SA Art Times March 2019 by SA ART TIMES

March 2019 WWW.ARTTIMES.CO.ZA

Modern & Contemporary African Art AUCTION LONDON 2 APRIL

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Dumile Feni, Children under Apartheid, 1987, Sold for R1 250 480

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Historic, Modern & Contemporary Art WINTER AUCTION Johannesburg | 2 June 2019

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List of exhibitors of 19/12/2018

J.-P. Ritsch-Fisch Galerie (Strasbourg) | Galleria Rubin (Milan) | Sage Paris (Paris) | Galería Saro León (Las

4th Grand Palais 7th April www.artparis.com 2019 A Gaze at Women Artists in France Southern Stars: An Exploration of Latin American Art

CONTENTS

Art Times March Edition 2019 10) ART PARIS 2019 Grand Palais (Paris,France) 24) DANIELLE ALEXANDER Running Through Sand 28) WILMA CRUISE Some are More Equal than Others 32) LOUIS JANSEN VAN VUUREBN Lâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;acte final 38) ONE YEAR Joshua Miles Solo Exhibition 44) MAUREEN QUIN Post Paris 56) BUSINESS ART: STRAUSS & CO March sale of historically significant works 78) BUSINESS ART: BONHAMS Contemporary African Art Auction 84) NEW BLOOD FOR A NEW WORLD Schools Young Artists 96) ALL THE REMBRANDTS 106) ARTGO Exhibitions & Gallery Guide: March 2019 120) A GOOD READ Jeff Kooons

MARCH 2019 COVER Cover: Justin Dingwall Diamond II 2018 ARTCO gallery

Left: Anka Loots, Laundry Malawi, THK Gallery

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Louis Jansen van Vuuren, Ancestral Voices, oil on canvas (Detail)

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ART PARIS Grand Palais (Paris,France) 4th - 7th April 2019

A sparkling 21st edition focusing on women artists and Latin America, a springtime event in Paris that is not to be missed. www.artparis.com

avouring a thematic approach and open to all mediums, the 21st edition of the fair will bring together 150 modern and contemporary art galleries under the majestic glass roof of the Grand Palais from 4th -7th April 2019. Art Paris has an identity all of its own: an international art fair, it focuses on new discoveries, as well as placing special emphasis on the European scene from the post-war years to the present day, whilst exploring the new horizons of international creation, whether in Asia, Africa, the Middle East or Latin America. With 150 galleries (44% of whom are firsttime participants) compared to 143 in 2018, from 20 different countries (with for the first time Cameroun, Bulgaria, Mexico and Peru), the 2019 selection also bears witness to the fair’s move upmarket with the arrival of galleries such as Art : Concept, Ceysson & Bénétière, Jérôme Poggi, Praz-Delavallade and SAGE Paris. A Gaze at Women Artists in France Curated by AWARE: Archives of Women Artists, Research and Exhibitions, the 2019 edition presents a critical and subjective overview of the work of women artists in France from the post-war period to the present day with 25 projects selected from amongst the exhibits of participating galleries. This selection is divided into four themes: Abstraction, the Feminist Avant-Garde, Image and Theatricality. AWARE has also been invited to write a critical essay that situates each artist’s work in its historical context. AWARE was founded in 2014 by art historian Camille Morineau, who specialises in women artists. She is also the director of exhibitions and collections at the Monnaie de Paris. AWARE: Archives of Women Artists, Research and Exhibitions aims to produce, index and distribute information about 20th century women artists. www.awarewomenartists.com

Heikedine Gunther, Twin Kern No.377, 2018, Sculpture mixed media, Artem-Reich

Left: Marion-Boehm, EL BACHIR-2019, work on paper, ARTCO Gallery. Above: Matt Brown, Pentheus and the Bacchae, 2017, Ink on board, Christopher Cutts Gallery. Below: Flo Arnold, Coexistance, 2017, Installation, Loo & Lou Gallery.

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Southern Stars: An Exploration of Latin American Art In 2019, Art Paris is setting out to explore Latin American art from the 1960s to the present day. Around twenty European, Asian and Latin American galleries are presenting an ensemble of 60 Argentinean, Brazilian, Chilean, Columbian, Cuban, Mexican, Peruvian and Venezuelan artists. In parallel, other projects such as a video programme, installation artworks, the presentation of a private collection and conferences at the Maison de l’Amérique latine will highlight the creative effervescence that reigns on the continent. Southern Stars: An Exploration of Latin American Art is curated by the independent exhibition curator Valentina Locatelli, who is based in Switzerland. A historical and contemporary journey of discovery through Latin America’s art scenes Galleries spread throughout the fair’s different sectors invite visitors on a journey of discovery through Latin America’s different scenes, considering them from both a historical and contemporary point of view. Galería Freijo is focusing on two historical figures from the Mexican scene, abstract sculptor and co-founder of Stridentism Germán Cueto and Felipe Ehrenberg, a leading light in the field of Mexican conceptual art in the 1970s. Numerous galleries are showcasing the work of the proponents of geometric abstraction from the 60s and 70s, including Carlos Cruz-Diez (Venezuela), Ivan ContrerasBrunet (Chilli), Darío Pérez-Flores (Venezuela) and Marino di Teana (Argentina). Women artists are also in the spotlight with solo shows featuring Leonor Fini, a surrealist painter born in Buenos Aires (Weinstein/Galerie Minsky); Mexican artist Carmen Mariscal, whose work addresses questions of gender and female stereotypes (Ana Mas Project); and Sandra Vásquez de la Horra, a Chilean artist who is the subject of a mini-retrospective at the Wooson Gallery featuring her drawings that touch on questions of sex and religion.

Above: Martine Aballéa_Chambre n°6_2018_tirage encres ultrachrome sur papier fine art_Ed 5 1EA 1 HC_59,4 x 84,1 cm. Right: Julian Burgos, Everything had change around us, 2018, La Balsa Arte

The Cuban scene is the subject of a group exhibition at the Xin Dong Cheng Gallery, which brings together six artists from different generations: Manuel Mendive, Raúl Martínez, Adonis Flores, René Francisco Rodríguez, Michel Mirabal and Yunier Hernández Figueroa. Two galleries Nosco and Galerie Younique are showcasing the young Peruvian scene with emblematic figures such as José Carlos Martinat and José Luis Martinat, two brothers who are famous for their installations that question the past and the present of postcolonial societies. La Balsa Arte (Bogota/ Medellin) is presenting a dialogue between the works of three figures from the Columbian scene with drawings (Juan Osorno), paintings (Julian Burgos) and installation art (Luis Fernando Peláez), whereas Galería Solo – Eva Albarran & Christian Bourdais has given over part of its space to Carlos Amorales, a major

“The 21st edition of the fair will bring together 150 modern and contemporary art galleries under the majestic glass roof of the Grand Palais from 4th - 7th April 2019.” 18

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Previous Page: Albarran Cabrera, The Mouth Of Krishna No.124,2013, photography, Galerie Esther Woerdehoff. Left: Justin Dingwall, Ruby VI, 2018, ARTCO Gallery

figure on the Mexican scene who works in different media such as video, installation art, photography and paper. Finally, Galería Ethra (Mexico) is showing three artists, María José de la Macorra, Alejandro Pintado and Máximo González who are presenting their vision of the Mexican megalopolis. Private Collection As part of the focus on Latin America, Art Paris 2019 is hosting a selection of works by Latin American women artists from the collection of Catherine Petitgas. Catherine Petitgas is a London-based collector, patron of the arts and art historian specialising in modern and contemporary Latin American art. She heads up the FrancoBritish Fluxus Art Projects initiative and is also a member of the Tate Latin American acquisitions committee and the Centre Pompidou International Council. She was executive editor of Contemporary Art Brazil, Contemporary Art Mexico and Contemporary Art Colombia.

Latin America in Paris during Art Paris Art Paris’ VIP guide puts the spotlight on the Latin American presence in Paris. The BnF — François Mitterrand is showcasing figurative works by Argentinean artist Antonio Segui and Villa Vassilief together with the Institut Culturel du Mexique are paying tribute to the key Mexican experimental filmmaker Teo Hernández. The Maison de l’Amérique latine is presenting Fiesta gráfica, Michel Bouvet et ses amis d’Amérique latine, an exhibition that brings together 15 graphic artists and 3 collectives of major Latin American graphic artists in a dialogue with works by internationally renowned poster artist Michel Bouvet. Finally, Galerie Patricia Dorfmann plays host to the Julio Artist-Run Space with Diffractions, an exhibition presenting the work of five artists with Latin American origins (Juan Stoppani, Carla Bertone, Martin Kaulen, Valeria Maculán and Valentina Canseco). For more details about Art Paris 2019, visit www.artparis.com

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DANIELLE ALEXANDER Solo exhibition, Running Through Sand Eclectica Contemporary CT www.eclecticacontemporary.co.za

unning Through Sand is the debut solo Show by Danielle Zelna Alexander with Eclectica Contemporary. It is a body of work layered both physically and metaphorically. It is a wondering through identity - what is seen, what is assumed, what is fixed and what needs fixing. Duality and double meaning ring through the exhibition, as Alexander sets up visual questions and moments for pause and reflection. It is within this pause that the viewer may find a sense of safety, security and calm masking a set of ideas and thoughts which are slightly more tense, vulnerable and in some cases, sinister. Resonating through the work is a soft subtleness which is both nostalgic and dystopic Danielle Alexander is an artist who works within the mediums of painting and installation using traditional means like oil paint alongside building materials and textures, as seen in her plaster pieces. Growing up in Cape Town, she watched her father work across various fields, from selling flowers, to sorting diamonds - away at sea for months at a time, to working in construction and many more. The idea of physical labour, dust, stone and brick building up changing and tearing down are all elements which have influenced her practice in the form of building tools and materials involved in the making process, especially in contrast to the softness of flowers and the extravagance of diamonds. Another common symbol found in her work is that of drapery and cloth, with which she remembers being taught by her grandmother to sew and mend clothing. This interest in textures, tones and form grew through her research into the visual dynamics of drapery found in the canon of art history paintings and the way in which tension and drama are depicted through fabric. Anecdotes and mundane imagery from her life become embellished and immortalised in her paintings through her use of traditionalreferencing treatment of paint, with form and chiascuro. There is a feeling of running through sand throughout the exhibition – from the tones and textures, to the images; where the ground

Above: The Dunes 2, 2019 crete stone on board 90 x 110. Right: Hold Your Own Hand, 2019 oil on canvas 60 x 85cm

is soft and warm and comforting and yet all the more challenging to get through quickly. It is a challenge in self-discovery and questions complexities of identity – its vagueness, imposed or undefined. It is a test of willpower in in moving beyond questions and personal insecurities. The process of creating this body of work was accompanied by the sounds of contemporary alternative music and low-fi beats with melodic phrases. The heightened emotive components of such accompaniment accentuated the thinking through metaphor, which is present in this body of work. Most significantly, this can be observed in the symbolisms used, as seen in the use of the blue crane as a motif. The blue crane is significant in its status as both a national symbol and as being “vulnerable” as a

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But Have You Ever Tried To Run Through Sand, 2019, oil on canvas 71 x 110cm.

potentially endangered species. The metaphor of fragility and stability is thus highlighted through Alexanderâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s inclusion of the bird in this body of work. Aesthetically, the paintings explore slow detail and the momentary. By paging through magazines and scrolling through social media, Alexander has drawn from aspects of pop culture and fashion iconography to relate the imagery back to a kind of classism of soft forms and tones. The works are made up of layers of influence, oils and imaginings that verge on abstractions but are still very descriptive. Using images quickly captured with a cellphone camera, Alexander enacts a kind of care and focus by translating such a quick image into a painstaking oil painting, imbued with layers of time, chemicals and colours. When working with plaster there is a different kind of interaction which also requires intent, planning

and concentration because the materials dry very quickly. In this way, the process is inverted â&#x20AC;&#x201C; where thinking and planning comes first, requiring certainty before setting out to make, as opposed to the quick click of a camera first before the meditative working of oil on canvas. Running Through Sand is reminiscent of home, both safe and warm but containing the danger of comfort leading to complacency. The pieces are evident of grappling with these stances of being held and feeling secure and the realisation of needing to push beyond ease to recognise possibilities. Coming at a time in the artists life of progression and adjustment, the exhibition asks for a space of thought, consideration and patience while pushing viewers to piece together recognisable moments alongside musings of relatable existential conundrums.

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Modern & Contemporary African Art New Bond Street, London | 20 March 2019

ENQUIRIES Giles Peppiatt +44 20 7468 8355 macaa@bonhams.com bonhams.com/southafricanart

* For details of the charges payable in addition to the final hammer price, please visit bonhams.com/buyersguide

GERARD SEKOTO (SOUTH AFRICAN, 1913-1993) Washer women, circa 1940 ÂŁ100,000 - 150,000 *

WILMA CRUISE

Some are More Equal than Others RK Contemporary, Riebeek Kasteel Sunday 3 March - 20 March 2019Â www.rkcontemporary.com

Wilma Cruise, 2016, De Goede Hoop, CapeTown 28

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ilma Cruise is a South African sculptor and visual artist. She works mainly with fired clay in her renderings of life-sized human and animal figures. Her sculpture installations and exhibitions are often accompanied by works on paper. She has also completed several series of print editions. A number of her ceramic sculptures have been successfully translated into bronze editions. Themes explored in Cruise’s work include the interface between humans and animals and existential conditions of muteness – silent, internal battles in the search for meaning.

Hybrid Piglet, bronze edition 1/12

Top: Box(ed) & Scribble, the Cat, sculpture. Right: Wilma Cruise, 2016, De Goede Hoop, CapeTown

Cruise has had over twenty solo exhibitions, the latest being a series of six exhibitions entitled, The Alice Sequence. She has curated others and completed a number of public works including the National Monument to the Women of South Africa at the Union Buildings, Pretoria and The Memorial to the Slaves in Cape Town. Her work is represented in public, corporate and private collections throughout South Africa. She has participated in the Havana Biennale, the Florence Biennale and the prestigious 7th Gyeonggi International Ceramic Biennale in Seoul, Korea. Cruise completed her doctoral studies at the University of Stellenbosch in 2016. The title of her thesis is: “Thinking with Animals: An exploration of the animal turn through art making and metaphor”. Cruise is a fellow of

Ceramics South Africa and writes extensively in the field of ceramics. “Some are More Equal than Others continues my exploration of the impenetrable space between human and other animals. I attempt to find a language that crosses the Cartesian divide. In my exhibition at RK Contemporary, Riebeek Kasteel, dialogues are set up in installations that highlight this conundrum. We know that the animals are speaking but what they are saying remains tantalisingly out of reach.” This exhibition opens at RK Contemporary on Sunday 3 March and concludes 20 March 2019. Visit website www.rkcontemporary.com or for queries email art@rkcontemorary.com

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L’ACTE FINAL: LOUIS & KIE

An exhibition by Louis Jansen van Vuuren and thirteen fellow artists Gallery University Stellenbosch 25 Feb – 15 March 2019

ansen van Vuuren created this body of work to celebrate his seventieth birthday with his fellow artist friends. It evolved a year ago in his ST Silvian Bas Le Roc atelier in rural France. The series was completed in his West coast studio at Cape St Martin during the past three months. He finds the contrast of the two locations exhilarating and inspirational. The content and focus of the work are undeniably linked to the particular season of his life. A time during which questions about the self and life’s meaning becomes more apparent. It is not only the physical changes that are pulled into focus but it is the shift in values and cognisance that manifests resolutely. Decent from source, the inward journey and the transforming relationship and perilous state of the environment and society becomes the base of the pictorial inquiry. Memory and desire, recollection and consanguinity saturate the visual narrative like a stain. It becomes an avalanche of pentimenti; visible traces of human endeavor veiled beneath layers and layers of existence. Photography with its myriad contemporary applications, computer technology, and digital reproduction gets absorbed into the initial creative conceptualization. Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom become the stand-in for the ancient camera obscura and camera lucida. These become indispensable tools for the 21st Century’s artist. Advanced technologies blends happily with traditional artist’s techniques. Jansen van Vuuren turns to his Dutch ancestry for inspiration. The work of Johannes Vermeer, Willem Kalf and Melchior de Hondecoeter serve as a source of reference from which he takes visual elements and combines it with shards of porcelain that hang eerily in a silent space. Louis Jansen van Vuuren, Ancestral Voices oil on canvas

Blue and white splinters of VOC ceramics become vivid punctuation marks and a series of memento mori in a personal iconography that illuminates the transient nature of civilization and the fragility, also, of our planet in constant flux. The exhibition: Louis & Kie Jansen van Vuurenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s professional and academic career had its beginnings at the Departement of Visual Arts at the Stellenbosch University, first as a student in the swinging sixties and later in the seventies a fine arts and art history lecturer. It is here in the renovated Lutheran church that he had his first exhibition as a graduate student. It is fitting then that this celebratory exhibition is presented in the very same space a where it all started nearly fifty years ago. The exhibition is composed of artists that have been part of his artistic life, some as students, colleagues others as interns at his studio in France.. The arts, always at the lowest rung on the financial support ladder, are facing more hardship in recent years. Budgets are cut and

Above: Ruan Huisamen. Vintage, Little Girl, Mixed medium on paper. Left: Louis Jansen van Vuuren, Vermeer Verminder, oil on canvas

Above: Marlene Steyn, Drift her away, Mixed medium on canvas. Below: Nhlanhla Nhlapo, The way home, mixed medium on cotton paper.

there is talk of scraping the humanities from the academic curriculum. For that reason, as a private initiative, he collected funds for post graduate bursaries for the art school of his alma mater. This commemorative year also sees the creation of a new kind of educational support: The LJvV-VVM-Strauss & Co GUS curator internship programme. The fourteen participating artists created work especially for this dynamic exhibition. They include: Elizabeth Gunter, Nhlanhla Nhlapo, Hermiene Ferreiera, Ruan Huisamen, Andile Dyalvane, Linda Weaver, Adriaan Diedericks Robyn Pretorius, HestemarĂ Ferreira, Marlene Steyn, Klara-Marie-Den Heijer, Leonie Scholtz, Marie Stander.

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ONE YEAR

Joshua Miles Solo exhibition Prince Albert Gallery 04 April – 06 May 2019 By Cobus van Bosch

n celebration of his first year living and working in Prince Albert a selection of the latest works by printmaker Joshua Miles will be showcased in a solo exhibition ”One Year” at the Prince Albert Gallery opening at 18:00 on Thursday 4th April. The exhibition will feature reduction block prints and monotypes created over the last twelve months, the time Joshua and his family spent in their new place of residence, the Karoo town of Prince Albert. “I am excited to show landscapes inspired by my new environments,” says Joshua, who lived and worked with his family in Baardskeerdersbos in the Overstrand before relocating. There will however also be examples of his, by now iconic, Cape Town scenes, especially Table Mountain vistas and impressions of the picturesque Cape fishing village of Kalk Bay. Although Joshua majored in painting at the Michaelis School of Art (University of Cape Town) he quickly developed an affinity for printmaking through his aunt, the artist and art historian Elza Miles, and received tuition from renowned South African printmaker Cecil Skotnes. “I painted for fifteen years, but have always experimented with lino cuts and woodcuts. It was during my stay some years ago in Scotland, in the quiet winter months when I really started to investigate printmaking, and I eventually created more editions than weeks spent there. That was with spoon printing - it was only back in South Africa (Baardskeerdersbos) where I got regular access to a printing press.”

The Square Dam, 565 x 440mm, reduction linocut

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Left: Jamesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Car, 380 x 280mm, reduction linocut Above: Sheep and Windpomp, 565 x 420mm reduction linocut. Below: Tail in the Sun, 440 x 270mm, reduction linocut

Agave Reflexion, 700 x 350mm, reduction linocut

“When people comment that my prints have a ‘photographic’ quality, I take it as a compliment. I am certainly trying to portray as much realism through presenting as little information as possible.” Miles is one of only a handful of artists in South Africa who prefer reduction block printing, a laborious process where several layers of colour are printed on a single sheet of paper from one block which is gradually reduced by cutting away material. This process, which has a long Japanese tradition, is ideal for him, as colour has been crucial component of his work since his painting years. This ranges from stark contrasts to fine gradients - in both tone and value not often associated with traditional Western printmaking. “I also like the finality of the reduction process - the fact that the block is virtually destroyed after the final cutting stage,” says Joshua, who usually creates relatively small editions of each image. He also loves producing monotypes, a very different printing technique which produces only one work and is considered the most painterly of the printing processes. Joshua’s work has come a long way since those early days of spoon printing in Scotland. He acknowledges much refinement in his

technique. “I have noticed that my images have become more ‘crisp’,” he says. “When people comment that my prints have a ‘photographic’ quality, I take it as a compliment. I am certainly trying to portray as much realism through presenting as little information as possible.” Although he has become known for his colourful and atmospheric impressions of natural landscapes and urban environments, he also loves creating portraits, still-lives as well as single objects such as flowers or everyday items. “My interests are wide and I will depict anything that moves me. I suppose my inspiration comes from the beauty in life,” he says. “One Year” opens on 4th April at 18:00 in the Prince Albert Gallery in Prince Albert. It will be on view until the 6th of May. For more information: www princealbertgallery.co.za www.joshuamiles.co.za Tel (023 5411 057)

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

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS !!! Fundamentalist Rationalism Print Competition Submit 1 - 4 images of artworks & 500 word rationale to eclecticaprintcompetition@gmail.com For more details please visit e c l e c t i c a p r i n t a r t g a l l e r y. c o . z a / e x h i b i t i o n s

Winner will receive R 15 000 CASH PRIZE !!!

Entry closes 30 April 2019

MAUREEN QUIN

Post Paris: Rediscovering Africa 6 March 2019, Art@Africa Gallery, Clocktower Centre - V&A Waterfront Co-Written by Briony Haynes and Nadine Froneman

Above: Dubai Arab Stallion, 2007. Right: Rescue, 2003 Bronze H685mm x W225mm x L550mm

aureen Quin is one of South Africa’s most treasured female sculptors. After obtaining her diploma in fine arts with distinction in Durban 1934 and furthering her studies at Goldsmiths in London 1956, her love and passion for remaining true to creating has resulted in a lengthy list of local and international exhibitions, bursaries and awards.

will showcase two of Quin’s series, PostParis1988 and Interaction 2003. Exhibited alongside one another, Quin aims to create an overview of her feelings towards the positive African spirit, culture, inspiration and the hope for an improved society. In a country that has been continually torn apart, Quin seeks to present the desires of the people to heal the wounds of the past and overcome suffering.

In 1987 Quin travelled to Paris in the hope of becoming inspired by contemporary movements, despite her disappointment, the trip ignited a rediscovery of the African energy she had been missing. This exhibition

Post Paris signifies the moment her works emotively begin to explore and morph the human and animal iconography to depict South African identity. By displaying both muscular bodies and skeletor bone structure

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Charlotte, 2011

Horned Beast Man Sitting Back to Front on Chair, 1988, Bronze, H300 x W145 x 170mm, Edition 6

in combination with animal horns and human bodies she creates a captivating body of bronzes. The sculptures are surrealistic and resonate an internal emotive process where Quin starts by drawing ‘until ‘she’ gets under the skin of ‘her’ subject, till ‘she’ can feel that sculpture in ‘her’’. She is inspired by emotion and works with her subconscious presence to reflect her inner thoughts.

By sculpting recognisably afrocentric faces, Quin works to represent the experiences of the black male in her art and finds a balance in her figures to show both struggle and optimism in their appearance. Each work is a new personal journey and are not conceptually inspired but rather emotional responses. There is a dialogue created between the forms of each sculpture with a tension and relationship, allowing the works to ‘acquires a spirit and a personality’.

Quin further addresses the idea of African identity in Interaction. The series is Quin’s response to ‘the preponderance of evil which enjoys so much attention in the media’. She desired to sculpt people recognisable for their nobility rather than their faults. The way this series is sculpted with distorted bodies and bone, their positioning and interaction with one another echo the pathos, suffering, altruism and good heartedness of South Africans.

Event title: Post Paris: Rediscovering Africa Time: 6pm till 10pm Opening date: 6 March 2019 Location: Art@Africa Gallery, Clocktower Centre - V&A Waterfront Curated by Nadine Froneman Contact: Dirk Durnez, 082 774 1078 or dirk@artatafrica.art

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Christopher Moller Gallery 7 Kloofnek Road, Cape Town; www.christophermollerart.co.za; @christophermoller_gallery

CONTINUUM

Solo Exhibition by Adriaan Diedericks 09 March – 02 April 2019, Art In The Yard, Franschhoek www.artintheyard.co.za

... And as children and artists play, so plays the ever-living fire. It constructs and destroys, all in innocence... Transforming itself into water and earth, it builds towers of sand like a child at the seashore, piles them up and tramples them down ... The ever self-renewing impulse to play calls new worlds into being. The child throws its toys away from time to time-and starts again, in innocent caprice. But when it does build, it combines and joins and forms its structures regularly, conforming to inner laws.” -NIETZSCHE As one of the leading contemporary South African sculptors of his generation, Diedericks’ mastery of the medium is beautifully showcased in his exhibition, “Continuum”. Through the concept of rotting wood, Diedericks creates an analogy that stands as a metaphor for loss and destruction caused by man. This exhibition highlights his ability to create pieces that articulate a shared visual lexicon, however, when viewed individually, display a strong individuality and this speaks to the loss of identity within the post-colonial era.

Left: Continuum III. Right: Continuum I Maquette

rt in the Yard Gallery, Franschhoek, is proud to present Adriaan Diedericks’ seventh solo exhibition: “Continuum”. A sculptural exhibition centred on contrasting ideas of playful creation and haunting decay. The idea of playfulness is present within Diedericks’ unique methodology; an unplanned process where he lets the materials almost assemble themselves until an emancipated form emerges. One piece informs the next, and so the body of work mimics the natural evolutionary process of creation. “In this world only play, play as artists and children engage in it, exhibits coming-to-be and passing away, structuring and destroying

The title “Continuum”, as a dictionary definition, refers to “A continuous sequence in which adjacent elements are not perceptibly different from each other, but the extremes are quite different.” A continuing theme of Diedericks’ work is the capturing of naturally decaying substances, such as wood, into the permanent form of bronze. Visually, the work takes cues from wooden materials; some that are left in their natural form, some that have been shaped. Further exemplifying the relationship between destruction and creation, he has made use of visceral and unconventional tools for sculpting; from the noble chopping axe to the modernised chainsaw, medieval craftsmanship sits in juxtaposition with industrialisation.

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CHRISTO COETZEE’S

IN ACTION a celebration of love with art. By Amohelang Mohajane NWU Gallery Curator

Christo Coetzee - in action exhibition

WU gallery celebrates love with two exhibition openings at the NWU Galleries. We have at the Botanical Gardens Gallery an exhibition presented by Art Young whose mission is to give talented, unestablished artists who create high quality original works a platform to exhibit their work to art lovers, while offering affordable original artwork for the new, or experienced, collector.

Featured there are contemporary artists Francois Pretorius, Gretchen Crots, Nadrie Botha, Cherie Cordier, and then at the main NWU Gallery we have a feature from our University collection astounding artworks from the late Christo Coetzee a South African artist whose art and career has spanned both countries and genres. Amohelang Mohajane NWU Gallery Curator and Mart Gey Van Pittius the gallery administrative assistant, have curated Christo Coetzee’s “IN ACTION” exhibition. Together hoping that through this Coetzee’s oeuvre can be exposed into Art History in School curricula and the Art Market. While the former

have made it difficult for Coetzee to fit into the market, the later stand firm to continue unearthing the archives to make sure that he remains in the contemporary art world. “IN ACTION” as two words means to be in an active state, working and physically active during the process of creation. But if written as one-word “INACTION” refers to the lack of action, where its expected very much like the inactivity with regards to the contemporary art scene for Coetzee’s oeuvre. Following the the footsteps of the recent retrospective “The Safest Place is a Knife’s Edge” Curated by Willem Van Rensburg and Shonisani Netshia we hope that “IN ACTION”, that this will change. The artworks that are part of this exhibition are from the Universities Collection, we have in our collection just over 210 Christo Coetzee’s. We have early abstract works, well known assemblage works, and later hermeneutic paintings. Coetzee’s oeuvre is liminal and subliminal, the works will have that effect on you, the work tends to grow on you.

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Art Young exhibition

Christo Coetzee - in action exhibition

Bottom Left: Art Young exhibition - artwork by Gretchen Crots. Bottom Right: Clement Manoko, Amohelang Mohajane (NWU Gallery Curator), Jaco van der Walt, Mart Gey van Pittius.

EVERYTHING IN ITS RIGHT PLACE Anke Loots’ Solo Show Thk Gallery, 7 March - 3 May www.thkgallery.com

APE TOWN: THK Gallery proudly presents Anke Loots’ inaugural solo show, Everything In Its Right Place. The show will open on 7 March and run until 3 May at THK Gallery in Cape Town.

renowned photographer Pieter Hugo. Now, in 2019, Loots is establishing herself as an independent photographer with the launch of Everything In Its Right Place.

After completing a degree in art direction at one of Cape Town’s most established creative academies, Loots moved into an apprentice role with the internationally

Fundamental to her work is the deep sense of discipline revealed through a slow and methodical examination of her subject, which ranges from inanimate object to intimate portrait. She shoots only in available light to highlight the concept of seeing things as they really are, and places comparatively significant emphasis on her curatorial process: “The pairing of images is an important part of my process as it helps me clarify an ideology more clearly. Each image is carefully selected to lead the viewer into a visual narrative, and to build a world of freedom and contentment.”

Left: Dancing, 2019. Above: Onix, 2015

Jardin Majorelle, 2017

Everything In Its Right Place is the first exhibition of the self-taught photographer’s growing body of work. The show represents the many years Loots spent exploring the medium and the subsequent establishment of her distinct style, which is defined by her use of light and shadow and her astute eye for composition.

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Left: A friend on my couch, 2018. Above: Gemini Capricorn, 2018

The result is a meditation on beauty – a subject captured with focused, isolated simplicity.

Everything In Its Right Place evokes profound stillness at every turn.

Everything In Its Right Place showcases Loots’ connection to the uncomplicated essence of her subject across more than 30 images throughout the multi-leveled THK Gallery. The title of the show references an iconic Radiohead track that, beneath the obscure language, honours the reception of the world around us with a sense of awe and acceptance.

The upcoming exhibition will be the sixth hosted by the gallery, which launched in 2018 in Cape Town’s CBD. THK provides an exciting new platform, showcasing contemporary art by both emerging and established photographers – artists whose works present alternative and new perspectives on the aesthetics of photography.

It is this view of the world, through the nonjudgemental eyes of a newborn child, that makes up the emotion behind Loots’ body of work.

Enquiries, please contact: Marie-Sygne Le Baud at ml@thkgallery.com

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Business Art News

STRAUSS & CO

Great excitement surrounds Strauss & Co’s March sale of historically significant works.

Strauss & Co is thrilled to announce details of its extraordinary offerings from four major private collections due to be sold at its much-anticipated March 2019 auction in Cape Town. This sale will feature top-class paintings from The Shill Collection and The Late Sol Munitz Collection, as well as Cape furniture pieces from The Collection of Dr Johan Bolt and Oriental works of art from The Dr JR and Mary Strong Collection. Art highlights from the March sale include three scintillating portraits of single sitters by Irma Stern dating from her acclaimed Zanzibar period. Stern visited Zanzibar in 1939 and 1945. Her large portraits from this period are triumphs of style and description. Painted in 1952, Collected Images by Alexis Preller is a seminal piece by this highly regarded artist. Illustrated on the cover of Esmé Berman and Karel Nel’s 2009 monograph of the same name, Collected Images depicts a cabinet with 18 compartments and is a resonant catalogue of the artist’s key metaphors. “These paintings by Irma Stern and Alexis Preller represent some of the most important and historically significant works to appear in a South African saleroom in recent years,” said Bina Genovese, Strauss & Co’s joint managing director. “Works of this calibre rarely come to market and Strauss & Co is proud to be offering them to collectors.” There is also a great deal of anticipation surrounding the sale of over two hundred pieces of Oriental porcelain and works of art from the Strong Collection. This important private collection includes snuff bottles, netsuke, jade and ceramics. Irma Stern, Meditation, Zanzibar, signed and dated 1939, oil on canvas, 99 by 93cm, From The Shill Collection, R 15 000 000 - 20 000 000

Alexis Preller, Collected Images (Orchestration of Themes), signed and dated ‘52, oil on canvas, 61 by 76cm, from The Shill Collection, R 7 000 000 - 9 000 000

The Dr Johan Bolt Collection includes rare eighteenth century examples of Cape furniture and copperware. The decorative arts catalogue also includes a striking presentation of contemporary furniture and design. “All four collections on offer were painstakingly assembled and are distinguished by the passion and connoisseurship of their owners,” said Vanessa Phillips, Strauss & Co’s joint managing director. “Single-owner collections are a cornerstone of Strauss & Co’s business. Our ability to handle these collections is an important part of why Strauss & Co is the leading auction house in South Africa.”

A fine Southern Cape yellowwood, stinkwood and fruitwood Neoclassical jonkmanskas, early 19th century. 162,5cm high, 136cm wide, 57,5cm deep, from the Dr Johan Bolt Collection of Cape Furni-ture and Metalware, R 400 000 - 600 000

The sale will take place on Monday 18 March at the Vineyard Hotel in Cape Town. Strauss & Co will host a preview of the sale from 15 to 17 March, between 10am and 5pm, which will include an extensive programme of public talks and social events in the lead-up to the sale, all open to the public. www.straussart.co.za

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TIMELESS Past, Present & Future A group exhibition in conversation with contemporary Africa by curator Beathur Mgoza Baker Esther Mahlangu I Willie Bester I Paul Blomkamp Christiaan Diedericks I Ndabuko Ntuli I Clint Strydom Restone Maambo I Ronald Muchatuta I Aza Mansongi

â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Black Bodyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, Ronald Muchatuta 2016

The Melrose Gallery at One&Only, Cape Town www.themelrosegallery.com

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STRAUSS & CO

New photography and young painters shine at Strauss & Co’s Contemporary Art Sale www.straussart.co.za

aintings dominated the top ten lots sold at Strauss & Co’s much-anticipated contemporary art sale in Cape Town, but it was Athi-Patra Ruga’s vibrant colour photograph of a balloon-clad figure astride a zebra that ultimately topped the rankings when it sold for R1.707 million, six times more than its presale estimate. The packed sale established 23 world records and six South African records, notably for painting and photography. Stunned applause greeted the sale of Ruga’s large photograph The Night of the Long Knives I (2013), which had two bidders determinedly chase after it. The remarkable sale price not only set a new world record for the East London-raised artist, but also marked the first time a photograph has ever sold for more than R1 million at a local auction. The result was the talk of the town and Ruga was thronged by well-wishers when he attended the Investec Cape Town Art Fair the day after the sale. Timed to coincide with the Art Fair and presented in a beautifully appointed quayside venue at the V&A Waterfront, Strauss & Co’s 107-lot contemporary art sale grossed R12.8 million in sales. Long valued for its uniqueness, painting reliably performed well at the sale. The top-selling lot after Ruga was an early student work by painter Marlene Dumas, a portrait of her lecturer Dimitri Fanourakis, which sold for R1.593 million, a new South African record for the Amsterdam-based artist. A remarkable colourist landscape painted in 1997 by Robert Hodgins rounded off the top three, fetching R1.024 million.

David Goldblatt, SOUTH AFRICAN 1930-2018, On the Farm Rooinek, Seweweekpoort, Western Cape, 18 February 2006, R 300 000 - 400 000 - Sold R 341 400 (South African Record)

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Above: Robert Hodgins, SOUTH AFRICAN 1920-2010, Landscape with Figures, R 800 000 - 1 000 000 - Sold R 1 024 200 Right: Mustafa Maluka, SOUTH AFRICAN 1976, You Say the Things You Think You Have to Say, R 200 000 - 300 000 - Sold R 477 960 (World Record)

But it was younger painters and photographers working outside the conventions of documentary who really defined the narrative of the evening sale. Strauss & Co established a world record for painter Mustafa Maluka when it sold his 2008 portrait titled You Say the Things You Think You Have to Say for R477 960. Collector interest in Georgina Gratrix remains high, with two works by this young Cape Town painter placing in the top-ten lots sold: Bride Dressed as Cake, an energetic expressionist study of a smiling bride, sold for R261 740, while Ed with Bubbles, an affectionate portrait of artist Ed Young, fetched R250 360. Other young painters who performed well at the sale included Zander Blom, Mia Chaplin, Alexandra Karakashian, Banele Khoza, Simphiwe Ndzube and Pierre Vermuelen. The sale confirmed the auction status of Blom, whose large 2014 abstract work Untitled 1.627 sold for R250 360, and also established credible benchmark prices for Karakashian, Khoza, Ndzube and Vermuelen, all of whom sold work far in excess of the pre-sale estimates.

Said Frank Kilbourn, Strauss & Co’s chairman: “Our aim when we launched this dedicated sale of contemporary art in 2018 was to build new audiences and widen the base of collectors. We were delighted to see so many new bidders and first-time buyers at the sale. I think the broad and representative selection of art on offer by artists from South Africa, the continent and beyond, all of them working in innovative ways, enticed exciting new collectors into the secondary market for contemporary art.” The uptick in interest in photography at Strauss & Co’s auction, the first of its five annual live sales, was especially pronounced. Alongside Ruga’s colour-drenched fantasy work, photographs by Jane Alexander, David Goldblatt, Zanele Muholi, Mary Sibande and Wolfgang Tillmans also performed well. Goldblatt’s 1975 black-and-white photograph of two park-bench sitters in Johannesburg was the first lot to go under hammer and fetched R170 700, well above estimate. A 2006 colour photograph by Goldblatt of a farm at Seweweekpoort, near Ladysmith in the Western Cape, sold for R 341 400, a new South

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Marlene Dumas, SOUTH AFRICAN/DUTCH 1953, Naked Man, R 1 500 000 - 2 000 000 - Sold R 1 593 200 (South African Record)

Georgina Gratrix, SOUTH AFRICAN 1982, Ed with Bubbles, R 60 000 - 80 000 - Sold R 250 360

African record. Muholi’s masked self-portrait Isililo XX unexpectedly sold for R113 800, far in excess of the pre-sale estimate.

Ledelle Moe and Brett Murray all posted solid results. Bidders enthusiasm for Moe’s Congregation, an assembly of concrete heads, saw the work sell for R170 700, an auction record for the artist. In 2018, Strauss & Co announced the creation of a post-graduate educational bursary.

Until recently photography was the Cinderella of South African art, at least at auction. In 2011, two important vintage prints by Goldblatt, a master documentarian, fetched only modest sums at Strauss & Co auctions. Last year, at the company’s maiden contemporary art auction in Cape Town, a 2007 colour photo by Goldblatt portraying an extensive landscape at Nqondwana, near Port Edward, sold for R329 672. “The broad interest in photography at our second contemporary art sale was really encouraging and marks an important consolidation,” said Bina Genovese, Strauss & Co’s joint managing director and auctioneer. She was particularly delighted by the performance of Ruga’s work. “Milestones are only ever achieved once at auction and we are truly proud to be the first auction house in South Africa to sell a photograph for over R1 million. I believe the stellar result for Athi-Patra Ruga’s work is a sea change for photography, as well as the contemporary art market as a whole.” While crowded out of the top ten by painters and photographers, sculptors Norman Catherine,

“The bursary was established to encourage and support art and art history post-graduate studies in South African and is funded by 20% of the net proceeds of Strauss & Co’s annual contemporary art sale,” said Frank Kilbourn. “This social initiative by the company recognises the importance of nurturing professional talent that will one day benefit South Africa’s burgeoning art economy.” The three recipients of 2019 bursaries are: Athenkosi Kwinana (MA, University of Johannesburg), Salomé Le Roux (MA, University of Pretoria) and Arisha Maharaj (MA, University of the Witwatersrand). Strauss & Co congratulates these enterprising students and wishes them all success with their studies. Strauss & Co’s next live sale will be held on 18 March at The Vineyard Hotel in Newlands, Cape Town, and includes highly important works by Irma Stern and Alexis Preller.

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SOTHEBYâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S

Fourth Dedicated Auction Of Modern And Contemporary African Art www.sothebys.com/contemporaryafrican

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otheby’s fourth dedicated auction of Modern and Contemporary African Art will take place in London on 2 April 2019 and will include a carefully selected collection of paintings, photographs, drawings and sculpture from the 20th and 21st centuries from across the African continent, with a strong focus on the independence and postcolonial eras. Our sales in this category have set 50 world records and have attracted collectors from 33 different countries across 6 continents, championing the work of artists from the African continent and underscoring the global interest in this collecting category. Our most recent sale saw outstanding results for artists such as Papa Ibra Tall whose piece, The Warrior, from the collection of Duke Ellington, soared past its pre-sale estimate (£8,000-12,000) realizing £118,750. Sotheby’s April sale will be led by Zebra Crossing II, a bottle cap tapestry by contemporary art superstar, El Anatsui. Originating from Ghana, El Anatsui has explored a wide range of media including ceramics, tropical hardwoods, milk-tin lids and aluminium bottle tops, which the artist uses to make the glittering metallic tapestries for which he is most known. The success of El Anatsui’s bottle cap works can be attributed to the artist’s ability to effortlessly manipulate the rigid metallic material in a way that creates a finished work that is robust yet malleable, luxurious and incredibly cloth-like. El Anatsui has enjoyed several ground-breaking exhibitions such as the internationally touring exhibition, When I Last Wrote to you About Africa in 2010. In 2019, Munich’s Haus der Kunst will host El Anatsui: Triumphant Scale, the artist’s largest retrospective to date.

El Anatsui, Zebra Crossing 2, £550,000 - 750,000

Above: Chéri Samba, J’aime la couleur, £40,000 - 60,000 Right: Nicholas Hlobo, Injongo, £30,000 - 50,000

Sotheby’s is exceptionally pleased to be presenting a selection of works by renowned South African artist, Nicholas Hlobo. The three works on offer in this seasons’ sale perfectly demonstrate Hlobo ability to marry beautifully subtle and meticulous visual details with powerful, sometimes difficult themes. The artist has created a large repertoire of work that ranges from large site specific installations to more intimate works on paper, Isivunoi (est. £15,000 - 20,000) and Icace Okomra Webhokwe (est. £15,000 - 20,000) being exemplary of the latter. Chéri Samba is one of the most prestigious artistic figures to emerge out of the Democrat Republic of Congo in recent years. Born in a village 80km outside of Kinshasa, this pioneer of Congolese Popular Painting has gone on to exhibit at some of the world’s most prestigious institutions including the Foundation Cartier and the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago.

Samba’s famously graphic paintings are usually satirical and depict the political, social and economic realities of the DRC. Drawing on his past training as a comic strip and billboard artist, the artist’s work often involves text, outlining a clear message or storyline. Sotheby’s is excited to present Samba’s J’aime la couleur (est. £40,000 - 60,000), an unusual and dramatic example of Samba’s most iconic imagery. Peter Clarke was one of South Africa’s most prestigious cultural figures in both art and literature, receiving The National Order of Ikhamanga for excellence in the fields of arts and literature in 2005. Untitled (Girl with Sunflower) (est. £7,000 - 10,000) presents a figure positioned in the foreground of a barren landscape, holding a sunflower. The imagery of the sunflower is used by Clarke in other works such as his renowned triptych ‘Haunted Landscape.’

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Ibrahim Mahama, Rafia EB X, £20,000 - 30,000

Rafia EB X (est. £20,000 - 30,000) by Ghanian artist Ibrahim Mahama is an elegant wall hanging consisting of repurposed burlap jute sacks. The artist is most known for stitching together these jute sacks in order to create large textiles which are often dropped over architectural forms. Imported into Ghana from south-east Asia and then re-used for the exportation of cocoa, charcoal and other crops, Mahama’s jute sacks are synonymous with Ghana’s trade history and are used to comment on Ghana’s economic relationship with the rest of the world, starting from postcolonializatino to present day. Mahama’s work ranges from large site specific installations to more intimate pieces such as Rafia EB X. Trained as a painter, Mahama often refers to works such as Rafia EB X as paintings, seeking to highlight the elegant form that hangs on the wall whilst also challenging the boundaries of what it means to paint.

Peter Clarke was one of South Africa’s most prestigious cultural figures in both art and literature, receiving The National Order of Ikhamanga for excellence in the fields of arts and literature in 2005. Untitled (Girl with Sunflower) (est. £7,000 - 10,000) presents a figure positioned in the foreground of a barren landscape, holding a sunflower. The imagery of the sunflower is used by Clarke in other works such as his renowned triptych ‘ Haunted Landscape.’ Other highlights from Sotheby’s upcoming sale include works by artists from across the continent, such as El Anatsui, Hassan El Glaoui, Skunder Boghossian, Ben Enwonwu, Eddy Kamuanga Ilunga, Ibrahim El Salahi, Maggie Laubser, Ablade Glover, Pascale Marthine Tayou and Lucky Sibiya. www.sothebys.com/contemporaryafrican

“Our sales in this category have set 50 world records and have attracted collectors from 33 different countries across 6 continents, championing the work of artists from the African continent” 70

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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

Oliewenhuis Art Museum Harry Smith Street, Bloemfontein

15 March – 28 April 2019 Viewing Times: Monday – Friday 08:00 – 17:00 Saturdays, Sundays & Public Holidays 09:00 – 16:00 Tel: 051 011 0525 / 083 457 2699 Email: oliewen@nasmus.co.za Web: www.nasmus.co.za

Business Art News

ASPIRE REJUVENATES SA ART AUCTION SCENE www.aspireart.net

he recent successful Cape Town auction conducted by Aspire Art Auctions was the young company’s tenth major catalogue sale in its third year in existence. In that relatively short time Aspire has crafted a reputation as a niched, innovative and agile new player in the rarefied South African fine art auction market. Its presence on the auction scene has also served to grow the entire market as new artwork and new collectors have emerged and new networks of selling and buying relationships have been formed and are developing. Aspire’s approach from the outset has been to offer carefully targeted and top-quality works of art in selected market segments. As its record shows, the business more than holds its own with the established players in the South African market when it comes to the high-value signatures of the Modern and 20th Century segment. Some of the country’s most recognisable and collectable artists fall into this category, such as Alexis Preller, J.H. Pierneef, Irma Stern and Maggie Laubser.

Comments Aspire MD Ruarc Peffers, “This is a part of the market in which we need to demonstrate our expertise and ability to meet the expectations of sellers and buyers that we can recognise and achieve the right value for top quality work. The confidence that our clients have in us is cemented by our performance in the segment, nowhere better exemplified than by our world record price of R9 104 000 for a work by Alexis Preller, Adam (1972), in our Spring 2018 sale. It does not mean that we will offer ‘Modern’ work from the 20th century across the board – we are being somewhat selective in order to maintain our focus on our expertise and quality.” Alexis Preller, Adam, 1972

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“Aspire’s approach from the outset has been to offer carefully targeted and top-quality works of art in selected market segments.”

Above: Kumalo Mythological Rider (1970) Left: Georgina Gratrix

A concentration on these prestigious signatures is accompanied by the attention Aspire has paid to under-represented black artists in South Africa’s secondary market. While African art is a growing sector worldwide, with dedicated auction sales in London and bespoke global art fairs, the exclusionary history of apartheid for homegrown black artists continues to need redress. “We believe that a concentration on the work of artists such as Sekoto, Pemba, Kumalo, Legae and many others will help to grow the value that their work perhaps already should have. Auction houses can help with contextualising the importance

of such work for collectors, acting hand in hand with museums and other art institutions to do so. It’s ethically the right thing to do, but we also believe in the value of the art these artists produced in their lifetime. It was a great privilege for us to be able to achieve the world record price of R1 250 480 in 2017 for a repatriated work by the renowned and influential exiled South African artist Dumile Feni, as well as the world record of R1 932 560 for a Kumalo sculpture in the same year. But more than achieving these records, our success with the work of these artists safeguards South Africa’s artistic heritage by placing it in the hands of serious collectors.”

Dumile Feni, Children Under Apartheid

Aspire’s innovative and agile strategy also places the contemporary segment at the forefront of the business. Its success in the sector ranges from a world record of R6 600 400 for a drawing by William Kentridge in 2018, several notable sales of David Goldblatt photographs, as well as success with a younger generation of contemporary artists, such as Georgina Gratrix, Athi-Patra Ruga and Mohau Modisakeng. These contemporary artists are also among those who benefit from Aspire’s Artist’s Resale Royalties initiative, a self-funded scheme which pays royalties on resales to living South African artists.

The initiative earned industry recognition with an award for Best Strategic Project from Business Arts South Africa in 2018. “Our strategy of focus and agility in our chosen market segments means that we can also focus our resources on achieving the best prices we can for our clients, and we can grow value in the segments across the board. Our reputation is growing as an accomplished and innovative fine art auction house, though we may not yet be the biggest, because of our attention to detail, and the expertise and experience of our team,” concludes Peffers.

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CONTINUUM SOLO Exhibition By Adriaan Diedericks 09.03.2019 | 02.04.2019 Opening Saturday 9th March, 11am Art In The Yard www.artintheyard.co.za The Yard 38 Huguenot Street, Franschhoek 021 876 4280

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BONHAMS MODERN & CONTEMPORARY AFRICAN ART AUCTION 20 March 2019, New Bond Street, London

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erard Sekoto’s Washer women (£100,000150,000) leads the Bonhams Modern and Contemporary African Art sale on 20 March at the New Bond Street saleroom in London. Along with Sekoto’s work, the new sale will showcase work by established modernist masters Ben Enwonwu, Jacob Pierneef and Irma Stern. In living across Pretoria and Sophiatown, Sekoto is recognised as one of South Africa’s most distinguished modern artists for his depictions of everyday scenes that capture the realism and humanity amidst a period of apartheid division and submission. Although Sekoto left South Africa for Paris in 1947, the warm syntheses of tone and colour depict a fond and vibrant memory of his homeland. The work shall be offered alongside The Water Collectors (£50,000-80,000), as well as seven more paintings and watercolours completed throughout his career. Following on from the roaring success of Ben Enwonwu’s Tutu at the Bonhams Africa Now sale in 2018 - where the newly discovered painting achieved an auction record for the artist at £1.2million – Enwonwu will lead with two sculptures, The Fruit Seller and Anwanyu, which each carry estimates of £100,000150,000. The two sculptures show Enwonwu’s capacity to depict the realist, everyday as well as the natural and spiritual dualities held in Nigerian culture. Anwanyu, meaning ‘eye of the sun’, depicts the powerful Igbo earth goddess, Ani, as a rising symbol of ambition for a country in flux, hoping for independence. Enwonwu summarised the work as engaging in Nigerian social dialogue in the late 1960s by using ancestral, spiritual imagery: “My aim was to symbolise our rising nation. I have tried to combine material, crafts, and traditions, to express a conception that is based on womanhood (…) the beginning, and then, the development and flowering Jacob Pierneef, Wilde Vye Boom

Above: Sekoto, The water collectors Right: Sekoto, A woman walking her childen to the market

into the fullest stature of a nation – a people! This sculpture is spiritual in conception, rhythmical in movement, and three dimensional in its architectural setting – these qualities are characteristic of the sculpture of my ancestors.” Elsewhere at the sale, significant South African works from Jacob Hendrik Pierneef and Vladimir Griegorovich Tretchikoff will be offered. Pierneef’s Wilde Vye boom (estimated at £40,000-60,000) captures an early modernist approach to the South African landscape, where its vastness is illuminated through planes of light and colour, symbolising harmony and uninhibited tranquillity in nature. Vladimir Griegorovich Tretchikoff Portrait of a Ndebele man (estimated at £25,000 – 35,000) is a rare example of the artist’s style in

portraiture – one which focuses on expression rather than identifying with his ethnicity, status or occupation. Other highlights from the sale include: • Irma Stern (South African, 1894-1966) Girl with Jug, estimated at £50,000 – 80,000. • A collection of eight works by Sydney Kumalo (South African, 1935-1988), each carry an estimate varying from £4,000-20,000. • Billy Monk (South African, 1937-1982) Ten photographs from ‘The Catacombs’ series. The collection is estimated at £3,000 – 5,000. For more details or enquiries, please email macaa@bonhams.com or visit www.bonhams. com/departments/PIC-AFR/

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STEPHAN WELZ & CO Cape Town Highlights Feb 2019 stephanwelzandco.co.za

Lot 166 A ROSEWOOD DINING SUITE DESIGNED BY JOHN TABRAHAM FOR D.S. VORSTER, MID 20TH CENTURY comprising: a dropleaf table and six side chairs; each oval-shaped backrest on rounded square-section supports, fabric seat, on rounded square-section legs joined by side-stretchers, two with manufacturer’s label; the table, en suite; the table 73,5cm high, 70cm wide, 195cm fully extended (7) R 12 000 - R 15 000 Sold for: R 19,737

Lot 212 Fitzpatrick, Sir J. Percy JOCK OF THE BUSHVELD London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1907 FIRST EDITION, FIRST IMPRESSION, SIGNED, 8vo, xiv + 475 pp, frontis + 22 plates, original green embossed cloth with slipcase and folding shell, front hinge starting, some glue visible along spine of half title, light foxing on eps, 2cm tear in bottom margin of one page and 1cm tear in margin of another, one plate reattached. R 12 000 - R 15 000 Sold for: R 63,855

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Lot 522 A GENTLEMAN’S 22CT GOLD SKELETON WRISTWATCH, PATEK PHILIPPE automatic, self winding, movement no. 1239334, the circular dial with skeleton movement with hand engraved decoration, black oxidised gold hands, inscribed Patek Philippe, Geneve, cabochon sapphire-set winding crown, transparent back case, on a leather strap, accompanied by the original presentation box, rust spec diameter of bezel approximately 30mm R 120 000 - R 160 000 Sold for: R 357,300

Lot 717 A LARGE CERAMIC, ‘NAMAQUALAND’ VITRIFIED TILE, ESIAS BOSCH (1923 - 2010) 160 by 124cm R 250 000 - R 350 000 Sold for: R 986,850 Lot 718 A PAINTED EARTHENWARE CAT AND KITTEN, HYLTON NEL (1941 - ) modelled seated, with a kitten between the front paws, painted in blocks of colour in shades of blue, red, puce, black, yellow and green against a white background, painted with the artist’s initials and dated 5.12.95 to the underside 24cm high PROVENANCE Purchased from the artist R 16 000 - R 18 000 Sold for: R 81,270

Lot 444 Vasco Da Gamma Seil Om Kaap Punt, Jacob Hendrik Pierneef, (South African 1886 -1957), signed and dated 49; signed, dated and inscribed with the title on the reverse, oil on canvas laid down on board, 29 by 39cm, Sold for: R301,860

Lot 713 A MINTONS PÂTE-SUR-PÂTE TWIN HANDLED VASE AND COVER, ATTRIBUTED TO L. SOLON (1835 – 1913) the balustershaped body decorated in relief overall with gilt floral and leaf and star patterns against an olive green ground, a cameo pattern cherub to the front flying through a ring of fire, wreath-shaped handles, the loose cover surmounted by a cone finial, gilt crowned Globe and impressed marks, shape no. 3271, various cyphers including swan cypher 1895, unsigned, 25cm high including cover R 15 000 - R 18 000 Sold for: R 22,059

Art Times Presents

NEW BLOOD FOR A NEW WORLD www.arttimes.co.za/newblood

MARCH’S NEWBLOOD WINNER!

Elizabeth Meyer:‘Fantasy world’ from Treverton College, Mooiriver, KZN. We wish her well, and look forward to seeing more of her work here. Well Done Elizabeth! Best, Gabriel Clark-Brown, Editor: SA Art Times

Helen Milligan, Age 18, When we collide, 2018

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Kian Spreeth, Grade 12, Modern false gods, film paper Bellville High School

E-MAIL YOUR ARTWORK TO NEWBLOOD AND STAND A CHANCE TO WIN R 1000 E-mail your artwork direct to newblood@arttimes.co.za Please include your name, age, grade and school and stand a chance to win R1000 and have your artwork uploaded onto the Newblood website.

Jenny Li, Cambridge A world, Level Student, 18, StMooiriver, Johnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s College Elizabeth Meyer, Fantasy TrevertonAge College, KZN

Charlotte Louw, Grade 12, Herschel Girls High School, Tension

Jade Hamilton, The heart of innovation, Treverton College, Mooiriver, KZN

Sindiswa Dyaloyi, Grade 12, A Seat At The Table, Cedar House, Cape Town

Jenay Fourie, Grade 11, Still Life, Hoerskool Generaal Hertzog, Witbank, Mpumalanga

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Chloe Johnson, Grade 12, Baggage is a burden, Abbotts College, Cape Town

Teagen Clarence, Grade 12, Bergvliet W W W. High A R T School TIMES.CO.ZA

PRINCE ALBERT GALLERY

Firelight II’, Monotype, 915 x 560mm

‘ONE YEAR’

A celebration of new work by printmaker Joshua Miles 4 April to 6 May 2019

57 Church Street, Prince Albert www.princealbertgallery.co.za / karoogallery@intekom.co.za

A Good Read

ALL THE REMBRANDTS

As a new Rembrandt Show opens, this Dutch charity is bringing terminally ill patients to see it Javier Pes, February 18, 2019 First Published on Artnet

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he Rijksmuseum’s show “All the Rembrandts” will mean even more demand to pay a final visit to the institution. A terminally ill patient visits “Late Rembrandt” at the Rijksmuseum in 2015. Photo courtesy of the Ambulance Wish Foundation. There ís a remarkable Dutch charity that helps those with the dying wish to visit the Rijksmuseum fulfill their dreams, and when the Amsterdam institution last organized a major Rembrandt show, it saw more requests than ever. Kees Veldboer, the founder of the charity Ambulance Wish Foundation, which has organized more than 50 trips for terminally ill patients to the Rijksmuseum, expects that even more people will want to see a new exhibition of 400 works by the Dutch master, ìAll the Rembrandts,î which marks the 350th anniversary of the artistís death, than they did during the museumís popular 2015 show ìLate Rembrandts.î The blockbuster exhibition, which brings together all of Rembrandtís works in the collection of the Dutch national art museum, opened to the public this past weekend. There are 22 paintings among the 400 works in the ìonce-in-a-lifetime exhibition,î which largely features drawings and prints. By comparison ìLate Rembrandt,î which the Rijksmuseum co-organized with Londonís National Gallery, featured 40 paintings, many on loan. The charity is busy year round. It grants five or six peopleís wishes a day, says Veldboer, who launched the organization with his wife, Ineke, who is a nurse, more than a decade ago. Each ìguestî gets a teddy bear named after the first person Veldboer helpedóan old sailor who wanted to see Rotterdamís harbor one last time.

“There ís a remarkable Dutch charity that helps those with the dying wish to visit the Rijksmuseum fulfill their dreams” The Dutch Charity has helped more than 50 people make a final visit to the Rijksmuseum. Photo courtesy of Ambulance Wish Foundation. The dying personís special visit from their home, hospital, or hospice is overseen by a trained nurse, while the ambulances are driven by specialist volunteers. One driver, Roel Foppen, took a photograph of a woman lying on an ambulance stretcher looking at Rembrandtís self-portrait as an old man. In 2015, he told the BBC that he took the photograph at the same time that he was with another person whose dying wish was also to see the exhibition,

someone who had been a regular museum visitor, Foppen recalled. Many peopleís dying wish is to see their home, the sea, or visit the zoo for one last time. Visits to museums typically take place after the institution has closed to the public. Ambulance Wishís most recent visit to the Rijksmuseum was in December, Veldboer says. Veldboer has also taken a recent visit to the nearby Van Gogh Museum with one terminally ill person. All the Rembrandts,î February 14 through June 10, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.

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WAS RUSKIN THE MOST IMPORTANT MAN OF THE LAST 200 YEARS? By Daisy Dunn, 8 February 2019 www.bbc.com

Ruskin, captured in a portrait by Frederick Hollyer, came from a privileged background but gave away much of his wealth (Credit: Alamy)

n the bicentenary of his birth, it s time we looked again at the forward-thinking and influential ideas of the great Victorian, writes Daisy Dunn. If we think of John Ruskin at all today it tends to be as the buttoned-up Victorian who was so repulsed by his wife Effie Gray s pubic hair that he could not consummate their marriage. The anecdote, which was actually invented in the 20th Century, has overshadowed the fact that Ruskin was one of the most influential figures in modern history, inspiring everyone from Charlotte Bront렴o Mahatma Gandhi and the founders of the UK s National Trust. An artist, critic and social reformer, he was born in London 200 years ago this month, on 8 February 1819, the same year as Queen Victoria. And he was without question one of the most important Victorians of all. Ruskin was a man of intense contradictions. Like a fish, he said, it is healthiest to swim against the stream. He described himself mostly

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as a Conservative, but many of his ideas were socialist in outlook. He believed in hierarchy but also that the rich had a responsibility to protect the poor. He had a privileged background but gave away much of his wealth, reflecting in his autobiography that it was probably much happier to live in a small house, and have Warwick Castle to be astonished at, than to live in Warwick Castle and have nothing to be astonished at . Ruskin, captured in a portrait by Frederick Hollyer, came from a privileged background but gave away much of his wealth (Credit: Alamy) His father did a lucrative trade in sherry. His mother was the pious daughter of a pub landlord from Croydon. She used to fret about him so incessantly that, when he went to study at Oxford in 1836, she insisted on accompanying him and having tea with him every day. Ruskin reflected that it was his father s ambition that he should enter at college into the best society, take all the prizes every year, and a double first to

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finish with; marry Lady Clara Vere de Vere; write poetry as good as Byron s, only pious; preach sermons as good as Bossuet s only Protestant, be made, at forty, Bishop of Winchester, and at fifty, Primate of England . Although he never entered the Church, Ruskin did obtain a double first in Classics and Mathematics, and went on to achieve more than even his father had hoped. Had it not been for Ruskin it is questionable whether Turner s art would be so popular today A new exhibition at Two Temple Place in London, England (later continuing in Sheffield) displays some of the objects from his life, including a softly-rendered portrait possibly a self-portrait of him as a handsome man with piercing blue eyes and characteristic blue cravat. By the time he graduated from university he had developed firm ideas about what made a good painting. While the critics of the day lambasted the childish execution and haphazard paintwork of JMW Turner, Ruskin was full of admiration for the artist s expressive seascapes, and drafted a riposte to the most damaging of the reviews. Had it not been for Ruskin it is questionable whether Turner s art would be so popular today. The first volume of what became Ruskin s fivebook series on Modern Painters was written in 1843 as a defence of the artist, and attributed simply to a Graduate of Oxford . In it, Ruskin praised Turner as the only perfect landscape painter whom the world has ever seen . Although Ruskin feared that public opinion had been permanently tainted by the critics, his words found an appreciative public. As well as Charlotte Bront묠William Wordsworth and Alfred, Lord Tennyson were among the readers who praised them. Through his many books, Ruskin influenced the tastes of his generation, championing artists who were until then little known in England. While he was moved by Turner s paintings, he was utterly crushed to the earth by the genius of the Venetian artist Tintoretto. Ruskin s publications sparked fresh interest in Italian art and particularly Venetian Gothic architecture. He made numerous prints and drawings, fearing that, if he did not, Venice might vanish undocumented like a lump of sugar in hot tea . What made Ruskin so unusual was that he was eager to pass his skills down not only to men like himself but to everyone

Indeed, Ruskin was not only an astute critic but a talented artist in his own right. He likened the strong instinct he felt to draw to the instinct to eat and drink. Drawings of gooseberry blossom and ragwort, mountains and clouds, minerals and birds, including an exquisite sulphur-crested cockatoo he sketched at the zoo, line the walls of the London exhibition. Art, he believed, should reflect nature. But what made Ruskin so unusual was that he was eager to pass his skills down not only to men like himself but to everyone. He was apparently as at ease teaching members of the Working Men s College in London, where he was wildly popular , as he was the students of Oxford, where he was elected Slade Professor of Fine Art in 1869. Hundreds turned out to his lectures, which he would deliver with fascinating props, such as model feathers 10 times their actual size. Ahead of his time And yet Ruskin is less famous for these achievements now than for his private life. In 1848 he married Effie Gray, the daughter of family friends from Perth, but the union was strained. Ruskin made little effort to indulge her interests and was apparently helpless to ease the tensions between her and his domineering mother. Effie dissolved the marriage after six years on the grounds that it had not been consummated. In 1967 the writer Mary Lutyens proposed that Ruskin had been too shocked by the discovery that women had pubic hair to perform his marital duties. While it is true that Effie claimed that Ruskin imagined women were quite different to what he saw I was , and appeared disgusted with my person , and that Ruskin admitted that there were certain circumstances in her person that checked his passion, it remains unclear what those circumstances were. Effie went on to marry the artist John Everett Millais, whom Ruskin had championed along with fellow Pre-Raphaelite painters William Holman Hunt and Dante Gabriel Rossetti. The poor man had a bad marriage, but it takes two to make a bad marriage, says Clive Wilmer, master of the Guild of St George, which Ruskin founded in 1871. He had faults, which one shouldn t pretend weren t there he was very dogmatic he could be quite arrogant but he

Sheffield, where the objects from Ruskin s museum are now kept, the words which for me seem relevant though Ruskin wouldn t have used them are mindfulness and wellbeing . The idea was for workers to slow down, look at something closely, maybe draw it, go for a walk, make themselves happy again Sadly, this didn t work for Ruskin, but for many I think it could.

John Ruskin, Sir John Everett Millais, Year 1853-1854, Medium: Oil on canvas, Dimensions: 78.7cm x 68cm (31.0 in x 27 in), Location: Ashmolean museum, Oxford, England

was extremely knowledgeable. The Guild, which still exists today, was another of Ruskin s great achievements, established in reaction against industrialisation and reliance on machines in Victorian Britain. He thought and said not only what he himself had seen and felt, but what everyone will think and say in the future Leo Tolstoy. It was a very utopian idea, says Simon Seligman, who manages the Guild s communications. It would establish a series of communities around the country, in which people would get back to nature, grow their own food, work with their hands which of course are incredibly 21stCentury ideas. Ruskin was certainly ahead of his time. As Leo Tolstoy said of him, he thought and said not only what he himself had seen and felt, but what everyone will think and say in the future. He recognised that progress came at the cost of human welfare and the environment and promoted the resurrection of crafts. The founders of garden cities and of the National Trust are often said to have been influenced by Ruskin s ideals. To encourage workers out of the city and into the beauty of nature, he founded a museum on the fringes of Sheffield.

Ruskin was plagued by depressive episodes throughout his life and might have had bipolar disorder. His achievements are all the more astonishing considering that his mental health rendered him powerless for long periods. Yet some of his ideas have been criticised. In his staunch dismissal of machines, for instance, he displayed a peculiar single-mindedness. Because he hated industrialisation, says Simon Seligman, he decided the railways are a disastrous thing he s even rude about bicycles! In a sense he misses the beauty of the contemporary around him. But Ruskin s uncompromising views were also what made him so influential. When he railed against the exploitation of poor labourers in Unto This Last, he offended some but inspired many. Mahatma Gandhi claimed that reading the book transformed him overnight from a lawyer and city-dweller into a rustic . Gandhi embraced Ruskin s teaching that manual labour was just as important as the professions, and translated his work into Gujarati. Ruskin could never have done so much had he not had a considerable private income. When his father died in 1864, he inherited at least #120,000 from him and proceeded to pour much of it into philanthropic projects, buying up rows of houses to provide shelter for the poor. Although he lost money on some ventures, his kindness was such that, by the time he died from influenza at the age of 80 in 1900, he had given away much of his inheritance. In the bicentenary of his birth, the forethought and generosity of John Ruskin deserve to be recognised once again. As Wilmer, master of Ruskin s Guild, says: He was the most extraordinary man. John Ruskin: The Power of Seeing is at Two Temple Place in London until 22 April. John Ruskin: Art & Wonder is at the Millennium Gallery in Sheffield from 29 May 15 September.

With this collection, says Louise Pullen, curator of the Ruskin Collection for Museums

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

William Kentridge, India ink on collaged paper with pastel and charcoal drawing SOLD R200,000 View previous auction results at www.rkauctioneers.co.za

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5th Avenue Fine Art Auctioneers Pierneef, Casein ~ On Auction 7th April 2019

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ALICEARTGALLERY FOR THE ULTIMATE EXPERIENCE IN ART

Everyone should be lucky enough to meet 3 or 4 people during their lifetime that just puts you at ease. For me, these types of people tend to be great story tellers, they have a very interesting testimony about their lives, they are humble, they create space where you just want to hear more of what they have to say. Zimbabwean born artist, Johan Smith, is such a person. We were privileged to meet up with Johan while discussing his upcoming Alice Art Exhibition. While completing an agriculture degree at the University of Stellenbosch, 1987, he took up ceramics part time under the mentorship of Christine Smith of Dorp Street Gallery. “To my surprise I did very well with ceramic work – even achieved accolades and won some awards with my works. For me my ceramics has always been a means to draw. You know ceramics is not easy and very time consuming, I still remember my turning point like it was yesterday. I cured 38 tiles as part of a collage and when done one of the tiles cracked through. I thought there must be an easier way! The very next day I started with ink and paper, for me this was a great medium to work with.” This medium provided Johan with greater control and a much more colourful means

SINCE 1990

to express himself. “For a long time, I would drive from Bethlehem to Bloemfontein for Saturday market, then through to Rosebank on Sunday and that evening to Alice Art Gallery to sell what was left. Monday to Friday I would work on the next consignment. Those were crazy days” During 1995 Johan had to decide on his next life path “I had to choose between completing an honours degree in agriculture or take this uncontrollable thirst for creating art all the way.” In 1999 Johan changed medium again, this time to oil and board. Its these works that quickly set Johan apart and clearly established him as an artist to be recognised. “I came back from a trip to Europe. On the plane back to then Jan Smuts Airport I felt quite depressed and couldn’t understand why? Those days you still embarked the plane on the tarmac. As I disembarked the plane and looked up at the yellow sunrise in front of me, I knew – everyone needs to be able to experience an African sunrise or sunset. Our sky is larger than anywhere I’ve been. Its open and clear and oh so many colours!” Johan started painting the sky: sunset, sunrise, an approaching Free State thunderstorm, the sky after a rain storm and the tranquillity of a full moon

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

evening. Johan speaks of his inner landscape, its not a real place but the viewer can recognise and identify with the area. “There are elements in these landscapes that are very deer to me. Some come from my childhood and some from my children’s. It is important to me that the viewer must be able to identify with the work. I can only hope they had similar experiences as was my privilege.” Elements Johan enjoys adding to his works are: the large sky, a good portion of the canvass is donated to this – the African sky is big and imposing. The foreground typically has a fence that represents those days running on the farm and having to climb through the camps to get to the sheep. Sometimes he ads Black birds on the fence, this to him is a representation of family. The strong yellow fields remind s him of wheat ready to be harvest. It reflects the suns rays and therefor life itself. Often a second camp would be present with a “draadhek” reflecting on the effort one has to apply in life in order to go to the next stage. Those gates were always a struggle to open and close. The sheep which again reflects on life and nature, abundant giving to man what it needs. These very bright foreground colours offsets the blue mountains in the

ECCLS 2:24-25

There is nothing better for a man than to eat and drink and assure him self that there is good in his labour. Even this, I have seen, is from the hand of God. For who can eat and who can have enjoyment without Him?

JOHAN SMITH, LIGHTNING IN THE GORGE, A37063, SIZE 1400 x 1000mm, R 85,000

JOHAN SMITH, EASTERN FREE STATE, A37059, SIZE 950 x 400mm, R 41,500

background. The contrasts hints to a large valley or cliff before the mountains begins.

“Golden gate is close to my home and to me the Clarens area could be one of the

most beautiful areas in the world – it has to be part of my landscape, it is part of me.”

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

EXHIBITIONS & GALLERY GUIDE: MARCH 2019 • Ongoing Shows: March 2019 • Opening Exhibitions: March 2019

Lightning In The Gorge, Clarens, 1400 X 1000, compliments of Alice Art Gallery

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OPENING EXHIBITIONS

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‘’I think that I shall never see a painting lovely as a tree.”Joyce Kilmer A solo exhibition by Frederike Stokhuyzen will be on view 3rd - 29th March.

THE CAPE GALLERY

60 Church Street, Cape Town, 021 423 5309, web@capegallery.co.za open Saturday 10am - 2pm, weekdays 9.30am - 5pm

PAINTINGS & PRINTS NICOLAAS MARITZ

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ART GALLERY FOR SALE

THIS ATTRACTIVE WELL ESTABLISHED GALLERY (18 YRS) IS BEING SOLD AS A GOING CONCERN . THE CC IS VAT REGISTERED. BEING SITUATED IN THE BUSIEST PART OF CAPE TOWN CITY WITH ESTABLISHED ARTISTS AND CUSTOMERS. IT IS IDEAL FOR A NEW BUSINESS REASON FOR SALE - OWNER RELOCATING PLEASE CONTACT 083 643 6660 FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PL

MARCH

ONLINE EXCLUSIVE PRINTS New exciting editions exclusively available for purchase online

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The Bus Factory 3 Helen Joseph Street, Bus Factory, Newtown Cultural Precinct, Johannesburg, South Africa

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Gildo Soares - Everything around around everything- 2019

Artist Proof Studio

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RUST-EN-VREDE GALLERY ‘BIRDS’ GROUP EXHIBITION 12/03/2019 UNTIL 03/04/2019

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EXHIBITION | 11 APRIL - 15 MAY 2019 UJ Art Gallery, Kingsway Campus, corner Kingsway Ave and University Rd, Auckland Park

T 011 559 2556/2099

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The Good Read

JEFF KOONS

Computer technology allowed him to downsize his New York studio Anny Shaw, The Art Newspaper

he US artist has laid off the majority of his painting assistants to focus on experimenting with sculpture The US artist Jeff Koons says he has downsized his studio, laying off three quarters of his painting assistants last month, so his sculpture department can become more of a think tank to explore different materials. Speaking at the opening of his exhibition at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford yesterday (5 February), Koons says he is moving into more automated ways of working, programming his sculptures in-house but outsourcing their manufacturing. Koons runs a stone workshop in Morrisville, Pennsylvania, where 12 computer-operated machines do most of the carving for him. My work has become more based in 3D, in computer data, in the engineering and reverse engineering of that data. That s how I was able to make this balloon Venus, he says, pointing to an enormous magenta steel sculpture, a pneumatic Venus of Willendorf for the contemporary age. The process is laborious, undertaken by an in-house team of programmers and involving cat scans of specially designed balloons, which are then engineered and reverse engineered. It takes a lot of time, but it means works can be manufactured off-site with a precision that couldn t be achieved otherwise, Koons says. Does he care that he never touches his own sculptures? This way I can be more responsible for every thousandth of a millimetre of a work, he says.

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When he first started out making art in the 1980s, funding his work as a Wall Street commodities broker, Koons says he produced the pieces himself. But then I started to work with fabricators in Europe and different locations, he says. Until the late 1990s, most of his large-scale pieces, including his Banality (1988) and Celebration (1995-98) series were outsourced to manufacturing companies. That changed in around 2003, Koons says. I ran into a point with my Popeye work where I couldn t find anybody to give me the finishes of the aluminium sculptures the way I wanted them. So I brought everything in-house, he says. Last month, Koons moved from Chelsea to a smaller studio in the Hudson Yards neighbourhood of New York City. The move triggered a slew of redundancies, the fourth round since 2015.

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I have been wanting to have a smaller footprint so that I can explore other materials, he says. How can I make the works more durable? How can I make them lighter? Or if I have interest in wood or carbon fibre, how can I work with these materials so that they can be best suited to my works? Koons rebuts claims that he is a perfectionist, but says the impeccable finish he strives for is so he can communicate as precisely as possible with the viewer. So does he think machines will overtake people in the making of art? It s not about machines, it s about using technology as a tool, he says. It s pretty evident through the whole history of all the objects we see in this museum, whether it s a certain pigment that was developed or ovens for baking ceramic, technologies have been embraced down the decades.

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