ART TIMES NOVEMBER 2022 EDITION

Cecil Edwin Frans Skotnes

THE NARRATIVE pigment on incised wood panel comprising 8 panels in total; each panel measures 146 by 145 by 2cm, unframed R2 500 000 - 3 000 000

THE

It gives me great pleasure to introduce November’s edition of the SA Art Times. Our December/ January issue will mark our 17th year of evolution as a printed art magazine.

This month we have two great articles written by two of SA’s top art writers. The first is an article written by Ashraf Jamal relating to Samson Mnisi who died too young. The second is by Lin Sampson who writes on the artwork of the lovely Catherine Paynter who is exhibiting at Gallery F, Cape Town. I believe that the Art Times lends its relevance and appeal from its enjoyment of diversity of art, people, and forms of expression, it’s through art that we learn so much about each other, our backgrounds, and our stories, which makes us a great, colourful and strong community and nation.

Gabriel Clark-Brown

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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.

Stanley Pinker Nightscape, triptych

MAN OF THE HOUR SAMSON MNISI

Ashraf Jamal Photos Mendy Grauman

Certain words are more difficult to express than others, they get stuck, gnaw, grind, will not quit the body in pain. But they must, for words belong in the world. We must speak each to each, or, in silence, while reading –commune. These words are not an obituary, though I must reflect on the recent death of Samson Mnisi, an artist with whom I worked closely for many months, whose blisteringly beautiful show is currently running at Keyes Art Mile, in Rosebank Johannesburg. That he died the day after his opening, remains utterly shocking. I cannot grasp that he is gone, despite the fact of a memorial and a funeral, because the artist is so alive to me, there before my eyes, each in the others’ company so very recently. Perhaps the fact that my father died two weeks before Samson has heaped heartbreak upon heartbreak, no matter, pain must be shifted, love, always, assume its greater more ennobling purpose. After all, one need not judge a life by the way it ends, but the way it was lived. And, in the case of Samson Mnisi, that life, in the midst of its many inconsolable sufferings, was truly beautiful.

To understand the man is to understand the paintings, which I wrote about in preparation for the show, and to which I must now return – retrospectively, with a very different bitterly sad knowledge of his passing. ‘Samson Mnisi’s paintings ask one core question’, I began, ‘What is Africa?’ ‘His reply? It is not a begging bowl, raised fist, bankrupted state, black face, but a subtracted and abstracted forcefield. Mnisi projects a psychic inscape –inner worlds explosive, turbulent, crossected, circled, obsessive signalings of some eternal recurrence. Motifs repeat themselves, life seen as variations of a single dance. Colours are bold, sometimes noisily acidic. But it is the artist’s physical drive that emerges most powerfully – the muscularity of vision, fearless, Dionysian. One senses an artist who, like Nietzsche’s Superman, will not be checked

by custom, who would rather hurl us into a maelstrom and watch us sink or swim. Here lies Samson Mnisi’s daring. He is not locked into the boxes and binds of thought, though there is a striking grid in his works which repeats itself – sliced circles, for example’, or Vs, arrowed and gaping.

‘However, his circles and lines are never clean or mathematical,’ I resumed. ‘Instead they tremble and grind as though alive, even cosmic, because Mnisi’s vision is not of South Africa as an idea, or a place corrupted by a psychopathological colonial inheritance – or the bankruptcy of its current failed democracy – but a spirit world. Mnisi sings our hidden lives into existence, thrusts us deeper into ourselves, while also thrusting us outward into the cosmos. He is unbounded, calculatedly ungoverned, as mortal as he is beyond the pale – free. Which is why Nietzsche comes to mind, why Mnisi seems a living embodiment of a creative and personal struggle that has been brilliantly whipped into shape’.

Rereading, listening to these words, it is true that he lived between worlds, the one secular, the other spiritual. That he would perform a sacred rite before beginning to paint, dirge-like, reveals to us the power of art as an intimation, an occultation, of a greater more profound world. That he wished to perform a ‘threeday marathon’ of live action painting, further affirms the artist’s understanding of painting as a sacred rite. He was able to complete the first night of painting at the opening of his show. While candles flickered and imphepho smouldered, the artist moved between three canvases, his focus and action a gift to the world. There, in that living moment, we saw the artist, febrile, surging, construct his world of grids and smears, his tensile expression of the world between worlds – between Being and Nothingness, Form and Formlessness, the physical and the noumenal.

‘His creative signature is unmistakable’, I declared. ‘He has fused symbols and geometry with Abstract Expressionism, an interstellar vision of God with a dervish-like mania that echoes the ghost of Jackson Pollock. But what he has most potently achieved is a vision singularly his own, which is why he is the Man of The Hour, of this moment in time, this slice in history. When those from the future revisit our world, our life and our time, Samson Mnisi’s paintings will surface – if they are not already indelible markers – to reveal all that was great and good and most profoundly intuitive – ever unflinchingly searching’.

I now feel a chill race across the rind of my body, an uneasy dread, as thought I’d supped from the witches broth in Shakespeare’s Macbeth. But this is mere superstition. What matters far more than my dread and sorrow is the artist’s own psychic intuition, his ability to image the volatile dance of life, the yearnings of the soul, longings that shape our mortality. To my mind – forgive the sentiment – I see Samson Mnisi as the grail of African Abstraction. After all, we are not humans on a spiritual path, but spirits on a human path. Samson Mnisi, warriorartist, beloved father and leader, understood this truth profoundly. And as his son, Refilwoe, concludes, Samson Mnisi was ‘continuously kicking ass and making rain’.

INVESTEC CAPE TOWN

Celebrating a Decade of Art in our Time

Investec Cape Town Art Fair has given rise to a defining decade in the visual arts. Next year’s edition, from Friday 17 February to Sunday 19 February 2023, will celebrate 10 years in which Investec Cape Town Art Fair has propelled the city as an art destination.

With 99 exhibitors, 23,000 visitors, 6,000 VIPs and a supportive local art community, the fair provides a platform for collectors, galleries, curators, artists, and art journalists from around the globe to engage and create connections. Investec Cape Town Art Fair has proven to be the place where the fast-growing African art market and the international art world meet.

The 10th anniversary edition of Investec Cape Town Art Fair will explore the notion of time. This theme is appropriately wideranging and encompasses ideas related to the past, present and future, including the everimportant concept of change that comes with the passing of time both for humans and the world around us.

As preparation for the 10th celebration gets underway, art fair director Laura Vincenti pays tribute to the artists, galleries and curators who have made Investec Cape Town Art Fair an annual gathering of truly international stature:

“Investec Cape Town Art Fair celebrates 10 years of building a wonderful relationship with the artistic community, not only of Cape Town but of the world. By exhibiting artists and galleries of the region, and those from further afield, we have built an event that has become a necessity for anyone hoping to understand the issues and opportunities of this art scene now. Through local and international outreach, our credibility has grown steadily among art lovers, and new collectors, who we have so valued as they have taken this amazing journey with us.”

The curated sections – Tomorrows/Today, SOLO and Past/Modern – are now seen as windows to achievement by significant local and international galleries, projects and artists.

New Visionaries, New Directions

According to the art fair’s Mia Louw, Exhibitors and Special Projects Liaison, “For the 10th edition we have an overarching theme in which, we explore the notion of time. We have appointed new curators for certain sections, and each curator has incorporated the theme in their own way. So, time is going to be the golden thread linking everything.”

Likewise, our curators have all incorporated the theme of time into their projects, and put their own spin on this idea of time passing.

Tomorrows/Today to make poetic magic

For the art fair section Tomorrows/Today, those appointed are independent curator Natasha Becker (San Francisco, United States) and art adviser Dr. Mariella Franzoni (Barcelona, Spain).

Titled In and Out of Time, it is taken from a poem by Maya Angelou about everlasting love and suffering. Using these themes, Tomorrows/ Today thematically engages with the link

between our bodies, minds, and social settings or the affective dimension of our experiences of time, memory, history, imagination, action, and desire. This will consist of 10 booths reflecting the decade of the art fair.

Interviewed this week, both curators Natasha Becker and Dr Mariella Franzoni identify the section as the stepping stone that will inspire new artists, bringing them closer to their public, and advance business interests in new terrains. Becker added: “Tomorrows/Today is a section of the fair that highlights emerging artists or under-recognised artists who have the potential to be tomorrow’s artistic leaders. Our strategy has been, quite simply, to focus on younger artists and in some cases, younger galleries, by bringing our collective know-how and network to the curatorial process. Our theme emerged from our discussions about these artists and galleries, and the topics they were addressing in their work.”

Franzoni talks theoretically about the exciting result that will emerge by bringing new practitioners onto the main art fair stage: “We are looking at creating a constellation of solo both projects, by artists whose research

João Ferreira

Natasha Becker

touches somehow the proposed theme [of time]. Our mission will be to weave together all the different projects through a curatorial narrative that will in turn respond to the artist’s work and put them in dialogue with each other. It will be the chance to bridge conversations between voices from the continent and beyond. We are truly working ‘four hands’ in this curatorial project - the merging of ideas between individuals is always a creative process that generates the unexpected.”

About the relevance of the poem In and Out of Time, Becker says: “Maya Angelou is a phenomenal observer of the human condition and her poem is a hearttouching piece. Love, affection, selflessness, are the major themes of the poem. She speaks of loving each other in and out of time, and that nothing in this world can change a heart full of love. Love can keep us grounded, lift us up into the clouds, drive us mad, make us suffer. I think everyone (irrespective of nationality) can relate to being young, to facing an uncertain future, to surviving a traumatic past or present, to epic love and deep suffering, to ecstatic joy and searing pain, to overwhelming desire and subtle longings.”

And on the relevance of Angelou’s poem, Franzoni says: “I feel that the beautiful and emotional images it evokes have the power to reach everyone’s heart beyond borders: it is a love poem that speaks of the survival of heartfelt affection through time, beyond the challenges and the suffering that life throws at us; but it is also subtly impregnated by deep socio-political values around women’s strength, black beauty and the power of love to change society for the better.

I think that In and Out of Time is a way to embrace the most intimate experience of the temporal dimension - a flow that establishes itself as objective, regular and unchanging, but that is relative to the subject’s mind and emotions and to its social settings. Time is not only relative but also inherently relational. We make time for the other, and time is the best gift you can give to your beloved ones. And then, there is memory, one of the multiple dimensions of time, so much embedded with History and collective remembrance. All of this and much more is in the curatorial scope of Tomorrows/Today 2023.”

Dr Mariella Franzoni

Sean O’ Toole

SOLO and so deep

Author, critic, journalist and editor Sean O’Toole (Cape Town, South Africa) will curate the SOLO section titled Time’s Pencil that, according to Louw, “will look at the relationship between drawing and photography.” This curatorial project is loosely informed by a speculation of art critic John Berger: “Isn’t drawing the polar opposite of a photo? The latter stops time, arrests it; whereas a drawing flows with it. Could we think of drawings as eddies on the surface of the stream of time?” (What Times Is It?, 2019).

Looking forward to his section of the Investec Cape Town Art Fair, O’Toole draws on his own experience as critic and writer, illustrating how personal the curatorial process is. Also, he has selected an area of art production, often undermined commercially, in order to encourage galleries and collectors to view drawing, and photography, in a positive light:

“Many artists use drawing and photography for notational purposes as well as to produce fully-resolved statements. I wrote a number of entries for art publisher Phaidon’s survey

book on drawing, Vitamin D3 (2021). Drawing is increasingly understood to encompass far more than pencil or charcoal on paper, and some of the presentations (Gerhard Marx for Everard Read, for example) will present drawing as a liberated practice. It bears noting, particularly in the commercial context of the fair, that photography has only a small circle of committed collectors in SA. And drawing, while fundamental to many artists, including George Pemba, Tito Zungu and Ezrom Legae, is not highly prized by collectors — works by Irma Stern, Dumile Feni and William Kentridge excepted.”

About his inspiration and the conception of his curatorial idea, O’Toole says: “Berger was a luminous thinker about photography, who I’ve frequently quoted in my writings, but as an artist he preferred drawing. Historically, much has been written about the relationship between photography and contemporary painting; the relationship between photography and drawing is less analysed, but not ignored. Curator Peter Galassi’s 1981 show, Before Photography: Painting and the Invention of Photography, at

MOMA, New York, mixed an equal number of photos with paintings and drawings made in the half-century before the invention of photography was announced in 1839 to argue that the invention of photography was not simply a scientific or technical achievement, but a product of artistic tradition as well.

“Of course, the art fair is not a museum, and the SOLO section is not an opportunity to make an academic statement. Rather, I hope that my curatorial prompt will produce a spark of insight through the presentation of artists working with photography and/or drawing.”

Past/Modern where art meets design

Art dealer and adviser João Ferreira (Lagos, Portugal) will curate the Past/Modern section that will have modern design in conversation with art, encouraging a multifaceted and holistic look at how artistic production has served its sector over the decades.

Interviewed this week, Ferreira talks of the “interesting crossover, with collectors enjoying the discourse between functional design, art and African artefacts with clear provenance.

They have aided each other and at times created entry points into collecting art or design. They stimulate each other and assist in refining the eye.”

About the practitioners to be exhibited Ferreira, is able to reveal participating galleries and artists:

“I am happy to announce the participation of the Wall Gallery, the cornerstone of the section. Here, exceptional works by South African artists will be shown, who have succeeded in elaborating aesthetic languages that are innovative in approach while remaining conscious of historical precedent. Always ensuring excellent quality, provenance and well researched information. Showing key contemporary work, and modern design furniture.

“Thomarts Gallery of Johannesburg is doing a solo presentation of Nigerien photographer Phillippe Koudjina, 1940 - 2014. This is a part of Past/Modern where we are encouraging the genre of collectable modern African photography and hope to represent this important component annually.

“Academic and art advisor Phillippa Duncan brings a wealth of knowledge with Vault Research, working with the estate of Erik Laubscher is creating an interesting dialogue between Eric Laubsher, Claude Bauscherine and a contemporary installation.”

Words from our Director

To round off, Investec Cape Town Art Fair Director Laura Vincenti looks to the educational programmes of the Investec Cape Town Art Fair as a means of growing audiences, and keeping alive the art fair spirit of welcoming all: “The talks programme and thematic walkabouts will be part of our educational programme, to facilitate the access to the art world to everyone. Gallery night will add fun and a bit of party buzz to our offer. We have a few surprises for the public, still a secret, as part of our 10th anniversary celebration that we’ll disclose closer to the time.”

She expresses her hopes for the future, based on the triumphs of the past decade: “The fair has grown exponentially over the last 10 years – it has been rated in 2019 as the second fair in the world in terms of fast growth and programme development. The greatest achievement has been to create a truly international art platform, where artists

from Africa and the diaspora have had the chance to show their works on the continent, while engaging in a global conversation about humanity through a non-geographical lens.

“For the future, may we continue to be a fun, unique, inspiring, cutting-edge art hub for the world – and the biggest opportunity on the continent for the art market development. A platform to launch new and challenging educational programmes, and job opportunities for young creatives and unprivileged categories. Too ambitious?”

By building on past experience, and by continually striving to understand the needs of this sector, the Investec Cape Town Art Fair intends to achieve its ambitions, and be present for decades to come.

The 10th Investec Cape Town Art Fair will run from Friday 17 February to Sunday 19 February 2023 at Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC).

Tickets are now available on Webtickets: https://www.webtickets.co.za Visit www.investeccapetownartfair.co.za

ABSA

2022 BRINGS AFRICAN ARTISTS’ POSSIBILITIES TO LIFE

latelier.absa.africa

Absa - in partnership with the South African National Association for the Visual Arts (SANAVA) - is delighted to announce the four category winners of the Pan-African Absa L’Atelier initiative. The Absa L’Atelier, which celebrates its 36th year anniversary in 2022, has a rich and proud heritage of enhancing, developing and celebrating the rich and diverse emerging talent of artists from across Africa

Chelsea Selvan (South Africa), Gandor Collins (Ghana), Taofeek Badru (Nigeria) and Malebogo Naticia Molokoane (South Africa) were the top winners of the Pan-African-led art competition in each of their categories.

The Absa L’Atelier has a legacy of affording dynamic, inspiring and young visual artists from across Africa an opportunity to use their art to explore themes and contemporary issues.

After receiving a record number of registrations, hundreds of eligible entries were judged by an independent panel of adjudicators. An Ambassador was then chosen from each of the three groups that were set up as follows:

A. In Group A (Nigeria, Zambia, Botswana, Uganda), the winner is Taofeek Badru from Nigeria.

B. In Group B (Tanzania, Namibia, Kenya, Ghana), the winner is Gandor Collins from Ghana.

C. In Group C (South Africa, Seychelles, Mozambique, Mauritius), the winner is Chelsea Selvan from South Africa.

The 2022 Absa L’Atelier Gerard Sekoto award

The 2022 Absa L’Atelier Gerard Sekoto winner is Malebogo Naticia Molokoane from Rustenburg, in the North West.

Group A Winner Taofeek Badru, Taste and Feeling IV Opposite page: Group B Winner Gandor Collins, Black Arabian

Group C Winner Chelsea Selvan, Synchronous Sound of my Own Creation

Established 18 years ago, the Gerard Sekoto award goes to a South African artist, who has continued to demonstrate integrity in the quality of their artwork. The award is made possible by the Embassy of France in South Africa, the French Institute of South Africa (IFAS), which is the cultural arm of the Embassy, and the Alliance Française network in South Africa.

Malebogo Naticia Molokoane’s work draws inspiration from the concept of concealed faces, exploring the personal emotions hidden behind facial expressions. “We often question whether the face we see in the mirror is ours and from where our thoughts come. My body of work reveals the traits of emotional gestures and facial expressions. I attribute these traits depicted in my art to creating memories,” says Molokoane about her winning portfolio.

Molokoane received a three months residence in the Cité Internationale des Arts, from April to June 2023, and a travelling exhibition throughout South Africa that will first open in the Absa Gallery in 2024.

Absa L’Atelier benefits

“The Absa L’Atelier focuses on how best to support the artist in growing their brand and to provide a unique platform that will best position them within the visual arts, and provide them with the relevant skillset to develop and thrive as future-fit artists in an ever-changing world. Art from across the African continent is making its contribution to the world by chronicling its unique experience of life in all its complexity. We’re proud to be partners in developing the careers and storytelling journeys of these artists,” says SANAVA President, Dr Samuel B A Isaacs.

Chelsea Selvan, Gandor Collins, Taofeek Badru will enjoy 10 intensive masterclasses with leading experts around the world to learn relevant skills that guide them in building their careers and networks while collaborating in their art practice. To do this, they are equipped with resources such as a laptop, software, and data. They are also paired with a leading local authority in visual arts in their respective countries to be mentored over a period of three months. The competition prize additionally includes a group exhibition of their winning artworks in the Absa Gallery, a collaborative exhibition in the Absa Gallery in 2023, which will thereafter travel to their respective countries and a solo exhibition in the Absa Gallery and which thereafter also travel to their respective countries – to be taken up within five years of winning the prize.

“The Absa L’Atelier has showcased and continues to invest, in some of Africa’s finest young artists. Since its inception, the competition focuses on how best to support the artist in growing their brand and provide a unique platform that will best position them within the visual arts. The prize is focused on providing the artist with the relevant skillset to develop and flourish in their field while navigating a world that is constantly evolving,” Dr Paul Bayliss, Senior Specialist Art Curator at Absa.

For further information about Absa L’Atelier winners, visit latelier.absa.africa

GS Award Winner

Malebogo Naticia Molokoane, Hidden Emotions

CORPS DE P@GES

DREAM SCAPES

An exhibition of new works by Catherine Paynter

By Lin Sampson www.galleryf.co.za

Catherine Paynter is the master of magical transformations, which she transfers to canvas in dreamlike sequences. Her small house in Greyton, is explosive with colour, knock-out scarlet gloss on all the living room walls. Catherine Paynter IS colour.

The room is floor to ceiling books, mainly large reference tomes. Her own paintings are stacked against the walls. They are whimsical, a little fantastical, filled with exotic imagery, extraordinary marine invertebrates like the pyjama squid, the red spotted jellyfish, star fish in all shades of purple and mauve, gypsy coloured moon crabs, crystal translucent jellyfish in powder pinks, glowing sea dragons and sparkling streams of tiny eggs in gold and silver. Everywhere there are huge canvases, one with leopards with sparkling eyes, another with crocodiles with a sly and slightly subversive look in their eyes, an imaginary creature with a fan of feathers on its head in front of a line of kangaroos.

She has perfected every shade of blue in her paintings, from her adored turquoise to phthalo blues. She is wearing turquoise trousers and Indian chandelier earrings that brush her shoulder. Her studio shelves are stacked with acrylic paints, and potions, tinctures, pigments from opalescent through to milky frost shades and verdant greens and burnt umbers.

Born in 1949 in Johannesburg, South Africa, Catherine has been painting since she was a very young child. For inspiration she has travelled through South Africa, Swaziland, Lesotho, Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, Egypt, Madagascar and ventured much further — Iran, Israel, Spain, Italy as well as Winnipeg and Boston in the depths of mid-winter to observe snow.

She paints with gouache on cotton canvas to achieve a rich glowing tone in fragile superimposed layers of colour, using mica and gold, aerosol and liquid acrylic varnishes.

Catherine Paynter, Opposite Page: Baby Stingrays

“I paint in acrylics which I love because they are so vibrant and so flexible and much cheaper than oils.

“It’s very versatile and dries quickly which is a big pro but what I really love are their large range of shimmering metallic paints.”

Her paintings are seductive and, like her, empathetic, particularly with their love of Africa and everything African. A favourite is a painting of a group of slinky sapeurs (followers of a fashion and cultural movement known as La Sape – the Society of Ambiance Makers and Elegant People) from the Congo wearing white gloves as they carefully step through the undergrowth.

“I am so lucky to have been born in Africa and to have been able to travel through the continent,” she says. Many of her paintings reference tribal images. On her mantel shelf is a series of The Omo Valley people who live in South West Ethiopia and paint their bodies with thick white paint. It is certainly true to say that Travel in Africa has provided her with high wire images and epiphanies, like no other place in the world.

“I owe this continent a tremendous debt. I have always had an enormous curiosity about how other people live and travelling around, I have had the most excitement there is to be had in the world. There is always something new, from a go-go dancer in Tanzania to a leopard with yellow eyes prowling through the undergrowth.”

Paynter is a magician, mixing colours from the earth and sky, adding touches of crazy nuance, star twinkling skies, hedged frontiers in velvety green, rising mountains in shades of grey and blue. All her works are jiggy with ethnic quirks, masks, tattoos, beaded necklaces. Sometimes just a sprinkle of Christmas decoration sequins adds a stonking touch of colour. She is not beholden to trend or art talk. When it comes to life and painting, she is very much her own person.

However, it is her combination of stoicism and innocence, her wonderful slightly offhand humour and her startling but often out of the blue remarks (‘Never trust a Hungarian because they cheat at bridge’) that underline her light but never frivolous insights into the people she is painting. As her secretary says, “Her diction is sometimes difficult to understand but she is always entertaining.”

“Her paintings are seductive and, like her, empathetic, particularly with their love of Africa and everything African”

Above: Poppies. Opposite Page: Banana Flowers

Un Sapeur

She loves painting large animals like rhinos and giraffes, her portrait is in front of man-eating crocodiles with gaping mouths. Paynter who talks at speed out of the side of her mouth has a dry humour, telling the story about an oftenmarried client, she says, “Every time she has a new husband, I have to paint him into the picture and paint the last one out.”

But for the many fans of her works, it is the slight edge of eccentricity in her paintings, that make them so collectable. “I paint what I want,” she says, “what I love and what I am keen to learn more about. Nature and all the strange wonders of biology are so absolutely enticing to a painter. I am so full of curiosity. I think about the work before I start out actually painting.

“For instance, at the moment, I am visualising in my head these three figures in, I think, a place like Lesotho. They are standing on the edge of a deep valley and they have on those old Basuto hats and are wearing blankets. When I start to paint, they will just fall into place.”

Her house is a reflection of her life and her art and small eccentricities. Among the masses of books and paintings, guarded by two large ornamental flamingos on her mantel shelf, is the most sophisticated Kenwood mixer with spinners, whisks, grinders, beaters. “I saw it on a sale and just had to have it. It can do anything.”

Here in the green landscapes of the Cape, Catherine creates art that wraps its arms around the whole continent in which she lives right at the southern tip.

Catherine undertakes commissions and is having an exhibition at Gallery f, Shortmarket Street, Cape Town on 15th November,2022. Contact Gavin@galleryf.co.za

Smoky Desert Giraffe

KE LIHA PENE - A TRIBUTE TO SAMUELE MAKOANYANE

Oliewenhuis Art Museum

Text by Gosiame ‘Amy’ Goitsemodimo

Oliewenhuis

Art Museum is proud to announce the showcasing of a new temporary exhibition, Ke Liha Pene - a tribute to Samuele Makoanyane, which focuses on the small clay warrior figurines made by Samuele Makoanyane (1909-1944) between the late 1930s and early 1940s. Samuele was born in Parys in the Free State province, but he lived and worked at the village of Koalabata, in the Teyateyaneng district of Lesotho. He is renowned for making about 250 warrior figurines that resemble his great grandfather, Joshua Nao Makoanyane, a commanding general in King Moshoeshoe’s army. He also made 150 in the image of King Moshoeshoe.

Samuele was a self-taught artist who began his career at an early age making clay models of animals and then ventured into making human figurines. His friend, agent and biographer, C G Damant, encouraged him to focus on depicting his own people. He created various figurines that included men and women going on with their daily activities (for example women carrying pots or breastfeeding babies),

musicians playing traditional instruments and so forth. The figurines of musicians, which are now part of the Kirby Collection at the College of Music in Cape Town, were made for Professor Percival Kirby in the 1930s. Professor Kirby had commissioned Makoanyane to create eight figurines of Basotho musicians playing traditional musical instruments, but Samuele only managed to make seven.

Each figurine is finely made and most feature important Basotho national symbols such as the blankets and hats. The warriors are depicted in their regalia (headdresses and copper gorget) carrying weapons (shield, spear, battle axe), while the musicians are playing various instruments. The sizes of the figurines range from about 8 to 18 cm in height, a recommendation made by Damant after Makoanyane’s bigger sculptures became difficult to transport and handle. Most of his work was sold through trading stores in Lesotho and South Africa. It is also found in the collections at the Iziko Museums of South Africa, Museum Africa in Johannesburg, the Duggan-Cronin Gallery in Kimberley, the East London Museum, Killie Campbell Museum in Durban and the National Museum in Bloemfontein.

The exhibition comprise of warrior sculptures on loan from various institutions as well as the regalia and weapons commonly associated with Basotho warriors, particularly his great grandfather. This includes the headdress

(sekola), a copper gorget (khau), stabbing assegai/ spear (lerumo), great plume (mokhele), shield (thebe), battle axe (koakoa) and etc. This exhibition was curated by Steven Sack, who first came across Makoanyane’s work in 1988 when he curated the exhibition “The Neglected Tradition: Towards a New History of South African Art 1930-1988” at the Johannesburg Art Gallery. Steven has been fascinated by the artist ever since. Steven mentions that the “exhibition involves the rethinking of the Makoanyane collections in public institutions, as they migrate from social history collections and museums into the discursive space of the art museum - and thus the recognition of Samuele Makoanyane as an artist”.

Ke Liha Pene - a tribute to Samuele Makoanyane can be viewed until 20 November 2022 in the Annex Gallery at Oliewenhuis Art Museum. The art museum is located at 16 Harry Smith Street, Bloemfontein and is open to the public from Monday to Friday between 08:00 and 17:00, and on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays between 09:00 and 16:00. Entrance is free and secure parking is available for visitors. For more information on Oliewenhuis Art Museum please contact the Museum at 051 011 0525 (ext 200) or oliewen@nasmus.co.za. Stay up to date by following Oliewenhuis Art Museum on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for all upcoming exhibitions and events.

CORPS DE P@GES

Jean David Nkot

At The Melrose Gallery www.themelrosegallery.com

Jean David Nkot explores the plight of the ‘common man’ in his first solo to be presented in South Africa. The exhibition is accompanied by an exhibition text written by Simon Njami.

This powerful body of paintings navigates the exploitation of the populations of the developing world by those who come in search of wealth, possessions, and power.

The artist feels compelled to bring attention to how the body and nature are often the victims in our search for industrialisation and the belief in a purely capitalistic economic model.

Nkot aims to give a voice to the people who despite their enormous contribution and sacrifice of their own health and wealth remain in the shadows with little say in terms of their future and that of their families, communities, or country.

Vast fortunes are built on their sweat with little thought given to improving their plight as it is in this very poverty, lack of education and subjugation of thought and spirit that they are forced to continue to work for the wealthy and the powerful.

Jean David Nkot, www.connected body.fr, 2022 Acrylic, silkscreen on canvas, 300 x 200cm

Jean David Nkot, #body depredation@. cm.org, 2022, Acrylic, silkscreen on canvas, 300 x 200cm

By presenting the figures in his work as contemporary icons, he invites us to reconsider their status, as important and valuable contributors to society and as such we should recognise that their opinions on the future should not be ignored, subjugated, or looked down upon.

The artist has a deep sensitivity towards humanity and nature, and he views them as interdependent and not separate and that the protection of one, enables the conservation of the other. He notes that the capitalists and industrialists not only abuse the poor but also nature and the very -planet that they call home. “Jean-David Nkot is above all, at least for the moment, a painter. His work, even when it contains elements of abstraction, is essentially figurative, obsessed with the body and its representation. The black body, is it necessary to specify it. Or perhaps, after all, it is necessary to present it, because in this detail perhaps nestles a hidden truth: Nkot, since his first paintings, paints and depicts himself”. – Excerpt from the exhibition text by Simon Njami

In CORPS DE P@GES, Nkot lovingly presents the human form in different poses, each as a living being, each with their own story, each part of contemporary history, and a contributor and window to society.

Bodies speak, they love, they argue, they cry, they despair and throughout they hope for a better future for them and theirs. Nkot calls on us to recognise and respect and value not only our fellow man, but all living things.

The ‘@’ symbol, and the titles of the artworks represent website domains and email addresses thereby bringing further attention to the power of the internet, the role that it plays in controlling society and restricting free thought through the desire to fit in to preconceived notions of what is right and what is wrong, what is good and what is bad.

Nkot was born in Doula, Cameroon, where he still lives and works. It is fitting that his solo CORPS DE P@GES is to be presented in Johannesburg, South Africa. Despite being known as the ‘city of gold’, Johannesburg has one of the highest disparities of income in the world. Informal settlements, where vast portions of the population live in abject poverty, can be found within 10km’s of some of the wealthiest real estate in Africa.

In 2010, he qualified with an A-level in painting at the Institute of Artistic Training of Mbalmayo (IFA) before joining the Institute of Fine Arts Foumban, where he obtained a degree in drawing/painting. In 2017 he joined the Post Master Moving Frontiers organized by the National School of Arts of Paris-Cergy (France) on the theme of borders. Throughout

his training in the fine arts of Foumban, he received several artistic distinctions (Best sculptor, installer and painter). Conscious of the value of his elders he is frequently in the workshops of Hervé Youmbi, Salifou Lindou, Jean Jacques Kanté, Pascal Kenfack and Ruth Belinga. The exhibition runs at The Melrose Gallery at Melrose Arch in Johannesburg from

10 November until 18 December 2022. For those unable to attend the exhibition in person, you will be able to access the online viewing room on www.themelrosegallery.com from 11 November.

Jean David Nkot, Po.Box. weight of technology.com, 2022, Acrylic, silkscreen on canvas, 299 x 206 cm

COUNTDOWN TO PORTRAIT AWARD 2023

The longer you are surrounded by the Spanish landscape, the more beautiful it becomes. The light and landscape changes constantly, and you notice a new wonder with each passing day. These elements start to subconsciously influence your work, making it possible to experiment anew during the creative process.

Iarrived in Barcelona, in September of this year, and was met by Elton Faber (Investment Consultant and director of The CoArt), who co-sponsored the Artist Residency at The Blue Cactus, newly introduced as a prize in the 2021 National Portrait Award Competition (organized by Rust-en-Vrede Gallery in Durbanville). He was very helpful in sharing information on Barcelona, which I planned to traverse in search of art materials I meant to make use of during my residency. After making my purchases Elton accompanied me to the train station and made sure I boarded the correct train. (He was always available to help with valuable insight and advice during my 4-week stay in this beautiful country.)

30 Minutes by train later I arrived at a town named Villa Franca, where I met with Julian Arendt, owner of The Blue Cactus Artist Residency, and co-sponsor of the Portrait Award Residency prize. Julian is a retired architect, who is now pursuing sculpture. He initiated this Residency program which is designed to enfold the artist in the natural world.

I stocked up on some fresh supplies before we made our way to the beautiful rural residency, located in 12 acres of stunning countryside in the Alt Penedes, my new home for the next couple of weeks. When Julian showed me around, introducing me to the facilities, I immediately felt inspired and at ease by the idyllic surrounds. My room had the most amazing views of the majestic Montserrat mountain, and exploring the property yielded a plethora of natural treasures amongst pine forests, vineyards, almond-, olive - and fig trees.

The studios are set up in a way to allow artists to work either inside or outside in nature. They are equipped with various tools to aid in the

The Blue Cactus - Spain Artist Residency With Andrè Serfontein, Portrait Award 2021 Residency Prize Recipient

creation process, including easels, desks, turning tables, electric chisels and more. Other facilities included a communal kitchen, outdoor area for social gatherings - And the swimming pool was not off bounds, it could be used, but restricted to certain times due to the drought.

My mornings started at around 7 am. I enjoyed a cup of coffee and explored the farm, enjoying the changing scenery and fresh country air. I took a sketchbook with me on these outings in case I felt inspired by the landscape. Some days I made use of the small plein air studio, which was nestled amongst the foliage, but most of my time was spent in the spacious painting studio - perfect for creating larger works of art. In the afternoons I would sometimes take a siesta to recharge, but I tried to make use of the studio most of the time, sometimes working until quite late.

A few artists joined the residency for a brief period, including local painter and sculptor Dani Buch, Israeli Sculptor Stav Yosaha and Juan Conde, a graffiti artist originally from Uruguay. During their stay, we started cooking together, and ended up having supper late at night, after a full day of creating and conversing. As a group, we took a daytrip together to Montserrat, and visited castle ruins near the farm. In fact, I made time to visit nearby villages as a break from painting. Sant Quinti de Mediona is but a mere 20-minute walk or cycle away. Julian went into town often, and kindly offered the option of a lift when needed. One of the highlights was being able to experience the Sant Quinti de Mediona

Corefoc (Fire Runs) Festival. This is celebrated as a symbolic expelling of the devil from town; with firecrackers dousing raucous revelers in a steady stream of sparks. Experiencing other cultures’ traditions and way of life is priceless. The people of rural Spain are jovial and although most can’t speak fluent English, they always try their best to help and be accommodating.

All in all, it was an unforgettable experience. It was freeing to be able to focus on making, with the only worry being where to get my coffee fix. I initially panicked that I was not going to be able to produce enough work while on the Residency, but decided to rather focus on experimenting and exploration, rather than focus on pure production. Once I consciously made this decision, I was able to enjoy my experiences and allow this wonderful opportunity to inspire and help me grow as an artist. I was able to create more than enough work and enjoy the wonders rural Spain had to offer.

Andrè Serfontein is a multidisciplinary artist, mostly specializing in the human figure. He has been a top finalist in three of the previous Portrait Award competitions, placing third in 2019 with his portrait entry titled ‘Oliver’.

For more information on the Residency program: www.blue-cactus.org/ For more information on the upcoming 2023 Portrait Award: www.rust-en-vrede.com/portrait-award

CERAMICS SOUTHERN AFRICA 50TH ANNIVERSARY

Corobrik National Ceramics Biennale 2022

November – 10 December 2022 ceramicssa.co.za

For over 50 years Ceramics Southern Africa (CSA) has celebrated South Africa’s rich and diverse legacy of ceramic making. CSA serves to bring Southern African ceramics to a local and international audience by showcasing a range of functional ware, decorative ware, installations and sculpture.

In 1972 a group of celebrated potters came together and formed a collective that would represent the interests of potters in Southern Africa for years to come.

With this goal in mind, the mission of CSA has been to provide educational opportunities, facilities and a supportive environment for its members of the larger Southern African ceramic community in order to facilitate economic empowerment and job creation in South Africa. With a clear vision to promote transparency and inclusivity in a vibrant and diverse community CSA has continued to nurture excellence in the Ceramic Arts.

In 1975 the first Corobrik National Ceramics Exhibition was held in Cape Town. In 2022, during CSA’s 50th Anniversary Celebration, it has now come full circle. The CSA Corobrik National Ceramics Biennale will be hosted in the historic Sir Herbert Baker building at 6 Spin Street Gallery, Church Square in Cape Town, CBD.

This exhibition is a juried body of work submitted by CSA members and selected by an esteemed panel of judges from various creative fields.

The selection panel is proud to include Eastern Cape award winning ceramist Sonwabiso Ngcai as award judge and selectors: Jo Ractliffe, renowned SA photographer, Liesel Hartman, Head of Education at Zeitz MOCAA and Lucinda Mudge, contemporary ceramic artist. The exhibition will be curated by Chris Silverston, owner of Potterswork.

2018, Colleen Lehmkuhl (RIP) & Nic Sithole, Spaceship Vessels - Stoneware

2018 Lynnley Watson, Anthropomorphic Figures I - III, Porcelain

2018 Hennie Meyer, Not the Colosseum

2018 Merit Award, Chuma Maweni, Vessel I, Smoke-Fired and Burnished Terracotta

The official opening is on Sunday 27 November 2022 at 5pm (viewing between 4pm-7pm). The exhibition runs until Saturday 10 December 2022. Exhibition times: Mon-Fri 10am-4pm. Saturday 10am-2pm. Sunday 4 December - closed. First Thursdays 1 December 10am-9pm.

As part of the exhibition, a Ceramic Indaba will take place at 6 Spin Gallery during the run of the exhibition. This will involve a program of workshops and lectures by wellknown ceramists, designers, photographers, writers and historians; all experts in their chosen fields.

The Ceramic Indaba will run for the duration of the exhibition in what has been named The Clerestory Room within the 6 Spin Street Gallery, due to the stunning clerestory windows in the building. The program will be posted on the CSA Western Cape region social media channels, including the link to purchasing tickets via Quicket. Workshops and lectures will be at a cost of R300 per ticket.

This is an opportunity not to be missed and a fabulous gift to give to any pottery enthusiast. In addition to this, on the 1st of December 2022, CSA will be part of the First Thursdays program in Cape Town CBD welcoming all creatives in the city to view the exhibition pieces.

Digital workshops

There will be daily screenings of digital workshops by CSA_WC and the International Ceramic School led by various South African ceramic artists at no cost to the public.

Part of the funds raised from the Ceramic Indaba program will be going towards purchasing pieces from the exhibition that will be donated to the Iziko Ceramics Collection and The Clay Museum. We hope to see you there supporting this program!

The CSA Corobrik National Ceramics Biennale 2022 is being hosted in Cape Town and is organised by the Ceramics Southern Africa Western Cape region.

For enquiries contact CSA WC administrator, Jodi Maree at ceramicssawesterncape@ gmail.com Visit www.ceramicssa.co.za

2018, Andile Dyalvane, uLwalwa, Smoke fired Earthenware polished with Beeswax

2018 Merit Award Ian Garrett and John Newdigate. Fat Insects and their Larvae, Hand Built Porcelain with painted underglaze pigments

2018 Premier Award Winner, Paul de Jongh (RIP). Koi Playing Stoneware fired in an Anagama Kiln

STRAUSS &

Robert Hodgins, South African 1920-2010, Reclining Female, 1980,, oil on canvas, 71 x 91cm, R 150 000 - 200 000

Strauss & Co is pleased to announce details of its major summer auction of art and wine in Johannesburg (3-9 November 2022). Responding to collector interest in smaller, thematic sales, Strauss & Co will host four curated sales of art, all scheduled in the evening. They include a dedicated sculpture sale with focuses on Josephine Ghesa and Job Kekana and a single-artist sale of freshto-market works from the Estate of the Late Robert Hodgins. This sale is the first ever such event wholly devoted to the much-loved artist, teacher and critic, Robert Hodgins.

Irma Stern’s remarkable portrait of an urbanised sitter, African Woman (estimate R5 – 6 million), painted in 1940, forms part of an impressive consignment of oils and a ceramic by this blue-chip artist. Leading the selection of two-dozen collectable works on paper by William Kentridge is a process drawing from his 2011 animated film Other Faces (estimate 3 – 4 million). Strauss & Co is pleased to be offering the woodcut Mantegna (estimate R800 000 – 1.2 million), another edition of which is currently on view in Kentridge’s Royal Academy survey in London. Alongside major works by Walter Battiss, Dumile Feni, John Meyer, Alexis Preller J.H. Pierneef and Andrew Verster, the catalogue includes pieces by international artists Marina Abramović and Yinka Shonibare.

“Recent successes at market with our singleartist sales and in-session artist focuses, coupled with a return to post-pandemic normal, has prompted us to innovate with our November programme,” says Alastair Meredith, Head of the Art Department, Strauss & Co. “The curated presentation of our four sales aims to provide collectors with generous insights into important historical and contemporary artists – from modernist wood sculptor Job Kekana and post-war painter Sydney Goldblatt to Robert Hodgins, whose diverse work and influence is explored in a dedicated sale”.

William Kentridge, SOUTH AFRICAN 1955-, Peonies with Book, 2012, India ink on found book pages, 125 x 100cm, R 2 500 000 - 3 500 000

Frances Goodman, South African 1975-, Pink Pearl, 2016, sculpture, acrylic nails, foam, resin and silicon, height: 42; width: 42; depth:, R 30 000 - 50 000

Jacob Hendrik Pierneef, South African 1886-1957, Die Poort, oil on canvas laid down on board, 44,5 x 54,5cm, R 1 200 000 - 1 600 000

Strauss & Co’s Johannesburg season of art and wine sales commences on Thursday, 3 November 2022, with a 100-lot consolidated catalogue of modern, post-war and contemporary art. Notable painters to feature include Keith Alexander, Gregoire Boonzaier, Adolph Jentsch, Walter Meyer, John Mohl, Ndikhumbule Ngqinambi, Frans Oerder and Larry Scully. The lot arrangement includes collector focuses on Walter Battiss, Sydney Golblatt and François Krige.

Following on from Strauss & Co’s wine sale the day before, IN/FORM: Exploring South African Sculpture (Monday, 7 November 2022) includes seven woodcarvings by Job Kekana. The selection of figurative pieces reflects Kekana’s secular and religious interests as an artist. Ardmore-trained Josephine Ghesa, one of the highlights of Norval Foundation’s current survey of black women artists, When Rain Clouds Gather, has three examples of her zoomorphic figures in the sale. Other notable sculptors to feature are Frances Goodman, Sydney Kumalo, Ezrom Legae, Dylan Lewis, Henry Moore, Walter Oltmann, Edoardo Villa and Anton van Wouw.

Three site-specific commissions by Walter Battiss, Irma Stern and Andrew Verster form part of a vibrant medley of high-value works being offered on Tuesday, 8 November 2022. Originally created for a double-volume modernist house in Kimberley, Battiss’s Spirit of Africa (estimate R3 – 4 million) is a vertiginous depiction of African figures set against an abstract background. Measuring over 6 metres in length, Verster’s multipanelled floral mural (estimate R400 000 – 600 000) was originally on display in the late Judge Alan and Brenda Magid’s upper-floor dining room in Berea, Durban.

Strauss & Co’s summer sale concludes with the Three Robs: Artist, Collaborator, Friend (Wednesday, 9 November 2022), a single-artist sale of oils, watercolours, monotypes, pastels and drawings by Robert Hodgins. The sale will additionally include works that Hodgins made in collaboration with artists Sarah Ballam, Deborah Bell, Kendell Geers, William Kentridge, Jan Neethling and Sam Nhlengethwa. Wilhelm van Rensburg, Senior Art Specialist and Head Curator, Strauss & Co, who organised the sale, will lead a live talk and video première on Tuesday, 18 October 2022 at 6pm.

Strauss & Co will present a comprehensive education and social programme in the buildup to the summer auction. A preview exhibition will open to the public on 18 October 2022 and run until 3 November. Strauss & Co experts will offer walkabouts on 28 and 29 October, and again on 5 and 6 November. On 19 October, Strauss & Co will launch an online documentary film exploring William Kentridge’s print output. The film is part of a long-term collaboration with the Warehouse Art Museum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, which is currently hosting an exhibition of work by William Kentridge. Comprehensive e-catalogues with details of all the works on sale are available online at www.straussart.co.za

Josephine Ghesa, Lesotho 1958-, The Meeting, painted and fired terracotta clay, height: 31,5cm; width: 29cm; depth: 25cm, R 50 000 - 70 000

Lady Skollie, South Africa 1987-, Rotten Stalk, signed and dated 2019, mixed media on paper, 100 by 70,5cm, R 50 000 - 70 000

Irma Stern, South African 1894-1966, African Woman, 1940, oil on canvas, 59,5 x 49cm,

www.swelco.co.za

Stephan Welz & Co. is proud to present our penultimate premium auction in Johannesburg in November, featuring several prestigious artists. From masters such as Jacobus Hendrik Pierneef, to contemporary yet canonical artists such as Esther Mahlangu – this auction will set the tone for the festive season. Amongst this wide and impressive range, we have noteworthy pieces by Cecil Skotnes, William Kentridge, Jim Dine and Lionel Smit. However, our selection of bronze sculptures for this auction definitively represents Stephan Welz & Co’s lineage of quality art.

Sculptures transcend time and encapsulates the nature of artistic processes. To take the mundane and mold it into the artists interpretation or vision of these items within the world that surrounds them is to solidify perception. The non-perishable nature of sculptures exemplifies their weight and bearing on the art world and often leaves us in awe as they can immortalise an era – something which transcends human capability.

Danie de Jager is described as a contemporary post-war South African sculptor. The onset of de Jager’s career can only be defined as a struggle for recognition. The now notorious sculptor only reached a point of popularity in the 60’s. Nowadays, de Jager’s sculptures frame the entrance of some prestigious buildings around the world and can be found in the collections of some high-profile celebrities.

De Jager’s most well-known and prestigious sculpture is Shawu, the elephant bull who formed part of the Magnificent Seven and was epitomised as the height of successful conservation in the Kruger National Park. Shawu had the longest recorded tusks of the Magnificent Seven and holds a prime spot in the Letaba Elephant Hall. The original life-size bronze was initially cast in Italy and now guards the Palace of the Lost City at Sun City resort. De Jager went through an extensive research process to do the final cast of Shawu and studied not only the anatomy of the bull himself but spent a significant amount of time observing other elephants across South Africa. The life-size version of Shawu was cast using

a clay de Jager made himself and it included petroleum jelly as a base which never hardens or dries completely. Using the life-size version of Shawu, de Jager cast several miniaturised versions using a plaster technique which was eventually cast in bronze. The miniaturised version we are offering on our November Premium Auction has been collected by noteworthy South African political figures such as former president F.W. de Klerk and it is accompanied by an album signed by de Jager himself which details his extensive research process.

Another prominent and revered sculptor we are excited to showcase is Dylan Lewis. After the tragic death of his father, Lewis felt it was his calling to continue his legacy as an artist. Initially, he began as a painter but later turned to sculpture as his primary medium. Lewis’ work explores the interconnectivity and holistic effects of nature on both mankind and animals. A large majority of his work speaks to the duality between humans and animals – his human subject matters always depict animalistic tendencies, and his animal forms tend to evoke a range of emotions. Lewis believes that animals such as the Rhino and the Buffalo embody notions of “birth, power and violence” (About Dylan Lewis Sa:sp). Thematically, Lewis’ work speaks to the idea of returning to a place we once came from and the formidable subconscious desire to succumb to our intrinsic animalistic tendencies which were once viewed as taboo. His art celebrates the dichotomy between birth and death, violence and peace, power, and weakness – it is these themes which govern Lewis’ body of work.

The Centennial Black Rhinoceros Maquette on offer is a miniature version of the lifesize sculpture which stands outside the Centenary Game Capture Centre in Hluhluwe Imfolozi game reserve. The sculpture was commissioned by the Natal Parks Board to celebrate 100 years of conservation and catapulted Lewis’ career as a sculptor. The first miniaturised version of the Centennial Black Rhinoceros Maquette was gifted to Nelson Mandela when he was an honoured guest at the Hluhluwe Imfolozi game reserve.

Danie de Jager (South African 1936 - 2003 ) SHAWU 1982’, bronze with brown patina with a marble base, 44cm (height); 31cm (width); 70cm (length) excluding base, R100 000 – R150 000

Brandon Borgelt (South African 1966 - ) BLACK RHINO, 35cm (height); 25cm (width); 54cm (length), including base, R8 000 – R12 000

Accompanying these works is Tienie Pritchard’s Pandora. Throughout his career Pritchard explored the human form, especially the nude or semi-nude female form. He is considered one of South Africa’s foremost sculptors of the nude human form despite his struggle for recognition. Initially, Pritchard’s nude sculptures were considered detrimental to social morality and were criticised for being inappropriate to display publicly as they deviated from the themes and subject matter of his predecessors, the Volksbeeldhouers, which included the likes of Anton van Wouw. This controversial overtone, his works were branded with, lasted throughout most of his career.

Pritchard believed that the human body was able to express a vast range of concepts when it is turned into art. While his earlier nudes were rich in symbolism, they lacked cultural identity. As Pritchard furthered his creative explorations, he wished to portray more than just the human emotion and anatomy in his pieces and turned towards portraying man beyond the tangible world. This sparked an interest in ancient civilisations and the mythological nature of these cultures. He was able to represent a range of mythic subjects in his sculptures, often representing the female nude as priestess, sorceress, goddess.

Pritchard’s sculptures stylistically exemplify small-scale Renaissance and 19th Century bronze figural sculptural cannons and traditions. This was characterised by skilled and refined surface modelling, fine details and a rich patina. Many of his sculptures were modelled from live subjects as he believed working from them imbued a soul into the sculpture that would not be present otherwise. Oftentimes, Pritchard placed the human body in unexpected compositions and daring poses. An apt example of this characteristic is seen in Pandora’s Box. Pritchard has depicted the Greek mythological figure Pandora in a moment of struggle as she attempts to close the box that is spewing sorrow, disease, vice, violence, greed, madness, old age, and death

into the world. Pandora’s desperation and shock is captured in her face as she gasps and places her whole body and weight on top of the lid to keep the box closed. Pritchard has materialised concepts of “human miseries” by sculpting them as dragons, snakes, skulls, and monsters escaping the box.

Following Pritchard, yet another noteworthy sculpture on offer is Edoardo Villa’s Standing Form. Villa’s work largely speaks to a conceptual exploration of form, line, mass, and volume. His sculptures often characteristically take on a geometrically abstract aesthetic although this has not always been indicative of his work. Villa’s earlier artworks differ greatly to the abstract forms and structures we see today. However, his early pieces lend a hand in the formation of his later works and ties into the ongoing conceptualisation of continuation.

Villa’s work perpetuates a paradoxical discourse between form and content. The form of his structures often determines the recognisable characteristics one would find in his sculptures or in other words the content of his sculptures. Villa’s work is an examination of growth and ever-evolving form which evokes a contradictory relationship of constricted movement – giving his work a feel of autonomy.

During the 70’s Villa was inspired by the industrialisation that was taking hold of South Africa which led him to the use of steel in his sculptures. He felt that it was not only indicative of the era of South Africa, but it also spoke to the formation of the rising urban black population. The South African art scene has celebrated Villa’s works for many years, and he is a necessary and canonical element of African art history.

These works are a small selection of what is to be expected on our upcoming November Premium Auction. To view the available lots, register or bid, visit www.swelco.co.za. For condition reports or any queries, contact us on 0118803125 or info@swelco.co.za

represents

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Dylan Lewis (South African 1964- ) CENTENNIAL BLACK RHINOCEROS MAQUETTE, 1995, bronze with brown patina on a wooden base, 45cm (height); 30,5cm (width); 60cm (length) excluding base, R200 000 – R220 000

Tienie Pritchard (South African 1938 - 2021) PANDORA, bronze, 33cm (height); 20cm (width); 24cm (depth), including base, R15 000 – R20 000

Arend Eloff (South African 1964 - ) BUFFALOES, bronze, 26,5cm (height); 23cm (width); 45cm (length), including base, R15 000 – R20 000

Edoardo Villa (South African 1915 - 2011) STANDING FORM, bronze with ochre patina and a metal base, 29,5 (height); 12,5cm (width); 10cm (depth) excluding base, R25 000 – R35 000

CONSTELLATIONS

Intimate

Spier, in association with Third World Bunfight, presents the third iteration of Constellations which will run from 4 to 19 November, 2022. Visitors can expect a series of intimate, unusual performances set in the wilderness during the mysterious ‘liminal’ period from dusk to darkness.

Small groups of spectators are guided into the twilight on one of two routes along the banks of the Eerste Rivier. Each route links four beautiful sites in glades amongst the trees, each hosted by a ‘Guardian’: a performance artist, a dancer, a musician, a storyteller…

Spectators spend 20 minutes at each of the four sites on their route: four intense bursts of colour, sound and movement in gorgeous settings.

Theatre maker Brett Bailey, who is responsible for the direction of the performing arts program at Spier, has opted to feature only women artists this year: ‘It feels right to me to orientate the 2022 production around women in their power: it brings to mind the female revellers of Dionysian celebrations in ancient Greece, and the Yoruba priestess cults of the sacred groves of Nigeria. Collectively, this company of talented, diverse and interesting women, will give spectators something very special.’

As usual, Constellations is something of a mystery tour: spectators have no idea which of the artists they will encounter on their nocturnal journey. The Guardians this year

include performance artists Nico Athene, Rehane Abrahams, Lorin Sookool and Mandri Sutherland; Flamenco dancer Ché Adams; singer-musicians Zimbini Makwethu, Ncebakazi Mnukwana, California Janson and Luh’ra.

‘Constellations is a multi-sensory, cultural encounter in the company of strangers in the depths of the woods,’ adds Bailey. ‘Like an enchanting trip into dreamland, lit by lanterns, and immersed in the sounds of frogs, insects and owls. Spectators will return to the city bathed in the power of nature, with vivid images imprinted on their minds.’

Constellations runs at Spier on Fridays and Saturdays from 4 to 19 November 2022 at 18h30 with arrival at 18h00. Tickets start at R200 per person and include a glass of Spier wine on arrival. For more info about the picnics please visit the Spier website.

PG: No under 12’s. Please note there is a twenty minute walk through the farm along uneven ground to the first stop so please remember to wear walking shoes and dress warmly.

Located only 40 minutes outside of Cape Town, Spier, one of Stellenbosch’s oldest wine farms, is the ideal winelands getaway destination with a host of leisure activities.

performances in the wilderness at SPIER

Brett Bailey photographed by Victor Sguassero

Performance artist Nico Athene, photography by Nick Aldridge

Read

THE V&A WANTED TO SUBVERT TOXIC MASCULINITY BUT ENDED UP REINFORCING IT

The exhibition Fashioning Masculinities lets men have their cake and eat it too..

Published on HyperAllergic.com by Olivia McEwan

LONDON — Fashioning Masculinities: The Art of Menswear is by definition vast in scope, encompassing not only men’s fashion in its entirety (or, specifically, though not explicitly stated, Western fashion), but also artworks spanning classical antiquity to the present, “[charting] the shifting modes for portraying masculine style,” as the opening caption promises. The ordinary visitor surely deserves laser precision in curating to navigate this broad historical narrative and establish the contemporary relevance of the curators’ arguments. Yet additional interests and agendas confuse and sometimes compromise this effort. First, the same caption introduces the polarizing concept that “masculine fashion has been a vital mechanism for composing conformity or expressing individuality.” The statement, combined with the following text from Alessandro Michele, the Creative Director of Gucci (the show’s sponsor), heavily implies that the ordinary men’s suit is a symbol of toxic masculinity imposed by a patriarchal society:

In a patriarchal society, masculine gender identity is often moulded by violently toxic stereotypes. A dominant, winning oppressive masculine model is imposed on babies at birth …. Any possible reference to femininity is aggressively banned … therefore it seems necessary to suggest a desertion, away from patriarchal plans and uniforms.

To hammer the point home, the first exhibit, by designer Craig Green, deconstructs the traditional suit and hangs its fragments from a metal frame encasing a mannequin.

The resulting show is a loosely chronological examination of varying examples of “shifting modes for portraying masculine style” throughout history, along with contemporary examples inspired by the historic. In practice, the contemporary examples present multiple different modes, negating any potential for cohesion. Woven (no pun intended) throughout

is an agenda championing gender and sexual fluidity in line with the progressive attitudes espoused by today’s fashion and art worlds. To be clear, there is nothing wrong with doing this, except when its execution is at such expense of historical and curatorial integrity. That the curators, Claire Wilcox and Rosalind McKever, have cherry picked the V & A’s collection for historic items, often sans context and presented through the filter of contemporary ideals, effectively renders the display ahistorical. A typical example is Nicholas Hilliard’s miniature “Young Man Among Roses” (c. 1587), paired with a Gucci suit from 2017, whose caption states, “the roses entwining [the young man] travel through time and onto the floral jacquard and embroidery of this Gucci suit.” How convenient that Hilliard painted time-traveling roses.

The troubles start with the first section’s focus on ancient sculpture and its influence on menswear, notably the Apollo Belvedere (here represented by a plaster cast), to represent the interplay of the ideal male body with

drapery, “neither completely nude or clothed.” Nowhere does the caption mention that the classical world considered nudity divine, while civilian depictions remained generally clothed — a key factor in understanding the ancient significance of nudity. Yet we are given the generalized statement that subsequent tailors “have drawn comparisons between the Apollo and men wearing shirts which folded the body in swathed, ruched and pleated cloth.”

The curators’ opinions on other ancient eras in British menswear, say Anglo Saxon dress, are apparently irrelevant. Nearby, three 21stcentury designs are modeled by mannequins posed like the antique Three Graces sculpture, on the basis that “menswear designers are embracing fluidity and transparency … their work [echoing] the drapery in classical depictions of ‘The Three Graces.’” There is zero definitive link between the original sculpture and the clothes; moreover, the curators’ decision to dress the female Graces group in menswear made from the traditionally feminine materials of organza and taffeta is done expressly to support the designer JW Anderson’s statement

that “gender neutral is not a trend, it’s a reality.” The statement is fine, but actively manipulating a historic sculpture to perpetuate an unrelated contemporary ideal is not.

In the same section are homoerotic 20th-century artworks by David Hockney and George Platt Lynes, the former an etching and aquatint of an entirely nude male, and the latter a photograph of Bernard Perlin modeling a white shirt with dark tie, a “masculine form ripe for subversion.” Some further background behind the tie and why it is ripe for subversion would not have gone amiss, but as for Hockney’s nude one can only assume it is present so the curators can deploy homoeroticism or homosexuality as another arrow against patriarchal society.

In the same vein, an interesting juxtaposition between a work by transgender artist Cassils and Rodin’s “The Age of Bronze” is not about clothing at all, but rather nudity and gender. In Cassils’s video piece “Tiresias,” named after the Greek myth in which a man is transformed into a woman for several years, the artist uses their

body heat to melt a neoclassical male torso made of ice. Alongside it, Rodin’s nude, we are told, “reanimated the most sensual extremes of the classical body and Michelangelo’s male nudes.” Yes, and? It is worth noting that “The Age of Bronze” and several of the classical sculptures are from the V & A’s collections and thus feel too convenient a presence; surely the exhibition’s thesis, rather than the museum’s existing coffers, should dictate the selection of works. In terms of relevance to menswear, again it is implicit that gender fluidity — and the freedom to express it — is an antidote to the “toxic masculinity” condemned at the start. If this is the curators’ message, it should be more clearly stated.

The same mentality may inform the presence of several historical works seemingly chosen to tick boxes of gender role reversal and cross dressing. A 1664 portrait of Frances Stewart by Jacob Huysmans shows the female sitter dressed in male soldierly attire. A c. 1615 portrait of Dudley, 3rd Baron North shows the musician and poet at King James I’s court in menswear that is “as embellished and voluminous as womenswear.” For good measure the caption also states “this painting may have been one of those that inspired Versace’s 1992 womenswear collection.” “May” is not a strong enough verb when arguing for such historical influences. An astonishing 1773-74 Reynolds portrait shows Charles Coote, 1st Earl of Bellamont dressed in what would be seen today as high camp: excessively billowing drapery, enormous plumaged headgear, and hilariously pendulous tassels hanging down over the crotch. That the caption describes this figure as a “pompous and inveterate womanizer” is perhaps intended to provoke a sense of irony based on the curators’ assumptions about viewers’ biases. Marlene Dietrich’s deliberately androgynous

suit also appears, a rare — possibly the show’s only — example of an outfit designed for a female wearer. Given the overall focus on fluidity performed by men, including women adopting male dress in one or two examples muddies the waters and hints at a similarly vast gender experience excluded by this show. Will we get this in a part two?

Judging by the visitors in creatively elaborate costume, filming themselves strutting their stuff (presumably for the socials), it is clear that this show has hit home with an audience comfortable with its message of freedom of sexuality, gender, and expression. Yet it approaches its historical artifacts retroactively through the prism of this agenda, communicated by implication instead of explicit and thoroughly researched arguments. It is not simply a dispassionate study of changing fashions through time, as the title suggests. Yet the emphasis on gender fluidity (from a male perspective) and feminine-coded clothing presents a narrow and paradoxically male-centric opposition to toxic masculinity, and one that trades to some extent on gay male stereotypes. For an exhibition so dedicated to promoting a spectrum of gender and sexuality, this is ironically a very binary approach. Returning to Gucci’s opening statement against toxicity, its supporting such a show, while perpetuating an industry that remains notoriously toxic, feels queasily like virtue signaling. In this respect, one could argue that the absence of any discussion regarding body positivity and movement away from the skinny ideal — perpetuated almost militantly by the designs on show — presents an uncomfortably enormous elephant in the room.

MICROSOFT IS UNVEILING ITS OWN A.I. ART GENERATOR, POWERED BY A DALL-E 2 ALGORITHM

The new program will be available through the company’s Microsoft’s Bing search engine, Edge web browser, and Designer graphics app.

First Published on Artnet News, October 21, 2022

Microsoft is launching a new A.I. art generator—and using an algorithm from DALL-E 2 to make it possible.

Like DALL-E and other A.I. programs such as Midjourney or DreamStudio, Microsoft’s Image Creator spits out a handful of custom images based on user-provided text prompts. The technology works best when you feed it a description, location, and art style you’d like to emulate, the company noted in a blog post announcing the project.

“Dog astronaut launching into space, digital art” is the example they offered up.

Image Creator is available in some markets now through Microsoft’s Bing search engine, and will soon be accessible through its Edge web browser, and new Designer graphic design app.

Powering the new tool is the algorithm designed by OpenAI for DALL-E 2, a genredefining A.I. generator that’s become a viral sensation many times over—even though it’s still in a beta phase.

That Microsoft is attempting to board the hype train is no surprise. A.I. image technology has dominated the discourse around art

production in 2022, fueling debates about authorship, censorship, and copyright. Think back to this summer when an A.I.-generated illustration took first prize at a state fair, or September when Getty banned such images from its website.

Indeed, come December, when Artnet News looks back at the trends that defined the previous 12 months in the art world—as we do every year—there’s a good chance A.I. art will top the list.

AI image-generating technology has proved controversial for other reasons, too—for its algorithmic biases, for instance, or its capacity to generate scenes of violence or sexual abuse. Microsoft, for its part, says it is developing Image Creator with both issues in mind.

The company explained that it will prohibit offensive prompts from being used to create images and that OpenAI has removed examples of upsetting content from the dataset used to train the model.

A Good Read ON CAMERA, GERMAN ACTIVISTS THROW MASHED POTATOES AT $110 MILLION MONET PAINTING

The Barberini Museum said that because the painting was enclosed in glass, the activists did not cause any damage.

Published on www.ndtv.com by Bhavya Sukheja

Two climate activists on Sunday threw mashed potatoes at a Monet painting worth $110 million in Germany in a protest against fossil fuel extraction.

A video shared on Twitter showed the activists pair from the group Last Generation (Letzte Generation) approaching Monet’s ‘Les Meules’ at the Barberini Museum and throwing the potato over the painting and its gold frame. The protesters, wearing orange high-vis vests, even glued themselves to the wall below the painting, before shouting, “Does it take mashed potato on a painting to make you listen? This painting is not going to be worth anything if we have to fight over food.”

According to SkyNews, four people were involved in the stunt. The Barberini Museum said that because the painting was enclosed in glass, the activists did not cause any damage.

The museum director Ortrud Westheider stated that he was “shocked” by the stunt. “While I understand the activists’ urgent concern in the

face of the climate catastrophe, I am shocked by the means with which they are trying to lend weight to their demands,” he said, as per the outlet.

The Police did respond to the incident, however, they gave no further information about arrests and charges.

Also Read | Apple CEO Tim Cook Shares Mumbai Photographer’s Diwali Image, Calls It “Beautiful”

Meanwhile, this comes days after Just Stop Oil protesters sprayed orange paint on the Harrods showroom in central London. A video shared on social media showed two demonstrators spraying orange paint on the windows of the luxury department store. The activists also staged a sit-in protest on Knightsbridge with banners. According to Standard.co.uk, some activists even glued themselves to the road and locked themselves together.

Hayes,

exhibition,

OPENING EXHIBITIONS

DAOR Contemporary Ebb

A group exhibition themed around the human experience of water and its mythologies.

Opens Thursday 03/11/2022 at 18:00

On show until 16/01/2023 www.daor.co.za

131 A Gallery, Cape Town Good And You Kirsten Sims

Opening Saturday 05/11/2022 from 11am to 1pm Show Duration: 05/11/2022 until 30/11/2022

www.131agallery.com

Everard Read CPT

Limbo

Solo Exhibition by Brett Murray 03/11/2022 until 20/11/2022 www.everard-read.co.za

OPENING EXHIBITIONS

RK Contemporary Narrative - Artists who work with paper

This curated exhibition is focused on the narrative and experimental use of paper as a vehicle for expression as well as the narrative of the artist in the making their work. 06/11/2022 until 27/11/2022 www.rkcontemporary.com

EBONY/CURATED

Solo Exhibition by Kimathi Mafafo

Which will house elaborate and intricate tapestries. 09/11/2022 until 10/12/2022 www.ebonycurated.com

CORPS DE P@GES - Jean David Nkot

An exploration of the plight of the ‘common man’ in his first solo to be presented in South Africa. The exhibition is accompanied by an exhibition text written by Simon Njami. 10/11/2022 until 18/12/2022 www.themelrosegallery.com

Rust-en-Vrede Clay Museum

The CUBE: Precious

An exhibition of ceramics featuring 9 Western Cape Pottery Studios. 12/11/2022 until 21/01/2023 www.rustenvrede.com

The Melrose Gallery

Roelof Rossouw, Cape Town the Beautiful City, Oil on canvas. People, Stories, Places, Cape Gallery

OPENING EXHIBITIONS

Rust-en-Vrede Clay Gallery

The CUBE: Palimpsest

A collaborative exhibition between Hannes van Zyl and Ralph Johnson 12/11/2022 until 09/10/2022 www.rustenvrede.com

Rust-en-Vrede Gallery

Vase

A solo exhibition by Hennie Meyer 12/11/2022 until 09/12/2022 www.rustenvrede.com

Rust-en-Vrede Gallery Murg

A solo exhibition by Jo Roets 12/11/2022 until 09/12/2022 www.rustenvrede.com

Gallery @ Glen Carlou Seeing Far

An exhibition of contemporary art at Glen Carlou in association with Knysna Fine Art and Everard Read. 13/11/2022 until 22/01/2023 Nov 2022 –22 Jan 2023, Gallery hours: 10am – 5pm. www.glencarlou.com

OPENING EXHIBITIONS

Catherine Paynter Dream Scapes

Opens 15/11/2022

Gallery F, Shortmarket Street, Cape Town Contact Gavin@galleryf.co.za

Gallery 2

Fabrication - A Message Folded Moulded and Stitched Participating Artists: Katja Abbott, Cathy Abraham, Willemien De Villiers, Laurel Holmes, Maia Lehr-Sacks, Kristen McClarty, Jo Roets, Lindsay Quirk. 26/11/2022 until 29/01/2023 www.gallery2.co.za

Prince Albert Open Studios Painting, print-making, photography, jewellery design, botanical art, ceramics, sculpture, embroidery, thread art, weaving, metal art, calligraphy, land art, steampunk, found objects, assemblage. From 24/11/2022 to 27/11/2022

Prince Albert Gallery: Group Exhibition opening Wednesday 23/11/2022, 6pm www.princealbertopenstudios.co.za

Ceramics Southern Africa 50th Anniversary Corobrik National Ceramics Biennale 2022 Will be hosted in the historic Sir Herbert Baker building at 6 Spin Street Gallery, Church Square in Cape Town, CBD. 27/11/2022 until 10/12/2022 ceramicssa.co.za

Investec Cape Town Art Fair

ICTAF23

The 10th Investec Cape Town Art Fair will run from 17/02/2023 until 19/02/2023 At Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC). Tickets are now available on Webtickets: www.webtickets.co.za

Debbie Cloete, Woven not Bound, Solo exhibition, After the Storm at The Viewing Room at St Lorient

SHOWS

Goodman Gallery Cape Town Restitution of the Mind and Soul by Yinka Shonibare CBE RA

An exhibition of new quilts, masks and sculptures Until 17/11/2022

www.goodman-gallery.com

AITY Gallery

Ethnic Assemblage - A Solo Exhibition by Thembaletu Manqunyana Thembalethu Manqunyana has exhibited across three continents and has had an overwhelming response both locally and internationally. Until 19/11/2022 www.artintheyard.co.za

Art@Africa Gallery – Cape Town Minki and the Sunbird

Art@Africa’s owner , impresario Dirk Durnez and sculptor, painter Johan Steyn worked together to produce a series of bronze sculptures based on the beautiful tale of Minki and the Sunbird. Until 17/12/2022 www.artatafrica.art

Everard Read JHB Brett Charles Seiler Scenes From An Apartment Until 19/11/2022 www.everard-read.co.za

Gallery 2

Landscapes of Humanity

Group exhibition in collaboration with the Sylt Foundation Nhlanhla Nhlapo, Tuomo Manninen and Jaco van Schalkwyk

Until 19/11/2022

www.gallery2.co.za

Oliewenhuis Art Museum

Ke Liha Pene - a tribute to Samuele Makoanyane

This exhibition presents two of the most fascinating subjects for which Samuele Makoanyane (19091944) received international acclaim: the Warrior and the Musician. 04/10/2022 until 20/11/2022

www.nasmus.co.za

GalleryOne11 Cape Town

From Now to Now

A Solo exhibition by Jean Dreyer Until 19/11/2022 www.galleryone11.com

The Viewing Room Art Gallery at St. Lorient

After the Storm - Solo exhibition by Debbie Cloete

A body of work that started as a response to the disturbances and confusion experienced worldwide over the past three years.

29/10/2022 until 26/11/2022 www.stlorient.co.za

ONGOING SHOWS

Whatiftheworld Pleasure Over Pain Talia Ramkilawan Solo exhibition Until 26/11/2022 www.whatiftheworld.com

Rupert Museum Gallery 4 In-Motion Art of the Space Age Until 27/11/2022 www.rupertmuseum.org

The Cape Gallery People, Stories, Places

An exhibition of Cape Town: the people, stories and places

Until 30/11/2022 www.capegallery.co.za

Art@Africa Sculpture Garden – Franschhoek

A Symphony of Spheres

A timeless, visual vibration of Beethoven’s 5th transformed into an immersive three-dimensional experience. A masterpiece of monumental scale that encapsulates triumph over adversity, considered by many critics and composers to be the greatest musical composition of all time.. Until 02/12/2022 www.artatafrica.art

Prince Albert Gallery Fragile Beings: Menagerie a

exhibition by Niël Jonker

show of

as well

of the artist’s

Until 05/12/2022 www.princealbertgallery.co.za

Ingrid Engelbrecht, Whiskers on kittens, 2019, Group exhibition, Locus of Control at Art.b

Zeitz MOCAA

Only Sun in The Sky Knows How I Feel (A Lucid Dream)

Solo exhibiition by Johannes Phokela Until 08/01/2023

www.zeitzmocaa.museum

www.nelart.co.za

Norval Art Foundation

A World of Illusions: Grada Kilomba

Using performance, music and dynamic scenography, Kilomba creates extraordinary poetic images to explore questions of race, gender and identity. Until 09/01/2023

www.norvalfoundation.org

Nel Summer Curation - Nel Gallery opens its Summer Curation in November and this malleable show will stretch through to the 20/01/2023. Find your holiday gifts within this treasure trove! 03/11/2022 until 20/01/2023

Judy Woodborne, The ties that bind 2022. lithograph, etching, monoprint. 63 x 83cm, RK Contemporary

William Joseph Kentridge

BLACK IRIS