OCTOBER 2019 WWW.ARTTIMES.CO.ZA
Yomi Momoh (b.1964 Nigeria), Bathers II, 2018, Estimate: R20 000 – 30 000
SUMMER AUCTION Johannesburg 3 November 2019 at 6pm
Modern & Contemporary Art
VENUE Gordon Institute of Business Science, 26 Melville Road Illovo, Johannesburg
PREVIEW Thursday 1 to Sunday 3 November | 10am to 5pm
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Tinus de Jong (1885-1942): Eastern Cataract, Victoria Falls (Etching)
Buysile “Billy” Mandindi (1967–2005): Poison (Linocut)
Anton Kannemeyer, Swartberg Pass III Lithograph
www.printgallery.co.za gabriel@printgallery.co.za we buy and sell quality prints Celebrating 100 Years of Quality Art Investment and Speculative Fine Art Prints
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SOUTH AFRICA’S LEADING VISUAL ARTS PUBLICATION
CONTENTS
Art Times October Edition 2019 12 ART FRANSCHHOEK Explore one of SA’s premier lifestyle destinations 22 COUNTER CURRENT A break with convention 26 M.O.L. 2 - A FOCUS IN OUR CHAOS By Ashraf Jamal 44 IN CONVERSATION WITH GORDON MASSIE ‘the more things change, the more they stay the same’ 56 A SHINING BEACON OF SA ART by Hendrik F Theron 48 APOSTLES OF ENTROPY Deconstructing mortal dichotomies 50 CONVERSING THE LAND Landscape is the work of the mind 62 BUSINESS ART 70 AUCTION ACTION GALORE 82 ARTGO 110 NEW BLOOD FOR A NEW WORLD 124 A GOOD READ We Don’t need to Demonize Wealthy People OCTOBER 2019 COVER Igshaan Adams, Cloud i, 2019, (DETAIL)
Mia Chaplin, Holding Hands, 2018 Oil on canvas, 156 X 195cm, Whatiftheworld Gallery
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From the editor SOUTH AFRICA’S LEADING VISUAL ARTS PUBLICATION
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his month is the long awaited opening of the Javett Foundation- which is a collaboration between the Javett Foundation and The University of Pretoria, under the Directorship of Christopher Till. The Javett Foundation (with their roots in education) provided the funds, while the University provided land and academic accreditation. The building itself is beautifully designed with a part of it acting as a bridge, straddling the road and linking The Javette Foundation to the Architecture and Fine Arts departments. This latest development adds to the growing trend of wealthy philanthropists creating private/or semi private wealth art establishment- joining the likes of Zeits MOCAA, Norval and Nirox Foundations. For better or for worse, taking over the traditionally held Government role of determining local and global financial values, aesthetics, and maybe most of all, financial value. These art business concerns have curatorial freedom without the red tape and political mindset, but may have resulted in our lost objectivity and a sense of national pride of having ones work bought, or exhibited at a national establishment. A further evolution in September, was the creation of a new Art Joburg fair that evolved from 5 leading commercial galleries. The galleries took the business incentive by purchasing and reinventing the Joburg Art Fair. Limiting the exhibition to 5 main galleries and others by invitation only, created a clean, stylish and unclutted space with artwork being better presented. The reduction of galleries at the Art Joburg Fair gave rise to Latitudes Art Fair held in Sandton Square. Despite being organised in less than 3 months it attracted some strong names such as Strauss & Co, Guns & Rain and Warren Siebrits. Latitudes for is maiden show was very successful in emulating the Joburg Art Fair model, thanks to the enigmatic Lucy McGarry. I’m holding thumbs that after a successful first fair, we see it doubling next year. To come up to speed this month we look forward to the highly professional Art Franschhoek. The event is always well managed with high standards with quality art, food and wine. Well worth a day, or two out. Here wishing you a great and exciting springtime art month.
CONTACT ART TIMES Tel: +27 21 300 5888 P.O Box 428 Rondebosch 7701 EDITOR Gabriel Clark-Brown editor@arttimes.co.za ON THE KEYS Brendan Body ADVERTISING & MARKETING Eugene Fisher sales@arttimes.co.za SEND AD MATERIAL sales@arttimes.co.za DIGITAL MEDIA & EVENT LISTINGS Jan Croft subs@arttimes.co.za ARTGO CONTENT info@artgo.co.za RIGHTS: THE ART TIMES MAGAZINE RESERVES THE RIGHT TO REJECT ANY MATERIAL THAT COULD BE FOUND OFFENSIVE BY ITS READERS. OPINIONS AND VIEWS EXPRESSED IN THE SA ART TIMES DO NOT NECESSARILY REPRESENT THE OFFICIAL VIEWPOINT OF THE EDITOR, STAFF OR PUBLISHER, WHILE INCLUSION OF ADVERTISING FEATURES DOES NOT IMPLY THE NEWSPAPER’S ENDORSEMENT OF ANY BUSINESS, PRODUCT OR SERVICE. COPYRIGHT OF THE ENCLOSED MATERIAL IN THIS PUBLICATION IS RESERVED.
@ARTTIMES.CO.ZA
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JACOB HENDRIK PIERNEEF Summer Rain in the Bushveld Estimate £100,000–150,000
Modern & Contemporary African Art AUCTION LONDON 15 OCTOBER
EXHIBITION FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC 11 – 15 OCTOBER 34–35 NEW BOND STREET, LONDON W1A 2AA ENQUIRIES +44 (0)20 7293 5696 HANNAH.OLEARY@SOTHEBYS.COM SOTHEBYS.COM/CONTEMPORARYAFRICAN #SOTHEBYSCTPAFRICAN
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ART FRANSCHHOEK 2019
Art and so much more this October in Franschhoek
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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 award-winning 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, Franschhoek Open Gardens Festival and the Classic Music Festival. www.franschhoekart.co.za
Above: Franschhoek village feel. Right: Sibusiso Duma, The Polygamist, Acrylic on Canvas, 61 x 45cm, 2019, EBONY CURATED/BORDEAUX HOUSE
Over the past 10 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. Ultimately this led to the establishment of Art Franschhoek. In recent years art has become relevant and sought-after, and as such so has the art attraction in Franschhoek, which is home to 16 galleries. The demand for fine art has in turn lifted Franschhoek’s aspirational presence so much more. Furthermore, Art Franschhoek helps to highlight 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.
From 25 to 27 October visitors to Franschhoek will be treated to a weekend of art appreciation as galleries ‘open their doors’ for the 4th annual Art Franschhoek. The weekend is dedicated to showcasing some of their spectacular works of arts and exhibitions. Art enthusiasts can choose to leisurely browse the galleries situated along the village’s main road, and within comfortable walking distance from each other. Alternatively choose to view the artworks on display at some of the wine farms, which include The Gallery at Grande Provence, La Motte Museum and Leeu Estates. Joining these galleries in this year’s line-up will be Art in the Yard, Abe Opperman Gallery, EBONY/CURATED Bordeaux House, Everard Read Gallery, Johannes du Plessis, Oda Gallery, Oink At Farm Sanctuary SA, SenechalSenekal Art Gallery and The Boutique Gallery.
“Art Franschhoek helps to highlight 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.” 14
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MJ Lourens, Longing through the trees, 2019, 500 x 700mm, Acrylic on Board, La Motte Museum
Above: Ruby Red 120 cm diameter, stretched knitted sewing thread, gold safety pins, paper acrylic paint, EBONY CURATED/BORDEAUX HOUSE. Left: Uzoma Anyanwu, koi fabric collage on Canvas, 122 x 92cm, ODA Gallery
Art Franschchoek celebrates these galleries and their artists, allowing visitors to experience this unique part of Franschhoek. A highlight of this year’s weekend will be an exhibition entitled ‘Masterpieces from Franschhoek Private Collections’. A unique once off display of exquisite artworks on loan from private owners for this weekend. These include never before seen works by the likes of William Kentridge, Alexis Preller, Dumile Feni, Robert Hodgins, Maud Sumner, to name but a few. Viewings of these rare gems will be on view to the public at EBONY/CURATED’s Bordeaux House Gallery. A detailed programme is available on the festival website, www.franschhoekart.co.za.
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 same weekend garden fanatics and nature lovers will be able to view some of the valley’s breathtaking 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. Added attractions include the ‘Garden in a Pot’ competition as well as teas and wine tastings at some of the participating gardens. 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.
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The Classic Music Festival over the same dates, will feature three concerts in the NG Church.
EBONY CURATED/BORDEAUX HOUSE
What promises to be a weekend of cultural highlights, the Classic Music Festival over the same dates, will feature three concerts in the NG Church. Starting the line-up is music by Mozart and Debussy for four hands at one piano with Mark Nixon and Christopher Duigan on 25 October. The recently formed Prins Trio of Annien Shaw (violin) David Pinoit (cello) with Megan-Geoffrey Prins (piano) will treat you to Ravel’s dazzling Trio and Beethoven’s Ghost Trio on Saturday, 26 October. Concluding the musical celebration on Sunday, 27 October will be Junnan Sun (clarinet) who is joined by
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Christopher Duigan (piano) in a re-imagined version of Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto K. 622. Tickets for the three NG Church concerts are R150 each and can be booked online at via www.webtickets.co.za. This year the Franschhoek Wine Valley is pleased to have Art Times Magazine on board as a media partner in assisting to generate awareness for the event.
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COUNTER CURRENT Eclectica Contemporary www.eclecticacontemporary.co.za
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nderstood in scientific arenas, the concept ‘countercurrent’ refers to an exchange common in nature but mimicked as a mechanism in industry and engineering, describing the oppositional flow of two different properties, creating a crossover. Concurrently, to work within a counter current is to embrace and integrate difference and flexibility. As such, Counter Current is informed by an understanding of adjustment, amalgamation, collaboration and disruption of routine towards the creation of new possibilities and the inclusion of a broader plurality, because a current is never singular. To pluralise is to include, extending the conversation to allow for difference, additions, variety and diversions. Counter Current, thus extends, includes, adds and encompasses a turn toward new possibilities of exhibition making, art practice and forms of expression. As we settle into the newness of Spring, bringing with it a new exhibition at Eclectica Contemporary, Counter Current offers a break with convention within our gallery – away from the traditions of the white cube that privileges certain voices, aesthetics and modes of working. Considering an understanding of ‘current’ additionally as referring to notions of time and the present, this exhibition asks us to question and understand the multitude of counter currents that flow across our times, of change, disruption, ease and release. We think of Counter Current as a presentation of inclusion and additions – challenging and querying the conventions that exist in exhibition making, while presenting work by artists who confront and counter the traditions of art practice. This exhibition showcases new medias and modes of creating, highlighting technology and dimensional work – through videos, installations, sculptural pieces and digital imaging. In Anda Mncayi and Sterling Trimby’s illustrative pieces, alternative realms, counter narratives and worlds are built. Through the
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inventive depictions they have each created, possibilities are reimagined and visualised. Ibrahim Khatab’s elaborate calligraphic works are richly layered, contemplating traditions and the interactions of graphic systems. On densely patterned boards, his works play with focus, perspective and comprehension. Carla Janse van Rensburg’s imagery engages a discussion on power, superstitions and selfhealing. Through an investigation in ritual and repetition, the work integrates technological possibilities with process and chance. Kyu Sang Lee and Martin Wilson propose a meditation on the concept of time and its relationship to consciousness through their work together. Working together across mediums their installation demonstrates an investigation of space, dimensionality and corporeality. Through their installation, they show the medium of light and sound as a catalyst, calling the viewers into a space of quiet contemplation. Echoing conceptions of contrasts – life, light, darkness, loss – is Victoria Scott’s light installation. Her construction of light-forms juxtaposes and makes present the relationships occurring in liminal spaces, of uncertainty, possibility and potential. Where light plays with colour, shadow engages form – this is demonstrated in the painting installations of Christian F. Kintz. The blocks of colour in his work propose a rethinking of how light and colour interact, while extending paint into dimensional and textural objects. Oscar Keogh’s video work confronts hegemonic convention through humour and the uncanny, disrupting and upending expectations and presumptions. Through performance and the interplay of props and costume, the work instigates a conversation around reality and the constructions present in day-to-day existences. Anthony Lane’s sculptural pieces invoke recognisable objects but are distorted and experimented with. Anda Mncayi, Astral Realm - Space, 2018
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Christian F Kintz, 2019, acrylic on corrugated iron, 40 x 35 cm
The forms play with energy, movement and illusion through their physical presence, created through intuitive and labour intensive processes. Through an inclusion of new modes of working, this exhibition proposes options for engaging differently, flowing with new considerations and allowing for the incompleteness of processes that remain ongoing. Counter Current invites new and familiar artists into the gallery while interrogating and challenging our own habits and conventions.
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Through plurality, we invite broader engagement and lateral interactions. The works extend off and away from gallery walls, resisting the confines of genre, medium or material expectations. They expand and augment, activating different spaces, subjects and formats by creating new visual conversations What exists within this exhibition has been gathered by acknowledging an open-ended thought, with the hope of encompassing and encouraging wider integration and interaction.
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THK Gallery is proud to announce participation in two leading International Art Fairs: AKAA (Also Known As Africa) - Paris -08 - 11 November 2019 Cologne Fine Art & Design - Cologne - 21 - 22 November 2019 THK GALLERY 52 Waterkant Street, Cape Town www.thkgallery.com Image © Jake Michael Singer
Brett Rubin, Hugh Masekela
M.O.L 2
A FOCUS IN OUR CHAOS By Ashraf Jamal
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am at a luncheon in Rosebank, Johannesburg. The woman across from me is Claire Shields, a Sangoma and wife of the director of the Cape Town branch of the century-old art dealership, Everard Read. The luncheon is not entirely a social affair. I am there to interview Deborah Bell, an artist whom I admire for the feeling she injects into clay, ink, and paint. But first throats must be slaked, hunger appeased. To accompany a glass of sparkling water I’ve ordered a Bloody Mary, deep dark red and celadon green. When the maitre de concludes his liturgy I order fish. Drink in hand, ice blocks chiming, I turn to Claire Shields and inquire as to her view of the mornings events, a conversation on the music and life of Hugh Masekela and the photographs of Daniel Morolong. Her reply is an intriguing deflection – ‘I speak with the bones in my hands more than my words’. Bones are an ancient tool for inner vision, not only in Africa. But for some reason it is not the mysticism of bones which exercises me but the bones clutching my Bloody Mary, the bones propping me up which will be fired down to gritty ash. Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones, my mind capers, before turning a bend. Bones, I now headily surmise, are not only an armature or mechanism, they are also metaphors for the complex functions required to understand art – what it is, what it does. Art after all is not only understood with the eye. Art requires much more of us – our mortality, feelings,
instincts, thrusts. Our doubt. For without that qualifying doubt, which is also the measure of our vulnerability, I’m not sure that we can truly understand or recognise the value of a work of art. Or a bloody cocktail for that matter. Because I now find myself raiding memory’s bony storehouse to recall Sarah Bakewell’s wonderful page-turner, At the Existentialist Café: Freedom, Being & Apricot Cocktails – a catchy reminder of how important it is to view life and art as a smorgasbord. When confronted with an art fair – or in the case of Johannesburg’s recent offering, three art fairs, and a chorus of exhibitions such as Circa’s celebration of the work of Masekela and Morolong – it is this giddy mix of sensations which matters the more. Because while art fairs the world over are all about business, for people such as myself who don’t have the means to splurge on a work of art, it’s the pleasure of its gravitational pull that is intoxicating. And the fact that I can make a buck by prospecting as a writer and speaker. Words have a role to play in the interpretation of the soul of art. They are like the soft white gloves I donned in David Krut’s studio to open up a precious printed work by Deborah Bell, sheathed in tissue paper. Words are a transaction made with love. But, like love, words can also be bitter-sweet, cantankerous, difficult, frustrating, oftentimes hopeless. And yet, words remain sorely needed if we are to understand the world we occupy, and which occupies us.
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Daniel Morolong, Beach 008
Daniel Morolong, Beach 009
Daniel Morolong, Men 003
Above: Daniel Morolong, Dance 003 Opposite Page: Daniel Morolong, Music 008
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Athi-Patra Ruga, Proposed Model of Francois Feral Benga (1906-1957), 2018, High-density foam, artifical flowers and jewels, Approx 280 x 100 x 180 cm, Multiple 2 of 3 + 1 AP 06.
Above: & oppsite page:Stephane Conradie’s fugly constellations of kitsch found objects.
Over the intensive course devoted to three art fairs and much more, opinions and feelings fly back and forth. Surprising and often delightful encounters occur. One is in the rub and flush of a souk in which chatter is the going currency that becomes heightened, even delirious, for an art fair or exhibition generates a peculiarly giddy kind of human encounter. An extra-terrestrial creature might marvel quizzically at the zest we display towards art. A 19th century invention, designed to distract and ease the burden of the workaday body, the art museum began as a Sunday repast. It has since become a defining cipher for human civilization. We are whom we are today because of art. There are many other cultural forms and lures which, after TS Eliot, are designed to distract us from distraction, but none in my view is as perplexing as a gathering centred on contemporary art.
the bubble had burst, Dyer surmised that the continued success of art as a commodity and culture implied the existence of some strange new law of physics. For how else was one to account for a burst bubble which, strangely, kept expanding?
In the aftermath of the global economic crash in 2008, Geoff Dyer visited the Venice Biennale and was baffled by the on-going economic strength of art. Despite the realisation that
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In Johannesburg we recently witnessed a violent and deadly uprising, dismissively discounted as anarchic looting. The uprising is a stark counterpoint and foil for the art world. Seen in tandem these events expose a perverse paradox. Wealth and poverty are commonplace bedfellows, no more so than in South Africa, a country more perverse than most in which each and every one of us is a victim and witness of a life lived-enduredsurvived as an obscene and extreme sport. It is in this obscene and inescapable context that I found myself in Sandton, the highend hub for pop-ups like the Johannesburg Art Fair and the newbie, Latitudes, and in Rosebank, the epicentre of the city’s leading art dealerships, realms in the Johannesburg
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Above: Deborah Bell, Wolf Cave 2017-18, Spitbite aquatint and drypoint on Hahnemuhle Opposite page: Mia Chaplin, Oral Love 2, vase
CBD in which art as a business and culture are thriving. For doubtless we remain caught in Dyer’s strange new law of physics. Along with all the art, boundless in its diverse range and expression, there was also one ubiquitous alcoholic drink to slake one’s thirst – Gin. The scourge of Hogarth’s England, gin, once considered ruinous, is now the soak of note, artisanal, honeyed, berried – the trope and lubricant for our times. Which was why, after my discussion with Percy Mabandu on the photographs of Daniel Morolong at Circa, I’d selected a drink that was heavily weighted with Worcester sauce and tomato juice, with a celery stick to boot. Sometimes one requires a sump rather than something lite, for art, like life, is also burdensome and taxing. Colonialism, apartheid, and our phantom democracy is no party. While art thrives with impunity– a bubble that keeps expanding – one also needs to look more closely at how, through
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art, one can create a better life. In this regard, Daniel Morolong’s black and white photographs of black men and women at leisure in the 1960s is a heartening reminder that not all was doom and gloom. His images inspire us, warm us, and sustain a belief in grace and beauty as necessary then as now. It was the artist Deborah Bell, at the luncheon I attended in her honour, who spoke the words that sum up the complexity of the times in which we live. ‘Who is holding the world in focus when we are in such chaos?’. The question roiled and rankled in the noon heat, forcing me to suspend my fork just shy of its goal, a plump and juicy dollop of Kabbeljou. The artist, I reasonably thought. It is the artist who helps us to hold the world in focus. As to whom that artist might be is up for grabs. At the Johannesburg Art Fair, that artist for me was Igshaan Adams. His installation comprising hovering balls of tangled
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“We need the bloated scale of a Zanele Maholi self-portrait, the artist charmingly dwarfed alongside it, all-too-human alongside the image’s iconic reinvention of what it means to be a black woman.”
Igshaan Adams, Cloud i (2019), Wire, beads, metal spring, brick force and other mixed media, approx 92 (144) x 48 x 25 cm
wire captured the strange paradox of weightlessness and gravity. We need both of course. We need the elegiac flight of Jake Singer’s shimmering steel sculptures spinning out of their orbit as much as we need Mia Chaplin’s galumphing illproportioned yet elegant vases in their muted earthy tones. We need Stephane Conradie’s fugly constellations of kitsch found objects. We need the bloated scale of a Zanele Maholi self-portrait, the artist charmingly dwarfed alongside it, all-too-human alongside the image’s iconic reinvention of what it means to be a black woman. We need Athi Patra Rhuga’s bling camp superhero aglow in roseate pink and jagged crystal. We need Thania Petersen’s colourfully threaded prayer mat leached of life at its base by a pitch black stain that speaks to the corrosive pall of Wahabism, a fanatical strain in Islamic fundamentalism.
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Inside of chaos there is grace. Inside of threat there is the potential, always, for beauty and wonder. The realisation of this potent greatness is embodied in the music and person of the late great Hugh Masekela, feted on the rooftop of Circa in Rosebank, the city’s warm bright night stretching all about Percy Mabandu and Masakela’s sister spoke beautifully of the gentleness and bravura and grandeur of the man, of his loathing of artificial braids and his love of youthful talent, his distrust of parochialism and his championing of a planetary humanism. While Brett Rubin, whose photographs of Masekela stood vigil, conveyed through his gentle quiet the wonder that comes with touching the life of another Masekela was amongst us in spirit and bone. On this great occasion devoted to African art he encapsulated the richness in our dark time – a focus in our chaos.
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KAT’EMNYAMA Tony Gum Opens Fri 22 Nov www.christophermollerart.co.za; @christophermoller_gallery
ART IN THE YARD GALLERY
October: Blossoming in power www.artintheyard.co.za By Gita Claassen
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ctober is the most beautiful month. Spring is in full swing, our circadian rhythms are on beat again, and, just like the birds and the blossoms, our energy is high and we are full of vigour for the upcoming season. This October, Art in the Yard proudly presents two powerful exhibitions. Flourish 28.09.2019 | 20.10.2019 The first, Flourish, is a solo show by Leila Fanner – our most prolific abstract and figurative artist whose creative inspiration is directly related to spiritual dreams and personal dream symbols. She uses the natural world as her subject and explores her relationship with the material realm from both a metaphysical and spiritual viewpoint. Born to a South African artist and an African-American artist, Leila offers us a unique perspective influenced by her highly intellectual and creative upbringing. Her skills developed in the quest for experimental learning, and her style evolved into the much sought-after whimsical reveries with quite serious undertones.
Above: Amos Letsoalo, Collection of works, Mixed media on paper. Right : Leila Fanner, Flourish, Oil and oil pastel on wood
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Above: Leila Fanner, African Cowgirl, Oil and oilpastel on wood Left: Kelly John Gough, Effulgence, Oil on wood, 120cm x 93cm
Let’s take a soulful leap into the exuberant energy of Spring, you and I. Life feels new again, full of promise and possibilities. Through the medium of oil and oil pastel on wood, canvas and paper, I hope I can bring you a piece of this; the flourishing natural world, alive, in and around us. Sometimes Nature is vibrant, sometimes it is mellow, always it guides me to appreciate that my abundance is directly related to my presence in every moment. There is nothing like the act of creating something, to make one acutely aware of the importance of being here, now. I encourage everyone to make a point of creating something daily - just for the fun of it. - Leila Fanner
Triumvirate 25.10.2015 | 19.11.2019 Later in October, we introduce our exhibition highlight of the year: a group exhibition which will form part of Art Franschhoek. Our participation this year takes the form of a diverse group of artists who will explore the timeless powerhouse genres of portrait/ figurative studies, landscape and still life. The participating artists are: Frans Smit, Kelly John Gough, Nic de Jesus, Lindsay Patton, Diane McClean and Amos Letsoalo. Also participating are Strijdom van der Merwe the internationally renowned landscape artist and sculptor who needs no introduction, and Lee-Ann Becker, who brings to the stable, and table, fantastical romantic ceramic vessels. A quick glance at the participating artists in our contribution to Art Franschhoek this year confirms immense South African talent and some new names we are particularly proud to welcome.
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Kelly John Gough, Enticing Arc, Oil on wood
Especially excited are we about welcoming Amos Letsoalo to the family, and his work will be debuting at AITY Gallery in this exhibition. Born in the Limpopo Province village of Molepo in 1969, Amos was inspired by his mother’s decorative traditional paintings done with earth pigments on the walls of their house, which he used to help with. His work is mostly inspired by indigenous African people and their lifestyle. “I find the household of the indigenous African people very interesting; the objects and still lives that one finds in every household.” Of these, clay pots and old glass bottles inherited from ancestors to store traditional medicines and herbs, he makes specific mention. “I have my own perspective of what still life looks like to me as an African.” Amos appropriates indigenous vocabulary in imagery by using colour as a language in his paintings. His work is abstract, but with feelings of realism. Flat space is juxtaposed with articulated space in collage-style compositions. Bottles, pots, cups, kettles, as well as other common items and sights around a traditional African home regularly make their appearance in his paintings. Email: art@artintheyard.co.za curator@artintheyard.co.za 38 Huguenot Road, Franschhoek Lindsay Patton, As it is in heaven, Oil on canvas, 160cm x 160cm
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‘PLUS ÇA CHANGE PLUS C’EST LA MÊME CHOSE’ In conversation with Gordon Massie
By Laura de Harde
Documentary photographer Gordon Massie, used the above proverb by Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr (b. 1808 - d. 1890), meaning ‘the more things change, the more they stay the same’, to describe his fascination with, and the motivation behind, his photography process. Over the course of his life, Massie has resided, for extended periods, on three different continents. In each instance he has actively embraced the culture and immersed himself in the country that he, for that period, calls home. His enthusiasm for exploring his surroundings motivates him to embark on lengthy walks, with his camera in hand. Massie frequently begins these excursions by determining a destination. For example, in 2018 he visited what was left of the Irish Volunteer Monument in Brixton, Johannesburg (image 2). The discovery that the monument had been relocated, inspired another outing a few months later, this time to Orania in the Free State (image 3). During his walks Massie begins by looking, seeing and then documenting the places and spaces he encounters. Massie’s position remains in a constant state of flux, oscillating between visitor, traveller, explorer and settler, resident, homemaker. It is this dichotomy of identity that enables him to identify, and indeed make visible, the analogous threads between the seemingly disparate locations that he visits and photographs. Massie, aware of his own positionality, alludes to his thematic interests in the titles of two of his ongoing series, Empty Spaces and Living with Structures. He first photographed Empty Spaces in 2014 and then revisited the same site four years later in 2018. The series is an exploration of five vacant properties situated in the prime residential suburb of Upper Houghton in Johannesburg.
Laura de Harde took this photograph of Gordon Massie in action, during a research trip to Great Zimbabwe in 2015.
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Image 2: Irish Volunteer Monument Base, Brixton, photographed by Gordon Massie in 2018
“Massie’s position remains in a constant state of flux, oscillating between visitor, traveller, explorer and settler, resident, homemaker.” As the once stately homes sit patiently on the ridge, quietly awaiting their fate, a single security guard patrols the area acting as a deterrent for uninvited guests. What continues to stimulate Massie’s fascination with these spaces is the ways in which his preconceived expectations of ‘change’ are met, and challenged, by each journey he makes to the site. His interest is in documenting what he sees, and it is through his images that he makes visible the inevitable passage of time. For Massie, ‘architectural structures can reflect more than the spaces they were originally intended for… read[ing] as a microcosm or reflections of aspects of political, historical and societal development and structures’ (Gordonmassie.com 2019). A similar preoccupation with change (the changes that have taken place, and the change that may be expected to have occurred)
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underlines Living with Structures. However, in this series, Massie does not confine his subject to any one particular location, instead he explores power laden human interventions in the land and cityscapes across continents in Argentina, England, Scotland, South Africa and Spain. In curating Massie’s first solo exhibition, Cairn (2019) Suzie Copperthwaite and I disrupt the conceptual boundaries drawn between each body of work and extract themes that transcend the groupings determined by the artist. The title of the exhibition, Cairn (2019), is a Scottish Gaelic word and is therefore intertwined with Massie’s cultural heritage. Cairn is a collection of stones grouped to form a structure that serves as a memorial or landmark. The title has both conceptual and visual links to the works on display and viewers are invited to consider these connections. The exhibition runs from 16 – 25 October 2019.
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Image 3: Irish Volunteer Monument, Karoo, photographed by Gordon Massie in 2018
By curating the exhibition thematically, conversations begin to emerge between the subjects of the photographs that in many instances are dissimilar in their locations, yet connected in ways that become apparent through Massie’s unique engagements with the sites. It is perhaps Massie’s distance from his subject that enables him to simultaneously see and reveal the parallels that run between the spaces and places that form the subject of his gaze. For more information about the artist and the upcoming exhibition, follow Gordon Massie on Instagram or visit his website: Gordonmassie.com.
Image 4: Repeat photography process at the Great Enclosure, Great Zimbabwe. Photographed by Gordon Massie in 2015.
APOSTLES OF ENTROPY
Deconstructing mortal dichotomies A solo exhibition by Reece Swanepoel NWU Botanical Gardens Gallery 04 – 25 October 2019
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ife is easy. It becomes less easy with every question we ask. The biggest question we can ask is “what happens when we die?”. The title of the exhibition is as much direct as it is indirect. “Apostles of Entropy: Deconstructing Mortal Dichotomies” refers to the one natural law we have been fighting against since the dawn of civilization itself: entropy. Even as the universe expands to all directions, so all heat steadily cools – including human life. Choosing the word “apostles” immediately suggests a religious undertone to the exhibition, but this does not suggest a dogmatic connection. It merely refers to an ongoing strive to answers to said questions. The portraits and figures show a clear melancholia in this search for meaning in a dying universe. We observe the clear degeneration of all that we see, yet we cannot reconcile ourselves a as part of this. In our nature we strive toward both order and chaos. It is the backdrop to our own human condition. We inherently want to make sense of the world around us, but at same time we would fool ourselves if we thought our ways aren’t destructive. Ultimately, this exhibition shows a struggle between two loose ends: order and chaos and how we pursuit meaning amidst those two in a universe that will inevitably turn cold and lifeless. Top Right: Repentance 2 Spray paint and acrylic pva on canvas 400mm x 400mm, 2019 Below Right: The reply to Sisyphus Spray paint and acrylic pva on canvas 500mm x 400mm, 2019 Opposite Page: Catharsis 1 Spray paint, acrylic pva and thread on canvas 500mm x 400mm, 2019
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CONVERSING THE LAND
UJ Gallery 22 Oct to 27 Nov 2019 By Johan Myburg
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andscape is the work of the mind, British historian and writer Simon Schama argues in Landscape and Memory (1995). Landscape exists as a cultural construct, a mirror of our memories and myths encoded with meanings, which can be read and interpreted. Conversing the Land, the latest collaboration between the University of Johannesburg and the MTN SA Foundation in the UJ Gallery from 22 October to 27 November, offers as the title indicates an exploration of the South African landscape as shaped by the memories, myths and meanings artists have attached to place. Any physical place has the potential to embody multiple landscapes, each of which is grounded in the cultural definitions of those who encounter the place. Large-scale urban development at the height of capitalism stimulated development and welfare, but also overcrowding, insufficient housing and utilities, a division between upper class and township communities as well as unequal distribution of land resulting in forced removals and displacement. Within this dichotomy of have and have-not, the issue of land reform and restitution comes to the fore, but also brings with it the deeper yearning of the urbanite for the rural, the memory of a time and place that is no more and the re-imagining of a mythical landscape. As such, the landscape as a form of artistic expression becomes a site of hopes and aspirations, of memory, trauma, identity, history, heritage, migrations and a yearning to reconnect with land. Land issues, land ownership, identity, belonging and place of connection are constantly being reimagined in this country we call home.
Gunther Herbst, Tottenham Court Road 5/Yellow Red Blue Grey 2009, Oil on canvas, 50 x 64 cm, UJ Art Collection
Above: Alfred Thoba, Untitled, Oil on paper, 46 x 66,5 cm, UJ Art Collection Right: Nhlanhla Xaba, Migrant family life, Linocut, 30,5 x 44,5 cm. MTN Art Collection
As in Shifting Conversations (engaging colonial and post-colonial narratives) in 2017 and Continuing Conversations (focusing on various forms of identity in portraiture) in 2018, the previous iterations of this current collaboration between UJ and MTN, the underlying principle of this exhibition is more to stimulate conversation than to address – hence the exhibition title. In presenting an exhibition based more on temporally fluid meaning, curators Annali Dempsey (UJ) and Katlego Lefine (MTN) included artworks from the permanent collections of MTN and the University of Johannesburg as well as selected artworks derived from an Emerging Artists Portrait Development Programme. In order to extend the reach and scope of this exhibition, the two curators facilitated three programmes aimed at developing participation in the conversation on land issues.
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The Mentorship Programme under the guidance of the project manager Rika Nortje and two curators offered three B Tech students at the Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture (FADA) at UJ a first-hand experience of curatorial practice with master classes on collection management, safe handling of artworks, practical in-house label making and marketing. The mentees assisted with the content and the running of the Educational Programme, administrative tasks pertaining to the emerging artist programme as well as the setting up of the exhibition. The Emerging Artists Development Programme invited artists through public advertising to submit an artwork in response to, or in conversation with, modern and contemporary South African landscapes, thereby offering a platform to showcase talents and interpretations of contemporary South African land issues. Ten works were selected from the entries received and forms
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Walter Battis, Icarus, Watercolor on paper, 33,6 x 48 cm. UJ Art Collection
“An exploration of the South African landscape as shaped by the memories, myths and meanings artists have attached to place.” part of the Conversing the Land exhibition, alongside the works sourced from both UJ’s and MTN’s art collections. The winner will be announced at the opening of the exhibition on 22 October. The Educational Programme was designed for this particular exhibition aimed at learners and students accompanied by a full colour catalogue and learner material. Divided in broad themes Conversing the Land explores the idyllic depiction of pastoral and rural life, the effect of industrialisation, the devastating influence of mining on the physical landscape as well as the consequence of the lack of social cohesion within migrant families. On so many levels Conversing the Land continues to solidify the MTN/UJ partnership and the mutual aim to make their respective collections visible to a wider public. However, more than showing a fine collection of artworks “the collaborative projects between
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the UJ Art Gallery and the MTN SA Foundation afford both parties the opportunity to promote emerging artists and to provide opportunities for personal growth through educational programmes, walkabouts and master classes,” Dempsey added. “MTN is fortunate to be involved in a reative programme which gives tangible support and opportunity to emerging artists and simultaneously contributes to relevant contemporary discussions about our collective experience,” Lefine said. “The tradition of depicting the landscape is intimately connected to the colonial experience and is thus rendered pertinent in conversations relating to history, ownership and agency.” Conversing the Land is at the UJ Art Gallery, Auckland Park, Johannesburg, from 22 October to 27 November 2019.
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Counter Current group exhibition Opening 03 October 2019 +27214224145 | 69 Burg Street,Cape Town info@eclecticacontemporary.co.za | www.eclecticacontemporary.co.za
IS ART
A shining beacon of South African Art By Hendrik F Theron
IS Art, the monogram, moniker and brain-child of Ilse Schermers-Griesel – proprietor, celebrated curator and art historian of note, has been a staple of the South African conte mporary art scene since its inception in 2007. With Ilse herself being involved for close to 30 years in the art community – both locally and internationally; consulting, collecting, critiquing and publishing, all constituting a résumé nearly too long to mention – IS Art is a gallery headed-up by a seasoned and stoic captain. Nestled into the picturesque winelands and rolling hills of the great Cape countryside, IS Art has its roots firmly planted in Franschhoek and Stellenbosch – both being cultural hubs in their own right. Channelling the inherent nurturing characteristics of the local terroir, IS Art has donned many hats and taken on multiple guises over the years, taking up the role of halfway-house, hostel and finishing school to many of South Africa’s then upand-coming, and now iconic artists, including the likes of Guy du Toit, Lionel Smit, Angus Taylor, Shany van der Bergh, Wilma Cruise and Nicolene Swanepoel, to name a few. Although having a keen focus on promoting South African artists locally, IS Art has not been steered away from being a shining beacon of South African Art abroad – facilitating international exhibitions and purveying pieces to private collections. One of IS Art’s most notable recent international pursuits, took the form of a large-scale joint exhibition of art and décor with the Netherlands-based, high-end boutique furnishers, Linteloo.
Angus Taylor, Dionysus, granite
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Top: Gallery Interior: painting left Marlene von Durkheim, painting right Jacobus Kloppers, Cobus Haupt sculpture Right: Eric DuPlan, painting and Louise Gelderblom ceramics
Sculptures Ruhan Jansen van Vuuren, Painting MJ Lourens 58
Cobus Haupt Sculpture
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Guy du Toit bronze Dancing Hares, Strijdom van der Merwe land art photographas
With a particular focus on contemporary sculpture and the development of the medium, IS Art is credited by many as having played an instrumental role in the insurgence of popularised contemporary bronze sculpture in South Africa. In partnership with AnneMarie Ferreira of the Tokara Wine Estate, IS Art plays host to one of the most diverse and dynamic sculpture gardens in South Africa, with periodical exhibitions by sculpture greats such as Guy Du Toit, Wilma Cruise and the late Willem Strydom. In recent acclaim, IS Art’s involvement at the Tokara Estate played an instrumental role in the commission of the pioneering and highly praised sculptural installation titled ‘Dionysus’ by Angus Tylor – a 10m high, towering, doe-eyed giant, calmly watching over the Simonsberg mountains in front of the Ferreira residence. IS Art has called various spaces ‘home’ over the years, but finds itself in yet another character defining transitionary stage. True to Ilse’s freight-train nature and restless pursuit
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of showcasing what she believes to be the very best in contemporary South African art, she has recently put some more skin in the game, announcing the opening of a second gallery space under the auspices of the IS Art brand. IS Art’s new space, just off the historic Dorp Street district of Stellenbosch – Church Street to be exact, is set to open towards the middle of October 2019. With the undeniable impact IS Art has had on contemporary South African art, there is no doubt that with some added room to grow, IS Art will continue to be a tour de force, with a character unlike any other.
For more information contact: gallery@isart.co.za Tel: (021) 876 2071
11 Huguenote Street, Franschhoek, WC 29b Church Street, Stellenbosch, WC Tokara Wine Estate, Helshoogte Road, Stellenbosch, WC
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Ndikhumbule Ngqwinambe, (1977 - ), Walk of Numbers, 2010, oil on canvas.
A Century of South African Art from the Sanlam Art Collection 1918 – 2018 An exhibition of exceptional works from the Sanlam Art Collection tracing South Africa’s transformation in art over a century
George Museum Courtenay Street, George Tel: 044 873 543 / 083 457 2699
4 October – 8 November 2019 Viewing Times: Mondays - Fridays 08:00 – 16:30 Saturdays 09:00 – 12:30 Sundays closed
www.sanlam.co.za/about/artcollection 41
Business Art News
ASPIRE SALES FORGE AHEAD IN TOUGH MARKET www.aspireart.co.za
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ost spectators and many dedicated art collectors who attend major art auctions are there partly for the theatre: the sense of drama and excitement that comes from bidding live in the room on a coveted work of art. But many will be surprised to learn that the headline auctions hosted four times a year by Aspire in Cape Town and Johannesburg, which feature premium, top-quality works of art in focused market segments like African and South African contemporary art, black South African modernist art, and fine art photography, represent only the public face of what the auction house does and the sales it conducts. Between these headline events the company is constantly engaged with its clients, bringing them together with works of art the specialist team knows are suitable to particular collections. This work goes on largely behind the scenes and out of the public spotlight, and often achieves spectacular results. The skill and knowledge required in this marriage of artwork and collector is particularly salient given the state of the South African economy. A general lack of liquidity, especially for the middle tier of the collecting market, puts additional economic pressure on art sales at the top end of the market, where local collectors with capital to invest in museumquality works are relatively few. The obvious routes to go given the tough macroeconomic picture is to focus on developing value for collectors in specialised market segments, and to diversify into new markets with potential for growth. This strategic approach is supported by the picture in the global art market: ArtPrice reports that last year 538,000 works of art were sold globally, a record number since 1945, despite the relative stagnation of the global economy. What drives this exceptional growth is a combination of investment logic,
William Kentridge, Set of 5 Polychrome Heads
Above: Willie Bester, Poverty Driven Opposite Page: George Pemba, The Funeral
speculative buying, passionate collecting and insatiable demand for major signatures to ‹populate› the world›s new museums, of which there is an explosion. The amount of art changing hands last year resulted in an impressive global auction turnover of $15.48 billion.
Other recent sales successes in line with the company’s strategic approach included the sale of The Funeral by influential black South African modernist George Pemba and top quality contemporary work by highly regarded South African artists Diane Victor and Steven Cohen.
Aspire’s work behind the scenes in contributing to this global success includes the sale of some significant sculptures by artists with local as well as international audiences and collectors: William Kentridge’s Set of 5 Polychrome Heads, though initially unsold on auction in early September, was subsequently sold to an international buyer, as was Willie Bester’s powerful statement on apartheid inequality and its police state, Poverty Driven. The market diversification Aspire works so hard to develop was further vindicated by another international sale for a work by the doyen of local sculptors, Edoardo Villa, entitled Janus.
Comments Aspire MD Ruarc Peffers, “Business as usual in the South African art auction market risks stagnation in the current tough economic conditions. As a dynamic and agile company we’ve responded strategically, and it’s gratifying to see our behind-the-scenes sales efforts rewarded with increasing interest from international collectors, institutions and from new buyers in our focused market segments.”
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Business Art News
STEPHAN WELZ & CO. October Auction CT
www.swelco.co.za
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ollowing successful auctions in July in Cape Town, and August in Johannesburg, Stephan Welz and Co. is preparing for the upcoming October 2019 auction in Cape Town. This Auction will be held at the new offices situated at 14 Dreyer Street, in the heart of Cavendish, Cape Town.
October will mark the first auction in the new bespoke offices and showrooms, and includes selected highlights such as Jean Welz’s atmospheric oil, The Poet, which, as Elza Miles has noted, “showcases Welz’s exploration of poetic movement” through this enigmatic figure. Alongside this significant oil is Sydney Kumalo’s sculpture, Seated Woman, a lustre tile by South Africa’s master ceramicist Esias Bosch, and a broad selection of rare and desirable silver, furniture and decorative art for the discerning collector.
Above: Jean Welz, The Poet, R600 000 – R800 000. Left: Sam Nhlengethwa, Waiting for Madiba, R100 000 – R150 000.
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Above: Maud Sumner, Bantry Bay, R150 000 – R200 000, Right: (Detail) Jacob Hendrik Pierneef, Magoebaskloof, R900 000 – R1 200 000
This auction will be followed by the November auction in Johannesburg, to be held at the Killarney Country Club. Featured works include highlights such as Sam Nhlengethwa’s mixed media work, Waiting for Madiba, which depicts a contemplative young Winnie Mandela seated alone in a room; a magnificent oil by Jacob Hendrik Pierneef entitled Magoebaskloof, whose imagery has echoes of the Houtbos, Transvaal station panel, but brings the play of light and dappled shadows to the fore, rather than placing the emphasis on the architectural nature of the station panel; a second large Pierneef oil of the Magaliesburg which depicts houses nestled in an expansive landscape beneath a cloud-streaked sky; Dorothy Kay’s evocative Firing a Round, a night-time reimaging and reworking of Kay’s
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1942 work, Flesh and Steel; Maud Sumner’s depiction of Bantry Bay; and two works by John Koenakeefe Mohl – the early work Twilight of Dawn On the Hills of Sophia Town (sic) and the seaside scene, Glidders Over Waves, Durban Beach (sic), depicting young surfers riding the waves in front of spectators on a blustery beachside day. Stephan Welz and Co. is actively consigning for future auctions, so should you wish to have your artwork valued or consigned for sale please feel free to contact either the Cape Town, Johannesburg or Pretoria offices via phone or send an email to info@swelco.co.za
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Judith Mason, Roar, oil on board, 117,5 by 164cm, R 200 000 - 300 000 70
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Business Art News
STRAUSS & CO.
Modern, Post-war and Contemporary Art Cape Town, 7 October 2019
www.straussart.co.za
Robert Hodgins, Head, oil on canvas, 60 by 60cm, R 280 000 - 340 000
Georgina Gratrix, Hässliche Frau, oil on paper, 50 by 35cm, R 100 000 - 150 000
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Irma Stern, Still Life with Gladioli and Fruit, oil on canvas, 85 by 67cm, R 2 500 000 - 3 500 000
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Sam Nhlengethwa, Solo, oil and collage on canvas, 76 by 91cm, R 80 000 - 120 000
Jacob Hendrik Pierneef, Tall Trees in a Mountain Landscape, oil on artist’s board, 30 by 45cm, R 500 000 - 700 000
Maggie Laubser, Weemoed (Melancholy), oil on board, 37 by 44,5cm, R 800 000 - 1 200 000
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Art, antiques, objets d’art, furniture, and jewellery wanted for forthcoming auctions
John Meyer, oil on board, 21 x 32 cm SOLD R55,000 View previous auction results at www.rkauctioneers.co.za
011 789 7422 • 011 326 3515 • 083 675 8468 • 12 Allan Road, Bordeaux, Johannesburg
5 TH AVENUE F INE ART AUCTIONEERS J. H. Pierneef, Oil on Canvas Die Wynkelder, Lanzerac, 174 x 158cm Estimate: R 2 500 000 - R 3 500 000 On auction 27th October 2019
Entries are now invited for this auction.
www.5thaveauctions.co.za
Enquiries: stuart@5aa.co.za ~ 011 781 2040
Business Art News
THE ART AUCTION www.oldjwauctioneers.com
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arlier this year, Isa Gesseau from IBI Artworx, came up with the idea to host a collaborative art auction. To do something different where artists are given a chance to explore the secondary market out of their own accord and benefit in the process. Isa, whom has been in the art world for many years, is exceptionally passionate about everything art – she teaches, hosts studio workshops, promotes and hosts exhibitions and works with various NGO’s to teach people to communicate and heal through various art processes.
She decided to collaborate with Christiaan Scholtz from Old Johannesburg Warehouse Auctioneers. Christiaan, whom has been in the antiques and art industry for close on
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25 years, branched into auctioneering in 2014 and has hosted monthly auctions at his industrial warehouse space ever since. As both these individuals like to give back in various forms, a decision was made to also incorporate a third collaborator – The NGO, Valued Citizens Initiative came on board. VCI, founded in 2001, is an organization that, driven by our constitutional values, develops the characters of citizens through life skills programmes and art. Focused on self-development, citizenship education and leadership principles in public schools from Grade 4 to Grade 12, Valued Citizens Initiative offers a holistic approach to school communities working with learners and School Management Teams, educators, parents, and social workers as the pillars of our society.
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With the collaboration well in place, the team then started putting together a catalogue of close on a 100 artworks from traditional and contemporary artists. The sale of the artworks, mostly supplied directly from the artists themselves, will benefit the artists directly. Quite a few of the artists decided to furthermore add their own charity aspect on their specific lots to give back in their own way.
Gerard Sekoto Exhibition space in Parkview as it is located quite centrally and hosts many functions throughout the year. All the art pieces will be on display and the full catalogue will be available to view on www.oldjwauctioneers.com For more information on the auction, NGO, participating artists and hosts please call 011Â 836 1650.
The decision was taken to host the viewing and auction for The Art Auction from 2830 October at the Alliance Francaise’s
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2/' -2+$11(6%85* :$5(+286(
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͖͝ ǡ ǡ Ǥ ̷ Ǥ ǣ ͔͕͕ ͚͗͜ ͕͚͙͔
OPENING :: 22 OCTOBER 2019 18:30 FOR 19:00 WALKABOUTS 26 OCTOBER & 09 NOVEMBER 2019 11:30 - 13:00 T 011 559 2556/2099
GALLERY HOURS M O N D AY – F R I D AY 09:00 – 16:00 CLOSED ON WEEKENDS + P U B L I C H O L I D AY S
K I N G S WAY C A M P U S CNR UNIVERSIT Y ROAD + K I N G S WAY AV E N U E AU C K L A N D PA R K
ALICEARTGALLERY FOR THE ULTIMATE EXPERIENCE IN ART
SINCE 1990
Sculpture and Bronze Exhibition
26 Bronzes from 26 October
A collection of portraits, non-representational & figurative works
By Mike Edwards and Christo Horn
Mike Edwards (1938-) His sculptures find roots in the harsh South African landscape, carved by wind, rain and growth forms of visual splendour. Its struggle to survive reflects our precarious African life. Commissioned works: -7m Stainless Steel sculpture “Spears of the Nation”Polokwane Soccer Stadium -3 x 12m Bronze Panel – Dellville Wood Battlefield Museum, Longueval, France -Rev John Dube (1st Pres of the ANC 1914) – Heritage Museum Collections
It is such an extraordinary experience to meet an artist and academic with a world of knowledge both on the creative side and the chemical side of sculpting. The process is mindboggling, complicated and captivating at the same time. We were invited to visit his studio-foundry in the Cradle of Humankind. Mike Edwards and fellow
-SA Medical and Dental Council, The State Theatre, Civitas and Momentum Building, Edenvale Public Library, The Provincial Building, Central Government Building (Bloemfontein), At museums: -Pretoria, Bloemfontein, Potchefstroom, Kimberley and Polokwane At Universities: -Pretoria, Potchefstroom, Johannesburg and Bloemfontein
sculptor, Christo Horn, explained the process to us. It was great to be part of the enthusiasm as it was casting day - many processes to manage simultaneously. What is involved in casting? The idea must first be sculpted. Mike uses his own clay mixture. He created two formulas, one for winter (or colder) conditions and one for
www.aliceart.co.za | 54 dryf road, ruimsig, roodepoort
Christo Horn (1964-) Engineer (heavy current), sportsman, writer, humanitarian A bull in a china shop approach to life. It’s hard to believe that any person can be so involved in so many diverse aspects of life. Even less believable is his ability succeed in all he commits to. Five Years ago he “wanted to make something in bronze”. Christo will be joining Mike on this Exhibition to showcase his own bronze works displaying an exceptional quality of movement and energy – like the sculptor.
summer. A rubber negative mould is then made. Warm wax is then poured into the mould to create a wax positive of the sculpture. When cooled the wax is removed. The positive wax sculpture is fitted with vents and in-gates to enable air and bronze to reach all areas in the mould. Mike strongly believes that in sculpting one cannot
“You must forget all your theories, all your ideas before the subject. What part of these is really your own will be expressed in your expression" - Henri Matisse
be influenced by the process required for casting as it restricts the creative process. The entire wax sculpture with air vents and in-gates is invested in a ceramic mixture, layered several times to create a new mould. The ceramic outer moulds are then cured. This process also melts the wax out and leaves the moulds ready for the bronze.
Finally, it’s time to cast! The ceramic moulds are heated to 650°C and simultaneously the bronze must be melted to 1200°C. The challenge is to pour the bronze into the moulds as quickly as possible as it starts cooling rapidly once it leaves the furnace. Safety First – melted bronze will burn straight through you! After several hours the ceramic bronze filled moulds
have cooled sufficiently in order to handle cautiously with gloves. The ceramic mould is broken and removed from the bronze leaving you with a raw sculpture. Finally, after removing the vents and in-gates, now hopefully full of bronze, as this indicates a successful pour, the sculptures are taken to be meticulously cleaned and polished.
@AliceArtGallery | 011 958 1392 | 083 377 1470 | info@aliceart.co.za
ONGOING SHOWS & OPENING EXHIBITIONS OCTOBER 2019 Sarah Ballam, Counterpoise, A solo exhibition, Gallery 2
ONGOING SHOWS: OCTOBER 2019
WALL ART GALLERY ANIMAL AND ALLEGORY GROUP EXHIBITION
SMAC CAPE TOWN THE FEMALE LINE GROUP EXHIBITION UNTIL 12/10/2019
WWW.WALLSAART.CO.ZA
WWW.SMACGALLERY.COM
UNTIL 10/10/2019
UNTIL 12/10/2019
UNTIL 19/10/19
GALLERY MOMO CPT REVISING THE ARCHIVE DURANT SIHLALI UNTIL 19/10/2019
AVA GALLERY AUGURIES KARIN LIJNES UNTIL 19/10/2019
WWW.GALLERYMOMO.COM
GRAHAMS MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY LIMINALITY KEVIN COLLINS UNTIL 19/10/2019 WWW.GRAHAMSGALLERY.CO.ZA
WWW.AVA.CO.ZA
UNTIL 19/10/2019
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UNTIL 19/01/2020
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ZEITZ MOCAA IZICWANGCISO ZEZETHU… (WE MAKE PLANS) UNTIL 20/10/2019
RUST-EN-VREDE GALLERY SANLAM PORTRAIT AWARD FINALIST EXHIBITION UNTIL 23/10/2019
WWW.ZEITZMOCAA.MUSEUM
WWW.RUST-EN-VREDE.COM
UNTIL 20/10/2019
UNTIL 23/10/2019
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Reflecting on August 05 September – 25 October 2019 Andrew Orapeleng Ntshabele Fatima Tayob Moosa Jake Michael Singer Themba Khumalo Thina Dube Toni-Ann Ballenden Vusi Beauchamp
THK GALLERY 52 Waterkant Street, Cape Town www.thkgallery.com Image © Vusi Beauchamp
MJ Lourens, Substasie, 2019, 500 x 700mm, Acrylic on Board
ONGOING SHOWS: OCTOBER 2019
STEVENSON JHB 07/09/2019 UNTIL 25/10/2019 MELEKO MOKGOSI OBJECTS OF DESIRE, ADDENDUM WWW.STEVENSON.INFO
THK GALLERY REFLECTING ON AUGUST: A GROUP SHOW UNTIL 25/10/2019
ENTROPY GROUP EXHIBITION UNTIL 26/10/2019
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WWW.SALON91.CO.ZA
UNTIL 25/10/2019
UNTIL 25/10/2019
UNTIL 26/10/2019
ECLECTICA COLLECTION OUR STORIES: GROUP EXHIBITION UNTIL 30/10/2019
ARTIST PROOF STUDIO UNTIL 31/10/2019
THE CAPE GALLERY JOHN KRAMER ENOBLING THE ARTLESS: PORTRAITS OF SA ARCHITECTURE
WWW.ECLECTICACONTEMPORARY.CO.ZA
WWW.ARTISTPROOFSTUDIO.CO.ZA
WWW.CAPEGALLERY.CO.ZA
UNTIL 30/10/2019
UNTIL 31/10/2019
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Solo exhibition apostles of entropy: deconstructing
Reece Swanepoel
mortal dIchotomies
NWU BotaNical GardeN Gallery Exhibition Opening: 4 October 17:00 Exhibition Dates: 4 - 25 October 09:30 - 16:00 018 299 4341 nwugallery@gmail.com
Karin Jaroszynska, Man in a window, Oliewenhuis Art Museum permanent collection
ONGOING SHOWS: OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2019
IZIKO ART GALLERY FILLING THE GAPS UNTIL 31/10/2019 WWW.IZIKO.ORG.ZA/EXHIBITION UNTIL 31/10/2019
UNTIL 31/10/2019
UNTIL 31/10/2019
ART@AFRICA WEAPONS OF MASS SEDUCTION UNTIL 01/11/2019 WWW.ARTATAFRICA.ART UNTIL 31/10/2019
UNTIL 02/11/2019
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Flourish
Leila Fanner • Solo Exhibition 28.09.2019 - 20.10.2019
AITY GALLERY The Yard, 38 Huguenot Road, Franschhoek, 7690 Email art@artintheyard.co.za | Phone +27 (0) 21 876 4280 www.artintheyard.co.za
Gabriel Clark-Brown, A cure for softness, Etching with glitter. 1998, Amsterdam, SA Print Gallery
ONGOING SHOWS: DECEMBER 2019 - MARCH 2020
DEEPEST DARKEST GALLERY THE OTHER SIDE OF CHRISTMAS BARY SALZMAN UNTIL 28/12/2019
THE LA MOTTE MUSEUM LAND REWOVEN / LAND HERWEEF UNTIL 12/01/2020
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UNTIL 28/12/2019
UNTIL 12/01/2020
ART@AFRICA WATER WARS UNTIL 05.03.2020
NORVAL FOUNDATION WHY SHOULD I HESITATE: SCULPTUREWILLIAM KENTRIDGE UNTIL 23/03/2020
WWWW.ARTATAFRICA.ART
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ZEITZ MOCAA WHY SHOULD I HESITATE: DRAWINGS WILLIAM KENTRIDGE UNTIL 23/03/2020 WWW.ZEITZMOCAA.MUSEUM
UNTIL 05/03/2020
UNTIL 23/03/2020
UNTIL 23/03/2020
MICHAELIS SCHOOL OF FINE ART AND SO THE STORIES RAN AWAY UNTIL 30/03/2020 WWW.ZEITZMOCAA.MUSEUM
RUPERT MUSEUM FACES AND FIGURES - SELECTED 20TH CENTURY SOUTH AFRICAN ARTISTS UNTIL 12/04/2020 WWW.RUPERTMUSEUM.ORG
UNTIL 30/03/2020
UNTIL 12/04/2020
SOUTH AFRICAN ART TIMES
PALETTE FINE ART GALLERY OPEN AT CAPE QUARTER SQUARE UNTIL 01/12/2019
SA’S LEADING VISUAL ARTS PUBLICATION
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JUNE EDITION 2019
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JUNE 2019 WWW.ARTTIMES.CO.ZA
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Land Rewoven / Land Herweef | MJ Lourens | Pierneef Art Gallery, La Motte
Izixazululo (Solutions) | Sibusiso Duma | EBONY/CURATED
25 - 27 OCTOBER 2019 This weekend of art appreciation affords visitors the opportunity to leisurely browse the galleries situated along Franschhoek’s main road, or alternatively view the artworks on display at some of the participating wine farms.
A first for Art Franschhoek this year will be the unique exhibition entitled ‘Masterpieces from Franschhoek Private Collections’, which will be on display at EBONY/CURATED’s Bordeaux House Gallery during this time. This exhibition will showcase some of the exquisite artworks on loan from private owners in Franschhoek.
PARTICIPATING ART GALLERIES: ANDREA DESMOND SMITH BLUE LION GALLERY AT ARTEMIS | ART IN THE YARD ABE OPPERMAN GALLERY | EBONY CURATED (BORDEAUX HOUSE) EVERARD READ GALLERY | GERART EXCLUSIVE ART GALLERY | JOHANNES DU PLESSIS LA MOTTE MUSEUM | LEEU ESTATES | MAKIWA GALLERY | NG CHURCH FRANSCHHOEK ODA GALLERY | OINK AT FARM SANCTUARY SA | SENECHAL-SENEKAL ART GALLERY THE BOUTIQUE GALLERY | THE GALLERY AT GRANDE PROVENCE To celebrate the start of this festival of art appreciation some of the participating galleries will be hosting special events during the weekend of 25, 26 and 27 October. A detailed programme is available on the festival website www.franschhoekart.co.za For more information contact Franschhoek Wine Valley at 021 876 2861| info@franschhoek.org.za
www.franschhoekart.co.za
Deep in the Quiet Angela Banks Everard Read Gallery
OPENING EXHIBITIONS OCTOBER 2019 WEEKS 1-4
Flightdeck, Jon Jacobson / 31st Annual Sophia Gray Memorial Exhibition: in[de]finite by Jon Jacobson at Oliewenhuis Art Museum
WWW.ARTGO.CO.ZA OPENING EXHIBITIONS: OCTOBER 2019 WEEK 1
01/10/2019 UNTIL 26/10/2019 WEEK 1 OCTOBER
GROUND ART CAFFE LATE NIGHT SKETCH TALES II BY CHRISTOPHER MACCLEMENTS 03/10/2019 UNTIL 05/11/2019 WWW.GROUNDARTCAFFE.CO.ZA 03/10/2019 UNTIL 05/11/2019 WEEK 1 OCTOBER
DYMAN GALLERY DOMINIQUE ZINKPE SOLO EXHIBITION 01/11/2019 UNTIL 25/11/2019
ECLECTICA CONTEMPORARY COUNTER CURRENT: GROUP EXHIBITION 03/10/2019 OPENING
DYMANGALLERY.CO.ZA
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01/11/2019 UNTIL 25/11/2019 WEEK 1 OCTOBER
NWU ART GALLERY APOSTLES OF ENTROPY: DECONSTRUCTING MORTAL DICHOTOMIES 04/10/2019 UNTIL 25/10/2019 NWU.AC.ZA/NWU-GALLERY 04/10/2019 UNTIL 25/10/2019 WEEK 1 OCTOBER
06/10/2019 UNTIL 31/10/2019 WEEK 1 OCTOBER
THE MELROSE GALLERY, MELROSE ARCH, JHB
STEVENSON CAPE TOWN PAULO NAZARETH 10/10/2019 UNTIL 23/11/2019
MATERIAL IDENTITIES CURATED BY RUZY RUSIKE ARTWORK BY ADEJOKE TUGBIYELE UNTIL 17/11/2019 WWW.THEMELROSEGALLERY.COM
10/10/2019 UNTIL 26/10/2019 WEEK 1 OCTOBER 100
03/10/2019 OPENING WEEK 1 OCTOBER
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Johannes Maswanganyi, Lwandle (The Ocean), Leadwood, sickle bush and acrylic, The Melrose Gallery
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WWW.ARTGO.CO.ZA OPENING EXHIBITIONS: OCTOBER 2019 WEEKS 2-4
STEVENSON CAPE TOWN PAUL GUSH WELCOME TO FRONTIER COUNTRY 10/10/2019 UNTIL 23/11/2019
SMITH FURTHER PROTOTYPES BY DALE LAWRENCE 04/09/2019 UNTIL 12/10/2019
CAIRN GORDON MAISSIE 16/10/2019 UNTIL 25/10/2019
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10/10/2019 UNTIL 23/11/2019 WEEK 2 OCTOBER
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16/10/2019 UNTIL 25/10/2019 WEEK 3 OCTOBER
UCT IRMA STERN MUSEUM PSYCHOLOGICAL PORTRAITS 16/10/2019 UNTIL 26/10/2019
OLIEWENHUIS ART MUSEUM PHATSHOANE HENNEY NEW BREED ART COMPETITION EXHIBITION 17/10/2019 UNTIL 24/11/2019
ART FRANSCHHOEK ART EVENT 25/10/2019 UNTIL 27/10/2019
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16/10/2019 UNTIL 26/10/2019 WEEK 3 OCTOBER
17/10/2019 UNTIL 24/11/2019 WEEK 3 OCTOBER
25/10/2019 UNTIL 27/10/2019 WEEK 4 OCTOBER
SALON91 HELIOS KIRSTEN BEETS SOLO EXHIBITION 30/10/2019 UNTIL 30/11/2019 25/10/2019 UNTIL 19/11/2019 WEEK 4 OCTOBER 104
25/10/2019 UNTIL 31/11/2019 WEEK 4 OCTOBER W W W. A R T G O . C O . Z A
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MARITZ MUSEUM 5 Nemesia Street Darling South Africa by appointment
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Sarah Ballam, Counterpoise, A solo exhibition, Gallery 2
is Art October 2019.pdf
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2019/09/18
23:41
You are invited to ’Spirit
of Place’
An exhibition of paintings by
Sharlé Matthews on Sunday 6 October 2019 at 11h00 The exhibition will be opened by Professor Estelle Marais and will run until November
Ilse Schermers Art Gallery 11 Huguenot Road, Franschhoek 021 876 2071 gallery@isart.co.za Gallery hours: Week days: 09h00 – 17h00 Weekends & Public Holidays: 10h00 – 17h00
OCTOBER NEW BLOOD MONTHLY AWARD www.arttimes.co.za/newblood
Lydia Boon, Noname, Grade 12, Gereformeerde Hoerskool Dirk Postma Opposite Page: October Winner Tamaryn Hess, Fragility, Grade 12, The Settlers High School
New Blood Art NPC is a valuable platform for SA Schools Art Departments to share artworks by Grade 10-12 learners – to learn about issues that are important amoungst the youth and for enjoying growing trends and influences by the next generation of SA Artists. By participating in New Blood Art your work will be seen by the SA arts community and art lovers from around the world that read the Art Times, publishers of New Blood Art. Hosting The NBA Award is a great honour for us, but the most important is that you participate, we want to hear your voice and reflection here.
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How to send your art work Email: art@newbloodart.info with 1-3 images a month, include your Name, Age, Grade and School Terms and Conditions (1) Learners can submit up to 3 artworks per month (2) Work should be submitted by 15th of the month to be considered for publishing in The Art Times Magazine (3) Work submitted must be done by the learner and produced in 2019 (4) Entries open to learners ages 15-19 at time of entry (5) Please try to keep files Jpeg and less than 5Meg. Call New Blood Art 021 300 5888 www.newbloodart.info
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Tamaryn Hess, Fragility, Grade 12,The Settlers High School
Arisha Chain,Lost in Thought, Grd 12, Belgravia Art Centre
Cara van Jaarsveldt, Grade 12, Eunice Girls High School
Taeya Dukes, Unravel the Layers of Time, Grade 12, Brescia House School
McKayla Bradfield, Grade 12, Eunice HS, Bloemfontein
Sarah Saunders. Grade 11, Maris Stella School,Durban Opposite Page: Dane Rogers, Grade 8, Bishops Diocesan, Collage in Cape Town
Hannah Bowes, Scream, Grade 11, Springfield Convent Opposite Page: Cassandra Comins Gd 11, Book art Poetry, Penryn College
Sydney Cohen, Grade 11, Southdowns College
Megan Edwards, Peggy, Grd 12, Belgravia Art Centre
w Mihlali Manyi, Umntu ngumntu ngabantu, grd 12, Belgravia Art Centrew
‘WE DON’T NEED TO DEMONIZE WEALTHY PEOPLE’: Ford Foundation President Darren Walker on the Unnerving Aftermath of the Warren Kanders Protests First Published on ArtNet, September 10, 2019 ByAndrew Goldstein
who withdrew from the Whitney Biennial in protest of Kanders’s presence on the board. And then, on July 25th, Kanders—who Whitney director Adam Weinberg had tried to shield, arguing the museum’s reliance on patronage meant it “cannot right all the ills of an unjust world”—resigned in fury, declaring that he refused to play a role in the museum’s “demise.”
Darren Walker, president of the Ford Foundation. Courtesy of the Ford Foundation
This summer, something that once seemed impossible happened before our eyes: a constellation of protestors managed to topple the powerful vice-chair of a museum board. The trustee in question, Warren Kanders, had served on the board of the Whitney Museum of American Art for 13 years and had donated a total of $10 million to the institution. He is also the owner of a defense company, Safariland, that produces munitions for police and military forces and has supplied tear gas used against migrants on the US/Mexico border. Over eight months, the Whitney saw a wave of demonstrations, led first by the group Decolonize This Place and then by eight artists
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Kanders’s downfall did not happen in a void. Throughout the year, we had watched as museum after museum cut financial ties with the Sackler family, the eminent art patrons whose generous donations were funded by the fortune they made by addicting huge swaths of the country to Oxycontin—a crime that has now given rise to hundreds of lawsuits. Meanwhile, in London, activist groups staged mass demonstrations at the British Museum and other institutions to protest their financial ties to petroleum companies. And the Guggenheim and the New Museum became embroiled in ugly confrontations with their staffs, who formed unions to confront what they deemed unfair management practices. Still, Kanders’s resignation sent the museum world reeling, posing questions that—for institutions reliant on private patronage— bordered on the existential. Is there such a thing as immaculate money? What litmus test would be extensive enough to placate critics? And how can you convince wealthy donors to fund a museum if they know their names can be stripped off the walls the moment the source of their money falls afoul of popular sentiment? At a time when most leaders in the museum field have made themselves scarce, fearing the slightest defensive peep would draw the ire of an energized protest community now actively seeking its next target, one of the few people to publicly address this moment has been
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The Ford Foundation Building. Photo: Dario Cantatore/Getty Images.
Ford Foundation president Darren Walker. A near-universally respected figure who directs his organization’s financial firepower—$600 million a year in grants, nourished by a $13 billion endowment—toward socially progressive cultural causes, Walker wrote an op-ed in the New York Times the day after Kanders resigned titled “Museums Need to Step Into the Future.” In it, he argued that our institutions should seize this moment of social foment as an opportunity to address issues of inequality, remaking their boards, staffs, and programming to better reflect America’s growing diversity. Yet the rhetoric of populist anger toward wealthy donors is something that makes Walker profoundly uneasy—in large part because he, better than most, understands how reliant culture is upon private philanthropy, and how vulnerable our institutions would be if the source of this philanthropy were to diminish. To better understand Walker’s reservations, artnet News’s Andrew Goldstein spoke to the voluble head of the Ford Foundation about his views on where things are headed.
In your Times op-ed, you wrote that the Kanders episode “reveals the extent to which museums have become contested spaces in a rapidly-changing country,” finding themselves “in the same struggle tearing society apart—a struggle fueled by worsening inequality of every kind.” How does his ouster make you feel? Let me talk about the Whitney, and then let’s talk about the larger issue. I think what was really unfortunate about this is that, among museums in America, the Whitney stands out for its diversity. This is the irony here—there is probably no museum in America that has done more to transform itself in terms of its programming, its curatorial staff, its identity, than the Whitney. I think under Adam [Weinberg]’s leadership, the organization has been an exemplar. Now, having said that, I think one of the challenges is that in this time of growing inequality, boards that are not more diverse are more vulnerable to attacks. I don’t see diversity as a defensive strategy. As I wrote in that piece, diversity is additive to a board’s effectiveness and success. At the same time, it would be really unfortunate if the result of this would be to discourage generous donors from joining museum boards.
Museums need wealthy patrons on their boards. These museums won’t stay open without the generous support of patrons. To me, those are incontrovertible facts. What I also believe is that their trusteeship should not be defined through a single criterion. Because every board needs a mix of assets to be effective. Some of those assets are financial, and some are more qualitative, more relationship-oriented, more politically sensitive. They need to recognize that museums have stakeholders, and those stakeholders can be political stakeholders, community stakeholders, and other people who care about the institution and who are influential. You want to have a board that’s diverse enough that these different stakeholders feel they have representation in the institution. Unfortunately, some people have framed having a diverse board as oppositional to having a wealthy board. These are one-dimensional ideas. I’m simply saying that you can have both, and you should have both. It would be a grave error to demonize wealthy people. That is something that I find regrettable about the discourse around the Whitney board, around this whole controversy.
Activists took over the lobby at the Whitney to protest Warren B. Kanders. (Photo by Erik McGregor/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)
While Kanders’s ownership of weapons companies linked to politically repressive causes was the main rallying cry in the push against him, it’s interesting that you pinpoint diversity as one of the factors that led to the protests. One of the prime movers in ejecting Kanders was Hannah Black, who co-wrote the Artforum essay “The Tear-Gas Biennial,” calling on artists to withdraw from the exhibition. Two years earlier, she had also been a major figure in the outcry over Dana Schutz’s
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Emmett Till painting Open Casket, which led to a widespread referendum on the politics of representation and diversity—which then, in turn, led to this year’s Whitney Biennial being one of the most diverse on record. The push for diversity and the demand for the ethical purity of the board of trustees seem like very different things. How do you reconcile them? We have here a situation of the perfect being the enemy of the good. I think what is disturbing is the rhetoric of some of the protestors, who are in favor of destroying the system. I think that would do irreparable harm. The protestors who want to destroy the system, want to destroy museums, don’t have a solution or a reasonable alternative to offer. It’s relatively easy to talk about destroying a system. It’s harder to build and sustain one. While I appreciate protests, those of us who are focused on solutions can’t be distracted by extreme perspectives. I wonder if the protestors might argue that it’s not their job to be the solution—it’s their job to highlight and intensify the problem. It seems that progressive forces are divided between incrementalists who want to nurture slow, systemic changes and accelerationists who are specifically trying to blow things up so they can rebuild something more equitable from the rubble. You’ve been involved in progressive causes for years. Which of these do you find more useful and compelling as a strategy? As a strategy, you have to be solutionsfocused. One of the things I worry about these days is that we have lost our ability to understand nuance, and our awareness that context and nuance still matter. While I am a believer in the need to dismantle some of the systems and structures that represent a kind of a white hegemony, I think it would be a grave mistake to destroy a cultural ecosystem that needs reform, not destruction. Our focus must be on reforming the system, not destroying the system. I can’t speak for all of us in philanthropy, but at Ford, we are system-reformers, not system-destroyers. I think the system of board governance needs to be modified and improved upon. It does not need to be destroyed, and we don’t need to demonize wealthy people. There are some people who deserve criticism. It’s an error to label broad swaths of people negatively.
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The protestors at the Guggenheim Museum. Photo: Caroline Goldstein.
It seems to me that there is a lot of popular outrage driven by the heat of the moment. While many museums have severed ties with the Sacklers, refusing to take new money, there have been some calls for them to also expunge previous gifts—even though when institutions began taking money from family members tied to Purdue Pharma, OxyContin was seen as a miracle painkiller, not a glorified form of heroin. This is a point I am familiar with. I lead a foundation named for a man who, while he was a great industrialist—and he was the first industrialist to name inequality as a social problem—was a known anti-Semite and racist. John D. Rockefeller’s company literally killed people in the pursuit of extracting oil from the ground. These men were reviled in their day. I say all of that to remind us that context matters. As you say, there was a period of time when we did not understand the full impact this drug. It had a different public identity, if you will. That’s why I come back to context and nuance. It might be hard to persuade donors to give money to your museum if you can’t assure them that five years later, you’re not going to vilify them and take their name off of the wall when public sentiment around their industry changes. Consider someone like Mark Zuckerberg, or even someone less currently polarizing, like Sergei Brin. Would their money be a form of acceptable museum patronage, or would that draw protests? How would their gifts today be seen five years from now? Part of the dilemma is that there is greater transparency today than ever before. We live in a more democratic time and a more
participatory time. People hold institutions and wealthy people more accountable. I think it’s a good thing to hold us more accountable to be ethical, to be more conscious of the harm that can be done from our investments and our businesses. I think that’s fair. What’s not fair is to demonize people. Ultimately, it could do more harm than good. As you suggested in your op-ed, the cultural field is starting to resemble the political field, with all of the battles that are raging right now. The difference is that art doesn’t have the same kind of organs that we have in the political field—like Congress, or other legislative assemblies—to have debates, resolve disputes, and create solutionsoriented policy. There’s no place where all the various stakeholders can have accountable representation and hash out differences. Do you think it would be possible to create some kind of organization like that that would have credibility? Absolutely. First of all, I think this [moment] is going to demand that the AAMD [Association of Art Museum Directors] and the other trade organizations really up their games, because more is going to be demanded of them. This is also going to mean that museums will need to make sure that they have strong communityrelations programs, and that there are staff who are dedicated to strengthening those relationships with key stakeholders in order to build a sense of shared purpose and vision. That’s going to be critical. We definitely need something stronger than what we have.
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NEW ART GALLERY IN PRETORIA PULLS TOGETHER AN EXTRAORDINARY COLLECTION OF SOUTH AFRICAN ART First Published on The Daily Maverick , 22 September 2019 By J Brooks Spector
The Javett Art Centre is poised to become a new artistic chapter for Pretoria, for Gauteng province and the country as a whole.
A
n exciting new privately funded arts facility opens in Pretoria on Heritage Day, pulling together some great opening exhibitions to set a high bar for the future.
Instead, he stands there calm, happy, smiling. He must be seeing the whole of it, complete, the rooms filled with crowds, all in his mind’s eye, virtually willing the actual centre and everything in it to fall into place.
The new Javett Art Centre at the University of Pretoria is about to open – on 24 September 2019 – and we are talking to its director, Christopher Till, as we walk through the galleries, before we sit for a bit in his office. Till seems preternaturally calm, like a cheerful Zen Buddhist monk replete with contentment, even as newly delivered artworks for the opening exhibition are being unwrapped and placed on the floor in designated locations.
The Javett Art Centre is poised to become a new artistic chapter for the capital, for Gauteng province, and the country as a whole. Historically, the two big cities of Johannesburg and Pretoria have had their main (but now financially deeply stressed) civic-run art museums, plus an array of small private galleries offering the new and the old, the decorative and the challenging, for sale to the collecting public.
Till should be tense, even agitated, his face a perpetual frown, what with so much left to be done, so much work planned for display that is not even in the building. The special museum display lights are not installed, let alone focused appropriately on the works to be showcased.
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But, beyond the Wits Arts Museum in Braamfontein, Johannesburg – effectively carved out of an old dental school building a few years ago – or, more modestly, the Centre for the Less Good Idea in Maboneng, designed as a staging area for multidisciplinary arts projects, the economic, financial and political core of South Africa
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has had no new institutional structures designed to challenge preconceptions about art. Such galleries should help people question whose art it really is hanging on the walls of museums and galleries in South Africa. Into the complex landscape, this new Javett Art Centre is a distinctly welcome project. It has been conceived to be the new home for a large, privately owned collection of South African art, assembled by businessman Michael Javett and his family, with the assistance of the late art dealer Stephan Welz. Describing this centre, Till proudly says it will be “a beautiful, world-class centre where art brings people together. It’s our Africa and our art.” For the centre’s grand opening, there will be four exhibitions: a collection of 101 signature works of South African art selected and then borrowed from collections around the country; the Javett Family Collection of South African modern art; an exhibition of those special gold works from the Mapungubwe collection; and what has been described as a selection of quirky objects from the university’s other museums. Till, of course, is an old hand at bringing a cultural project to life – from a “what if” luncheon straight through to the opening day. When this writer first met him, he was running the Zimbabwe National Gallery, back in the late 1980s. Thereafter he returned to South Africa to head the Johannesburg Art Gallery and thereafter to lead the arts and culture office for the City of Johannesburg, just as the country’s cultural isolation was drawing to a close. Taking advantage of that special moment in time, he led the city into the partnership that hosted the month-long stay of the Dance Theatre of Harlem in Johannesburg, and then to the launch of the Johannesburg Biennale. Thereafter, he moved to establish the internationally renowned Apartheid Museum, and then the Gold of Africa Museum in Cape Town. And now, for the past three years, he has been focused on this newest adventure, bringing the Javett Art Centre to life.
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But before being anything else, says Till, the centre “is a place for people. It’s a place where people can learn about how Africa’s artists express the myriad, complex narratives of the continent and contribute to conversations about Africa’s past, present and future.” Speaking earlier to Art Africa magazine, Till fleshed out his vision, saying, “The building is erected on the south campus of the University of Pretoria … and connects it to the main campus by a bridge gallery that goes over Lynnwood Road. Underneath is a student gallery, which links the architecture and the visual arts departments. “So, it’s an ambitious initiative which marries a philanthropic relationship together with an academic institution, giving it a unique strength because of the academic foundation, enabling us to operate the institution in a professional, academic way. However, we have one foot firmly on the street, so to say, which is our commitment to engaging with the city and bringing people into the art environment.” From the outside, the centre looks a little like an upscale office development, albeit with a dramatic bridge clear across busy Lynnwood Road. But, inside, the galleries are anything but the usual collection of boring boxes one would find in that office block, even an upscale one. The individual galleries flow one into the other, up and down steps; the outside sunlight comes in from various directions; one upstairs gallery becomes that bridge transecting Lynnwood Road, and leads to the university’s main campus. The architects, Pieter Matthews and Associates, took the task of designing a functional, institutional building and made it one that is interesting in itself, beyond the things it will be showing off to viewers. Walking through the galleries, even before everything is hung, there were surprises. Good ones. There was one of those fantastic – more than a little disturbing – works by Willie Bester, constructed of industrial scrap.
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“Javett-UP is a place where people can come and relate, through art, to others to learn more about themselves and each other. It’s a place that tells the story of where we come from, where we are now, and why our African-ness matters. This is our Africa, and it’s our art.”
We went around a corner and there was Dumile Feni’s iconic African Guernica. Close by was a major work by Irma Stern, Arab Priest, and then Gerard Sekoto’s signature work Song of the Pick, all part of the 101 iconic works selected from collections across South Africa and beyond. Then there is also Alexis Preller’s Discovery, a vast work illustrating “The Age of Discovery”, going right back to Portugal’s Prince Henry the Navigator, painted in a style best described as literary magicorealism applied to the canvas. There will inevitably be signal works that fans will miss in this initial collection of the 101, but still, it will be quite a gathering of work that will speak to gallery-goers, separately – and collectively. Viewers may not like all the works they find, but they will find it difficult to avoid thinking hard about what they have seen in the centre. As Till told Art Africa, “The objective was to have an opening exhibition which would appeal to the broader public but to also have an academic and curatorial construct which would fit within our aim and objectives for the centre. That objective is to look at what
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I describe as the artist as an educational beginning. We want to create an institution where the art of Africa is engaged with alongside research, its methodologies, its collection, and concerns.” Till summed up the centre’s mission by adding: “Javett-UP is a place where people can come and relate, through art, to others to learn more about themselves and each other. It’s a place that tells the story of where we come from, where we are now, and why our African-ness matters. This is our Africa, and it’s our art.” This new art gallery, together with the new Norval Foundation and the Zeitz-Mocaa (Zeitz Museum of Contemporary African Art), both in Cape Town, is part of a set of new institutions, created largely through private capital and private initiative, that seems to have shifted the balance decisively away from long-established civic and national government galleries. Sadly, Johannesburg seems to have been caught flat-footed in all this.
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Nicholas Hlobo, Umphokoqo (detail) To be sold in Cape Town on15 February 2020
