel Strauss, Grade 12

Hoerskool Generaal Hertzog, Jenay Fourie, Grade 11

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Herschel Girls High School, Joelle Joubert, Grade 12


ALICEARTGALLERY FOR THE ULTIMATE EXPERIENCE IN ART

SINCE 1990

Duggie du Toit (19 sep 1943 - 10 jun 2018)

In Memory of a great artist, mentor, teacher, husband. The South African art community is poorer with the passing of legendary artist Duggie du Toit. His work can be described as classical impressionistic, using themes like vegetables, fruit, old bottles, music, portrait and figure studies. The work is pronounced in its rich earthly colours. Every now and again you meet someone that changes your life – mostly

without them knowing. Duggie was such an individual. He had a great general knowledge, a love for jazz, played classical guitar, well read, a word smith, an enthusiastic art lover and a self-proclaimed master scrabble player. But mostly he had a love of people, not big groups - long intense, funny and inquisitive, friendship forming encounters with individuals. A person like this can often be found in his natural habitat. For Duggie it was his studio. Paint

www.aliceart.co.za | 54 dryf road, ruimsig, roodepoort

brushes on the floor paint all over his clothes, the carpet and any other flat surface. On a cold winter morning he will welcome you full of paint from the jersey to the trousers and always barefoot. Duggie used to say: “My paintings whisper...” or “Nee ek wil nie uitgaan nie, buitekant die hek is dit lelik”. A Man of extreme humility grounded in his being. Duggie du Toit, an artist, no a legend, a giant.


"The great advatage of my props are - I can eat them" - DUGGIE DU TOIT

CHILLIES 390x280mm

CHERRIES 480x240mm

POMEGRANATES 300x210mm

TOMATO 200x200mm

BLUE KETTLE & CHERRIES 360x280mm

PICKLES & GARLIC 290x210mm

@AliceArtGallery | 011 958 1392 | 083 377 1470 | info@aliceart.co.za


EXHIBITIONS, GALLERY GUIDE: OCTOBER 2018 • Ongoing Shows: October -November 2018 • Opening Exhibitions: October 2018 • Provincial Listings Jaco Roux, Sweni Lookout, KNP II’, 40 x 40 cm Christopher Moller Gallery



ARTGO.CO.ZA

ONGOING SHOWS: OCTOBER 2018

BERMAN CONTEMPORARY JOHN VUSI MFUPI - ASSEMBLING THE GHETTO UNTIL 11/10/2018

STEVENSON CPT SERGE ALAIN NITEGEKA UNTIL 13/10/2018

UJ ART GALLERY ART IN THE TIME OF AFRICA ONE-DAY COLLOQUIUM AT THE CHINUA ACHEBE AUDITORIUM, APK LIBRARY ON 13/09/2018

WWW.BERMANCONTEMPORARY.COM

WWW.STEVENSON.INFO

WWW.UJ.AC.ZA

UNTIL 11/10/2018

UNTIL 13/10/2018

UNTIL 13/10/2018

OLIEWENHUIS ART MUSEUM NELLIE BRISLEY ART STUDIO STUDENT EXHIBITION 27/09/2018 UNTIL 14/10/2018

BERMAN CONTEMPORARY INGRID BOLTON RECONNECT 2018 28/09/2018 UNTIL 19/10/2018

STEVENSON JHB 9 MORE WEEKS GROUP SHOW 01/09/2018 UNTIL 19/10/2018

WWW.NASMUS.CO.ZA

WWW.BERMANCONTEMPORARY.CO

WWW.STEVENSON.INFO

UNTIL 19/10/2018

UNTIL 19/10/2018

UNTIL 14/10/2018

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ART@CLOCKTOWER BARNEY BARNADO THE SECRET LIFE OF WOMEN AND CATS UNTIL 20/10/2018 WWW.ARTATAFRICA.ART

SALON NINETY ONE RECOLLECTIONARY PAUL SENYOL UNTIL 20/10/2018

ART@CLOCKTOWER 100% MADIBA 22/09/2018 UNTIL 21/10/2018

WWW.SALON91.CO.ZA

WWW,ARTATAFRICA.ART

UNTIL 20/10/2018

UNTIL 20/10/2018

UNTIL 21/10/2018

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presents:

MY PORTRAIT HAS DIFFERENT COLOURS

By

THEMBALETHU MANQUNYANA

THE VOORKAMER GALLERY PADDY BOUMA 29/09/2018 UNTIL 24/10/2018

Oil Paintings, mixed media and Performance art Sunday 30 September 2018 11h00-13h00 Muratie Wine Estate Stellenbosch. www.mokgallery.com cecile@mokgallery.com rsvp 27/9/18

WWW.THEVOORKAMERGALLERY.COM

UNTIL 24/10/2018

NELSON MANDELA ART MUSEUM ART FROM THE EASTERN CAPE UNTIL 28/10/2018

Cecile: 0725535547 Exhibition ends 25/10/18.

UNTIL 25/10/2018

UNTIL 26/10/2018

MARITZ MUSEUM

WWW.ARTMUSEUM.CO.ZA

SARONSBERG SECOND TAKE GROUP EXHIBITION CURATED BY CLARE MENCK UNTIL 28/10/2018 WWW.SARONSBERG.COM

RED TREES AND OTHER PICTURES. PAINTINGS AND DIGITAL PRINTS BY NICOLAAS MARITZ UNTIL 30/10/2018 SITES.GOOGLE.COM/VIEW/NICOLAASMARITZGALLERY

UNTIL 28/10/2018

UNTIL 28/10/2018

UNTIL 30/10/2018

Ndikhumbule Ngqwinambe, (1977 - ), Walk of Numbers, 2010, oil on canvas.

A Century of South African Art from the Sanlam Art Collection 1918 – 2018

NDIZA GALLERY @ KRYSTAL BEACH HOTEL - GORDON’S BAY DIANE WEBB UNTIL 30/11/2018

An exhibition of exceptional works from the Sanlam Art Collection tracing South Africa’s transformation in art over a century.

Sanlam Art Lounge Sanlam, 11 Alice Lane, Sandton

5 September – 14 December 2018 Viewing Times: Monday – Friday 12:00 – 16:30 Saturday 10:00 – 13:00 Other times by appointment Tel: 021 947 3359 / 011 778 6210 Email: sanlamart@sanlam.co.za

Christopher Moller Gallery

WWW.NDIZAGALLERY.COM

www.christophermollerart.co.za

UNTIL 30/10/2018

UNTIL 02/11/2018

SPF883 Sanlam Centennial_SA Art times_Aug2018.indd 1

UNTIL 14/12/2018

2018/08/21 16:11


WWW.ARTGO.CO.ZA

OPENING EXHIBITIONS

OCTOBER 2018 WEEKS 1-4 Artwork: ODA Mnisi, Art Franschhoek


WWW.ARTGO.CO.ZA OPENING EXHIBITIONS: OCTOBER WEEKS 1-4

LIFESTYLE ART GALLERY

SHOP ONLINE 01/10/2018 UNTIL 31/10/2018 GABRIEL DE JONGH | MOUNTAIN POOL www.lifestyleartgallery.co.za CNR BEYERS NAUDE & YSTERHOUT DR RANDPARK RIDGE TEL 011 501 3360

01/10/2018 UNTIL 31/10/2018 WEEK 1 OCTOBER

ART@39LONG,GREAT BRAKRIVER ONGOING EXHIBITION OF ART & EXQUISITE CRAFT 01/10/2018 UNTIL 31/10/2018

THE CHRIS TUGWELL GALLERY ABE HEUER 01/10/2018 UNTIL 31/10/2018

WWW.39LONG.GALLERY

WWW.CHRISTUGWELL.CO.ZA

01/10/2018 UNTIL 31/10/2018 WEEK 1 OCTOBER

01/10/2018 UNTIL 31/10/2018 WEEK 1 OCTOBER

LANGKLOOF GALLERY KLEIN KAROO A PERMANENT EXHIBITION OF SHEENA RIDLEY’S PAINTINGS AND SCULPTURES 01/01/2018 UNTIL 31/12/2018

VIBEY ART GALLERY & CAFE. STEENBERG VILLAGE, TOKAI & 4 BREE STREET, PORTSIDE BUILDING, CAPE TOWN. GREAT PROLIFIC SA ART! 01/10/2018 UNTIL 31/10/2018

WWW.RIDLEY.CO.ZA

RED! THE GALLERY

WWW.REDTHEGALLERY.CO.ZA

01/10/2018 UNTIL 31/10/2018 WEEK 1 OCTOBER

01/10/2018 UNTIL 31/12/2018 WEEK 1 OCTOBER

01/10/2018 UNTIL 31/10/2018 WEEK 1 OCTOBER

SA PRINT GALLERY THEO PAUL VORSTER SERIES OF ARTISTS DOGS 01/10/2018 UNTIL 31/10/2018

UNTITLED | 10:18 A GROUP EXHIBITION OF NEW WORK BY REPRESENTED ARTISTS 01.10.2018 UNTIL 27/10/2018

STATEOFTHEART

WALKER BAY MODERN TERTIUS VAN DYK 01/10/2018 UNTIL 31/10/2018

WWW.SAPRINTGALLERY.CO.ZA

WWW.STATEOFTHEART-GALLERY.COM

WWW.WALKERBAYARTGALLERY.CO.ZA

01/10/2018 UNTIL 31/10/2018 WEEK 1 OCTOBER

01/10/2018 UNTIL 27/10/2018 WEEK 1 OCTOBER

01/10/2018 UNTIL 31/10/2018 WEEK 1 OCTOBER

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WWW.ARTGO.CO.ZA OPENING EXHIBITIONS: OCTOBER WEEKS 1-4

YIULL DAMASO ARTISTS’ STUDIO 01/10/2018 UNTIL 31/10/2018

CAPE PALETTE ARTIST STUDIO EXHIBITION OF CONTEMPORARY SOUTH AFRICAN ART 01/10/18 UNTIL 01/12/18

WWW.YIULL.COM

WWW.CAPEPALETTE.CO.ZA

01/10/2018 UNTIL 31/10/2018 WEEK 1 OCTOBER

01/10/18 UNTIL 01/12/18 WEEK 1 OCTOBER

SMITH FOUNTAIN BY MORNÉ VISAGIE 03/10/2018 UNTIL 27/10/2018

ECLECTICA DESIGN AND ART GLOBAL REACHING 04/10/2018 UNTIL 31/12/2018

WWW.SMITHSTUDIO.CO.ZA

WWW.ECLECTICADESIGNANDART.CO.ZA

WWW.GALLERY2.CO.ZA

03/10/2018 UNTIL 27/10/2018 WEEK 1 OCTOBER

04/10/2018 UNTIL 31/12/2018 WEEK 1 OCTOBER

04/10/2018 UNTIL 27/10/2018 WEEK 1 OCTOBER

PRIEST GALLERY GONE FISHING A SOLO EXHIBITION RETROSPECTIVE BY WILHELM SAAYMAN. 04/10/2018 UNTIL 24/10/2018 WWW.PRIEST.CO.ZA

THE CAPE GALLERY PETER VAN STRATEN, B. ERNEST MANFUNNY - HINTERLAND 4/10/2018 UNTIL 27/10/2018

04/10/2018 UNTIL 24/10/2018 WEEK 1 OCTOBER

4/10/2018 UNTIL 27/10/2018 WEEK 1 OCTOBER

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01/10/2018 UNTIL 30/11/2018 WEEK 1 OCTOBER

GALLERY 2

URBAN SKINS : SHARED SURFACES, A DUO EXHIBITION BY ANDRÉ CLEMENTS AND ERIC DUPLAN 04/10/2018 UNTIL 27/10/2018

WWW.CAPEGALLERY.CO.ZA



WWW.ARTGO.CO.ZA OPENING EXHIBITIONS: OCTOBER WEEKS 1-4

ART@CLOCKTOWER IF IMMA BE BIPOLAR, I’D RATHER BE WHERE IT’S COLDER BY TAKI MOKOKA 04/10/2018 UNTIL 04/11/2018 WWW.ARTATAFRICA.ART

ECLECTICA CONTEMPORARY ASUKA NIRASAWA 04/10/2018 OPENS

ECLECTICA COLLECTION

WWW.ECLECTICACONTEMPORARY.CO.ZA

WWW.ECLECTICACONTEMPORARY.CO.ZA

04/10/2018 UNTIL 04/11/2018 WEEK 1 OCTOBER

04/10/2018 OPENS WEEK 1 OCTOBER

OPENS 04/10/2018 WEEK 1 OCTOBER

LOST SOULS OPENS 04/10/2018

ALICE ART GALLERY ESTELLE LOGIE 06/10/2018 UNTIL 07/10/2018

ART@DURBANVILLE HILLS MARKE MEYER | THE LEGACY OF LAUGHTER AND LOST MOMENTS 05/10//2018 UNTIL 05/11/2018

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Reinventing Materiality A group exhibition exploring the tactile

Ronald Muchatuta Gideon Appah Lee-at Meyerov Lizette Chirrime Ndabuko Ntuli Restone Maambo Keiskamma Trust Vivien Kohler Modisa Motsomi Kenny Nkosi Alishia Strydom Opening 04 October The Melrose Gallery (Melrose Arch) 05 - 28 October 2018 RSVP craig@themelrosegallery.com


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HOW TO SUCCEED AS AN ARTIST WHILE LIVING OUTSIDE OF ART-WORLD CAPITALS Tess Thackara First Published on Artsy

View of Ebony G. Patterson’s studio in Lexington, Kentucky. Courtesy of the artist.

Y

ou want to be an artist but can’t face the relentless pace, astronomical rents, and distractions of the art world’s capitals. Can you still hope for success? There was a time when the art market—and all the opportunities that go with it—was concentrated entirely in a few cultural centers. Nowadays, the international art world is more porous: There are dozens of art fairs and biennials on every continent, galleries are increasingly itinerant, and curators travel the globe in search of talent. The internet has made it exponentially easier for artists to broadcast their work globally, and it’s consequently more plausible than ever before to develop a career beyond art world hubs (and financial capitals) like New York, London, and Berlin. Deana Haggag, president and CEO of United States Artists—an American nonprofit that issues grants to artists from all over the country—regularly meets young artists, from

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Alaska to Puerto Rico, who are graduating with MFAs and grappling with the question of where to settle and establish a studio practice. “Of course you can go to New York, London, or Paris, try to play that game and immediately try to work your way into that system,” she said. “Or you can move to a city with a tightknit artist community and find opportunities sooner.” Moving to a smaller city or town often means affordable studio space and assistance, a supportive network, and easier access to local arts professionals and venues. “Of course you can go to New York, London, or Paris. Or you can move to a city with a tight-knit artist community and find opportunities sooner.” However fruitful a smaller ecosystem might be, however, living away from the art world’s financial infrastructure comes with undeniable challenges. One such obstacle is the fact that local collectors don’t always collect work by

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Photo Scott Reeder.

local artists. “A lot of small American cities are struggling to figure out how to amplify their collector base, how to encourage new collecting,” Haggag said. “That seems to be a topic of conversation that’s happening everywhere—Houston, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Minneapolis.” It can also take a fair amount of extra legwork to remain visible in the art world hubs. What follows are some points of advice on how to navigate a pathway to career stability while living away from the whirlwind of the art world’s capitals—culled from conversations with artists who have done just that. Prioritize what you need to pursue your art practice. Perhaps you’re an artist who thrives under pressure and in cramped conditions. (The seeds of Andrea Zittel’s “Experimental Living Cabins” in the California desert were planted

when she lived in New York, where the imperatives of close living quarters require a certain creative flair.) Or, maybe you’re an artist who needs mental (and physical) space— away from the pressures of the market and the conventions of the establishment—in order to discover new artistic avenues for your practice. For Scott Reeder, who lived in Los Angeles for two years before spending nearly a decade in Milwaukee, living in the Midwestern city provided him with the space, freedom, and offbeat cultural environment he needed to grow his practice. “I like being a bit away from the coasts, to get some perspective. And for something weirder to develop,” he said. Milwaukee afforded him “a little time to gestate and slow down.” “You wouldn’t self-fund a feature film in New York, London, or L.A. You would be insane to do that.”


View of Ebony G. Patterson’s studio in Lexington, Kentucky. Courtesy of the artist.

Among the artworks Reeder developed there was a feature film, Moon Dust (2014)— an absurdist sci-fi comedy about a resort on the moon—which took him 11 years to complete. “It was this crazy passion project, and it’s the kind of thing you could only do in Milwaukee,” he said. The film required constructing elaborate sets, which he made in a 6,000-square-foot space that cost him just $400 per month. He bankrolled the whole project himself. “You wouldn’t self-fund a feature film in New York, London, or L.A. You would be insane to do that,” Reeder said. (He now lives between Detroit and Chicago, where he is an associate professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.) Moon Dust led to a couple of career milestones for Reeder: When he finally finished his cinematic odyssey, former L.A. art venue 356 Mission presented an exhibition about the completion of the film. The feature screened at the Whitney Museum of American Art last December, and it will be included in an upcoming exhibition at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Denmark.

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Estonian artist Merike Estna similarly spent time in an international hub—some nine years in London—before settling in the smaller city of Tallinn, Estonia, two years ago. She moved in order to focus on developing a new painting technique that allows her to create complex mazes of layered and marbled patterns with acrylic. While she made important connections in London and evolved her ideas considerably, she has now found better conditions for production in her home city, where she can afford the resources she needs while benefiting from close proximity to her gallery, Temnikova & Kasela, as well as the local institutions she works with. “I can have a big studio, I can have an assistant,” Estna said. “For production, it’s so much easier here. I’ve been able to take my practice to the maximum.” Artist Ebony G. Patterson opted out of major art world capitals altogether, preferring a path that would grant her the maximum time and space for her work after graduating from art school. She took a teaching job in Charlottesville, Virginia, before moving to Lexington, Kentucky, where she spent 11 years working at the

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University of Kentucky, and would return to her home city of Kingston, Jamaica, during the holidays. (She recently left her job to travel for residencies, research, and exhibitions.) “I never thought about New York or L.A.,” she said. “That never appealed to me; it was never interesting to me. I had family and friends from high school in New York, so it could have been a very easy transition.” “I wanted to be able to live…so that I would be able to do my work.” For Patterson, as for many other artists, the bottom line was choosing a lifestyle that would enable her to pursue her work without struggling to survive. “I wanted to be able to live,” she said, “meaning to be able to afford to pay my rent, to buy my materials, to be myself…so that I would be able to do my work.” Teaching art at a university also meant that Patterson could move fluidly between the classroom and the studio on her days off. And it provided extensive vacation time to return to Jamaica—enabling her to show her art in the community and environment that has been most formative for her, and to soak up its influence, which she channels back into intricate mixed-media installations that sometimes examine themes from Jamaican history. Create your own opportunities The freedom to work at a remove from the art world establishment, of course, can be contingent on finding a dealer who will advocate on your behalf. Reeder and Patterson have both enjoyed the considerable benefits of being represented by mid-level dealers—Reeder by Kavi Gupta and CANADA, and Patterson by Monique Meloche. (Since joining Meloche’s roster in 2011, Patterson’s work has received a solo exhibition at New York’s Museum of Arts and Design and been featured on the hit TV show Empire, among other accolades.) Similarly, Goutam Ghosh, an artist based in the Indian town of Santiniketan, says he can’t imagine sustaining his practice there without the support of his Norwegian gallery, Standard, whose work advocating for his paintings enables him to spend 100 percent of his time on his art. For many artists, though, being a one-stop shop for your own practice—maker, organizer, marketer, champion, accountant, seller, etc.—is an experience that will be familiar. And artists who run their own studios, even in places that

are a little off the beaten track, can still take matters into their own hands. “You have to give people a reason to come to you or you have to go to them. You can’t just completely become a hermit.” For example, artist and writer Victor Ehikhamenor chose, after several years living in the U.S., to commit himself to his home city of Lagos, Nigeria. He decided to prioritize being somewhere that best served his art—richly patterned abstract and figurative compositions—rather than his career. Yet success has followed: Ehikhamenor presented an acclaimed installation at the Dak’Art Biennale in 2016 and co-represented Nigeria at the 2017 Venice Biennale, among other recent milestones. And though he is now represented by London’s Tyburn Gallery, and has gained visibility by showing work at the Lagos space of celebrated curator Bisi Silva and through contact with overseas curators who have visited the city, Ehikhamenor’s first shows were his own productions. “It wasn’t really an easy road,” he said. Though new spaces and a new crop of collectors were emerging in Lagos at the time that he moved back, there were few institutions there that could support him. “You pretty much have to handle your own business,” he said. Ehikhamenor organized exhibitions for himself there in 2006 and 2009, paying for the spaces and asking friends and peers to contribute texts for the accompanying catalogues. “Gradually, people began to see my work. I really believe you just have to continuously work,” he said. Now, Ehikhamenor has a strong collector base in Nigeria that is made up of individuals who have grown up alongside him. Wearing different creative hats has also served Ehikhamenor well. (He formerly occupied the role of creative director of a media house, and is a published author and poet.) Being a writer has enabled him to deftly speak and write about his work—and gave him a network to pursue when he began designing book jackets. He has designed well over 100 cover designs for prominent writers like Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Chinelo Okparanta, and—though the income from these projects is relatively minimal—Ehikhamenor sees them as another method to reach people with his work. “It helps in ways that you probably won’t be able to quantify,” he said.


Reeder likewise found he was able to remain visible—and to attract artists, curators, and gallerists to Milwaukee—by making things happen for himself. “It’s taken some effort to stay in the conversation,” he said. “You have to give people a reason to come to you or you have to go to them. You can’t just completely become a hermit.” He has variously assumed the roles of shop manager, fair director, and comedy club impresario, along with his brother, artist Tyson Reeder, who is a collaborator on these sometimes-itinerant projects. “I like being a bit away from the coasts, to get some perspective. And for something weirder to develop.” After the brothers left L.A. in 2000, they opened a gallery-cum-gift shop in Milwaukee called General Store (along with Reeder’s wife, Elysia Borowy-Reeder, who is now the executive director of the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit), with a small white cube space in the back where they showed local and international artists, including Laura Owens. “It was an important bridge to the outside world,” Reeder said. In 2006 and 2008, they helped take over a Polish dive bar and bowling alley to put on an art fair they dubbed Milwaukee International. Through relationships they’d developed primarily in New York, they drew some major art world figures. “We had gallerists from all over the world come and install booths in this little place where they would usually have a birthday party,” he said. “Boesky, White Columns, but with all these local Milwaukee galleries mixed in.” Among the participants was New York’s CANADA gallery. “It’s the one gallery that participated in every weird idea we’ve ever done,” Reeder said. “That’s part of how we ended up working with them. We broke them down.” Both Reeders are now represented by CANADA, and Scott is preparing for a solo exhibition there next year. Grow your network and maintain ties with art world hubs Reeder made important friendships while in residence at the prestigious Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture and during the handful of trips he’s made to New York each Tyree Guyton, The Heidelberg Project, Detroit, MI. Photo by Scott Reeder. Courtesy of Scott Reeder.

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Toompea, Tallin’s Old Town, Tallinn, Estonia, 2012. Photo Remi Lanvin

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““Opportunity is everywhere. You just have to claim it from where you are.” year. Even though he’s never lived in the city, he had some of his earliest and most important shows there, and got his first big break at Pat Hearn Gallery in the 1990s. “I think it’s important to show in those centers,” he said. “That’s where the writers are, the collectors.” Ideally, he says, you can do both—have a local presence and a foot in an art world capital or two, even if this means extending oneself beyond artmaking. The Reeders, for instance, have curated shows at New York’s Gavin Brown’s Enterprise and White Columns, and organized their so-called Dark Fair at New York’s Swiss Institute, before taking it to Cologne, Germany. “It’s more work wearing these different hats,” said Reeder, “but it seems like whatever isolation or opportunities are missing from being in a smaller place, it can help to keep a conversation with other cities going.” Patterson and Ehikhamenor also attest to the importance of regular visits to big art world cities—both as part of an artist’s education, and to cultivate new and existing connections. “Charlottesville, Virginia, and Lexington, Kentucky: things are really slow there,” said Patterson. “So I left as often as I could, and as I could afford.” On trips to New York, she would spend time with artist friends and see exhibitions, and return to Kentucky feeling energized and ready to work. “I think social media kind of blew open that door for artists to take their destiny into their own hands.” Ehikhamenor similarly makes annual trips to London. “Once I make money from my art, I invest it back into going to see exhibitions,” he said. “I’ve made a point to come to London every year or so since 2012, usually in October to feel the pulse of Frieze week. I always visit Tate Modern.” One such visit led to his first gallery show in London at the Gallery of African Art, and to a sell-out solo booth at New York’s 1:54 art fair. (He has since cut ties with the gallery.) Ehikhamenor also uses social media

to amplify his work and maintain contact with the broader art world. In a place like Nigeria, he explained, “where, for the longest time, people have had to rely on middlemen—in the sense that the curators come in, or do not even bother to come (they just keep showing artists from the Diaspora without knowing what is happening on the continent)—I think social media kind of blew open that door for artists to take their destiny into their own hands.” He cautions, though, that posting your work online can also lead to other artists abroad “pilfering your ideas,” a problem he has had in the past that led him to post fewer images of his work. Ehikhamenor experienced the power of social media in 2017 when his critique of Damien Hirst’s exhibition at the Venice Biennale, which he posted on Instagram, went viral and led to calls from the New York Times and CNN. “That’s when I realized,” he said, “people might not comment, but they are consuming what you are doing. Social media has helped a lot of young artists and collectors.” “Opportunity is everywhere. You just have to claim it from where you are.” The availability of such tools has helped Ehikhamenor stay in touch with the wider art world while remaining committed to not only advancing his career, but the art community in Lagos in general. “I have never felt the pressure to leave since I arrived back to Nigeria 10 years ago. I have never given it thought,” he said. “I have had really tough moments surviving as an artist, being out of a job and all of that. But I made a personal decision to tough it out. I want to be able to contribute to the building of arts institutions in Nigeria. That is my mindset and my modus operandi and that is how I want to live my life as an artist. I want to create opportunities for younger artists and contemporaries.” Ehikhamenor, like Patterson and Reeder, is helping expand the art world and support his peers by lighting a fire in a smaller art community. Indeed, mutually supportive relationships with other artists have proved essential for all those interviewed for this article—for inspiration, collaboration, and connections. “Opportunity is everywhere,” said Patterson. “You just have to claim it from where you are.”


PLAGIARISM OR REMIXING?

South African photographer accuses artist of theft Photography Chris McGreal First Published in The Guardian UK

The photograph by Graeme Williams taken in Thokoza township, Johannesburg, in 1991. Police watch an ANC rally while children taunt them. Photograph: Graeme Williams

G

raeme Williams was astonished to see his iconic 1990 photograph at an art fair, drained of colour, under Hank Willis Thomas. Thomas, however, questions if Williams has rights to the image The photograph by Graeme Williams taken in Tokoza Township, Johannesburg, in 1991. Police watch an ANC rally while children taunt them.

Graeme Williams said he was astonished to walk into the Johannesburg art fair last week and see his photograph of a group of black schoolchildren taunting despondent, armed white policemen sitting on an armoured car shortly after Nelson Mandela’s release in 1990. The image was reproduced with relatively little change, except that it was drained of colour and lightened in parts, under the name of Hank Willis Thomas.

The photograph by Graeme Williams taken in Thokoza township, Johannesburg, in 1991. Police watch an ANC rally while children taunt them.

Williams was even more astounded to discover the asking price of $36,000 – 25 times the amount he has ever earned from the photograph.

Photograph: Graeme Williams A renowned American artist has been accused of plagiarising and profiteering from an iconic image by a South African photographer that came to symbolise the collapse of apartheid.

Thomas is known for artwork that takes advertising, strips away the sales pitch and leaves the remaining images to speak for themselves. His work also includes a permanent installation at the National Memorial for Peace and Justice

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in Montgomery, Alabama, depicting black people emerging from the top of a wall with their hands raised in surrender in a comment on police violence. “The changes were absolutely minimal. It’s theft, plagiarism, appropriation. It’s a kind of fine line where you say it falls,” said Williams. “Within the art world there’s an acceptance that you can use images within the artistic framework to create something that has meaning different to the original image. This was the exact same of my original photograph and all he had done is take an image that he likes and call it his own.” The photograph was taken in Thokoza township south of Johannesburg as Nelson Mandela arrived for a rally weeks after his release from prison. The image was heralded for capturing the sudden shift in power away from the apartheid system and has regularly appeared in exhibitions around the world. Thomas’s use of the picture removes the colour and lightens the police officers so that they can be viewed clearly only when standing directly in front of the work. Williams said he did not regard this as amounting to a new piece of art created out of the photograph. Thomas defended his use of the image in part by questioning whether Williams can lay claim to ownership. “I can empathise with his concern and frustration but there are critical questions about who has the right to the image and whether it be subjects of the image, who I am most interested in. If the subjects of the image were compensated or remunerated. If they were asked. There’s a lot of questions related to representation, objectification, exploitation,” he said. “If a photograph is 25 years old, 40, 100 years old, of public events where most people who are in the photograph are not given control over how they’re depicted and what’s happening, when is it ours as a society to wrestle with?” he asked. “I think of it as more akin to sampling, remixing, which is also an area that a lot of people said

for a long time that rap music wasn’t music because it sampled.” Williams is a highly respected photographer whose work includes an iconic photograph of Nelson and Winnie Mandela hand-inhand with their fists raised as the former political prisoner emerged from jail. Williams has exhibited at the V&A in London and the Smithsonian in Washington DC. He has also been published in the Guardian. The use of photographers’ work by artists has become an increasingly fraught issue given the ease with which the original pictures can be accessed on the internet. Several photographers have sued the artist Richard Prince for copyright infringement over his use of their pictures in collages and paintings. A New York court ruled last year that at least one of the cases can go ahead because Prince’s work was not transformative enough of the images to amount to original art. Thomas’s work was on display as part of the art fair at the Goodman Gallery in Johannesburg. The gallery’s owner, Liza Essers, said she regards both men as having “incredible integrity”. She said she was not in a position to judge whether Thomas’s piece was transformative of the original photograph but noted that he has long used his art to question the ownership of images. “That has been fundamental in his work since the beginning of his career. We’ve worked with him for nine years and he has an ongoing interrogation and questioning of the ownership of images,” she said. “Hank is questioning the ownership and authorship of documentary photography. The question of copyright or not is irrelevant to what Hank’s asking. They’re coming from completely different places of departure.” Thomas said he was “shocked” that the asking price for the piece was $36,000 and that it was set by the gallery. Essers said Thomas was being modest and that the price reflected the value of his art. “That’s seen as a unique work by him,” she said.


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W W W. A R T T I M E S . C O . Z A


Williams scoffs at the idea that the artwork is unique, and at the price. He said he has never sold the image at the centre of the dispute for more than about $1,200. “The main theme of a lot of Hank’s work is to show the oppression of the oppressed. In this case he’s taken my photograph and added half a million rand, which is the cost of a medium-cost house in South Africa. It does feel like a mismatch between what he says he’s doing and what he’s really doing,” he said. “I wonder if he would have the same magnanimous attitude towards his own images within the public domain.” The disputed work was removed from display after Williams complained to the gallery. Thomas has agreed not to show it publicly. He said that “Graeme’s feelings matter to me” and that he called Williams on Monday to offer to let him keep the piece for a year. “I asked him to take the work, look at it, live with it, and then have a conversation with me about it in a year because I think the reaction is a kneejerk reaction. I think it’s not necessarily unwarranted but I think it’s a reaction that requires a deeper conversation, which the work is really about,” he said. “If he chooses to he can destroy it. He said he did not want to destroy it, that he thought we should destroy it. I told him I wouldn’t do that because if I thought I was doing something wrong I wouldn’t have made it.” Williams was not impressed by this idea. “It’s utterly bizarre. I take this artwork and keep it for a year and then we’ll chat after that? Fuck knows what that means. Perhaps that after a year I’ll understand the complexity of his artwork. I said no thanks. I have my own version of the photograph and I really don’t need an American to give that image some kind of significance and meaning,” he said.

Photo taken at the Johannesburg art fair by Graeme Williams of Hank Willis Thomas’s version of Williams’s colour original. Photograph: Graeme Williams


EXPERTS BELIEVE THEY HAVE DISCOVERED THE WORLD’S OLDEST DRAWINGS IN A SOUTH AFRICAN CAVE Henri Neuendorf: First published on Artnet

The photograph by Graeme Williams taken in Thokoza township, Johannesburg, in 1991. Police watch an ANC rally while children taunt them. Photograph: Graeme Williams

T

he markings on rock predate the oldest previously known drawing by 30,000 years, but not everyone is convinced. Professor Christopher Henshilwood of the University of Bergen in Blombos Cave. Photo Tracy Symbols. Archeologists have discovered what may be the oldest known drawing by Homo sapiens on a rock found in a South African cave. Featuring nine red strokes, researchers believe the markings predate by 30,000 years the oldest previously known abstract drawings by Homo sapiens. According to the New York Times, the tiny fragment appears to have been drawn on a flake that measures only the size of about two

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thumbnails and features six parallel lives that are diagonally crossed by three curved lines. The scrawls were excavated seven years ago at the Blombos Caves, which are around 200 miles east of Cape Town. It was found along with bone tools, engravings, and beads made from seashells. Luca Pollarolo, a researcher at Johannesburg’s University of Witwatersrand and the University of Geneva, was cleaning some artifacts unearthed from the site in 2011 when he realized that there was something unusual about the small rock fragment. He described the moment to the Times, “I think I saw more than ten thousand artifacts in my life up to now, and I never saw red lines on a flake,” he recalled, “I could not believe what I had in my hands.”


Pollarolo reached out to Christopher Henshilwood, a professor at the University of Bergen in Norway, and his colleague Karen von Niekerk with news of his discovery and the trio decided to take the artifact to the lab of specialist Francesco d’Errico at the University of Bordeaux. Using a microscope, a laser, and a scanning electron microscope they determined that the marks were made using red ocher, a natural pigment that has also been found in prehistoric cave paintings. According to the study, which was published by the journal Nature on Wednesday, the discovery could provide greater understanding of the use of symbolism and its role in the development of language, mathematics, and eventually, civilized life.

Speaking to the Times, Henshilwood, who is the study’s lead author, said “We knew a lot of things Homo sapiens could do, but we didn’t know they could do drawings back then.” Henshilwood is certain that the markings were part of a greater picture trying to convey a message and believes “they are more than just random marks.” But his colleague Lyn Wadley, who is an archeologist at the University of Witwatersrand, disagrees. She is “not convinced of intentional drawing on the flake based on present evidence.”




THE SOUTH AFRICAN

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Muafangejo, John : Zululand Natal Where Art School is Linocut: 48 X 68,6cm. Edition size 200 Produced 1974 : Signed, Dated Editioned

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