PORTRAIT AWARDS 2021
OCTOBER 2021 ARTTIMES.CO.ZA
PORTRAIT AWARD 2021 TOP 40 04.09.2021 - 03.11.2021 RUST-EN-VREDE GALLERY
PORTRAIT 100
04.09.2021 - 31.11.2021 RUPERT MUSEUM
Cape Town Auction 5,6 & 7 October 2021 Fine, Decorative Art, Books & Maps, Furniture, Silverware, Fine Jewellery, Watches, Carpets, Vintage Fashion & Collectables Public viewing: Preview all the lots on auction the week before at our Cape Town Showroom, 14 Dreyer Street, Claremont 30 September - 3 October | 10 - 5pm
Preview, register and bid on www.swelco.co.za Contact us for viewing appointments or condition reports on 021 794 6461 or email info@swelco.co.za
Consign for our upcoming auctions. Contact us for an obligation-free valuation on 011 880 3125 or email info@swelco.co.za
w w w. s w e l c o . c o . z a
Walter Whall Battiss, THE MARKET PLACE | R150 000 - 200 000
Art Times October 2021 Edition
CONTENTS Cover: The Rupert Art Foundation First Prize, Portrait Awards 2021, Felicity Bell, Khulani, d, February 2021, Oil on Boar.
10. M.O.L 23 - DIS-FIGURATION Ashraf Jamal Column 16. PORTRAIT AWARD 2021 Humanness - Empathy - Ubuntu 32. SMOKING GUN - Empty Threats Won’t do By Ashraf Jamal 38. BLOOM - Vanessa Berlein Stop and Consider the Flowers 42. KIFF KHAYA - Ruan Jooste My Country, My Continent and the Amazing People 44. NIC FREDMAN: A RETROSPECTIVE A Collection of Oil Paintings and Mixed Media 50. WASHBOARDS AND MIRRORS The Collages of Zakes Mda 54. PATRICK RULORE - Life in Darkness Behind the Scenes of a Solo Exhibition. 58. ĀVĀHANA - INVOCATION The Paradox of an Insatiable Human Desire 64. THE PRINTING GIRLS A Strong Professional Network of Female South African Printmakers 68. ART & WINE IN FRANSCHHOEK Art and so much more this October in Franschhoek 72. UNTOLD STORIES A Neglected Chapter in South Africa’s Art Historical Record 76. BUSINESS ART Fine Art Auction highlights 86. ARTGO Exhibition Highlights Nic Fredman, Woodstock Anthill, One, Oil on Paper, 75 x 85cm, N0 6 Spin Street CT
Editors Note
T
his October’s Art Times is a manifestation of the remarkable ability of art to rejuvenate the human spirit in these, almost post Covid times. Our thrill this month has to be the featured Portrait Award 2021 organised by Rust en Vrede that serves as a barometer of humanity and where our society seems to be today. The top 40 selected are exhibited at Rust en Vrede while a further 60 are exhibited at The Rupert Museum, Stellenbosch. It was welcome news that The Rupert Museum donated the prize money to The Portrait Award. The importance of art competitions such as The Portrait Award, Sasol New Signatures, Absa Atelier, SBYA Awards is an excellent exchange. Given the right corporate sponsoring generally gets their brand huge social credit, while the artist gets a large media platform and prestige to get their work seen. On a positive note with the lifting of Covid regulations to level 2, art initiatives such as community and town art festivals have exploded with goodness recently. In this regard, I must thank Klaus and The Royal Hotel of Artstown aka Riebeek Valley for hosting us at a truly unforgettable weekend of art, wine, olive oil, poetry, and theatre – and Art Unlocked. After over a year of lock-down, I was overwhelmed at how Riebeek Valley - full of professionals could come together to make a world-class, original, and exciting program. It dawned on me, being under a Swartland sky full of stars (while watching a performance whose performer came of the closet - as an actor at the tender age of 64) that art truly has the rejuvenating power to get feelings, identity, and self-worth back on track after these hard times. Watching real people quietly looking at art gave me great pleasure to feel that art isn’t just about the excitement of buying, selling, and NFT’s, it is more about a consuming means of selfdiscovery, learning, and enrichment. Lastly to blow our own horn here – our ArtGo section – both online and printed has the largest consistent selection of South African Art Events and reviews. Although ArtGo has lasted 4 of our almost 16 years of the Art Times it is fast becoming a goto for knowing what is on in the art world. Be sure to enjoy our Print Girls feature exhibiting at The Print Gallery this month, I’m sure it is going to be a blast. Finally, I would like to thank you for all your support for The Art Times, it’s a wonderful job and indeed a pleasure to be able to bring you the daily news and the artists’ fresh and unique way of seeing and expressing our world in our lifetime. Gabriel Clark-Brown
SOUTH AFRICA’S LEADING VISUAL ARTS PUBLICATION
CONTACT ART TIMES Tel: +27 21 300 5888 109 Sir Lowry Road, Woodstock, Cape Town PUBLISHER Gabriel Clark-Brown editor@arttimes.co.za ADVERTISING & MARKETING Eugene Fisher sales@arttimes.co.za DIGITAL MEDIA & EXHIBITION LISTINGS Jan Croft subs@arttimes.co.za ART DIRECTION Brendan Body ARTGO CONTENT info@artgo.co.za Rights: the Art Times magazine reserves the right to reject any material that could be found offensive by its readers. Opinions and views expressed in the sa art times do not necessarily represent the official viewpoint of the editor, staff or publisher, while inclusion of advertising features does not imply the newspaper’s endorsement of any business, product or service. Copyright of the enclosed material in this publication is reserved. Errata: Hermanus FynArts - would like to apologise for omitting the name of Karin Lijnes from the list of artists who are exhibiting at Sculpture on the Cliffs - 2020. Her work, Freedom Tree comprises of a large steel mobile of five ceramic bird forms.
@ARTTIMES.CO.ZA
08
W W W. A R T T I M E S . C O . Z A
S A L O N N I N ETY O NE PRE S E N TS EMMA NOURSE. HOW DELIGHTFUL, 2021. OIL ON CANVAS.
WHAT BLOOMING W H AT A BALOO M IN G M E SMESS S A S OLO E XH IT ION E M M A |N2OU A S OLO EXHIB IT ION B YIBEM M A BNYOURSE 7.1RS 0 E- |2 2 7 7.1 . 1 1.02 -0 217.1 1.2 0 2 1
WWW.SALON91.CO.ZA
DIS-FIGURATION M.O.L 23
Ashraf Jamal
T
his is a story about a painter and a sculptor, both Afrikaner, both obsessed with the erasure of the human figure. Anton Karstel’s sold-out show at 131 A Gallery in Cape Town, inspired by the recent Olympics and sports manuals from the Apartheid era, perfectly conveys the artist’s crux: he is both contemporary and a throwback, as preoccupied with the stain of Afrikaner history as he is with its utter obliteration in the present moment. Inexistence, and the crisis which comes with the sense that one has no place in the world, is at the epicentre of Karstel’s vision. He does not tell us of his existential dread, he paints it. We see it in the gymnastic figures who populate his latest show – bending, reaching, stretching – in pursuit of some physical excellence while, at the same time, besieged by an inner fallibility. This has always been Karstel’s take on the world. This is why his paintings possess their allure – they draw us into the painter’s crisis, encourages a familiarity. At no point does the painter seek to push his audience away or draw them into a moral dispute concerning Apartheid, rather, in both instances, one finds oneself in a tug-o-war with the artist. He unsettles one. This is literally the case. One cannot look at a Karstel painting without wrestling with one’s conscience, or without struggling to compute the mangled bodies presented to one. Karstel dis-figures the figure. Impasto is the technical term for how he paints – their thick layering of paint. But it is not the thick tactility of paint that only matters – paint as matter – but the psychological vortex the artist inhabits in their making. Karstel hurts. He ruins, despoils, breaks the world in front of him. It is not that the world is intact, he broken, but that in their interconnection we find breakage inescapable.
10
W W W. A R T T I M E S . C O . Z A
Dr. Deolinda Martins presents medals to the S.A. gymnasts, 2021, Oil on paper, 19.5 x 28.5cm
Chris Soal, Relic
Above: Fig. 298(b), 2021, Oil on paper, I20 x 28cm Opposite Page: Fig. 331(d), 2021, Oil on paper, 20 x 15cm
There is a history behind this painterly technique, namely German Expressionism. The result of an existential crisis generated by the First World War – the ‘Great War’ – German Expressionism signalled the end of clarity in portraiture, the contamination of the palette of realism, the incursion of lurid and unearthly colours and shapes, the destruction of painting as a mirror of the consensually accepted world and the creation of a new and radical subjectivity. That German Expressionism, or Expressionism more generally, remains with us is a sign not only of its durability but its continued relevance. If Karstel is the survivor of some form PTSD – and I’d hazard a guess he is – this has everything to do with the fact that we are in the throes of uncontrollable change. That his paintings have touched a nerve, his show sold-out, reveals the extent to which his crisis has a wider relevance. If paint matters for its own sake, in the case of Karstel one cannot ignore the fact that it also matters because his paintings mirror a vision of the world that is broken, distorted, and justly so.
The same can be said for the newest sculptures by Kobus La Grange, on show at SMAC in Stellenbosch and at PulseX in Johannesburg. In his wooden sculptures the figures are deliberately roughly hewn, as though torn from a block of wood by an angle-grinder. However, their reduced scale suggests more the use of a chisel. There is a strong human bond which La Grange generates – the sense that we are a part of a community of indefinable beings. Robert Musil’s Man Without Qualities springs to mind, some generic yet utterly peculiar human condition which we all share. As Musil notes, ‘Since the possession of qualities presupposes that one takes a certain pleasure in their reality, all this gives us a glimpse of how it may all of a sudden happen to someone who cannot summon up any sense of reality – even in relation to himself – that one day he appears to himself as a man without qualities’. It is this existential shift, this dread that ‘all of a sudden’ what we knew of our selves and the world stops making sense, that many fear. But there is no need, because this realisation is inevitable. This is Karstel and La Grange’s point. If La Grange’s deliberate dis-figuration of the human form helps us to connect to the human condition, it is because his sculptures allow for an amorphous generality – the precise inverse of the hyper-definitional cult of the Selfie. Unlike Karstel, La Grange’s sculptures do not carry a weighty existential burden. Gravity exists, but there is a definite lightness in La Grange’s touch. Is this the case of a generational divide? Perhaps. What it certainly tells us is that there is no wholly unified Afrikaner condition. At no point does La Grange, as a young white male artist, feel superfluous or supplementary to South African life today. In fact, his culture is hybrid, despite the singularity of his cultural inheritance. His figures are fundamentally human; they are not defined by caste. If they are blackened, it is because La Grange is inspired by the tonal density this produces, and the way in which the grain shines through the darkness. This decision strikingly contrasts with Karstel’s preoccupation with whiteness – with white paint, its hypervisibility and is disappearance. What both artists reveal, however, is a shared preoccupation with the erasure of definition, the unclarity of being. This project of erasure is also central to William Kentridge’s project, as it
W W W. A R T T I M E S . C O . Z A
13
KLG Black Columns, man & woman
Above: KLG Black Columns, 3 women Opposite Page: KLG Black Columns, 3 men
is to Jacques Derrida’s deconstructive project – sous rature – in which a word is cancelled yet remains visible. Why, because nothing ever truly disappears, because everything, good or bad, is latent. This is the creative and philosophical root of Karstel and La Grange’s dis-figuring art. For them, nothing, today, is easily explicable. In fact, much is frustrating. We are largely frustrated. It is this stressed reaction which these artists, in different ways, draws out of us. What they remind us of is that there is no need to fear confusion, or doubt, or one’s inability to make sense of the world. This is the nature of things right now, and why, consequently, it is unsurprising that a painter and a sculptor should choose to focus on disfiguration.
definition of the Selfie – and the narcissism it endorses – is antithetical to their visions of the world. In the midst of brutalism, their brutality, there is tenderness. Most of all, what Karstel and La Grange remind us that despite our fragility, we remain strong.
What Karstel and La Grange do is subtract rather than abstract the world. Neither removes a face, wholly expels a body, rather, they work within the parameters of the body which they distend and subtract. If subtraction is key, it is because both seek to find what connects us instead of what separates us. The hyper-
14
Di-figuration, or disfigurement, is a balm and a strength. If it is unsurprising that German Expressionism has endured, it is because human beings move from crisis to crisis. It seems as though we neither evolve nor devolve, that we are stuck on repeat – Nietzsche’s eternal return. The global reemergence fascism, and the intolerance and inhumanity it enshrines, is proof of our appalling consistency. If Karstel and La Grange help us, it is because they have absorbed the vulnerability of being human, because they cast no judgement, because they choose to include us in the beauty-wonder-grotesquerie of being human.
W W W. A R T T I M E S . C O . Z A
PORTRAIT AWARD 2021 HUMANNESS. EMPATHY. UBUNTU.
A
merican writer and politician Sean Faircloth hit the nail on the head when he wrote that to embrace humanism, is to embrace the concept that caring for our fellow human beings is our highest calling. Just like the rest of us, Faircloth probably didn’t see the Covid-19 Pandemic, amongst other calamities, disrupting our everyday lives a few years down the line. Amidst the ongoing chaos of what might seem like the plot to an Apocalyptic movie, humanness, empathy and ubuntu would become paramount to society. According to an article written by J.S. Buckeridge, ‘humanness’ can be derived from an elevated moral code which is reflected in our arts, wherein we may temporarily contemplate quintessential human traits such as mercy and kindness. The expression of the arts, however, is only achievable by the individual being part of a greater whole: the human community, the essence of which is distilled in the concept of ubuntu, wherein humanness is best realised through the act of living in harmony. Portraits have always served as an important reminder of civilization’s ‘humanness’. This has become even more apparent in a time where our sense of humanity and community is tested on-the-daily. It thus comes as no surprise to see the final Top 100 selection of the biennial National Portrait Award Competition, now in its fifth year, boasting an unmistakeable empathetic approach, with the winning portraits exemplifying both the frailty and endurance of the human spirit. 919 Portraits from all over South Africa were entered into this year’s Portrait Award Competition, to be contemplated equally and anonymously through a process of elimination. It is the first time since its inauguration in 2013 that the popular competition has commenced without the sponsorship of Sanlam Private Wealth. Through the power of ubuntu, several
16
benefactors stepped in to support the popular art competition, including the Art Times (official media partner), The COart (sponsor of a month-long artist residency in Spain – won by Nhlakanipho Mkhize), The Italian Art Shop (sponsor of two Sennelier art hampers – won by Corlie de Kock and Lucia du Preez), Andrew James of the Royal Portrait Society in Britain (zoom tutoring sessions for emerging artists – won by Nokutenda Muteweri ) and The Rupert Art Foundation (who graciously offered to support this initiative by sponsoring the R 200 000 prize money for the Top 3 artists). It took two months to scrutinise and whittle down the entries. The last 230 portraits were physically displayed at Rust-en-Vrede Gallery, where it was trimmed down further to 100 artworks by the adjudication panel consisting of Lucia Burger, Robyn Cedras-Tobin and Stefan Hundt. From these works, 60 were selected to be shown at the Rupert Museum in an exhibition titled ‘PORTRAIT 100’ forming, with the Top 40 finalists (exhibited at Rust-en-Vrede Gallery in Durbanville), a carefully curated collection of some of the best contemporary portraiture South Africa has to offer. It is interesting to note that the Top 5 portraits were all created by female artists – Liesl Duthie, Bettina Elten, Christelle du Plessis, Ashley Ogilvy and Felicity Bell – ‘the perfect way to end Women’s Month’, as stated by curator Hamlin Jansen van Vuuren during the prize-giving event on 3 September 2021. Felicity Bell, a self-taught artist from Mbombela, Mpumalanga, was declared as the overall winner for her skilful and compassionate rendition of Khulani: d. February 2021. Besides her winning portrait, Bell also has two other paintings in the 2021 Portrait Award Top 40 selection titled A Visit to Dr Esther at Home and Dana, Gallery Owner. All three of her masterfully executed portraits express an honest, endearing connection with the sitter.
W W W. A R T T I M E S . C O . Z A
The Rupert Art Foundation First Prize, Felicity Bell, Khulani, d. February 2021, Oil on Board
The Rupert Art Foundation Second Prize, Ashley Ogilvy, Lena Awaits the Day, Oil on Aluminium
Capetonian Ashley Ogilvy received the Rupert Art Foundation Second Prize for her uniquely atmospheric and romanticized rendering of an elderly woman titled Lena Awaits the Day. Stellenbosch based artist Christelle Du Plessis made a bold statement in using the colour red in rendering the background of her entry ‘Petri’. This vivid colour, coupled with the assertive stare of the sitter, created a portrait that exudes strength and confidence, earning her The Rupert Art Foundation Third Prize win. Ultimately, through the art of portraiture, we can connect with our peers, learn to engage empathically, pay homage to loved ones and uplift those rejected by society and its hegemonic values. As one engages with each of the final Top 100 portraits, one becomes aware of the underlying essence of humanness, empathy and ubuntu.
18
The winning works, along with the other Top 40 portraits, will be on display at Rust-enVrede Gallery in Durbanville, Cape Town, from 4 September until 3 November 2021 during gallery hours. www.rust-en-vrede.com 021 976 4691 / rustenvrede@telkomsa.net See 60 more of the Top 100 selected portraits at the Rupert Museum in Stellenbosch, in an exhibition titled Portrait 100. This exhibition will run from 4 September until the end of November 2021 during museum hours. www.rupertmuseum.org info@rupertmuseum.org Tel: 021 888 3341
W W W. A R T T I M E S . C O . Z A
The Rupert Art Foundation Third Prize, Christelle du Plessis, Petri, Oil on Canvas
Fifth Place, Liesl Duthie, I am, Oil on Canvas
“919 Portraits from all over South Africa were entered into this year’s Portrait Award Competition, to be contemplated equally and anonymously through a process of elimination.”
Fourth Place, Bettina Elten, Michael from Mill Street, Watercolour and Acrylic on Linen
Felicity Bell, A Visit to Dr. Esther at Home
Jemma Bortz, A Sign of God
Sandra Hanekom, Reimposition Persephone
20
W W W. A R T T I M E S . C O . Z A
Liesl Duthie, Madonna
Izelle de Beer, Colour Outside the Lines
Vanessa Berlein, Innocent
Corne Eksteen, Encryption V
Patsy Groll, Untitled
22
Helena Hugo, What the Guy did to Her
W W W. A R T T I M E S . C O . Z A
Alexander Knox, The Proskes
Candice Louw, My Dad
Drexler Kyzer, Remembrance Day
John Patrick Smythe, What You Looking At
Shany van den Berg, Ontmasker
June Hatton, Girl with Opal Earing
Androetta Bekker, Robin 1
24
W W W. A R T T I M E S . C O . Z A
Margaret Nel, Frail II
Donna Mckellar, The Effigy of the Phoenix
Willem Blignaut, Honest Woman
Fiona Goldthorpe, Agnes
26
Malik Mani, Identity Crisis
W W W. A R T T I M E S . C O . Z A
Andre Serfontein, Days of Eden
Helena Hugo, Ngoanang William Matseba, 9 April 1950 - 19 May 2021
Candice Louw, Scarlet Sisters
Felicity Bell, Dana, Gallery Owner
Inette Bruwer, Fred
Nhlakanipho S. L. Mkhize, Umvuzo Omkhulu (Great Reward)
Marie Stander, Abdol
28
W W W. A R T T I M E S . C O . Z A
Aubrey Monamodi, Adulthood
Leanne Olivier, Portrait of Phile
Linda Rademan, Someone ...
Jody Waterson, Marc Lottering - Comedian
Raeez Hoosain, Clouded Mind
The winning works, along with the other Top 40 portraits, will be on display at Rust-en-Vrede Gallery in Durbanville, Cape Town, from 4 September until 3 November 2021.
Lindie van der Merwe, Mariette
30
Quincy Mbuso Hlongwa, Impilo no Thando
W W W. A R T T I M E S . C O . Z A
SMOKING GUN Ashraf Jamal
eclecticacontemporary.com
Above: The Tyrant shall govern, 2021, Smoke, acrylic and collage on brown paper, 29,5 x 42,5cm Opposite Page: Lord I, 2021, Smoke and acrylic on canvas, 30,5 x 41,5cm
T
he Russian writer, Anton Chekhov, remarked that if you show a gun in the first act you better use it in the third. Empty threats won’t do. I’m reminded of this remark when looking at Ofentse Seshabela’s mixed media works. There’s something menacing about them, a palpable unease. If resistance aesthetics is more placard than art, a pithy visual statement in the service of a struggle, this is not what Seshabela is doing. His works are more ‘contemporary’, he says, mashed up. But like Chekhov, they trigger a latent violence. If you are not going to fire the gun, says Chekhov, ‘it shouldn’t be hanging there’. In Seshabela’s case, the ‘gun’ is a black struggle which, through art, he has weaponised. The techniques he uses are multiple, comprising graffiti and pop art, the graphic impact of which he deliberately blurs with the aid of a candle. This is because the artist understands the precarity of a direct address, because he realises that creative protest, to be effective, must be more than reactive. You can’t just
32
fight against something, you have to manifest the possibility of a new world. In black South Africa, the realm of the black poor in particular, this is never as simple as it seems. Co-opted, exploited, this black majority finds itself caught inside an inexpressible desperation, a bleak inheritance of suffering for which there are no simple answers. Which is why Seshabela blurs the iconographic forms he deploys and the stories he tells. This incendiary quality – traces after a fire – is the most distinctive aspect of Seshabela’s art. It suggests an event, a posture or attitude, which is alive – the artwork as the fallout of a catastrophe. Because what we are witnessing is the outcome of an event, not its statement. A figure, faceless yet distinctive, holds a book that brandishes a question: THE NEW WORLD ORDER? What is Seshabela alluding to? The rise of black neo-fascism in South Africa which exploits the poor to further its lust for power, or the rights of the poor that will triumph despite on-going corruption? Global fascism?
W W W. A R T T I M E S . C O . Z A
Above: Signing deals in Abu Dhabi, 2021, Smoke and acrylic on canvas, 44,1 x 49,5cm Opposite Page: Wa le bona lesedi, 2021, Smoke and acrylic on canvas, 41,8 x 49,5cm
The ‘disruption’ and radical changes generated by a virus? The ‘chaos’ of a new world order? If all of the above is applicable, it is also the artist’s lack of clarity that is important, because what drives Seshabela’s art is unease, without which the artwork would be static, dead-onarrival. In another work which combines pop iconography and collage, a statement in red which frames the amorphous black bodies reads: THE TYRANT SHALL GOVERN. This second work is more fatalistic, a prophecy of doom. It speaks to the artist’s unwavering dread. His challenge as an artist, however, is not to deliver easily digestible statements. It is true that menace is omnipresent – the gun we see must go off at some point – but, in the moment of seeing and experiencing an artwork, we find ourselves caught in the jaws of a dilemma.
Seshabela’s 2020 exhibition, ‘Democrazy: A demonstration of craziness’, sums up the in-built tension in the art – its design none other than the exposure of the falsity of the democratic ideal, particularly in South Africa where it remains a phantom and an illusion. Worse, or more terrifying, is Seshabela’s recognition of a constitutive insanity built into who and what we are which makes us incapable of speaking the truth, being transparent, this despite the fact that ‘truth is happening in real time’. ‘Some see it’, he adds, while others, the majority, are ‘walking zombies’. Inequality is not only economic it is also perceptual, cultural. Art’s job is to illuminate these inequalities, restore cultural capital – value, insight, feeling – to human struggle.
W W W. A R T T I M E S . C O . Z A
35
Lord II, 2021, Smoke and ink on, brown paper, 40,5 x 60,5cm
It is because of the complexity and perversity of contemporary life that Seshabela’s artworks are blurred, cauterized, blinded. Because there is no clarity, art must reveal the blockages which make that clarity impossible. A political leader on a billboard – Ramaphosa? – wears Napoleon’s red double-pointed hat – a bicorne – and a clown’s nose. A figure of an armed soldier is capped with an Orwellian paradox: WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY. Another figure – more a tendril of smoke, barely physical – is scored through with a single word that reads more as lament than belief: LORD LORD LORD LORD. Life prevails
36
uneasily in Seshabela’s world, township life in particular. The rub of politics and humanity is inconsolable. If, for Seshabela, the paintings are evidence – a smoking gun – it is because they tell us, in their blurred clarity, that the brutal and obscene truth is staring us in the face, but we refuse or cannot see it. What then is the task of art? In the case of Seshabela, it reminds us that we cannot unsee the obscene ambivalence that afflicts us.
W W W. A R T T I M E S . C O . Z A
Vanessa Berlein, Alma, 150cm in diameter, Oil and ribbon on canvas
www.artintheyard.co.za
Vanessa Berlein 22.10.21 | 14.11.21
BLOOM
A Solo Exhibition by Vanessa Berlein AITY Gallery, Franschhoek 22 October – 14 November www.artintheyard.co.za
Photos, Ruvan Boshoff 38
W W W. A R T T I M E S . C O . Z A
“In the hope of reaching the moon, men fail to see the flowers that blossom at their feet.” -Albert Schweitzer The series of mixed medium paintings titled Bloom, evolved from a desire to explore the techniques and aesthetics of the 16th century floral paintings of the Dutch masters. Initially, Berlein was taken with trying to understand better their technique of ‘Grisaille”, but the more she delved the more enchanted she became with the blooms they depicted and the joyful emotions they inspired in her. Berlein comments: “ Winter was fast approaching and the light becoming brittle. I began taking elements from the paintings of the Dutch masters and trying to emulate them, exploring their techniques and aesthetic. Pulling Spring, colour and cheer into my studio. In looking for further references and inspiration, I turned my attention to wedding bouquets and Victorian seed packets, and flowers began to blossom and bloom on the canvases in my studio. In creating the paintings, Berlein constantly considered the sensory experience the audience of the works would encounter when walking into a space filled with flowers. For all of us to have endured so many months of lockdown, restriction and illness, the artist sought to create an experience of joy. After the hibernation, the promise of Spring. “Right now, I think the world needs to stop and consider the flowers. We so easily get lost in the horrors and exhaustion of this time that we forget that there is beauty all around” Through the journey of creating the works, Berlein found inspiration in unravelling of the significance of flowers throughout history, as in Ancient Rome, Brides carried and wore flowers to signify new beginnings, and hopes of lasting love and fertility. In the Middle ages,
Bobby, 120cm diameter, oil and selected thread on canvas
Charlotta, 120cm diamter, oil and selected thread on canvas
“Right now, I think the world needs to stop and consider the flowers. We so easily get lost in the horrors and exhaustion of this time that we forget that there is beauty all around” strong smelling herbs, spices and flowers were carried to ward off bad luck, ill health and the stench of rot, and then at her wedding on 1940, Queen Victoria popularised the tradition of carrying a tussie-mussie down the aisle. The inclusion of stitching into the works not only provides an aesthetic bridge to additional dimensions of time, but is further symbolic in much of Berlein work, of suturing the wounds of the world. The loose threads that hang from the canvases, indicative of hope, that there is always room to stitch further, encouraging wounds to heal, if only we take the needle, prick the conscience and begin to stitch. Our exhibition opens in the middle of Spring, and whilst an exhibition of flowers in the middle of Spring may be considered obvious, there is another message within the artists body of work. How vital and necessary denotations of old are in today’s times; how important the need remains for simplicity of meaning.
40
Paring down to the basic essences of techniques also liberated the sense of what the works would mean. By distilling the past and extracting the beauty, the artist has produced a tonic for our times, a single elixir of hope and joy in the form of beauty. Berlein has worked as an artist for 33 years. She has exhibited and curated extensively in South Africa and abroad. Her work focuses primarily on painting. At Present, Berlein works out of a studio she shares with artists Helen van Stolk, Antoinette Hampton, Juan Stockenstroom and Andrzej Urbanski in Woodstock Cape town. Opening Saturday 23rd October 2021 at 12pm In conjunction with Art & Wine Franschhoek Heritage Square, 9 Huguenot Street, Franschhoek www.artintheyard.co.za
W W W. A R T T I M E S . C O . Z A
Lucy, 120cm diamter, oil with selected thread on canvas
KIFF KHAYA Ruan Jooste Solo Exhibition Deepest Darkest Gallery CT 25 September – 29 October www.deepestdarkestart.com
Tjommies, 2021.
F
ollowing the often tumultuous recent uncertainty experienced here in South Africa, we’re poised to sigh a smile at the prospect of an oncoming Summer at Deepest Darkest with the opening of digital artist Ruan Jooste’s debut solo show, Kiff Khaya. Jooste celebrates the quirks and idiosyncrasies that mishmash into our shared commonalities, memories and nostalgias in a riot of fun, colour and wit. At a time when so many felt divided, he boldly reminds us that there is a uniquely South African joy that binds and connects us.
Above: Khaya Kween, 2021. Opposite Page: Fishy Feshuns, 2021
“I was inspired by my country, my continent and the amazing people who call it home. The vibrant colours of our landscapes, cities and towns, and the rich cultures that make up this rainbow nation. There is energy and grit in our urban and rural landscapes, downtown to township. I started this series in a time where we as a country have gone through tremendous strain and sadness. We have lived and seen devastation day after day during this pandemic and as I struggled with my own state of mind in making sense of it all, I wanted to remind myself of the joy this country also has to offer. Adding elements of fun and fantasy resulted in imagining another version of our reality. One that reminds you to smile. Not only for myself, but to share.” Lekka Bubblegum, 2021
42
W W W. A R T T I M E S . C O . Z A
NIC FREDMAN: A RETROSPECTIVE 6 Spin st / Cape Town 30 October - 30 November 2021
N
ic Fredman is showing a collection of oil paintings and mixed media pieces in a show entitled “Nic Fredman: A Retrospective”. Showing from October the 30th till November the 30th.
The majority of paintings on show are comprised of small panoramic landscapes produced over the last 3 years, many of them through the Covid lockdowns. The other work was produced over the years when Nic returned to Cape Town in 2003 after living in London for 28 years when he set up studio at ‘The Old Breweries’ in Woodstock. This work is comprised of four themes: “Small Landscapes”, “The Dark Rooms”, “Woodstock Anthills” and “Artefacts and Reconstructions.” The Dark Rooms Nic says: “ ‘The Dark Rooms’ are a body of work initiated when I was working in my London studio and drew inspiration from those artists inspired by the ‘WunderKamer’ and ‘Cabinets of Curiosities’. I would spend hours in the wonderful museums of London, the Victoria and Albert, National History and especially the Museum of Childhood in Bethnal green with their marvellous collection of Victorian dolls houses. These paintings are of imagined, invented rooms or Dolls house rooms. They tend to have a darkness to them where shadow rather than light predominates. Woodstock Anthills “The body of work titled: ‘Woodstock Anthills’ are paintings on prepared paper using images of Woodstock, with fragments of the landscape, textures and overlays. These paintings were started in my Woodstock studio and draw on the surrounding landscape and fragments current in my imagination at the time.
44
The Nursery, Oil on Board, 54 x 54cm
I had a great studio, once used by Cecil Skotnes in an annexe of the Old Breweries Complex. Working in the Gothic, Old Breweries building had its own inspiration but I would garner images on my daily walks around the neighbourhood. I was particularly drawn to small details from facades, shop windows and street corners” Artefacts and Reconstructions A series of paintings and constructions using found objects and paint, and collage. In 2011 I exhibited some of these constructions at the Design Indaba. Whereas those were 3 dimensional, sculptural and some real cabinets, these painting are largely collaged matrixes. Some resemble diagrams; others recall the printer tray grid where disparate objects and images have been forced to coexist. I will be showing several mixed media works on paper as well as work constructed on wood using found objects.
W W W. A R T T I M E S . C O . Z A
The Parlour. Oil on Board. 54 x 54cm
Woodstock Anthill Two, 94 x 75cm
Cederberg sunset, Oil on board, 8 x 28cm
Clifton Rocks, Oil on board, 8 x 28cm
46
W W W. A R T T I M E S . C O . Z A
Woodstock Brewery, Oil on paper, 80 x 70cm
Small Landscapes. The prime part of the show is a collection of 40 small intimate landscapes. These are all painted with oil paint either on prepared paper or gesso board, 8 cm by 28cm. Nic says” The landscapes marked a return to a fundamental bearing within myself. Not just with the subject but also with traditional technique. Whereas the earlier work had been about invention and manipulation of colour, form and material, painting the landscapes was a direct response to the need to simplify the process. To get back to basics. I had seen a small Breughel landscape in a museum and was knocked out how such as small painting could carry such a sense of largeness.
work was easier to carry back and forth and easier to make sitting at the dining room table. I carried on the practice during the first Covid lockdown when my dining table became my studio. Drawing into a smaller space was also about yearning for the unbounded horizon. The smaller size encourages intimacy and making them is also about drawing inwards to reflect an infinite place and the idea of hope in a small artwork.” They are an emotional response to landscape that has meaning to me about where I exist in the world. The show will run for the month of November at No 6 Spin St in Cape Town.
“Many of these were started when I had to spend months in London while my daughter was having treatment for her Lymphoma, small
48
W W W. A R T T I M E S . C O . Z A
WASHBOARDS AND MIRRORS
The Collages of Zakes Mda The Viewing Room Art Gallery at St. Lorient / 16th Oct - 27th November
Famo Series 7, Acrylics on canvass and mirrors, 50.8 x 40.64cm
S
ome of the works in this collection are collages of acrylic on canvas, fabric, newsprint, mirrors, and other threedimensional found objects. They celebrate the coalescence and sometimes the clash of materials and traditions of South Africa on one hand, and the Appalachian region of the USA on the other. The washboard in its three-dimensionality is an important object of the collage – adding sculptural elements to a painting.
There is a washboard factory in Logan Ohio, a neighbouring town to Athens Ohio, where I live. It is the only washboard factory left in North America, as people in the USA no longer use them for washing clothes since the introduction of washing machines either at home or at laundromats. In South Africa the American-type washboard was never really popular even before the days of washing machines. People used wasplank instead, smoothed flat timber. The washboard in my paintings is part of the assembly of conceptual three-dimensional found objects from the southeast Ohio Appalachian region.
50
Famo Series 8, Acrylics on canvass and mirrors, 50.8 x 40.64cm
Part of the mixed media include African fabrics and newsprint, both from South Africa and Lesotho. Each painting functions as a narrative of domestic, gender and workplace tensions. So, who buys washboards from the Logan factory? Souvenir collectors and musicians. The washboard is a musical instrument, traditionally used in jazz, zydeco, skiffle, and jug band music. My wife, Gugu, and I played washboards with a blue-grass band at the Logan Washboard Festival one year. One of the paintings titled The Washboard and the Kora portrays a band playing the two instruments from the diverse cultures of Appalachia on one hand and of Africa on the other. A lot of my work pays homage to performance – particularly dance and music – in a manner these art forms function as a healing force in society – for instance the Healers’ Concert series. Some are a tribute to my friend, the late horn-man Hugh Masekela. Hence you will see a lot of trumpet, especially in the series titled Jazz in Sepia.
W W W. A R T T I M E S . C O . Z A
Jazz in Sepia, Song of Hughie, Acrylic on canvas, fabric, glass mirroe and newsprint, 71 x 55cm
Healers’ Concert 1, Acrylics on canvass and mirrors and cowrie shells, 60.96 x 60.96cm
You will see a lot of organ and concertina too. This is part of the work that speak to the symbiosis between my painting and storytelling as some of it is influenced by or loosely interprets scenes and characters from my novels. The accordion and to a lesser extent the concertina are the dominant instruments in a genre known as famo music popular in southern Africa but emanating from Lesotho. My latest novel, Wayfarers’ Hymns, is set in Lesotho and Johannesburg and is centred around the real-life wars of the famo musicians – where great music begets death. There are other works as well that draws from my literary production; for instance, the Sister Woman Series, influenced by my most enduring and most popular play, And the Girls in their Sunday Dresses, currently running in London at the Arcola Theatre, produced by Utopia Theatre.
52
Most of the works feature mirrors as part of the collage. These are shiny objects that otherwise would belong in a world of kitsch and have been tamed here to reflect you and make you part of the painting, albeit momentarily. They are also much beloved objects by graduands of isiXhosa initiation rituals, old-school amakrwala. The works are a fusion of styles drawing variously from Basotho traditional murals called litema and lipatrone, South African township art and European expressionist modes, particularly Brasque-inspired Cubism. An example of the latter is Favela Love which subverts scale and perspective. Some of these are overtly political in a deeply South African context, as can be seen in The Man in a Green Blanket series.
W W W. A R T T I M E S . C O . Z A
5th Avenue Auctioneers Next Auction of Fine Art, Antiques, Persian Rugs & Collectibles: Saturday 23rd & Sunday 24th October
Live online only Now accepting entries
Catalogue available on our website, updated regularly
Adriaan Boshoff, Oil 5thAveAuctions.co.za
011 781 2040
stuart@5aa.co.za
404 Jan Smuts Ave, Craighall Park, Sandton
PATRICK RULORE
Life in Darkness, behind the scenes of a solo exhibition.
P
atrick Rulore was born in 1995 in Johannesburg. After he matriculated in 2013, Patrick started an art company producing art portraits. He completed his National Diploma at the Tshwane University of Technology in 2021. His work was selected to be part of the top 100 of the prestigious Sasol New Signatures competition, in both 2017 and 2018. He received a merit award in the Thami Mnyele Art Competition in 2018. In 2019, he was in the top 15 in the Thami Mnyele Art Competition, and he was the overall winner of the Sasol New Signatures Art Competition for his painting entitled Stage 4 Moments.
Patrick chatted to us about his upcoming solo exhibition, which will take place alongside the Sasol New Signatures 2021 exhibition from 11 November 2021 until 10 January 2022 at the Pretoria Art Museum. Patrick began working on his solo exhibition straight after he was announced as the winner of Sasol New Signatures 2019, which formed part of his prize, along with R100 000.00. Patrick has been delighted by the response he has received since winning the competition. He hopes to inspire other young artists wanting to follow their dreams of being recognised in the South African art arena. The work he is creating for his solo exhibition forms part of his Stage 4 Moments series that captures typical moments in many South African households during load shedding. This series explores human connection against the black drop of an ephemeral world of light and shadow. He has used many light sources within his paintings, such as paraffin lamps, candles, fire and natural sunlight.
54
Winner 2019 Patrick Rulore
“In this solo exhibition, what is most important and what I want every viewer to pick up is the dominance of darkness that engulfs each piece. This body of work does not only focus on my family, but my community as well. “Life in darkness” simply means, I personally find more quality time, love and laughter in the brief moments of darkness,” he said. His work has allowed him to include the art
W W W. A R T T I M E S . C O . Z A
of photography in the process. “After making an appointment with local Hammanskraal families, I stand as a photographer, and I capture moments in those times of darkness. I then choose the best photograph with the following qualities; originality, good composition and colour balance. It takes 60 days to finish one painting, and I paint 2-3 paintings at the same time.”
Patrick said of this winning the competition, “After winning this competition I suddenly became a role model around my school and art community as a whole. I have been greatly favoured by gallery owners and they are and still willing to work with me to develop my career further. I look forward to seeing the response to this exhibition when it opens in November”.
Hot Conversations
Where is my shoe
56
W W W. A R T T I M E S . C O . Z A
Art, antiques, objets d’art, furniture, and jewellery wanted for forthcoming auctions
Peter Clarke, Birds and Mountain, oil pastel SOLD R 100,000 View previous auction results at www.rkauctioneers.co.za
011 789 7422 • 011 326 3515 • Bram Fischer Centre, Lower Ground, 95 Bram Fischer Driver Cnr George Street, Ferndale, 2194
“OBU BUBOMI BAM 8 OUT OF 8: I TEACH ART” A SOLO EXHIBITION BY PROF NOMBEKO MPAKO 24 SEPTEMBER - 25 OCTOBER 2021
“OBU BUBOMI BAM” TRANSLATES TO ”THIS IS MY LIFE” IN ISIXHOSA. THIS EXHIBITION IS PROFESSOR MPAKO’S VISUAL AUTOBIOGRAPHY WHICH WILL SHARE SOME OF THE GREAT AND SAD MOMENTS SHE CAME ACROSS IN HER LIFE.
ĀVĀHANA - INVOCATION
A solo exhibition by Amita Makan Oliewenhuis Art Museum, 5 October -14 November 2021 oliewen@nasmus.co.za
Above: Agnicayana. Opposite Page: Snow Protea (Detail)
“How do you make a compelling story out of an abstract idea like gradual climate change?” - Steve Paulson, from an interview with Amitav Ghosh The series Āvāhana–Invocation of 18 hand-embroidered works is a stitched manifestation and expression of my disquiet introspection to the growing scientific data of our disappearing Southern African landscape. Philosopher and activist Vine Deloria observes that the Native American people have a greater regard and reverence for “space” in comparison to a Western conception that accords greater value to linear time. Deloria argues that, whilst “temporal narratives can defer ethical choices by reference to abstract future endpoints, spatial thinking allows no such evasion since it is insistently focused on
58
the world as it is.” The writer Amitav Ghosh, in reference to Priya Satia’s books, observes Native American oral narratives that are rooted in “particular places and the geographical and botanical features that are emplaced in them, accord a significant degree of agency to nonhuman elements of the landscape”. Āvāhana–Invocation explores a reimagined landscape of the shifting Southern African geographical spaces and non-human elements in the relentless loss of the rare and ancient fynbos floral kingdom, perennial drought, dwindling butterfly populations and the steady demise of ancient baobab trees. The deliberate use of the “synthetic” as a medium in the artworks express the paradox of an insatiable human desire for the fabrication and consumption of things that fuel climate change. The visible impact of climate
W W W. A R T T I M E S . C O . Z A
Above: Āvāhana-Invocation II. Opposite Page: Āvāhana- Invocation I
Water Mantra (Detail)
change is the voice of these non-human elements. Nature is an active agent, not to be deferred. Her voice is manifest through a deadly global pandemic, raging wildfires, flash floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, heat waves, droughts and famines.
In an essay in the exhibition catalogue, art historian Hélène Tissières writes, “Sometimes the decorative nature of Makan’s work suggests a stance that could seem ambiguous: the plastic is beautified and does not disturb the viewer with its presence. In this context, the imposing plexiglass frame, which serves as a sarcophagus, re-centres these questions, highlighting the illusory and destructive nature of human behaviour: do we really want to be able to gaze only upon replicas of these flowers or plants – imitations without ecosystemic value?”
These tensions are re-enacted in my embroideries. The precious vintage saris and beadwork, from ancient tradition and skill, are ceding to derivatives of the eternal plastic. Polyester, shiny sequins, synthetic coated beads, nylon and polystyrene packaging and synthetic threads within Perspex are metaphors of a consumerist culture premised on desire. Stitched Ubuntu and Buddhist philosophies, ancient Hindu mythologies and rituals, including Sanskrit mantras and rangoli – sacred geometric designs inspired by nature – invoke in each of us to be mindful, active agents to protect our precious space.
Tissières goes on to say, “the rendering of nature into art aims to question the… domination of nature which gradually leads to the disappearance of thousands of species, breaking the food chain, disrupting the regulation of the ecosystem.” References are also made to the philosopher Félix Guattari
W W W. A R T T I M E S . C O . Z A
61
Leucospermum lineare (Detail)
who “decries the work of politicians who … have proven unequal to the task assigned to them... “He contends that only an ethicalpolitical linkage between environment, social relations and human subjectivity will be able to answer these questions. For him, it is essential that individuals change their way of acting, their conditioning”… reconstruct their subjectivity, rework their social relationships and break free of their passivity.” Oliewenhuis 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. A ramp at the entrance of the main entrance provides access for wheel chairs, while a lift provides access to the Permanent Collection display areas on the first floor. For more information on Oliewenhuis Art Museum please contact the Museum at 051 011 0525 (ext 200) or oliewen@nasmus.co.za.
62
Stay up to date by following Oliewenhuis Art Museum on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for all upcoming exhibitions and events. References: Where is the “Great Climate Change Novel”, A conversation with Amitav Ghosh- Los Angeles Review of Books, Steve Paulson interviews Amitav Ghosh https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/ wheres-the-great-climate-change-novel-aconversation-with-amitav-ghosh/ Amitav Ghosh on Priya Satia’s books : ‘History has given us tools for upending dominant narratives’ https://scroll.in/article/998495/amitav-ghoshon-priya-satias-books-history-has-given-ustools-for upending-dominant-narratives Tissière, Hélène : “Amita Makan: Art of Thread (knotting/unknotting) and ecology” in ĀvāhanaInvocation exhibition catalogue, 2021
W W W. A R T T I M E S . C O . Z A
MELROSE ARCH, JOHANNESBURG
3 September to 24 October The largest annual sculpture fair in SA
themelrosegallery.com TheMelroseGallery
themelrose_gallerysa
* Sculpture by Wilma Cruise
THE PRINTING GIRLS (TPG) SA Print Gallery, Woodstock CT 09 October – 20 November www.theprintinggirls.co.za By Mandy Conidaris
W
e often get strange looks from folk in the artworld, followed by the question: what are The Printing Girls?? Well, at its core, TPG is an all-female collective of South African-based artists who work in print. Our membership ranges from artists who have just begun to explore printmaking techniques, through to experienced printmaker/artists and professional printmakers. But beyond its core, TPG is an interwoven web of creative, diverse, individual personalities. Just imagine.
Our main focus has been to develop a strong professional network of female South African printmakers and create a platform for our members to share ideas, network, and exhibit together. We actively cultivate a culture of sharing skills and information, help our members grow their printmaking skills, and aim to advance TPG as a credible community within the artworld. The six original members of TPG began to exhibit in 2016 as The Printing Girls. Each year, more artists joined, and TPG in its current incarnation slowly began to materialise. Today, our members number fifty-seven and are based in Gauteng, the Eastern Cape, Western Cape, Mpumalanga, North West Province, Free State, and the Karoo … we have been astounded at how many women artists either work primarily in print or have printmaking as a significant part of their creative output. This year (2021), our co-founder Amy Jane van den Bergh took a year’s sabbatical to enjoy her first pregnancy and give birth to a lovely baby boy, so the 2021 Admin Team has consisted of Cloudia Rivett-Carnac as the members’ goto TPG for technical support and the overall workshop co-ordinator, Allison Klein as the TPG social media and exhibition liaison manager, and Mandy Conidaris as the website manager, TPG copywriter, and print exchange organiser.
64
W W W. A R T T I M E S . C O . Z A
2021 TPG Admin Team, L to R, Cloudia, Mandy, Allison
2020 Annual exhibition The Art Room
This year the Admin Team has curated four exhibitions. Three of these had specific limitations, which we find rattles our members’ creative cages in a positive way … and we’ve learnt to ignore the grumbles! We also held three Print Exchange projects to run alongside our first three exhibitions. The online catalogues with the works and accompanying stories may be sourced on our Issuu Profile. In March we held a show of exclusively relief prints at our first exhibition in Pretoria - ‘New Girls on the Block’ – at The Arts Association of Pretoria. In April, the Western Cape-based TPGs self-initiated an exhibition of their own – ‘At The Table’ – at Spin Street Gallery in Cape Town. In August we held our annual exhibition - #TPG21 – at The Art Room in Johannesburg. Here the limitation was size, 40 x 40 cm paper or smaller. The exhibition at White River Gallery in Mpumalanga – ‘Mother Nature in Monotype’ - was held in August in Women’s Month and was limited to monotype print techniques. In this month of October, our final exhibition – ‘TPG @ SA Print Gallery’ – has given the Admin Team the chance to indulge themselves by selecting their personal favourites of the year.
66
As the year started still in lockdown, we put our heads together to see how we could make it work for us. Forced onto Zoom, we discovered that we could reach all our members equally well. The Admin Team held virtual mid-year creative assistance meetings, consciously arranging groups of TPGs who normally would geographically be unable to interact. Pre-Covid, TPG technical workshops were held at Cloudia’s Joburg-based printmaking space, Chocolate Ink Studio, and she has successfully devised a series of online interactive printmaking workshops. So, in a bizarre way, the lockdown has helped us achieve our aim to democratise TPG in terms of technical and creative support and build a stronger nationwide community. Through using this year as a foundation to figure out where we succeeded and stumbled, and by building on the positive professional relationships we have furthered, we are excited to see what next year will bring with Amy Jane back at the helm. Watch this space!
W W W. A R T T I M E S . C O . Z A
Please join us for the opening at 11am, Saturday 9 October, 109 Sir Lowry Road, Woodstock, Cape Town. The Printing Girls (TPG) is an all-female collective of South African-based artists who work in print. Our membership ranges from artists who have just begun to explore printmaking techniques, through
to experienced printmaker/artists and professional printmakers. For the first time we are exhibiting at the SA Print Gallery in Cape Town – a dream of printmakers country-wide! We have recent works on show by almost 60 artists, each working with an individual vision and in a comprehensive range of printmaking techniques. Come and see what we have achieved despite lockdown …
ART & WINE IN FRANSCHHOEK Art and so much more this October in Franschhoek
W
ith the changing of the seasons the warmer weather is a welcome relief. Perfect for exploring one of South Africa’s premier lifestyle destinations, namely the Franschhoek Wine Valley. Home to awardwinning wines, internationally acclaimed restaurants, exquisite art as well as an array of cultural and outdoor offerings. This October make the most of your visit as it coincides with Art Franschhoek as well as the Franschhoek Open Gardens Festival. Over the years research has shown that Franschhoek attracts many high-end visitors to the Cape, many of whom include art loving tourists. This has allowed the industry to adapt locally with a number of serious galleries in Franschhoek, such as EBONY/CURATED and Everard Read, to showcase world-class exhibitions on a regular basis. In recent years art has become relevant and soughtafter, and as such so has the art attraction in Franschhoek, which is home to 19 galleries.
68
The demand for fine art has in turn lifted Franschhoek’s aspirational presence so much more. From 22 to 24 October visitors to Franschhoek will be treated to a weekend of art appreciation as galleries ‘open their doors’ for this year’s Art & Wine In Franschhoek. The weekend is dedicated to showcasing some of their spectacular works of arts and exhibitions, as well as highlighting the diversity of the galleries in and around Franschhoek, offering both the connoisseur as well as the amateur exquisite artworks to view in a non-sterile space. This year art enthusiasts have something slightly different to look different. As the title, ‘Art & Wine In Franschhoek’ implies, participating galleries will be partnering up with a wine farm, restaurant and accommodation establishment to allow for a more diverse cultural offering. Art enthusiasts can choose to leisurely browse the galleries situated along the village’s main road,
W W W. A R T T I M E S . C O . Z A
70
W W W. A R T T I M E S . C O . Z A
Carol Cauldwell, Rabbit Dandelion, bronze edition of 15, height 89cm. Opposite: La Motte Historic Cellar for Classical Music Concerts.
and within comfortable walking distance from each other. Alternatively choose to view the artworks on display at some of the wine farms, which include The Gallery at Grande Provence and La Motte Museum. Joining these galleries in this year’s line-up include Art in the Yard, EBONY/CURATED Bordeaux House, Everard Read Gallery, Oink At Farm Sanctuary SA and Artemis. Not only will visitors be treated to exquisite artworks, but with Franschhoek being in full bloom during this time, the valley’s gardens are also spectacular sights to behold. Over the weekend of 29 to 31 October garden fanatics and nature lovers will be able to view some of the valley’s breath-taking gardens at the annual Franschhoek Open Gardens Festival. Gardens range from small village gardens to beautiful large farm gardens. This year there are 10 gardens on show. Tickets cost R200 per person to view all of the gardens on show and are valid for the entire weekend, and can be purchased from La Motte Wine Estate or the NG Church Hall in Franschhoek.
UNTOLD STORIES
Legacy of the UNIBO (University of Bophuthatswana) archive, Art of our Alumni exhibition North-West University Art Gallery 29 September – 29 October Curated by Amohelang Mohajane
72
W W W. A R T T I M E S . C O . Z A
T
he North-West University Art Gallery is proud to present an exhibition of works by art students from the former University of Bophuthatswana (UNIBO). In 2019, more than 50 artworks were found in a storeroom on the Mahikeng campus, where the paintings and sculptures had been relegated for over three decades. The works date from the 1980s to the early 1990s, when the UNIBO (later renamed the University of the NorthWest), offered a degree in Fine Art. There is currently very little published information and no scholarship on art education at UNIBO and UNW during these turbulent years of struggle and transition from apartheid to democracy. While Bophuthatswana and UNIBO’s history are no doubt burdened, this archive of artworks testifies to the former university’s educational ideals at a time when black students had scarce opportunities for studying art in South Africa. Untold Stories, Legacy of the UNIBO (university of Bophuthatswana) archive, Art of our Alumni exhibition curated by Amohelang Mohajane is an attempt at opening critical discussion and research on the North-West University Collection archive. UNIBO was founded in 1980 in the erstwhile Tswana ‘homeland’ of Bophuthatswana, one of ten Black ‘homelands’ or Bantustans. Under various laws promulgated from the early 1950s, the apartheid government assigned a ‘homeland’ to Black persons according to their presumed ethnic origin. The apartheid government granted spurious autonomy to ‘homelands’ such as Bophuthatswana, but it further denied Blacks civil and political rights in what was designated ‘white’ South Africa. In 1994, the Bantustans ceased to exist and were again incorporated into South Africa.
T. F. Dichaba, Untitled, 102cm x 74,5 cm, Oil on board, NWU Permanent Collection
T. F. Dichaba, Untitled, 102cm x 74,5 cm, Oil on board, NWU Permanent Collection
74
W W W. A R T T I M E S . C O . Z A
T. F. Dichaba, Naked Woman on chair, 57cm x 67 cm, Oil on board, NWU Permanent Collection
The president of Bophuthatswana, Lucas Mangope, regarded the arts as vital to skills development and requested that a department of art be established at UNIBO. The department was established in 1984 and from 1985 to approximately 1994, the art department offered a degree in Fine Art that included painting, drawing, sculpture, Art History, printmaking, educational and maths-based courses focused on visual art. The exhibition provides an overview of both the arts curriculum of the former department and the personal voices and burgeoning styles of individual students. The subject matter includes still life, figure and perspective studies, portraits and genre scenes in paint on board, plaster busts, wood carving and linocuts. There are also striking self-portraits, exploratory and expressive paintings and sculptures that make strong socialpolitical statements and others that experiment with Cubist and Surrealist influences. While most of the works are unsigned and undated, artists such as Daniel Mosako, George Bhunu, Tommy Motswai, Felicious Dichaba, Frank Ledimo, Johnny Sekwela, L. Sono, R.M. Ramsimphi and Gemma Tabane are represented in the archive and exhibition. This is clearly a neglected chapter in South Africa’s historical and art historical record. This exhibition and an accompanying panel discussion by alumni and art historians on 2 October are held in the hope of stimulating discussion, research, and scholarship on this rich archive, the students, artists and lecturers, and the socio-historical context of the former art department. This exhibition was made possible by support from the National Research Foundation and Faculty of Humanities, North-West University.
Business Art
STRAUSS & CO
LIVE VIRTUAL AUCTION Modern, Post-War and Contemporary Art, Decorative Arts & Jewellery 11 & Tuesday 12 October 2021 www.straussart.co.za
William Kentridge, Sculpture for Return (Commendatore Naso) bronze, 36 by 79 by 21cm, R 600 000 - 800 000
Dylan Lewis, Sitting Cheetah Pair, bronze with a brown patina, height: 123cm; length: 104cm; width: 79cm, R 1 000 000 - 1 500 000
EVENTS TO DIARISE Please join Strauss & Co’s rich programme of webinars, lectures and walkabouts.
IN-PERSON LECTURES AT BRICKFIELD CANVAS Thursday 7 October at 2pm Back to Expressionism: Irma Stern’s Late Paintings Conducted by Matthew Partridge, Senior Art Specialist
WEBINARS Tuesday 28 September at 4pm Behind the Scenes Conducted by Vanessa Phillips, Joint Managing Director, Sophie-Louise Frölich, Decorative Arts Specialist and Shirley Daniels, Decorative Arts, Assistant Tuesday 5 October at 6pm Artists’ Focus: Erik Laubscher and Claude Bouscharain Conducted by Jean le-Clus Theron, Senior Art Specialist Guest speaker: Phillippa Duncan, Independent Researcher, Collections Consultant & Advisor
ART WALKABOUT AT BRICKFIELD CANVAS Saturday 9 October at 10.30am Conducted by Frank Kilbourn, Chairperson Strauss & Co, and Strauss & Co Art Specialists
Wednesday 6 October at 6pm 100 Years of Design and Designers Conducted by Sophie-Louise Fröhlich, Decorative Arts Specialist, in conversation with Wilhelm van Rensburg, Senior Specialist and Head Curator
76
Saturday 9 October at 12pm Design Furniture from around the World Conducted by Sophie-Louise Fröhlich, Decorative Arts Specialist
Book to join: +21 21 683 6560 | mishale@ straussart.co.za For more information: www.straussart.co.za
W W W. A R T T I M E S . C O . Z A
Jacob Hendrik Pierneef, Legogote, Oos Transvaal, oil on canvas 45 by 55,5cm, R 2 000 000 - 3 000 000
Adolph Jentsch, The Farm Kleepforte, Near Windhoek, oil on canvas 68 by 98cm, R 700 000 - 1 000 000
Irma Stern, Fishing Harbour, Algeciras, oil on canvas 87,5 by 101cm, R 5 000 000 - 7 000 000
Robert Hodgins, Three Nudes and a Naked Man, oil on canvas 90 by 90cm, R 500 000 - 700 000
78
W W W. A R T T I M E S . C O . Z A
Alexis Preller, Boy with a Crocodile, oil on canvas 135,5 by 125,5cm, R 8 000 000 - 12 000 000
Erik Laubscher, Still Life with Papaya, recto; Still Life with, Lemons, verso, oil on canvas 70,5 by 91cm, R 1 400 000 - 1 600 000
Stanley Pinker, Me and You and a Dog Named Boo, oil on canvas 120,5 by 151,5cm, R 1 500 000 - 2 000 000
80
W W W. A R T T I M E S . C O . Z A
Rooftop X Curated by Gordon Froud
Opening 9 October 2021 11:00-14:00 at 492 Fehrsen Street, Brooklyn, Pretoria ^ĂŶŶĂ ^ǁĂƌƚ͕ ŵĂƌĂ Ͳ ĂƌƚŚŵŽƚŚĞƌ ƐĞƌŝĞƐ͕ ƌŽŶnjĞ͕ ϯϵ dž ϴ dž ϴ Đŵ͘
Business Art
STEPHAN WELZ & CO. www.swelco.co.za
Walter Whall Battiss, (South African 1906 - 1982) , The Market Place, R150 000 – R200 000
S
tephan Welz & Co. is kicking off the Spring auction season with our October Premium Live Auction, which promises a selection of works by some of the country’s most recognised artists, in a celebration of South Africa’s diverse and rich art history. The sale will be taking place from the 5th - 7th October and our specialists welcome collectors to join the auction viewing at 14 Dreyer Street, Claremont from the 30th September until the 3rd October. Gerard Sekoto, considered one of the father figures of modern art and cultural development in South Africa in the 20th century, is brilliantly represented on the sale. The artist’s work displays a sensitivity, dignity, and a sense of calmness, as can be seen in the two works offered here, Young Girl With Her Dog (Lot 367), and Girl’s Playing (Lot 366), despite the
82
harsh realities of life under apartheid. The artist has respectively used oil and gouache to create two dynamic images that capture a moment of everyday life, and celebrate these universal moments of humanity as embodied in the innocence of childhood. Another work on the sale infused with nostalgia and a longing for the simplicity of youthful days is Bathers (Lot 341). This is a small but impactful work by a senior statesman of the South African art community, Peter Clarke. The artist’s resolute use of thick layers of gouache permeates this work with the intensity and emotional evocation that his works are known for. The simplified planes and lush colour choices highlight the colourist’s approach to portraying people through a humanist lens of dignity and subtle humour. This work offers collectors a wonderful opportunity to invest in a work that speaks of the
W W W. A R T T I M E S . C O . Z A
human experience, translated through Clarke’s immediately-recognisable style. Rounding off just a small selection of works by pioneering South African artists, Walter Battiss’ The Market Place is a dynamic snapshot of the hustle and bustle of a busy market scene. The riot of colour and bold use of line creates a rhythmic composition, with the figures dancing across the canvas. The artist’s characteristic use of energetic brushstrokes draws the viewer in, allowing for complete immersion in the scene. When glancing at this piece, the chatter of market-goers and calling of barterers can almost be heard emerging from this brilliantly lively piece. Visit www.swelco.co.za to view the digital catalogue, register and bid. For condition report requests and general enquiries, contact us on support@swelco.co.za or 0217946461.
“Stephan Welz & Co. is kicking off the Spring auction season with our October Premium Live Auction”
Gerard Sekoto, (South African 1913 - 1993), Girls Playing, R250 000 – R350 000
Peter Clarke, (South African 1929 - 2014), Bathers, R80 000 – R120 000
84
Gerard Sekoto, (South African 1913 - 1993), Young Girl With Her Dog, R500 000 – R800 000
W W W. A R T T I M E S . C O . Z A
NIC FREDMAN A Retrospect ive
30 October to 30 November 2021 6 Spin Street, Cape Town Opening Saturday 30 October 11am
ARTGO OCT 2021
NEW GALLERIES, ONGOING SHOWS AND OPENING EXHIBITIONS MJ Lourens, Land of Milk And Honey 2021, acrylic on board, 25cm x 40cm MJ Lourens - This Place / Die Plek Opening: 11am - 2pm Saturday 2 October 131 A Gallery Cape Town
ARTGO: OCTOBER 2021
OPENING EXHIBITIONS
RK CONTEMPORARY SOLO EXHIBITION BY SHARON BISCHOFF SCRATCHING THE SURFACE 03/10/2021 UNTIL 24/10/2021 WWW.RKCONTEMPORARY.COM
OLIEWENHUIS ART MUSEUM
OLIEWENHUIS ART MUSEUM
ECLECTICA CONTEMPORARY SMOKING GUN - OFENTSE SESHABELA SOLO EXHIBITION 07/10/2021 - 01/11/2021 WWW.ECLECTICACONTEMPORARY.COM
ĀVĀHANA – INVOCATION, A SOLO-EXHIBITION BY AMITA MAKAN TRAVELLING SOLO EXHIBITION BY SOUTH AFRICAN-BORN ARTIST AMITA MAKAN 05/10/2021 UNTIL 14/11/2021
WWW.//NASMUS.CO.ZA/OLIEWENHUIS-TEMPORARY-EXHIBITIONS/
PHATSHOANE HENNEY NEW BREED ART COMPETITION EXHIBITION 2021 FREE STATE ARTISTS WHOSE ENTRIES HAVE BEEN SELECTED TO FORM PART OF THE NEW BREED ART COMPETITION EXHIBITION 05/10/2021 UNTIL 14/11/2021
WWW.//NASMUS.CO.ZA/OLIEWENHUIS-TEMPORARY-EXHIBITIONS/
88
W W W. A R T T I M E S . C O . Z A
SA PRINT GALLERY THE PRINTING GIRLS AT SA PRINT GALLERY - GROUP EXHIBITION 09/10/2021 UNTIL 20/11/2021 WWW.PRINTGALLERY.CO.ZA & WWW.THEPRINTINGGIRLS.CO.ZA
THE VIEWING ROOM AT ST LORIENT ROOF TOP X CURATED BY GORDON FROUD OPENS 09/10/2021 11:00-14:00
WWW.STLORIENT.CO.ZA/THE-VIEWING-ROOM
EVERARD READ CPT NEIL RODGER: 09/10/2021 UNTIL 31/10/2021 WWW.EVERARD-READ.CO.ZA
ARTGO: OCTOBER 2021
OPENING EXHIBITIONS
THE GALLERY AT GLEN CARLOU
CAPE PALETTE
NEL EACH MAN KILLS THE THING HE LOVES PHILIP STEELE PAINTS DECEASED MALE EROTIC STARS. 21/10/2021 UNTIL 20/11/2021 WWW.NELART.CO.ZA
AITY- ART IN THE YARD BLOOM A SOLO EXHIBITION BY VANESSA BERLEIN 22/10/2021 UNTIL 14/11/2021 WWW.ARTINTHEYARD.CO.ZA
ITÍS [NOT] BLACK & WHITE ARTISTS: A COLLABORATIVE EXHIBITION OF CERAMICS AND DRAWINGS WITH JP MEYER & ERIKA SUTER 17/09/2021 UNTIL 28/11/2021 WWW.GLENCARLOU.COM/ART-GALLERY
90
CLICK EXHIBITION SHOWCASINGS ESTABLISHED AND UP AND COMING LOCAL PHOTOGRAHERS. 101 MEADE IN GEORGE 21/10/2021 UNTIL 21/11/2021 WWW.CAPEPALETTE.CO.ZA
W W W. A R T T I M E S . C O . Z A
ARTGO: OCTOBER 2021
OPENING EXHIBITIONS
ART & WINE IN FRANSCHHOEK ART AND SO MUCH MORE THIS OCTOBER IN FRANSCHHOEK 22/10/2021 UNTIL 24/10/2021
LA MOTTE MUSEUM
DEEPEST DARKEST KIFF KHAYA RUAN JOOSTE SOLO EXHIBITION UNTIL 29/10/2021 WWW.DEEPESTDARKEST.COM
NIC FREDMAN: A RETROSPECTIVE
WWW.FRANSCHHOEK.ORG.ZA/FRANSCHHOEK-ART/
92
CREATE YOUR OWN TAPESTRY WITH ANDIE REEVES. WORKSHOP DATES: SUNDAY 24 OCTOBER, SATURDAY 27 NOVEMBER, SATURDAY 12 FEBRUARY, SATURDAY 9 APRIL / HOURS: 10:00-14:00 WWW.LA-MOTTE.COM
THE DARK ROOMS WOODSTOCK ANTHILLS ARTEFACTS AND RECONSTRUCTIONS SMALL LANDSCAPES 6 SPIN ST. CAPE TOWN 30/10/2021 UNTIL 30/11/2021
W W W. A R T T I M E S . C O . Z A
THE LADDER 136, BREE STREET, CAPE TOWN TALK TO THE TREES ATTIE ESTERHUIZEN OPENS 01/11/2021 WWW.THELADDERON136.COM
ARTGO: OCTOBER 2021
ONGOING SHOWS
94
THE GALLERY AT GLEN CARLOU CHASING CONCRETE HALOS A SOLO EXHIBITION BY ALDO BRINCAT UNTIL 10/10/2021 OCT WWW.GLENCARLOU.COM/ART-GALLERY
EVERARD READ JHB A PREDICTION BY LADY SKOLLIE EXPLORES FORTUNE-TELLING AS A MEANS OF COMFORT. 15/09/2021 UNTIL 15/10/2021 WWW.EVERARD-READ.CO.ZA
SALON 91 COMPOSITION BY FIELD SOLO EXHIBITION OF NEW WORKS BY AMBER MOIR 22/09/2021 UNTIL 23/10/2021 WWW.SALON91.CO.ZA
STEVENSON CAPE TOWN JO RACTLIFFE BEING THERE 09/09/2021 UNTIL 23/10/2021 WWW.STEVENSON.INFO
THE CAPE GALLERY WILDLIFE 2021 FEATURE OF THE STUNNING SCULPTURES THAT SO VIVIDLY BRING THE WILD INTO OUR HOMES. UNTIL 23/10/2021 WWW.CAPEGALLERY.CO.ZA
MELROSE GALLERY SCULPTX SCULPTURE FAIR AT MELROSE ARCH 02/09/2021 UNTIL 24/10/2021 WWW.MELROSEGALLERY.COM
OLIEWENHUIS ART MUSEUM YOUTH MONTH EXHIBITION: LANDSCAPE. NATURE. ELEMENTS SELECTION OF ARTWORKS FROM OLIEWENHUIS ART MUSEUM’S PERMANENT COLLECTION 01/06/2021 UNTIL 24/11/2021 WWW.//NASMUS.CO.ZA/OLIEWENHUISTEMPORARY-EXHIBITIONS/
OLIEWENHUIS ART MUSEUM CONTAINMENT: STITCHED AESTHETICS TO CULTURAL CONSTRAINT ARTWORKS FROM THE PERMANENT COLLECTION OF OLIEWENHUIS ART MUSEUM, AND CENTURY OLD ARTIFACTS 06/08/2021 UNTIL 28/11/2021 WWW.//NASMUS.CO.ZA/OLIEWENHUISTEMPORARY-EXHIBITIONS/
NWU GALLERY ART LANGUAGE OF MY FOREFATHERS MALOSE PETE SOLO EXHIBITION 29/09/2021 UNTIL 29/10/2021 WWW.NWU.AC.ZA/NWU-GALLERY
W W W. A R T T I M E S . C O . Z A
ĂŬĞƐ DĚĂ͕ &ĂŵŽ ^ĞƌŝĞƐ ϴ͕ ĐƌLJůŝĐƐ ŽŶ ĐĂŶǀĂƐƐ ĂŶĚ ŵŝƌƌŽƌƐ͕ ϱϬ͘ϴ dž ϰϬ͘ϲϰ Đŵ͘
Mirrors and Washboards
Zakes Mda Solo Exhibition and Book Lauch of Wayfarers’ Hymns
16 October till 27 November 2021
Opening 11:00-14:00
ARTGO: OCTOBER 2021
ONGOING SHOWS
ART@AFRICA FRANSCHHOEK OFFICIAL OPENING SCULPTURE GARDEN 12 /06/2021 UNTIL 12/12/2024 WWW.ARTATAFRICA.ART
LA MOTTE MUSEUM THREADS OF SYNERGY EXHIBITION OF SOUTH AFRICAN TAPESTRY ART UNTIL WINTER 2022 WWW.LA-MOTTE.COM
96
THE RUPERT MUSEUM PORTRAIT 100 60 OF 100 CONTEMPORARY PORTRAITS SELECTED DURING THE 2021 PORTRAIT AWARD COMPETITION THAT MAKE UP THE TOP 100. 03/09/2021UNTIL 31/10/2021 WWW.RUPERTMUSEUM.ORG
RUST-EN-VREDE CLAY MUSEUM THE CUBE: CHRISTO GILES SELECTION OF FUNCTIONAL CERAMICS BY MASTER POTTER CHRISTO GILES, INCLUDING AN INSTALLATION OF REDUCTION FIRED TEA BOWLS IN THE CUBE. 03/09/2021 UNTIL 03/11/2021 WWW.RUST-EN-VREDE.COM
ART@AFRICA CAPE TOWN WATERWARS UNTIL 31/12/2021 WWW.ARTATAFRICA.ART
PALETTE GALLERY FRANSCHHOEK 40 HUGUENOT RD ART REFLECTS BOTH THE ROOTS OF THE FRENCH FARMING AREA AND THE MODERN CULTURAL TOWN OF FRANSCHHOEK WWW. PALETTESCULPTUREGALLERY.CO.ZA
LIST YOUR GALLERY OR LATEST EXHIBITION
ARTTIMES.CO.ZA
W W W. A R T T I M E S . C O . Z A
Zakes Mda, Famo Series 3, Acrylic on canvass, fabric and glass mirrors,50.8 x 40.64 cm, The Viewing Room Art Gallery at St. Lorient
Lot 20 Adam Knew, His Wife and She Concieved Bill Davis, Starting Price: R4,000, Reserve: R3,500
PRINT AUCTIONS CALL FOR MONTHLY CONSIGNMENTS: OCTOBER At Print Auctions, the newly established Art Auction House we focus on really beautiful works both by well known and little known artists, the emphasis is on really beautiful handmade prints. Being a young auction house allows us to enjoy what de do without servicing huge overheads and reliance on blockbusters - all which gives us time to explore the often unknown and overlooked SA Print market. Monthly Art Auction Schedule Week 1 Call for consignments Week 2 We catalogue and promote Week 3 Sale Week 4 Payments, and Call for Consignment We also guarantee the state of the print by taking it out the frame. We pay within 24 hours of the purchaser clearance so you get your payment fast. We promote your work - so even if it doesn’t sell new potential buyers see it Post sale option of keeping it on our platform for a month post sale at a 20% Commission. For more information: info@printauctions.co.za
PRINTAUCTIONS.CO.ZA
