South African Art Times October 2010 by SA ART TIMES

The South African Art Times | October 2010 | Free

ART TIMES

Stefan Hundt After building up Sanlam’s R 128M Art Collection Sanlam Private Investments (SPI) now has launched SA’s first art advisory service Page 72

Photo: Jenny Altschuler

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Cape Town 11 October 021 683 6560

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J.H. Pierneef (1886-1957), Leadwood trees, Bushveld, 1944, oil on canvas, Sanlam Art Collection.

THE

LIE OF THE LAND

Representations of the South African Landscape Curated by Michael Godby 15 October 2010 to 28 January 2011

Sanlam Art Gallery 2 Strand Road, Bellville Hours : Monday to Friday 09:00 to 16:30 Telephone 021 947 3359 • Catalogue on sale • Entry Free

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CY CMY

Rare Treasures : Botanical Art at Kirstenbosch

Lynda de Wet - Protea cynaroides

Vicki Thomas South African plants have been carefully recorded for science for centuries, most of the artwork rarely seen outside of journals in university libraries and botanical garden archives around the world. Locally, there is a long tradition of competent artists, mostly women, who were scientific illustrators, carefully measuring and recording the diagnostic features of plants. They usually worked alone, were under-valued and underpaid, but they truly loved plants and painting them, and so they continued their work. In the 1990s, Dr Shirley Sherwood, an English botanist who was fascinated with botanical illustration, started a collection of contemporary botanical artworks. She found she had no talent for painting herself, and as she has considerable resources and travels extensively, she set about collecting artworks from around the world. Dr Sherwood, through her friendship with Prof. Brian Huntley, then curator of Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens in Cape Town, brought a large collection of contemporary botanical paintings from England for exhibition at Kirstenbosch. These paintings depicted all sorts of plants and styles, some grand and eye- catching, others delicate and minutely detailed. The exhibition caused a sensation. It also showed local botanical illustrators that they could successfully take the leap from rather cramped confined drawings for scientific journals to works of art made specifically to be hung on walls. The Kirstenbosch Biennale, dedicated to images of indigenous South African flora, was inspired by this Sherwood exhibition, and began in 2000 under the guidance of Merle Huntley. This year’s version of the Biennale, with its emphasis on Rare, Endangered & Narrow Endemic southern African plants, had a remarkable range of artworks on display. The standard has improved hugely over the years and South African botanical artists are now very well respected and collected world-wide. Why has botanical art improved and become more popular? The answer is collaboration. The Botanical Artists’ Association of SA was formed as a remarkable self-help group to share information, techniques, teachers and equipment. It has had the effect of improving and broadening the skills base and as a result brought in new converts. Two teachers, Katie Lee from USA and Jenny Phillips from Australia, initially gave local artists new insight, but inspired local teachers have subsequently developed classes that have added to that knowledge. It is a sign of good instruction that there is no recognisable South African “style” and the artworks retain a very personal view of the plants depicted. Current botanical artists are, like their predecessors, 06

slightly nutty about plants! Often they are people who love the beauty and colour of the flower, but are also fascinated by the structure and the minute details. The accurate recording of the true beauty of a plant is uppermost in the artist’s mind and the aim is to produce an artwork that appeals from a distance and continues to draw the viewer in to examine the fine work and structure of the plant close up, in much the same way as a good portrait. It is this aspect of the paintings, the combination of art and science that keeps the viewer occupied and interested. The process of painting a plant is usually time consuming. The artist often has to get permission to access the plant and then has to keep it alive long enough to finish the work, which can take several days to several weeks. Most artists work directly from life, starting with pencil sketches to get to know the structure, then dissecting and measuring for careful drawing. Photographs are occasionaly used simply for reference as no photo can capture all parts of the plant in focus at the same time and botanical artists really need to see the finer details very clearly. The works are generally done in watercolour on hotpressed archival paper using kolinsky sable brushes. On the exhibition though, there were several types of media including pencil crayon, ink, oils and scraper board. The Kirstenbosch Biennale 2010 which took place in September, showed about 50 artists exhibiting four works each, which were judged by a panel consisting of representatives of both the art and botany fields. All agreed the standard was very high; 4 gold medals, 6 silver medals and 7 bronze medals were awarded. It has been an extremely popular exhibition with a loyal following, good sales and many new visitors. KIRSTENBOSCH BIENNALE AWARDS 2010 Life Time Achievement Award: Thalia Lincoln Gold : Gillian Condy, Lynda de Wet, Jennifer Johnston Davidson, Kim Squire Johnston Silver: Sibonela Chiliza, Margaret De Villiers, Wilna Eloff, Eric Judd, Jenny Malcolm, Carol Reddick Bronze : Linda Hampson, Farat Iqbal, Elbe Domrose Joubert, Daleen Roodt, Willie Schlechter, Ann Schweizer, Louise Twiggs Vicki Thomas, one of the judges of the Kirstenbosch Biennale, is a botanical artist and teacher who has works in collections around the world, including the Highgrove Florilegium depicting plants in HRH Prince Charles’s garden, and the Shirley Sherwood collection at Kew. Her scientific drawings have been published in many journals. She is a guest lecturer at Stellenbosch University and the UCT Summer School.

SA Art Times | October 2010

Durban decides to destroy artworks ...

and spend even more cash replacing them with brand-new sculptures First Published in The Sunday Times

were the symbol of the IFP. But Mchunu denied this, saying an ANC ward councillor had raised the alarm.

By Bongani Mthethwa The city of Durban is to “put down” elephant sculptures that cost ratepayers a whopping R1.5-million. The city fathers have decided to demolish the six-ton artworks - which earlier this year caused a political storm - and will now spend more money replacing them with other animal sculptures. A spokesman for the Ethekwini municipality, Thabo Mofokeng, told the Sunday Times that the decision to destroy two of the three elephants was taken at a full council meeting two months ago. He said it was decided that the elephants would be replaced with the animals that comprise the “Big Five”, as this was a more “appropriate” symbol for the city. But world-renowned artist Andries Botha, who was initially commissioned to sculpt the elephants, said he was “seething at the decision” to demolish his work. “I can’t accept this kind of altering of the intellectual property of an existing artwork to another work. I can’t have the work simply changed, because I was never trained as a Big Five sculptor,” he said. “I offered a compromise, which I thought was a reasonable one - to say that, if it was the number of elephants that appeared to be the problem, then let’s make an additional elephant, but I haven’t received a response from the city.” A political spat erupted in the ANC-led city council in February after Botha and his team were abruptly ordered to stop work on the elephants by an irate ANC politician who had deemed them politically incorrect. The official, believed to be the chairman of the ANC’s eThekwini region and MPL, John Mchunu, allegedly told the artist’s team that the elephants

Earlier this year, city manager Mike Sutcliffe appealed to the ANC caucus to resolve the matter urgently and asked them to consider the possibility of changing the project to include the Big Five to save the city political embarrassment. The elephants are positioned near Warwick Avenue, one of the city’s busiest points. But after the controversy broke, the unfinished elephants, made of metal, stone and wire, were shielded from public view with green shade cloth and now stand abandoned alongside a freeway. The sculptures, part of Botha’s Human Elephants Foundation, were commissioned by the city as it wanted his work - which appears in cities all over the world - to be displayed in his home town. DA caucus leader Tex Collins described the decision to demolish the elephants as an “act of vandalism and a breathtaking degree of political immaturity”. “If the ANC thinks for one second that those elephants represent nothing more than art, they are sadly mistaken,” he said. “I’m disgusted by that decision and I’m ashamed to be part of a council that could take a decision like that.” The IFP’s caucus leader, Thembi Nzuza, said the demolition was a waste of ratepayers’ money. “We’re not against the Big Five. But demolishing work that has already been done is wasteful expenditure and we are totally against it. We thought they would take the two elephants and put them elsewhere, rather than demolish them,” she said.

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and reedswamp connected to the sea by a small estuary. Situated amid dramatic topography, the lake is approximately 13.5 km long and 1.4 km wide and occurs in the zone of transition between the karroid and fynbos vegetation types. This results in the region displaying a high species diversity typical of an ecotone area. Rare plants that have been recorded from this area include Ferraria foliosa, F. densepunctulata, Cerycium venoum (presumed extinct) and Cullumia floccosa.

Art as a cultural weapon to save our environment Just as artists were mobalised to assist in democtrotise SA, so artists could assist in saving Verlorenvlei From a letter from AntheA Delmotte The Piketberg art scene is joining hands to create awareness to a very important environmental issue. We want to protect the massive and beautiful Verlorenvlei that is running all the way from the Piketberg mountain range to Elands bay. It’s mentionable fresh water source, rich bird, animal, plant life (that contains many rare, threatened and presumed extinct species) , people, towns dependant on it and clean air from the very real, already long term threat of mining. We also want to raise funds to assist the organisation that is working so hard to protect what is every human’s best interest becoming alarmingly scares- fresh water and rich animal and plant life. According to Wikipedia more than half the world’s wetlands have been lost along with their valuable environmental services. And by 2025 South Africa will be one of the countries which will face very severe water shortages due to physical scarcity and a condition of overpopulation relative to their carrying capacity with respect to water supply and as we know we already have to deal with water restrictions from time to time. So somewhere we have to draw the line and preserve what we have and what our children need in the future. Underneath more information applicable more specifically to Verlorenvlei’s unique situation. We are thus appealing to the media to help us in our efforts by doing what is your speciality- informing the public about this issue and our efforts. On 29 Casa October at 19:00 the AntheA gallery Labia Art Times 70X210Delmotte Ad FA.pdf 1

will be opening a group exhibition called “portraying the beauty of Verlorenvlei”. Piketberg a scenic small town is home to a very big art community of which some is well known national and international. During this period various accommodating and supporting galleries will sell a work donated by an artist for this cause. These works will be on show along with an informative write-up about Verlorenvlei and if so wish a petition against mining in the verlorenvlei area can be signed. From the 30 th till 31 October the streets of Piketberg will come to life with various artists opening their studios to the public. Artists from elsewhere will show at various venues in and around Piketberg. Maps will be supplied and markers around town will show the way to the various open studios. We would sincerely appreciate your assistance. For more information contact AntheA Delmotte at: 0732817273 or anthea@lantic.net For more information about the open studios contact Clare Menck at 0832250059 or claremenck@patat.co.za Verlorenvlei - About the site “Verlorenvlei is one of the most important estuarine systems in the Western Cape and one of the largest natural wetlands along the west coast of South Africa. It is also one of the few coastal fresh water lakes in the country.2:15 The system comprises a coastal lake 2010/09/16 PM

The wetland is regarded as one of the ten most important wetlands for wading birds in the southwestern Cape, being a particularly important feeding area for the white pelican Pelecanus onocrotalus and supporting a number of threatened bird species. It supports over one thousand waders of more than eleven different species, mainly migrants from the northern hemisphere and provides further feeding, nesting and resting facilities to over 75 other species. The lake is a type locality for several species, including the whitebacked duck Thalassomis leuconotus. The only indigenous freshwater fish species occurring in the lake are the Cape galaxia Galaxias zebratus and the rare Barus burgi. Certain rare and threatened mammals such as Cape clawless otter Anonyx capensis have been recorded in the area.” The third Bongani Minerals Prospecting Application – where we stand The Verlorenvlei Coalition has been dedicated in their resistance to the third prospecting application in the Verlorenvlei catchment area, made by Bongani Minerals earlier this year. Thank you to everyone who submitted their objection to the application and who commented on our website. The Department of Mineral Resources apparently received hundreds of formal objections. There was a long waiting period when the relevant commenting authorities reviewed our objections, culminating in a Regional Mining Development and Environmental Committee meeting (RMDEC), which was finally held on 28 July 2010. We are still awaiting the outcome of this meeting. Based on the application, the objections and the presentations made at this meeting, the Western Cape Regional Manager of the Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) will make his recommendation to the national office of the DMR, who are still in a position to overrule such recommendation. Despite our repeated request to present our objections at the RMDEC meeting, the RMDEC secretariat elected not to allow either the applicant (BonganiMinerals) or the objector(s), which include the Verlorenvlei Coalition, to present their submissions.

Peter Machen Art Cowboy So I took some time off from my daily irresponsibilities and headed to Europe for a few weeks. The trip was catalysed by the image – purloined from the song Tonight in Bilbao by Sun Kil Moon – of drinking in a late-night bar in the Spanish city with Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim in the distance, and accelerated by photographs of the new Maxxi Museum of 21st Century Art in Rome which I had decided I wanted to see with my own eyes and feet. With the added incentive of joining a friend on her way to Zurich, I evaporated my rands into Euros and soon found myself thousands of kilometres away from the teeny-weeny galleries of Durban, approaching Italy’s brand new cathedral to contemporary art, filled with excitement. Designed by renegade architect Zaha Hadid, the Maxxi, which took ten years to complete, is currently more famous as a building than as a museum. Based on an series of abstract paintings by Hadid, it offers a spectacular collection of spiralling concrete curvatures intersecting with more familiar modernist shapes and an existing neoclassical structure. When the building was opened to the public in November last year as an empty space, discussions centred around whether the art would manage to compete with the building. But when it opened properly in February, replete with a smorgasbord of international contemporary work, no-one seemed willing to provide an answer to that question. Perhaps because the truth is so self-evident. In the battle between building and art, architects and curators, no-one wins at the Maxxi, at least not in its current messily curated incarnation Like so many celebrities, the Maxxi is much more attractive in photographs. Which is not to say that it’s not interesting or worth a visit. It’s the kind of building that is difficult to write off even if you really don’t like it, precisely because of its structural and aesthetic ambitions. And from the right angles, it possesses a powerful beauty. But as a museum space, in its current curatorial form, it fails almost completely. The Maxxi markets itself as a non-linear space that is difficult to negotiate, a space in which walls, floors and ceilings are indistinct from each other, and in which the traditional relationship between the art object and the gallery has shifted. All of which SA Art Times | October 2010

piqued my interest enough to make a pilgrimage. But post-visit, this manifesto seems so much like an artist’s statement written retrospectively to cover the flaws in the work. And the relationship between the gallery, the art and the viewer is not so much shifted as broken.

Cecil Higgs

Only in the two temporary exhibition spaces, which resemble standard gallerial white cubes, was there any adherence to the conventions of curation. And it bears mentioning that these conventions exist for very good reason; apart from anything else, they allow us to occupy a consensual reality across cultures and language. The result is that the two bodies of work – by the Italian Gino De Dominicis and the Turkish Kutlug Ataman – were made memorable. I can still clearly recall most of the works and their contexts with little effort, unlike my memories of the rest of the museum. Thinking about it , the gallery’s rejection of nonlinearity is hardly revolutionary. Most large museums and galleries allow the free-flow of movement through their spaces. It’s just that in the Maxxi the visitors all seem tired, lost and overwhelmed, as one exhibition segues into another with very little visible indication that something has ended and something else has begun. Most frustratingly, it was often impossible to determine which exhibition label related to which exhibit. (And this wasn’t just my experience, I saw everybody doing it, traipsing back and forth, trying to piece it all together, like a giant game of Cluedo). In Rome, I noticed two constants. One is that the order of events seems both central and sacred to Italian culture; the other is the premium placed on design in terms of functionality and finishings. Set against these cultural premises, the Maxxi reminded me of art terrorist Jubal Brown, who in the late 90s went around vomiting coloured ink on famous artworks. Except the situation is reversed and the gallery seems to be vomiting art on to its viewers. Normally I come away from large scale exhibition spaces feeling exhilarated. With the Maxxi, I felt exhausted, overwhelmed and a little frustrated. I never felt any sense of curatorial narrative, precisely because there didn’t seem to be one. Which doesn’t mean that the museum isn’t themed according to concepts and categories, it just that the theming seemed arbitrary, was almost invisible and entirely unmemorable. So I made it to Rome but I never got to Bilboa, spending a week instead with some dear friends in London and drinking and sleeping a lot. But the Bilboa bar and the late-night drink remain in my head, along with Gehry’s Guggenheim. And if I never visit it, it will never disappoint me.

Conrad Theys

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The secret is out: just what do famous artists really talk about amoungst each other It’s a myth that when famous artists meet they chat about art, it’s Latin American Dancing, Chillies, Tortillas and Growing your own Veggies is what you need to know in order to be taken really seriously. Mark Attwood reports back to us about his successful trip to The Tamarind Institute was started by June Wayne in Los Angeles and moved to New Mexico in 1970. Tamarind is both a educational facility as well as a professional print studio, having published prints over the years with many of the worlds leading artists including Joseph Albers, Judy Chicago, Elaine de Kooning, Leon Golub, David Hockney, and Kiki Smith.

Mark Attwood with hand on press, the bold guy with the beard on Mark’s left is Jim Dine Fabulous at Fifty The Tamarind Institute (the worlds premier school of Lithography) celebrated its fiftieth anniversary in September with the opening of its purpose built and stunningly designed new building. Part of the University of New Mexico (USA) the programme

Mark Attwood from The Artists’ Press in Mpumalanga was invited to take part in a four-person panel discussion with other Tamarind master printers from Mexico, Germany and Finland. One of the primary aims of Tamarind has been to revive lithography as a print medium and to expand the medium across the globe, both of which it has done with aplomb. In the audience were luminaries of the American art world including artists Jim Dine and Ed Ruscha and the curator of Special Projects at the National Gallery in Washington DC, Ruth Fine. Mark Attwood facilitated the only demonstration held at the festivities, which was his monoprint transfer technique. A chance for South Africa to offer

something new and exciting to the international print world. After the serious stuff of panel discussions, awards and talks the rest of the programme focused on dancing (the director of Tamarind Marge Devon, is a keen Latin American dancer), a barbeque and opportunities to indulge in New Mexican cuisine (lots of chillies, tortilla and salsa). The talk among the artists and printers focussed not on ink and paper but on vegetable gardening. Jim Dine is a fanatical gardener and favours tomatoes (on trips around the globe, whenever he eats a particularly good tomato, he saves some of the seeds by squirting them onto a paper napkin to dry and then takes them home to plant). Bill Lagatutta (The Institute’s master printer and professional workshop manager) impressed all with his Jerusalem artichokes and a water wise irrigation system (a porous hose that slowly oozes water). On his return Mark Attwood’s commitment to the press and his veggie garden has been confirmed, satisfied that he is part of an international trend.

Bettie Cilliers-Barnard dies at 95

Flight towards Unity

said although he had expected his mother’s death, it was still a big blow. “We are grateful for her rich life and for the time she always spent with other people.” Her daughter, actress Jana Cilliers, said she had secretly thought that her mother “would never die, but would just become smaller on the horizon”. “I will remember her for always putting beauty and harmony above anything else. That remains a strong memory,” she said. “What she passed on to me – in fact, it was what I had always experienced of her – was her sense of things.”

Published in Die Beeld

Her work

Johan Myburg

Cilliers-Barnard had been honoured several times for her contribution to South African painting. Last year, she was the festival artist at the Innibos Festival in Nelspruit and earlier this year, a retrospective exhibition was held at the University of Pretoria where she studied. She was too weak to attend the exhibition in

Artist Bettie Cilliers-Barnard died early on Wednesday morning in her home in Menlo Park, Pretoria. She was 95.Cilliers-Barnard had recently become frail and was confined to her bed. Her son, Wimcar Cilliers,

Nelspruit. Cilliers-Barnard started painting in the late 1930s and over the years kept experimenting with colour, lines, abstraction and figurative abstractions. In the 1970s, birds unexpectedly started appearing in her work – which could be described as part of her earthly symbolism. She referred to this work as her “flights of the spirit”. In 2004, she exhibited new work for the last time at Colour as Language, an exhibition which also included older work (1937 to 1961) from her family’s private collection. The small woman with the great art work still spoke on her 90th birthday about how she would paint on a big canvass by standing with each leg on a separate bench. She worked especially at night – “because the night doesn’t have shadows”, she maintained. Stephan Welz, art expert and executive director of Strauss & Co, believes Cilliers-Barnard’s work doesn’t fetch very high prices currently “because she is part of the forgotten generation who experienced the worst of the cultural isolation during apartheid.”“She didn’t enjoy the support in her prime.”

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But, overall, one cannot say that art patronage on a grand scale is a magnanimous tradition in South Africa. (Those who have worked with sponsors on art projects will testify how commercial brands tap every last drop of exposure. Real benefaction usually only requests acknowledgement.)

Melvyn Minnaar’s The Artful Viewer Absent Art Patrons The ultra-rich Sainsbury UK grocer brothers recently gave the British Museum 25 million pounds for a new gallery. Meanwhile, Charles Saatchi is trying to hand over his London gallery and some of his collection, also estimated at 25 million pounds, to the British people. (To the UK government, actually, but they don’t seem to know how to deal with it). In the USA a number of mega wealthy art collectors are taking their contemporary art public, even building grand museums to house and show-off their ‘cultural investment’. These parvenu patrons follow a long American tradition that lists hallowed names such as Mellon, Getty and Frick. Public art benefaction on this scale, the cynic will say, is usually tainted by hubris. (Certainly this could be argued in the case of ex-adman Saatchi, who single-handedly conceived contemporary art as currency and status for the new rich.) (It was smartly picked up here in South Africa by Brett Kebble when his image needed polishing.) Yet, as the long history of western art shows, patronage of public access to art, facilitated by rich individuals outside of government, is an acceptable and even necessary cultural construct. Patronage on this scale, of this nature, may have a dark side, even ulterior motives, but it didactic public effect is unquestioned. The question is why this is not so in South Africa. Yes, there has been benefactors who, and private institutions that spent money on important visual art causes. The Ruperts have done great work. (The magnificent Pierneef station panels to be seen at the Rupert museum in Stellenbosch right now represent a generous and important private intervention.) And someone like Dick Einthoven, though Spier, has keenly gave his money towards the arts.

Profile of Arts Patron: SA born Abe Bailey

Tax-breaks are ways in which modern capitalist society contrives and manipulates the rich to spent their money for the public good. Yet, in both apartheid and post-apartheid South Africa, the government has steadfastly refused to engage with this. (The democratic government did create some bureaucratic space for supporting the arts, but we all know what a mess that is.) Nevertheless, whether a question of personal vanity or simple passion, or their real moral commitment, generous, rich benefactors and supporters create public spaces for ordinary citizens to encounter the arts and curators to sharpen their skills. Over the years, there has, from time to time, been talk of Cape Town’s need for a professional space for contemporary art. Visitors often find it surprising that a highly-charged cultural city like ours doesn’t have a modern museum. With the ghost of Bailey and his founding patronage still lingering after all the decades, the Iziko SA National Gallery has made various efforts over years to find another big patron. One to finance an extension, or help towards a brand-new building for contemporary art. It has never happened. And so the SANG has had to take up the role of being current showcase, in additional to its other duties. This has not always been greatly successful, its mandate remaining murky, and sometimes stymied by political correctness. Is it an incurable condition of Slaapstad that no voices sound up for a Cape Town Contemporary Art Museum? Don’t artists need it? Don’t art lovers and visitors want it? Is it inconceivable that a patron - his or her more-than-enough fortune safely made, - will stand up and say: come let’s support the arts in a dynamic way. And build a gallery.

Art Patron as a young man: Sir Abraham (Abe) Bailey was born in Cradock in the Cape 1864. In his lifetime, Abe Bailey, a South African born Randlord made some important public benefactions. In 1936, he donated 10 000 pounds to foster the development of aviation in South Africa. On a larger scale, in 1925 he presented the Fairbridge Collection of some 15 000 volumes of Africana to the South African Library and provided a special wing in which to house it, and in the early twenties gave 100 000 pounds to the Royal Institute of International Affairs in London to secure its future. In 1923, it moved into Chatham House and five years later Bailey promised the institute another 5000 pounds per annum (then half its total running costs) in perpetuity. Meanwhile, in his will he provided for the creation in South Africa of the Abe Bailey Trust, (see image of winners below) the aim of which was to finance initiatives by which British and Afrikaans South Africans might “work together wholeheartedly in devotion to the interests of their [sic] common country.” He also bequeathed to the South African National Gallery his large art collection.

The felling of the landmark Athlone towers has, of course, exposed the most obvious place for this space. If the Tate Modern can be the most-visited art space in the world, shouldn’t we try with our own empty powerhouse along the N2? If only there was a real art patron out there.

The patronage of Abe Bailey is still active today with the sponsorship of numerous art and social advancement projects

Conrad Theys 70th birthday and Book launch, Stellenbosch Conrad Theys’ 70th birthday was celebrated on 8th September with the opening of a retrospective of this celebrated artists’ work at the Sasol Art Museum in Stellenbosch, held in conjunction with the Stellenbosch Art Gallery. The exhibition, was opened by Prof. Russell Botman, coincided with the launch of the richly illustrated book, The Art of Conrad Theys – Soul of the Land, written by Prof Alexander Duffey and compiled by Meyer Grobbelaar. Seventy leather-bound Collector’s edition volumes, as well as the standard edition, was presented at this occasion where books were signed by the artist. Apart from the book launch and retrospective, an exhibition of selected works are available at the Stellenbosch Art Gallery. Theys was born in the town of Montagu on the 9th of September 1940 and he describes himself as a child of nature, recalling with fondness the days of his youth spent wandering the veldt, studying and collecting the stones found in the landscapes of the Klein Karroo and later Namaqualand. Trained as a teacher, his instruction in the arts commenced in 1969 when he sought guidance from artist Gregoire Boonzaier, under whose mentorship he worked until 1972. In 1974 Theys embarked on a full-time artistic career, and augmented his studies under Edwine Simon at the Ruth Prowse School of Art in Cape Town between 1981 and 1982. Described as one of the last ‘Cape Impressionists’, In 2004 the University of South Africa awarded him with an honorary doctorate for his contribution to the arts and this year he was awarded a Medal of Honour for the Visual Arts by the South African Academy of Science and Arts.

Images: (Top:) AWK Professor WJ Pienaar presents Conrad Theys with an award, (Below left) Visitor walks past Theys’s well loved klappertijes, (Below right): Professor Alex Duffy looks on as Conrad Theys signs a book for a collector. (Below left and right) a birds eye-view of the ceremony held at The SASOL Art Museum

Purchase the richly illustrated book,

The Art of Conrad Theys – Soul of the Land written by Professor Alexander Duffey and compiled by Meyer Grobbelaar of The Stellenbosch Art Gallery A limited leather-bound Collector’s edition volumes, as well as the standard edition are available from The Stellenbosch Art Gallery Tel. 021 887 8343 www.stellenboschartgallery.co.za

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Tel (+27) 12 346-0728 / Fax (+27) 12 346-0729 alette@artwessels.co.za gerrie@artwessels.co.za Visit the Alette Wessels Kunskamer at the Maroelana Centre 27 Maroelana Street, Maroelana, Pretoria OPEN: Mon to Fri 09h00 - 16h00 Saturday 09h00 - 13h00 Alette 082 652 6663

Gerrie 084 589 0711

Port Elizabeth artist wins the 2010 Sasol New Signatures, Pretoria Association of Arts Sasol, together with the Association of Arts Pretoria, has announced “Royal Visit” as the R60 000 first prize winner of this year’s Sasol New Signatures Art Competition. Laue’s winning sculpture was selected from 664 entries and was created using an old rowing boat along with ceramic pieces of a lavatory. The work was praised for being innovative, conceptual and flawlessly executed, with a high regard for detail and finish. “I was extremely surprised to have won. I was not expecting it at all. I am happy to represent Port Elizabeth (P.E) and am ecstatic that four of the

top five winners are from P.E. My future plans are simply to make art,” said Laue, whose advice to other aspiring artists is to not conform to other peoples standards. The Sasol New Signatures runner-up prize of R15 000 was awarded to Pretoria based Daandrey Steyn and his video installation entitled, “Skeumorph.” Merit awards, to the value of R5000 each, went to Gerrit van der Walt’s digital installation, “Change,” Zane Wesley Lange’s sculpture, ‘Joystick’ and Gerhardt Coetzee’s photographs. “Bridge Becoming” and ‘Becoming Dereliction’’. Lorinda Samantha Pretorius’ glass and oxide installation, “Truth Obstructed”, as

well as Nastassja Hewitt’s installation, “Let Them Eat Cake”, also received merit awards. “There has been a very high standard of work again this year and the technical competence of the 2010 entries far surpass the benchmark set and expected by the national selection panels,” he said. Images: Left: Royal Visit by Laue, Top: Gerhardt Coetzee- Becoming Dereliction, Below: Gerrit van der Walt’s Change, Below: Let them eat cake by Nastassja Hewitt, below Truth Ostructed by Lorinda Samantha Pretorius, Joystick by Zane Wesley Lange.

The largest selection of paintings, sculpture and glass by renowned South African artists.

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Visit our new branch in Tygervalley Shopping Centre, opening 1 November 2010

Jan Vermeiren

Vuleka Art Exhibition, Artb Gallery, Cape Town This year, the prestigious national competition drew over 240 entries from across South Africa of which 43 works were chosen and exhibited art Artb Gallery, Bellville. A wooden and plastic sculptural installation with sound technology, titled I Long for You, by Haidee Nel was judged as the best overall art work and has landed her the R20 000.00 Conrad Theys Prize. Nel has a Fine Art Honours degree from the University of Cape Town and is currently an artist and a sculpture. The prize winner of the Cellar Gallery best oil painting award (R5000.00) was awarded to Dr Andries Gouws for his three oil paintings of everyday objects and interiors titled Grahamstown Residence Room, Painting

Cloth and Room with Mirror and Curtains. Alessandro Pappada’s Mechanical Head, a ceramic sculpture won the Cellar Gallery Prize for the best three-dimensional work (R5000.00), while photographer and lecturer Tiaan van Deventer’s work Fallen was awarded the Cellar Gallery Prize for the best work in another medium (R5000.00). This year there were also merit awards of R2000.00 each. The Cold Press Media merit award was awarded to Mari Claase for her fibre work piece titled Global Message. The Vernon John Design merit award was awarded to Janna Prinsloo for her oil painting titled Relocated. Nikita Campbell, the gallery co-ordinator at Art.b is pleased at the number of entries received and the

high standard of current works on show, indicating that the Vuleka Art Competition has become nationally recognised as a respected platform for both emerging and established artists. The Vuleka Art Competition is currently ranked third in stature and prestige in national competitions, after the Sasol New Signitures and the Absa L’Atelier. See Artb’s website at www.artb.co.za or www.arttimes.co.za for more information. Images Top to Bottom: (Top left) Relocated by Janna Prinsloo, I long for you by Haidee Nel, Grahamstown Residence Room by Andries Gouws, (Below) Wave by Alessandro Pappada, Global Message by Mari Claase and Fallen by Tiaan van Deventer.

ALASTAIR WHITTON PATMOS AND THE WAR AT SEA 29 SEPT – 6 NOV 2010

i A R T G A L L E R Y W E M B L E Y : A P R O J E C T R O O M F O R C O N T E M P O R A R Y A R T / + 2 7 ( 0 ) 2 1 4 2 4 5 1 5 0 / I N F O @ I A R T. C O. ZA / W W W. I A R T. C O. ZA

MTN New Contemporaries Art Award 2010 at The KZNSA Gallery, Durban

Top: Winners work by Kemang Wa Lehulere : Remembering the Future of a Hole as a Verb (Below left) Curator, Nontobeko and winner Kemang Wa Lehulere, Guest curator Nontobeko Ntombela. Winner- Kemang Wa Lehulere , Deputy Minister of Arts and Culture Paul Mashatile , Donna Kukama ( Runner up), Mohau Modisakeng (Runner up), MTN SA Foundation Head, Eunice Maluleke and Stuart Bird (runner up). At a prestigious event held Wednesday 15 September at the KZNSA Gallery, Kemang Wa Lehulere was the overall winner. Staged every two years since 2001, and for the first time in Durban, this much celebrated art competition identifies four emerging South African artists as the new stars of the South African art world, and elects a winner among them.

One of the MTN Foundation’s most renowned projects, the MTN New Contemporaries Award is a competition designed to promote talented, cutting-edge artists who have not yet received critical acclaim but who are positioned to be the next leaders in the art field. It is also an art competition that has inspired robust debate, infusing the art-world discourse with fresh narratives. Eunice Maluleke, Head of MTN Foundation says: “MTN New Contemporaries Award affirms our responsibility to encourage creative thinking outside the business arena and allows the opportunity for young South Africans to be heard. These awards are also aimed at promoting young artists who have not yet had the opportunity for appropriate exposure.”

Wa Lehulere’s award of seventy thousand rands was presented by the Deputy Minister of Arts and Culture, Paul Mashatile. The three runners-up received five thousand rands each, state-of-the-art cell phones and art-book hampers, inter alia. The finalists were Donna Kukama; Kemang Wa Luhelere; Mohau Modisakeng and Stuart Bird, but although these are impressive contenders there could only be one winner.

As judges we unanimously arrived at the conclusion that what was vital here was the vision shared by the four artists – the interplay of the artists with one another; their collective vision rather than the sum of the parts. But the current structure of the MTN New Contemporaries Award required us to recognize an individual artistic achievement. Thus, we chose as winner Kemang Wa Lehulere, an artist who best embodies the overall narrative, and a creative practitioner who is most open to the idea of collective sharing and developing. This we wanted to foreground as the most laudable achievement: not the artist as individual genius but as catalyst for larger creative change.”

The adjudicators for the award issued the following statement: “Competition winners function as markers to other practicing artists; to be validated by a jury of one’s peers sets goals for conceptual thinking. We feel that these young voices offer a turning point in what has, in recent history, been the full stops and exclamation marks of creative thinking; theoretical illustration rather than fresh hypotheses. These artists instead tell stories that play off one another, whole sentences with no finite conclusions. This bodes well for their continued prac-

Says Nontobeko Ntombela, the 2010 MTN New Contemporaries Award guest curator: “This year’s finalists were an exciting line-up. Their work consisted of diverse [practices] that mix traditional and new media within a contemporary context, and that might variously be described as critical, socially-engaged or ironic”. 16

tice beyond this the MTN New Contemporaries Award.

The announcement of the award was met with sustained applause from an unusually large gallery audience. Whether winner or finalist, all four of these rising stars of the art world are set to enjoy a career trajectory, as the achievements of previous recipients, such as Michael McGarry, Mlungisi Zonde, and Nandipha Mntando, have shown.

SA Art Times | October 2010

(Above) Mohau Modisaken piece at the opening, Middle: Stuart Bird’s performance, Below: Donna Kukama’s in front of her piece, Donna Kukama’s Work SA Art Times | October 2010

Artspace Mentorship Programme. 27 October-17 November, Solo Exhibition of prints by Judy Woodborne. 1 Chester Court, 142 Jan Smuts Ave., Parkwood, Johannesburg T. 011 880 8802 www.artspace-jhb.co.za Artspace Warehouse Until 02 October, “Unnatural Selection” butterfly prints by Henning Ludeke. 10 October-06 November, “Skins” a group exhibition. 3 Hetty Ave, Fairlands, Jhb. T. 011 880 8802 artspace@wol.co.za www.artspace-jhb.co.za

Free State Bloemfontein Oliewenhuis Art Museum 16 September-31 October, “Twenty Years” by Claire Menck (In the Main Building) 16 Harry Smith Street, Bloemfontein T.051 447 9609

Clarens

Gauteng Johannesburg

Afronova Gallery 17 September-16 October, Afronova invites you to the Launch of its new Gallery space with a solo photographic exhibition by Musa Nxumalo. 155 Smit Street, Braamfontein, Johannesburg. C. 083 726 5906 afronova@tiscali.co.za www.afronova.com

Graham Fine Art Gallery 07-30 October, “The Transient Landscape. Through Small Spaces and In-Between Places.” By Scats Esterhuyse. From the new collection of landscape paintings by Scats Esterhuyse, Graham’s Fine Art Gallery will be auctioning one painting: ‘Backs to the Wind: Muizenberg’ on the exhibitions opening night, the proceeds of which will be donated to the Kidney Beanz Trust, a foundation that provides support to children with severe kidney disease. Shop 31, Broadacres Lifestyle centre, Cnr. Valley & Cedar Rd’s Fourways, Johannesburg. T.011 465 9192 www.grahamsgallery.co.za

CO-OP Until 09 October, “Insideout” by Joe Paine. “Insideout” is a furniture and product exhibition that crosses the threshold between what goes in and what goes out. 68 Juta Street, Braamfontein T. 011 023 0336 info@co-opjoburg.com www.co-opjoburg.com

16 Halifax Works by Michael Heyns can now also be viewed by appointment in Johannesburg at 16 Halifax Street Bryanston. Dana MacFarlane 082 784 6695 dana@michaelheyns.co.za

David Krut Projects During October, A Group monotype exhibition. 140 Jan Smuts Ave., Parkwood, Johannesburg T. 011 447 0627 www.davidkrutpublishing.com

Artist Proof Studio 28 August-09 October, “Layer upon Layer” prints by Bronwen Findlay. In collaboration with Tim’s Print studio and Artists Proof Studio. Opening Saturday 28 August @ 12am. The Bus Factory, 3 President Street, West Entrance, Newtown Cultural Precinct, Newtown. T. 011 492 1278 artistp@mweb.co.za www.artistproofstudio.org.za

Henry Taylor Gallery The Henry Taylor Gallery specializes in South African Investment art; hence, it is not uncommon to find Old Master paintings by Errol Boyley and J.H. Pienreff, hanging alongside up and coming artists such as Claire Denaire or Gian. P. Garizio. 29 October, Celebrity Art Auction & Cheese and Wine. On Friday 29 October @ 7:00pm - 11:00pm. To reserve tickets for this event visit www.allheart.co.za or call Natalie on 082 7992079.Shop No G 7.2 Cnr. Cedar Rd. and Witkoppen Rd. Fourways T. 011 70-53194 htaylor@mweb.co.za www.henrytaylor gallery.co.za

Everard Read Gallery Jhb 09 September-03 October, “Stage” pastel on paper by Haneke Benade, “An Accumulation of Change” oil paintings by Rina Strutzer. 07-31 October, Works by Leon Vermeulen. 04-25 November, Oil on canvas by Paul Augustinus. 6 Jellicoe Ave., Rosebank, Johannesburg T. 011 788 4805 www.everard-read.co.za Gallery 2 11 September-02 October, “Position in Space” by Karin Daymond. 140 Jan Smuts Ave, Parkwood. T. 011 447 0155/98 gots@mweb.co.za www.gallery2.co.za

Artspace –Jhb 04 September-23 October, Mentorship Programme Exhibitions Three different exhibitions of the participants of the

Goodman Gallery 26 August-20 October, “Kind of Blue” by Sam Nhlengethwa Until 16 October, A Perfect Kind of Love by Joël Andrianomearisoa. (Project Space) 163 Jan Smuts Ave., Parkwood, Johannesburg T. 011 788 1113 www.goodman-gallery.com

Cool Art Space Until 05 October, “Let there be Light” by Pamela Prenidni. 17 6th Street, Parkhurst. T. 011 422 6469

Alliance Française of Johannesburg 19-23 October, Photographic exhibition by Hugh Mdlalose. 10-15 November, “Memory stains” by Cathy Abraham. Paintings and drawings. 17, Lower park Drive, Corner Kerry Road, Parkview T. 011 646 1169 johannesburg@alliance.org.za www.alliance.org.za

GoetheonMain Until 09 October, “Feedingspace” by Hannah Le Roux. GoetheonMain, 245 Main Street, City & Suburban, Johannesburg T. 011 4423232

CIRCA on Jellicoe 09 September - 03 October, Mixed media New Works by Gavin Younge. 07-28 October, “The Mystery of the Elements” featuring works by the Spanish artist Enric Pladevall. 4 November - 16 Dec, Mixed media, bronze sculpture by Deborah Bell. 2 Jellicoe Ave. T. 011 788 4805 www. circaonjellicoe.co.za

ABSA Art Gallery 06-29 October, “Hartland” an exhibition of prints and artist’s books by Stephan Erasmus. Opening Speaker David Paton on Wednesday 6 October @ 6pm. Absa Towers North, 161 Main Street, Johannesburg. T. 011 350 5139 info@stephanerasmus.com

Gertrude Posel Gallery This gallery has a permanent exhibition of traditional southern, central and West African art. Address: University of the Witwatersrand, Senate House, Jorissen Street, Braamfontein Tel: 011 717 1365 julia.charlton@wits.ac.za

Brodie/Stevenson 4 November-10 December, New works by Wim Botha. Opening on 04 November from 6:30 to 9:00 pm. Botha will be presenting new sculptural works, drawings and a site specific installation. Brodie/Stevenson is pleased to announce the opening of its new gallery space at 62 Juta Street, Braamfontein, Johannesburg. T. 011 326 0034, www.brodiestevenson.com

Blou Donki Art Gallery Contemporary Art, Steel Sculptures, Functional Art, Photography and Ceramics. Windmill Centre Main Street Clarens T. 058 256 1757 www.bloudonki.co.za

Gallery MOMO 30 September-25 October, “African Metropolitan Architecture” a photographic journey by David Adjaye 21 October-08 November, OKHA Design. 52 7th Avenue, Parktown North, Johannesburg T. 011 327 3247 www.gallerymomo.com

Bailey Seippel Gallery 22 August-22 October, “A Life Behind the Lens” by Ranjith Kally. A Durban Perspective on South Africa 1946-1982. Until 03 October, “Mbongeni Buthelezi Abstracts” by Mbongeni Buthelezi. Arts on Main, 260 Cnr Fox and Berea, CBD Johannesburg. T. 071 227 0910 baileyseippel@gmail.com www.baileyseippel.co.za

Johan Smith Art Gallery 25 September-04 October, Johan Smith presents his 16th Annual Exhibition in oil depicting typical Eastern Free State Landscapes. Preview Friday 24 September 3pm-7pm. Official opening (by Pierre van Pletzen [Oubaas from 7de Laan]) at 11am on Saturday 25 September. Preview again from 09am- 10:45am. Windmill Centre Main Street Clarens T. 058 256 1620 www.johansmith.co.za

Gallery AOP 11 September-02 October, “...And to that Sea Return” by Richard Penn 09-30 October, “Draw links” contemporary drawing 44 Stanley Ave., Braamfontein Werf (Milpark), T. 011 726 2234 www.artonpaper.co.za

SA Art Times | October 2010

Niklas Zimmer combines modern and kitsch in his interpretation of Tretchikoff’s ‘Birth of Venus’ on DIASEC

‘Tretchikoff + Me’ exhibition held at Salon91 photographer: Niklas Zimmer printed by The Prophotolab at Orms: Photographic prints on Fuji Crystal Archive Paper, mounted by Framed by ORMS: DIASEC process

Salon91 on Kloof Street, Cape Town recently played host to the ‘Tretchikoff & Me’ exhibition. This exciting exhibition featured vintage Tretchikoff prints, juxtaposed against the contemporary responses of local South African artists. One artist that stood out was Niklas Zimmer – a German-South African artist, photographer and musician. This was not only due to his unique interpretation of the subject matter, but also the technique he used to frame and mount his exhibition. Zimmer approached Framed by ORMS to mount his prints through a process called DIASEC. DIASEC is a patented method of face-mounting the image side of a photographic print to transparent perspex (acrylic glass), while the back of the print is mounted on aluminium. In other words the print is sandwiched between perspex and aluminium resulting in a perfectly flat, high gloss finish that doesn’t require a traditional frame thanks to a hanging mechanism attached directly to the aluminium backing that hangs the artwork 3cm from the wall. Framed by ORMS is the sole agent of DIASEC in the Southern Hemisphere, with South Africa one of only eight countries in the world licensed to perform this exclusive face-mounting procedure. Niklas explains further, “For a long time I have been waiting for an opportunity to see my photographs presented in DIASEC. When the process became available here [South Africa] I was excited to give it a try. My expectations were certainly exceeded. The effect

A side view of a DIASEC print.

DIASEC has on the colour, contrast and sharpness of my work is startling. Because I make very tight compositions, I am delighted to be able to have the images float freely on the wall without any borders or frames. All in all, the DIASEC process really ‘made’ my photos on this show.” Images for DIASEC can either be sent in digital format to the Prophotolab at ORMS for printing, or directly to Framed by ORMS in print form. The finished product will be delivered anywhere in South Africa. ORMS also specialises in large format digital printing, as well as archival photographic hand prints for gallery exhibitions.

Shop 4, Roeland Square, Canterbury Street, Cape Town South Africa T +27 21 465 1221 F +27 21 465 2928 info@framedbyorms.co.za

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EBEN VAN DER MERWE Stillife oil on board 53 cm x 71 cm

www.artandwine.co.za anton@artandwine.co.za Tel/fax: 058 256 1298 Cell: 082 341 8161 279 Main Road, Clarens

UNISA Permanent Collection

Manfred Zylla ‘At the pool1’, mixed media 2007

Kim Berman new lithographs

Stripped, Lowveld Plantation I, hand-printed lithograph, 57 x 76 cm. Edition 30.

UNISA Art Gallery Theo Van Wijk Building B5-02, Goldfields Entrance, Main Campus Tel: 012 429 6823 / ukun1@unisa.ac.za

The Artists’ Press Box 1236, White River, 1240 • Tel 013 751 3225 mark@artistspress.co.za • www.artprintsa.com

Art Times Kim Sept 2010.indd 1

17/9/10 10:05:53

Captions: Train station : Which black train to take is matter of guesswork. They have no destination signs and no announcement of arrivals is made. Head car may be numbered to show its route, but number is often wrong. In confusion, passengers sometimes jump across track, and some are killed by express trains. Mine recruition: During group medical examination the nude men are herded through a string of doctors’ offices. School class : Cole’s caption unknown. (According to Struan Robertson and others, this photograph reflects the eagerness of black children to learn, in spite of the terrible handicaps under which they laboured, a subject to which Cole devoted much attention.) Child and nanny: Servants are not forbidden to love. Woman holding child said, “I love this child, though she’ll grow up to treat me just like her mother does. Now she is innocent.” Riverside : Cole’s caption unknown.(This is almost certainly from a shebeen in Pretoria’s Riverside, just outside Eersterust from which pictures of the same people were published in Drum, May 1962.

Ernest Cole : A photographic exhibition at the Johannesburg Art Gallery Ernest Cole believed passionately in his mission to use photographs to tell the world what it was like, and what it meant, to be black under Apartheid. These photographs, of unsurpassed strength and gravitas, reflect Cole’s intimate identification with his own people. With courage and compassion, his lens penetrated the depth and extent of the insanity of Apartheid and how its racist laws oppressed the lives of black people. House of Bondage, a collection of Cole’s photographs was banned in South Africa soon after it was published in 1967. This major critique of apartheid has hardly been seen in this country. Cole went into exile in order to publish House of

Bondage. He never returned to South Africa and died in New York in 1990 after more than 23 years away from the country of his birth. He left no known negatives and few prints of his monumental life’s work. During the years 1969 – 1975 he lived in Stockholm, Sweden. Here, Cole was cared for by a photographer who received a collection of prints from him. This set of extremely rare prints, most of them made by Cole himself, were subsequently donated to the Hasselblad Foundation. Never exhibited internationally before, this set of prints can now be seen in this major exhibition. Many are uncropped and, individually presented, they re-

veal the complex interaction of the strength, subtlety and elegance of Cole’s photographic ‘seeing’. In honour of Ernest Cole and his family, the Hasselblad Foundation has chosen the Johannesburg Art Gallery, South Africa as the opening venue for this unique world tour. Other venues will include the South African National Gallery, Cape Town; Red Location Museum, Port Elizabeth; Durban Art Gallery and the library at Mamelodi Campus, University of Pretoria. The exhibition will be opened by the Ambassador of Sweden, Mr. Peter Teljer at the Johannesburg Art Gallery on Sunday 19 September at 4 pm.

One Hundred Years of Collecting Art: The Johannesburg Art Gallery This publication serves as a summary of 100 years of collection history and focus on the three main areas of the collection: Historical Works, Contemporary Works and the Southern African Collection. It includes comprehensive essays accompanied by selected artworks from the different collections. The book is scheduled to launch in late November 2010.

Bob Gosani, Treason Trial, End of round One, Mandela boxing on the roof top of a newspaper building in Johannesburg, 1957, c

Johannesburg Art Gallery : SA Photography – 1950 - 2010 Apartheid – Struggle - Freedom This summer, we put on a large photography exhibition showing the history of South Africa as well as the country’s culture and lifestyle from the 1950s up until now. In mostly black and white images the exhibition gives an insight into the social, political and cultural aspects as well as the economic situation of South Africa in its development in time, as well as the modern South Africa of today. The exhibition is divided chronologically into three main time periods, giving it a comprehensive overview of its development in history: 1950-1976 Apartheid , 1976-1994 Struggle 1994-2010 Freedom The photographers such as Bonile Bam, Jodie Bieber, Pierre Crocquet, David Goldblatt, Bob Gosani, George Hallett, Alf Kumalo, Ranjith Kally, Peter Magubane, Gedeon Mendel, Santu Mofokeng, SA Art Times | October 2010

G.R. Naidoo, Cedric Nunn, Mikhael Subotzky, Andrew Tshabangu, Paul Weinberg, Gille de Vlieg and unknown photographers from DRUM Magazine, give us each an individual insight into the life in South Africa throughout these past 60 years. The photographs from the 50s and 60s published in DRUM magazine tell the stories of life in the period of Apartheid, showing the naked truth of segregation, as well as documenting life as it continued to happen with sports events, football stars and a night life full of jazz and dancing. Then, in the 80s and 90s the beginning of brutal murders, the demonstrations, the violence and brutality of living imprisonment and the fight for freedom. Finally, in the 21st century the photographers show a South Africa of recovery and immense development. Always with history in mind and the knowledge that there is still much more to come and so many more steps to take, we see a modern South Africa of democracy, where everyone can vote, strong women can be, the freedom of

speech and, also, of art. Working in close co-operation with the BAHA Archive and South African Photographers, the exhibition opened in Germany at the Willy-Brandt-Haus Berlin on the 27th of May, followed by the Museum Goch, opening on the 30th of May, and Stadthaus Ulm, opening on the 18th of June. The exhibition will then be shown in South Africa at the Pretoria Art Museum and Johannesburg Art Gallery. It is the largest photography exhibition ever to show a broad overview of the country’s history, the culture, as well as sport, the struggle and the daily life or survival in the mega cities in this important time of change. The exhibition is accompanied by a German/English catalogue (160 pages), published by Hatje Cantz, editor Delia Klask, Ralf Seippel, articles by Andries Oliphant, Luli Callinicos and Wiebke Ratzeburg.

Tel: 011 292 7113 E-mail: art@artafrique.co.za Web: www.artafrique.co.za Address: U45 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Level 4 Legacy Corner Cnr. Fifth & Maude Street Sandton

offers a unique Art Tour at our new Sandton based Gallery, and is the only in that can be done under one roof. While enjoying an informative talk, take a tour of over

from all over .

to book an art tour. (24hrs Notice required) October Artist:

Art Afrique is proud to announce the arrival of several new pieces by Aidon Westcott from his recent collection.

, you will receive a

Moses Kottler â&#x20AC;&#x153;Meidjieâ&#x20AC;?, 1926 Wood 1570 x 280 x 339 mm, Collection of the Johannesburg Art Gallery

free art tour (valued @ R 100.00) as well as meet the owner of Art Afrique while enjoying a glass of wine.

SA Art Times | October 2010

Johannesburg Art Gallery 09 August-December, “Transformations: woman’s art from the late 19th century to 2010” artists taken from JAG’s Collection. 19 September-21 November, Photography by Ernest Cole. 03 October-11 January 2011, “South African Photography 1950-2010” Opening 03 October King George Str., Joubert Park, Johannesburg T. 011 725 3130 khwezig@joburg.org.za www.joburg.org.za Kim Sacks Gallery 19 September-06 October, Ceramics by Clementine van der Walt. 153 Jan Smuts Av. Parkwood. 011 447 5804 Cell: 083 377 9076 Manor Gallery 07 October-02 November, “The 84th National Open Exhibition of the Watercolour Society of South Africa” Top South African watercolourists participating include: Sue Orpen, Zanne Bezuidenhoudt, Cherelee Powell and Ingrid Kolzing. Opening Thursday 7th October @ 6.30pm. Norscot Manor Centre, Penguin Drive. T. 011 465 7934 gallery@wssa.org.za www.wssa.org.za Market Photo Workshop 06 October-01 November, “Working the City, Experiences of Migrant Women in Johannesburg” a group student project in Poster form. 2 President Street, Newtown, Johannesburg. T. 011 834 1444 info@marketphotoworkshop.co.za www.marketphotoworkshop.co.za Miele 30 September-30 October, “Women in Motion” Solo Exhibition by Ilze Coetzee. Miele, Gallery of Fine Living, 63 Peter Place, Bryanston, Johannesburg. Contact Christina Wiese 083 611 3508 christina@brownspice.co.za. Museum Africa Until 24 Dec 2010, “l’Afrique: A Tribute to Maria SteinLessing and Leopold Spiegel” co-curated by Nessa Leibhammer and Natalie Knight. 121 Bree Str., Newtown, Johannesburg T. 011 833 5624 www.knightgalleries.net Nirox Foundation (Arts on Main) Until 09 October, Pre-Green by Barend de Wet. 16 October-07 November, “What do we know about Landscape?” by French photographer Éric Bourret. French walking photographer Eric Bourret surveyed the Cradle of Humankind during a six-week residency at the Nirox Foundation, Gauteng, in 2009. During this period of introspection, he contemplated the presence of 21st century clues on a ground of 4 million years’ worth of human activities. His meditative experience resulted in two photographic installations. The exhibition asks: what do we know about the landscape surrounding us, its heritage and the marks we leave behind us in our environment? 09 October-15 December, ‘The Mystery of the Elements’ featuring works by the Spanish artist Enric Pladevall (Nirox Sculpture Park) Cnr Berea and Main str, City and Suburban, Johannesburg. comm.culture@ifas.org.za www. SA Art Times | October 2010

artsonmain.co.za | www.niroxarts.com | www.ifas.org. za/culture | www.ericbourret.com Resolution Gallery Until 11 January 2011, “Public Perception” a poster show by Andy Robertson. 142 Jan Smuts Ave., Parkwood, Johannesburg T. 011 880 4054 www.resolutiongallery.com Right on the Rim (Arts On main) Until 02 October, “Binary Beauty” a solo exhibition by Robyn Field Cnr Main Street and Berea Street, Johannesburg Rooke Gallery 28 October-15 December, “Study of Trees” photography by Garth Meyer. The Newtown, 37 Quinn Street, Newtown, Jhb C. 072 658 0762 Seippel Gallery 14 August-09 October, Recent Works by Mbongeni Buthelezi. From 10 October, Water paintings by Jill Trappler. Arts on Main, Cnr of Fox and Berea, Johannesburg T. 011 401 1421 www.seippel-gallery.com Spaza Art Gallery From 19 September, “Spring Exhibition” various artists including music and poetry. 19 Wilhelmina Street, Troyville. T. 011 614 9354 C. 082 494 3275 Standard Bank Gallery 12 October-04 December, “People, Prints and Process-Twenty five years at Caversham” Cnr of Simmonds & Frederick Str.’s, Johannesburg, T. 011 631 1889 www.standardbankgallery.co.za

Pretoria Alette Wessels Kunskamer Exhibition of Old Masters and selected leading contemporary artists. Maroelana Centre, Maroelana. GPS : S25º 46.748 EO28º 15.615 T. 012 346 0728 C. 084 589 0711 alette@artwessels.co.za www.artwessels.co.za Association of Arts Pretoria 19 September-20 October, “In a Nutshell on Wheels” by Craig Muller. 173 Mackie Street, Nieuw Muckleneuk, Pretoria. T. 012 346 3100 artspta@mweb.co.za www.artsassociationpta.co.za Brooklyn Theatre in association with Trent Gallery 28 August-15 October, “Collections” featuring Anna Vorster, Ernest Rood, Joel Tsepho Sebothoma and Renier Oosthuizen. Greenlyn Village Shopping Centre, Thomas Edison Street, Menlo Park. Stuart @ 082 923 2551, trent.art@gmail.com, daniel@brooklyntheatre.co.za www.brooklyntheatre.co.za www.trent-art.co.za Fried Contemporary 02 September-03 October, Works by Paula Louw. 06-28 October, “Passage” a group show that includes drawings by Maria van Rooyen and Amos Letsoalo

as well as paintings by Pauline Gutter and digital prints by Daandrey Steyn. 430 Charles St, Brooklyn, Pretoria. T. 012 346 0158 art@friedcontemporary.com www.friedcontemporary.com Gallery Michael Heyns 21 September-31 October, Works on canvas, board & paper by Michael Heyns, including pieces previously in his own collection. 351 Lynnwood Road Menlo Park Pretoria T.012 460 3698, Cell.082 451 5584 www.michaelheyns.co.za Kunsuniek 06 October-14 November, Experience a stimulating variety of well-known South African artwork uniquely exhibited in a superb dwelling atmosphere. 331 Chappies Rd, Lynnwood, Pretoria Marie Spruyt 012 361 6927 www.kunsuniek.co.za Platform on 18th 01-17 October, “Con Artists” Sculpture and ceramics by Corne Joubert, Ruan Hoffman. 21 October-13 November, Group Show of paintings, photography and mixed media by Leanie Mentz, Liebet Marie, Marcia Moon. 18 november-04 December, Solo exhibition of paintings and mixed media by David Smuts. 232 18th Street Rietondale, Pretoria. T. 084 7644 258 www.platformon18th.co.za Pandora Art Gallery 03 September-17 October, “Tanti Piccoli Robot” a group exhibition. Opening 03 September by art critic and journalist Johan Myburg. The exhibition, complemented by a performance by the Rynier Prins Jazz Trio. 621 Berea Street, Muckleneuk, Pretoria. C. 084 997 3903 pandora.art1@gmail.com www.pan-dora.co.za Pretoria Art Museum 15 September-29 October, “Neo-Emergence” a group exhibition, curated by Nthabiseng Rachel Montshiwa. Until December, A selection of ceramics, representing the development of studio ceramics and the work of traditional rural potters of South Africa over the past thirty years, is on display. North Gallery and Preiss Hall, T.012 344 1807/8 art. museum@tshwane.gov.za www.pretoriaartmuseum.co.za Trent Gallery 02-14 October, Otta klar 16-28 October, Annette Pretorius Exhibition. 29 October-11 November, Group show including Angus Taylor and Judith Mason. Opening 29 October at 6:30pm, closing 11 November. Curated by Marijke de Kock. 198 Long Street, Waterkloof, Pretoria. T. 012 460 5497. Trent.art@gmail.com www.trent-art.co.za

Mpumalanga

White River The Loop Art Foundry & Sculpture Gallery Casterbridge Complex Corner R40 and Numbi Roads White River T. 013 751 2435 www.tlafoundry.co.za

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SA Art Times | October 2010

Western Cape Cape Town Artvark Gallery Until 30 November, Paintings by Lolly Hahn-Page and Tammy Griffin. During September, New work of the well-acclaimed Zimbabwean Artist Wendy Roselli. 48 Main Road Kalk Bay, T. 021 788 5584 Artvark now also at the Cape Quarter, on the 1st floor Alliance Française of Cape Town Until 02 October, “Fleshy Wasteland” by Retha Ferguson. 155 Loop Street, Cape Town. T. 021 423 5699 capetown@alliance.org.za www.alliance.org.za /A Word Of Art will be closed for the next few months to work towards the next big group show and on the www. writeonafrica.org project 66 Albert rd, Woodstock Industrial Centre. T. 021 448 7889 rickylee@writeonafrica.com www.a-word-of-art.co.za The Arts Association of Bellville 29 September-21 October, a solo exhibition by Johan Coetzee, and a Jewellery exhibition by Marlize Meyer, Jolene Kritzinger, Isabel Pfaff, Liz Dunstan- Deacon, Nadja Bossmann and Diana Ferreira. The Arts Association of Bellville, The Library centre, Carel van Aswegan Street, Bellville. T. 021 918 2301 info@artb.co.za www.artb.co.za/gallery.htm Atlantic Art Gallery A permanent display showcasing leading contemporary South African artists. 25 Wale Street, Cape Town. T. 021 423 5775 AVA Until 14 October, “Situation” by Vaughn Sadie 18 October-12 November, Main Gallery: Lynette Bester / Long Gallery: Tracey Derrick / Artstrip: Elsabe Milandri Association for Visual Arts, 35 Church Street, Cape Town. T.021 424 7436 art@ava.co.za www.ava.co.za Barnard Gallery 29 September-19 November, “CC-Unlimited Power” by Robert Slingsby. 55 Main Street, Newlands. fiona@luxurybrands.co.za Blank Projects. Until 02 October, “The Menippean Uprising” a group exhibition curated by Pierre Fouché & Hentie van der Merwe. 07-30 October, Painting & Installation by Trasi Henen. 113-115 Sir Lowry Rd, Woodstock, Cape Town. T.072 1989 221 info@blankprojects.com www.blankprojects.com Cape Gallery 22 August-02 October, “Borders” the Cape Gallery annual Wildlife Exhibition. 03-23 October, “Ephemeral” and “In Pursuit of Eden” an exhibition capturing the beauty and majesty of the Outeniqua Mountain Range by Raquel de Castro Maia and Colin Stephenson to be opened on Sunday SA Art Times | October 2010

3rd October 2010 at 4.30 p.m. Raquel and Colin are a husband and wife team. They work together on various photographic bodies of work that express their passion for nature and the conservation thereof. 24 October-13 November, “Desert Abstractions and Photo Impressionism” Photographs (Giclée Prints on Canvas) by Robert Müller. To be opened by Nicole Palmer (Artist Photographer, Stellenbosch)On Sunday 24th October 2010 at 4.30 p.m. From 14 November, “Natures & Patterns” recent work by Christopher Langley. 60 Church Street, Cape Town. T. 021 423 5309. web@capegallery.co.za www.capegallery.co.za Cape Quarter Lifestyle Village 27-31 October, “Design Now! The décor and design week” The Piazza: 72 Waterkant Street, The Square: 27 Somerset Road, Green Point. T. 021 421 1111 www.capequarter.co.za. Carmel Art Dealers in Fine art, exclusive distributers of Pieter van der Westhuizen etchings. Relocation of their Claremont and Constantia galleries is now complete visit the new gallery at the Cape Quarter Square –Cape Town’s newest upmarket and trendy shopping mall where Leonard Schneider and Beila are available to assist you. Cape Quarter Square, 27 Somerset Road Green Point (on the first floor above the Piazza & restaurant level) T. 021 4213333 www.carmelart.co.za Casa Labia 06 October-11 November, “Florence Years” by Kim Meyerson. 192 Main Rd, Muizenberg. T. 021 788 6067 info@casalabia.co.za www.casalabia.co.za Cedar Tree Gallery Until end October, “The Palette and the Palate” A wine-centric exhibition, with works of vineyards, events inspired by wine, perhaps works while under the influence of wine and works using wine as a medium. Rodwell House, Rodwell Road, St James, Cape Town. T. 021 787 9880 cedartreegallery@gmail.com www.cedartreegallery.co.za Centre for African Studies Gallery Until 18 December, “Juggling with the Familiar II : Exhibition of Works in Progress” The exhibition brings together photographic and mixed media projects by South African female artists who utilise extreme subjectivity and intimacy within their methodology and style in one way or another. Artists included are: Ingrid Masonda, Tracey Derrick, Suzanne Duncan, Sophia Claassens, Siona O’ Connell and Jenny Altschuler. On 2nd October there will be a walkabout and presentation of performances dealing with privacy and public also in the CAS Gallery. Harry Openheimer Building, Engineering Mall, Upper Campus, UCT. T. 021 650 2308 David Porter Antiques Buyers and sellers of South African art. T. 021 6830580/083 452 5862 david@davidporterantiques.com

The Donald Greig Bronze Foundry and Gallery Donald Greig is a specialized wildlife sculptor and his sculptures ranging in size from life-size to paperweights will be on display at the gallery. The foundry will do a bronze pour on most days and the entire ‘Lost Wax Casting Process’ can be viewed by the public through special glass windows. The Nautilus Building, No.14 West Quay Road, V&A Waterfront, Cape Town T. 021 418 4515 greig@intekom.co.za www.donaldgreig.com Erdmann Contemporary /Photographers Gallery 25 September-30 October, “Doppelgänger” a solo exhibition for artist Mark Hipper. This exhibition was planned and scheduled one year ago. Hipper’s sudden and tragic death on 12 August 2010 did not change these plans. He had already completed two of the three large paintings. Hipper had titled these paintings, Unfinished I, II & III. Opening Wednesday 29 September @ 6 pm with Opening Speaker Wilma Cruise. 63 Shortmarket Str., Cape Town T. 021 422 2762 galleryinfo@mweb.co.za www.erdmanncontemporary.co.za Everard Read Gallery Until 31 Jan 2011, “Untamed”, an installation by Dylan Lewis at Kirstenbosch Gardens. 16 September-15 October, “Bronzes 1980-1990” Percy Konqobe Everard Read, Cape Town and Rose Korber Art, in association with the Dreyer Foundation, Germany, present an exhibition of major bronze sculptures by noted Gauteng artist and Sangoma, Percy Konqobe. 18 November-02 December, “Never & Always” by Mark Sheilds. 3 Portswood Road, Victoria and Alfred Waterfront, Cape Town. T. 021 418 4527 ctgallery@everard.co.za www.everard-read-capetown.co.za 34 Fine Art 17 August-09 October, “New” a group exhibition celebrating 34FineArt’s new gallery as well as some refreshing new works from the current inventory sourced from a fact finding mission to Europe and the UK. 12 October-06 November, “Submerge” a solo exhibition by Lionel Smit. C. 082 354 1500 www.vgallery.co.za / www.34fineart.com Focus Contemporary Until 19 October, “The Century so Far”, new works by Karin Miller 28 October-25 November, “Pretending to be Flesh” by Christian Diedericks. 26 November-26 December, “Spot” by Helen Sear. 67 Long Street, Cape Town. T. 021 419 8888 info@focuscontemporary.co.za www.focuscontemporary.co.za The Framery Art Gallery 23 September-06 November, Patrick Mokhuane and Timothy Zantsi. Opening 23 September @ 7pm. 67g Regent Road, Sea Point. T. 021 4345022 G2 Art 13-27 October, “A Place, A Feeling, A Memory” an exhibition of mixed media artworks and ceramics by Diane Harper. Opening 13 October @ 6pm-8pm. 61 Shortmarket Street, Cape Town. T.021 424 7169 di@g2art.co.za www.g2art.co.za

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SA Art Times | October 2010

Gallery F Contemporary and archival South African Art. 221 Long Str., Cape Town T. 021 422 5246 info@galleryf.co.za www.galleryf.co.za Gill Allderman Gallery Continuous Exhibition, “Exhibition # 36” A Group exhibition featuring abstract art, graffiti, paintings, drawings. 278 on Main Road, Kenilworth. www.alldermangallery.co.za gallery@new.co.za C. 083 556 2540 Goodman Gallery, Cape 02 September-04 October, “All Things being Equal” by Hank Willis Thomas. 16 October-15 November, Painting show, a group exhibition featuring Minnette Vari, Lisa Brice, David Koloane, Tom Cullberg and more. 21 October: Book Launch, Kudzanai Chiurai 20 November-09 January 2011, Season Show featuring Brett Murray. 3rd Floor, Fairweather House, 176 Sir Lowry Rd., Woodstock, Cape Town T. 021 462 7573/4, www.goodmangallerycape.com Greatmore Studios Artist in Residence Kim Myerson will be exhibiting at Casa Labia from 06 October-11 November with an exhibition entitled “Florence Years” 47-49 Greatmore Street, Woodstock. T. 021 447 9699 info@greatmoreart.org www.greatmoreart.org iArt Gallery 15 October-13 November, “Mad Art Moments” An exhibition in in support of the Make a Difference Foundation. Featuring Sheena Rose. 71 Loop Street, Cape Town. T. 021 424 5150 www.iart.co.za iArt Gallery Wembley 29 September-06 November, “Patmos and the war at sea” by Alistair Whitton. Wembley Square, Gardens, Cape Town T. 021 424 5150 www.iart.co.za Infin Art Gallery A gallery of work by local artists. Wolfe Street Chelsea Wynberg T. 021 761 2816 and Buitengracht Str. Cape Town T. 021 423 2090 www.infinart.co.za Institute for Democracy in Africa (IDASA) Until 30 November, “Arch” by Ed Young. A super-real sculpture of the Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu swinging from a chandelier. 6 Spin Street, Cape Town. T. 021 467 7600 www.idasa.org.za Irma Stern Gallery 26 October-13 November, Ceramics by Melanie Hillerbrand. Cecil Rd, Rosebank, Cape Town. T. 021 685 5686 www.irmastern.co.za Iziko SA National Gallery Until 03 October, “1910-2010: From Pierneef to Gugulective” a re-hang of the entire gallery is being curated to showcase the very best of South African art. Until 03 October, “US” 08-31 October, “Echoes” a sound art cultural SA Art Times | October 2010

exchange project between Australia and South Africa. Leading Australian sound artist Philip Samartzis will travel to Cape Town to produce a surround-sound installation at the Iziko South African National Gallery. In 2009, Echoes saw South African artist James Webb travel to Melbourne, Australia to produce a new work in collaboration with the City of Melbourne and the Melbourne International Arts Festival. There will be a walkabout of Echoes by Philip Samartzis at 10:30am on Sunday 10 October. 26 October-30 January 2011, Borders presents a distillation of work from the Bamako Encounters 8th African Photographic Biennale, 2009. Mali’s pan-African exhibition is travelling for the first time to Sub-Saharan Africa, providing South Africans with a unique opportunity to engage with contemporary photographic production from across the continent and its diaspora. The show is curated by Michket Krifa and Laura Serani. 25 Queen Victoria Street, Cape Town T. 021 481 3934 Joao Ferreira Gallery 29 September-30 October, “A New beginning” by Araminta de Clermont 70 Loop Street, Cape Town. T. 021 423 5403 info@joaoferreiragallery.com www.joaoferreiragallery.com Kalk Bay Modern 15 August-31 October, “Point of Focus” photography exhibition. Pinhole Photography with selected conventional photography. Jenny Altschuler, Glen Green, Nic Bothma, Gavin Foley, Geoff Kirby, Dave Robertson, Leanette Botha and Kevin Factor are some of the photographers featured in the exhibition. 1st Floor, Olympia Buildings, 136 Main Rd, Kalk Bay. T.021 788 6571 kbmodern@iafrica.com www.kalkbaymodern.com Lindy van Niekerk Art Gallery 10-17 October, The Lindy van Niekerk Art Gallery’s Annual October Art Exhibition. 31 Kommandeur Road, Welgemoed, Bellville. T. 021 913 7204/5 www.artpro.co.za Michael Stevenson Contemporary Until 16 October, Solo exhibition of new paintings, drawings and photos by Zander Blom. Until 16 October, DJ Spooky (As part of the FOREX project series) until 16 October, Featuring Simplicity as an Irrational Fear by Donna Kukama, Nastio Mosquito and Nathalie Bikoro. Donna Kukama, Nastio Mosquito and Nathalie Bikoro (Side Gallery) 21 October-27 November, “As Terras do Fim do Mundo” by Jo Ractliffe 21 October-27 November, “4 for Four” a four-screen video installation by Simon Gush. 21 October-27 November, “Fishermen (Études no 1)” a short film by the renowned Finnish artist Eija-Liisa Ahtila as part of the FOREX series Ground Floor, Buchanan Building, 160 Sir Lowry Rd, Cape Town. T. 021 462 1500 info@michaelstevenson.com www.michaelstevenson.com Michaelis Art Gallery 09 September-02 October, “Blissful Disturbance” a group exhibition by WITS Masters in Fine Arts students. 16 September-06 October, “Artworks in Progress” Launch of the Volume 10 of the Artwork in Progress

Journal and an exhibition of artwork by the Staff of the Michaelis School of Fine Art, University of Cape Town. University of Cape Town, 31-35 Orange Street, Gardens. Cell: 083 367 7168 www.michaelis.uct.ac.za Raw Vision Gallery Until 19 October, “Colours of the Sun” by Jocelyn Jacobson Cole. 89 Sir Lowry Rd, Woodstock, T. 076 581 9468 info@rawvisiongallery.com www.rawvisiongallery.com Rose Korber Art 20 October-20 November, “Abstraction and Meaning” by J P Meyer. 48 Sedgemoor Rd, Camps Bay, Cape Town T. 021 438 9152 roskorb@icon.co.za www.rosekorberart.com Rust-en-Vrede Gallery 05 October-04 November, “Sandveld Compositions” by Annelie Venter; “Sensus – The landscape of stolen moments”, Sculptures in wood by Loni Drager; “Breathing Lessons” by Leoni Uys; In the Cube in the Clay Museum: Rice Bowls by various potters 10 Wellington Rd, Durbanville. T.021 976 4691 www.rust-en-vrede.com Salon 91 04 September-02 October, “Whitespace” a group exhibition of sculpture, drawings, print and mixed media featuring Lee-Ann Boulter, Mareliza Nel, Cara van der Westhuizen, Zelda Weber and Bianca Weingartz. 06-30 October, “The Long Way Home” a solo exhibition by Maria van Rooyen. Opening Wednesday 06 October @ 7:30pm. 03-27 November, “Unrequited Love: Under a Sickle Moon” group exhibition of mixed media, drawing, furniture, sculpture and painting. Featured artists include: Coba Vermaak, Cornelis Dumas, Lorenzo Nassimbeni, Lourens Joubert, Ndikhumbule Ngqinambi, Niklas Wittenberg, Paul Senyol and Sue Dall. 91 Kloof Street, Gardens, Cape Town. T 021 424 6930. info@salon91art.co.za www.salon91.co.za Serialworks Until 09 October, “Forgotten”, a solo project by William Scarbrough. ZEB (Brendon Bussy, Niklas Zimmer and Garth Erasmus) will perform a once-off studio concert the third week of October. Unit F404, Woodstock Industrial Centre 66 Albert Road Woodstock, Cape Town www.serialworks.info South Gallery Showcasing creativity from KwaZulu-Natal including Ardmore Ceramic Art. Fairweather House, 176 Sir Lowry Rd, Woodstock, Ground Floor. T. 021 465 4672 info@southgallery.co.za

South African Print Gallery Until 30 September, “Memory, Myth & Ritual” works by Eunice Geustyn. 107 Sir Lowry Rd, Woodstock, Cape Town. T. 021 462 6851 info@printgallery.co.za www.printgallery.co.za

Youngblackman Gallery Until 15 October, “Eye” by Charles Maggs. 69 Roeland Street, Cape Town. T. 083 383 0656 www.youngblackman69.com

107 Baron van Reede Oudtshoorn, T. 044 279 1093 janet@artkaroo.co.za www.artkaroo.co.za

Franschhoek

Hout Street Gallery 23 September-30 October, “Rondomtalie” illustrations by Rosalind Stockhall. 270 Main Street, Paarl. T. 021 872 5030 zetler@icon.co.za www.houtstreetgallery.co.za

Paarl

Galerie L’ Art A permanent exhibition of old masters. Shop no 3, The Ivy, Kruger Str., Franschhoek T. 021 876 2497 www.galart.co.za

These Four Walls Fine Art 23 September-08 October, “Somebody Suit” Paintings and drawings by Jane Henderson. Opening Thursday 23 September @ 6pm. janet@thesefourwalls.co.za T. 021 447 7393 Cell. 079 302 8073 www.thesefourwalls.co.za

Piketberg (West Coast)

The Gallery at Grande Provence 29 August-06 October,”andWhatnow?” the third part of its trilogy of exhibitions. Ave Brits will be the first exhibiting artist in The Project Room and our two guest artists are Graeme Williams and Andries Botha. 10-27 October, “The CSA 2010 National exhibition”, will showcase some of the finest contemporary ceramics being produced by South African Potters. There are two categories: Ceramics for Use and Ceramics for Expression; thus a wide spectrum of ceramics will be on show - from dinner services to clay sculpture; form tea pots to figurative art . Opening 10 October @ 11 am. 31 October-01 December, “Painters who Print-Art on Paper” an exhibition that celebrates some of the artists who have worked at The Artists Press. Main Road, Franschoek. T. 021 876 8600. gallery@grandeprovence.co.za www.grandeprovence.co.za

Waterkant Gallery 09 September-20 October, “Die Dam and Other New Work” by Cirkine Roussouw. 21 October-08 December, “African Archival Photography” 123 Waterkant Street, Cape Town. T. 021 421 1505 info@waterkantgallery.com www.waterkantgallery.com Wessel Snyman Creative 23 September-13 October, “Dare to Dream in Silent Moments” An exhibition of painting, drawing, installation, performance art and mixed media by Lucy Skinner, Janet Botes & Roxi Bredenkamp. Performance art on the opening night at 8pm. Also featuring jewelry by Inkheart Design. Opening September 23 @7pm. 17 Bree Street, Cape Town. T. 021 418 0980. wesselsnymancreative@gmail.com

AntheA Delmotte Gallery 29 October-20 November, “Portraying the beauty of Verlorenvlei” This exhibition is to draw attention to a very important wetland close to Piketberg that is under threat by a proposed mine. 29 – 31 October, Piketberg Art Weekend. With amongst others an open studios route. 47 Voortrekker Street, The Old Bioscope, Piketberg 073 281 7273, anthea@lantic.net

Stellenbosch Art on 5 Permanent exhibition of paintings and ceramics by Maryna de Witt, Pera Schillings, and Karen Kieviet. 7b Andringa Str., Stellenbosch T. 021 887 7234 Glen Carlou Estate On exhibition is The Hess Art Collection, including works by Deryck Healey, Ouattara Watts and Andy Goldsworthy. Simondium Rd, Klapmuts T. 021 875 5314 www.glencarlou.co.za

Hermanus Abalone Gallery 01-31 October, “Printed” - An exhibition of selected graphic and photographic works by Titia Ballot, Lien Botha, Bettie Cilliers-Barnard, Tadeus Jaroszynski, Pat Mautloa, Dirk Meerkotter, Cecil and Pippa Skotnes, Diane Victor. Main gallery: Group exhibition with works by Christo Coetzee, Elzaby Laubscher, Leonard Matsoso, Carl Roberts, Fred Schimmel, Larry Scully, Susanna Swart, Lynette ten Krooden. 2 Harbour Rd, The Courtyard, Hermanus. T.028 313 2935 info@abalonegallery.co.za www.abalonegallery.co.za

“Life is Short” solo exhibition by Peter Eastman to be seen at Whatiftheworld Gallery, Woodstock.

Knysna

Oudstshoorn

US Art Museum 16 September–01 October, Le Spectacle de Terroir. 22 October, “2010 Le Vin de François auction” 26 October-20 November, “Self” a solo exhibition of contemporary art jewellery by Angela Tölken. www.artistjeweller.blogspot.com Cnr of Dorp and Bird Streets, Stellenbosch T. 021 808 3524/3489

Artkaroo Gallery 26 September-03 October, “Maak Jouself Tuis” an expression of the artistic soul through the medium of the chair; functional & funky art by Karoo artists. Also featuring fine Karoo art in landscapes, figurative and abstract. Exhibition opens 26 September @ 4 PM. This exhibition coincides with Klein Karoo Klassique Festival.

Worldart Gallery 18 October–08 November, “Un-mute my tongue” A solo exhibition of new paintings by Ayanda Mabulu 54 Church Street, Cape Town. T.021 423 3075 charl@worldart.co.za www.worldart.co.za

Tokara From 15 October, Tokara winery will launch its fifth annual Wine Made Art series at the National Art Gallery in Cape Town, featuring works by young artists from the Cape – all students from the Fine Arts Division of the Visual Arts Department at the University of Stellenbosch. The public can view the artworks at the winery after the launch where they will be exhibited until the end of December 2010 Crest of Helshoogte pass on the R310 between Stellenbosch and Franschoek. T. 021 808 5900 www.tokara.com

Knysna Fine Art Knysna Fine Art is relocating to larger premises: The new address is Thesen House, 6 Long Street, Knysna. The Gallery will be trading from 01 October 2010, and the Official Gallery Opening Event will be held towards the end of October. The first exhibition will be in mid November. T.044 382 5107 C. 082 5527262 gallery@finearts.co.za www.finearts.co.za

What if the World… 02 September-02 October, “Life is Short” solo exhibition by Peter Eastman. 06 October-20 November, “Teeth are the only Bones that Show…” by Athi Patra Ruga. Opening 06 October @ 6-9pm. 10 November-04 December, Solo Exhibition by Andrzej Nowicki. First floor, 208 Albert Rd, Woodstock, T.021 448 1438 www.whatiftheworld.com

SMAC Art Gallery 02 September–10 October, “Pre-Green” by Barend De Wet at Nirox Foundation Project Space (Arts on Main Cnr Main & Berea Street, Johannesburg.) 30 September–28 November, “Green” by Barend De Wet. At Smac. (1st Floor, De Wet Centre, Stellenbosch) The exhibition will feature a combination of recent and older works; sculpture, painting and performance. De Wet centre, Church Street, Stellenbosch. T. 021 887 3607 www.smacgallery.com

SA Art Times | October 2010

Pierneef comes to The Rupert Museum, Stellenbosch

Karoo From 2nd September 2010 South African art lovers have the rare opportunity to view the thirty two large paintings of the Johannesburg Station Panel Collection, on loan from Transnet Foundation, at the Rupert Museum in Stellenbosch. Pierneef is probably South Africa’s best-known and best-loved painter. There must be few South Africans who do not know at least something about his paintings and his name has spread beyond the borders of this country. The Johannesburg Station Panels played a major role in his creative life. The duration of the exhibition is until end April 2011. About the station panels In 1929 Pierneef received his first major public commission: thirty two panels for the new Johannesburg Station, which had replaced the original Zuid-Afrikaanse Republiek Park Station. Coincidentally, one of the consulting architects for the station, was Pierneef’s old friend, Gordon Leith. Pierneef travelled extensively throughout southern Africa to find subjects for the paintings, on which he worked from 1930 to 1932. The thirty two panels and the numerous smaller works related to them (the Johannesburg Art Gallery’s Karibib, a view of the town being one of these) are considered amongst the finest works Pierneef ever painted. The scenes Pierneef chose to depict are: twelve landscapes from the Transvaal, nine from the Cape, three from Natal, one of the Orange Free State, two from Namibia, one from Lesotho and four scenes of trees. In recent years the panels have been lent out at various times, in particular to the Pretoria Art Museum during August and September 1986 for a major Pierneef memorial exhibition. The Johannesburg Art Gallery was given the panels on permanent loan in September 1987. In October 2002 Transnet Foundation gave the collection on permanent loan to the Rupert Art Foundation who brought it to Graaff-Reinet for exhibition and now to Stellenbosch. Exhibition Details: Venue: Tel: Opening times:

Rupert Museum, Stellenbosch 021 888 3344 Mon – Fri: 09:30 – 13:00; 14:00 – 16:00 Sat: 10:00 – 13:00 Closed on Sundays and Public holidays

SA Art Times | October 2010

The Black Hole Universe: Chapter 02 Scene 029

Zander Blom : Black Hole Universe: Michael Stevenson Gallery Lloyd Pollok

the assemblages even occur in Zander’s vast oils. The lean, abbreviated UNTITLED 1.17 consists of agglomerations of blue and white pigment which the artist floats on the canvas. Three thin, straight penciled lines create a ‘Y’-shaped configuration evocative of the intersection between two walls and the ceiling of a room. The lines forms a rudimentary perspectival grid and the scabs of paint appear to be suspended in space in front of it, introducing the third dimension, and stressing the umbilical cord that unites the artist’s paintings to his relief constructions. In UNTITLED 1.15 frugal scatters of abstract biomorphic forms create a hypnotic vibrating pattern superimposed over ruler-drawn lines delineating a rectilinear structure of fractured Cubist planes that hint at a studio. Collage and assemblage are the core of Zander’s practice in every medium, and even his paintings rely on them. The artist works with bits and pieces in both the literal and the figurative sense, for even his monumental oils are essentially cut-and-paste jobs knocked up from episodes in the grand narrative of modernism. The artist takes the rubble of art history and attempts to fashion it into something new and exciting. Zander’s photography provides the clearest insight into his work. The artist makes three-dimensional paper and cardboard sculptures of strictly rectilinear, geometric character loosely inspired by the Dada prototype furnished by Kurt Schwitters’ Merzbau. He then photographs them, using lighting and camera angles to transform their appearance, so that they are effectively assigned a fresh identity.

Zander Blom has hitherto worked in the mediums of photography, drawing, collage and sculptural assemblage, and this, the self-taught artist’s first exhibition of painting, is undeniably impressive. The wunderkind has filled four vast galleries and the corridor of Michael Stevenson Contemporary - the largest gallery in the country - with a huge corpus of paintings, drawings, and photographs. On first contact the impact is so overwhelming as to paralyze the critical faculty. When my friend, the artist Pierre Fouché whispered “Ek is stom geslaan”, I shared his awed reaction. “Where does all this stuff come from?” I asked myself. In 2004 Zander started filling his Brixton home with a mass of paper and cardboard constructions that accreted to every surface. He then photographed them and exhibited the results at his penultimate solo, the Drain of Progress (2007). The photographs comprising Scene 022 of the Black Hole Universe, Chapter One and Scenes 003, 005, 006, 029 and 041 of Chapter 2 closely resemble this earlier work, and demonstrate how his sculptural assemblages tended to grow out of the meeting point between walls, or ceiling and walls. Take away the three-dimensionality, and the dense tangle of black lines forming fish-scale patterns in Scene O16 of Chapter One, looks exactly like Zander’s paintings, suggesting that his large abstract paintings evolved from his relief constructions. Allusions to the architectural fabric that supported 34

THE BLACK HOLE UNIVERSE, CHAPTER 2, SCENE 013 is a three dimensional cardboard construction which would look pretty unimpressive in reality, as it is merely a flimsy cardboard, tape and paper maquette of makeshift appearance. In the photographs, Zander’s cardboard sculptures become detached from the architectural surround, and appear to materialize out of a black void and hover in space. By disembodying them, Zander eliminates all associations with himself, his studio, and everything that might help one identify the materials, scale and construction. The sculptures are thus projected into a beyond where they loose all particularity, and become generic and abstract, asserting an absolute, rather than a contingent quality, and resonating the grandeur and integrity of Platonic archetypes. Untitled 1.28, a typical example of Zander’s paintings, clearly indicates that his goal is to interrogate the Abstract movements of 20th century Modernism, particularly those like Biomorphic Surrealism, American Abstract Expressionism and European Art Informel and Tachisme, which are founded on the belief that through free and spontaneous automatism, the surrender of conscious control and the recruitment of accident and chance, the unconscious mind would take over, collaborate with the artist and produce a work of art. This reckless painting combines wild gestural streaks, splashes and spills at its summit; abrupt, staccato directional strokes riddled with ridges and crevices; zones of flat monochrome paint and, at base, a heaving thrash of clotted swirls of black, white and grey pigment.

SA Art Times | October 2010

Paintings: 1.20 Untitled , 1.28 Untitled, 1.10 Untitled, 1.17 Untitled

The Black Hole Universe: Chapter 02 Scene 006

The Black Hole Universe: Chapter 01 Scene 022

The Black Hole Universe: Chapter 01 Scene 016

The Black Hole Universe: Chapter 01 Scene 13

At first glance we take the painting to be an extempore ejaculation, and then we remark the painstakingly deliberate patches of black linear patterning that disrupt the rhythms of the surrounding fluid strokes. The jagged, curvilinear lines that judder and shudder so insistently are obviously executed in a studied and methodical manner as opposed to the rest of the canvas, which presents an appearance of untrammeled spontaneity consistent with Abstract Expressionist methods of picture-making. UNTITLED 1.20 is another paradoxical combination of two very different idioms. The first is hard-edged Post Painterly Abstraction which manifests itself in the thin graphite lines that define a Frank Stella pinstriped structure of rectangles within rectangles. Zander overlays this with a pure gestural abstraction consisting of hectic, flurried brushwork, drips, spatters, swipes and streaks in white, black, grey and red all seemingly executed at a recklessly accelerated pace. In the forgoing paintings two warring styles of pictorial construction combine: one implies discipline, control and meticulous, pre-determined geometric SA Art Times | October 2010

construction, while the other is based on haste, spontaneity and haphazard composition that emerges organically in the course of the painting’s execution. What can this possibly mean? Zander orchestrates a clash of incompatible styles, so that geometric abstraction, Cubism and action painting slug it out on canvas in proclamation of the fact that Zander’s sole obligation is to puzzle, startle and amaze. His is the intoxicating freedom of the Post- Modernist artist who can reproduce, twist, transform, subvert and re-invent the myriad different styles thrown up by modernism between 1905 and about 1970. By simultaneously improvising on various -isms whilst divesting them of their raison d’être, Zander cheerfully ballasts ideology and any specific goal or meaning, and transforms his work into a purely self-reflexive, formal statement in which style becomes the only subject matter. The principles of collage and assemblage are applied to painting. Zander rummages amidst the debris of the spent Modern movement, and collects fragments of outsider art, shards of Op, bits of Kandinsky, chunks of Willem de Kooning and scraps

of Bacon. He then cobbles all this flotsam and jetsam together, grafting different historical methods of pictorial construction onto each other to produce irrational hybrids riddled with inconsistency and contradiction. Although Zander’s huge canvases achieve conceptual excellence his handling of paint is so lacking in elegance, sensuality and grace, that the work has scant decorative value. Not only does his brushwork possess a catbox laxative splatter and squirt, but many paintings like UNTITLED 1.5, 1.6, 1.10 and 1.24 are mechanical, repetitive and formulaic. All too often the artist descends into superficiality, and his work becomes showy and meretricious. The drawings, which are in fact, far superior to most of the oils, avoid these dangers, and remain idiosyncratic and distinctive. Quantity is not quality, and a far smaller and far more rigorously selective show would have been far more impressive than this mass-produced merchandise from the Michael Stevenson assembly line. All works Courtesy of Michael Stevenson, Cape Town

South African National Gallery

Above: Kader Attia [Algeria-France]. Square Rocks (2009) © courtesy Kader Attia and Christian Nagel Gallery (Berlin and Cologne).

Borders, an exhibition from the 8th Bamako Encounters, the African Photographic Biennale, is travelling for the ﬁrst time to Sub-Saharan Africa, providing local audiences with a unique opportunity to engage with contemporary photographic and video production from across the continent and its Diaspora. Borders, be they geographic, political, social, aesthetic or metaphysical, are at the centre of various narratives presented in this exhibition. Enriched by a multiplicity of perceptions and visions, these tales restore multi-dimensional realities where photographers and artists, veritable nomads, leave the beaten path and by-pass the arbitrary lines of separation. Curated by Michket Krifa and Laura Serani Produced by Culturesfrance and Ministry of Culture, Mali The exhibition’s presentation in South Africa is facilitated by the French Institute of South Africa (IFAS) Enquiries: Pam Warne, Tel. 021 481 3956 or email pwarne@iziko.org.za

Borders 26.10.2010 30.01.2011

Ninetta Steer. (Lower Gallery) 18-29 October, Print, ceramics and mixed media by Lydia Holmes and Janice Mendelowitz. 36 Bird Street, P.E. T. 041 585 3641

Eastern Cape East London Ann Bryant Gallery The Main Gallery 07-23 October, “Space” by Lynette ten Krooden. Oil paintings on canvas, gold leaf and handmade paper and a new series of sand and resin on canvas. Opening 07 October @ 6:30pm. 02-12 November, Walter Sisulu University B-tech degree Graduation exhibition, Group exhibition of oil paintings, and mixed media works by students from Walter Sisulu University. Opening 2 November @ 6:30pm. The Coach House 30 September-16 October, A Solo Exhibition by Chanelle Staude. Exhibition of oil paintings of Eastern Cape landscapes 21 October- 06 November, Solo Exhibition by Liz Sanchez. Paper Mache Sculpture, Oil painting, Ceramics and Fibre Art. Opening 21 October @ 6:30pm. 11-27 November, Solo exhibition of mainly woodblock prints with the original woodblock by Jeff Rankin. Opening Thursday 11 November @ 6:30pm. 9 St. Marks Rd, Southernwood, East London. T. 043 722 4044 annbryan@intekom.co.za www.annbryant.co.za

and Japanese collections.) 1 Park Drive, Port Elizabeth. T. 041 506 2000 www.artmuseum.co.za Ron Belling Art Gallery 21 September-08 October, “Face to face: intimate conversations with 25 PE(ople)” photography and interview by Sandy Coffey. 12-29 October, “Children of PE.” 30 Park drive, Port Elizabeth. T. 041-586 3973 ronbelling@mweb.co.za www.ronbelling.co.za

Montage Gallery Mid October-Mid November, “fine art sale”, in the run-up to the end of the year period, as an early boost for art lovers. The idea is to entice artists to clear out their studio’s by offering their work at reduced prices, and a number of well-known names have already pledged their support. 59 Main Road, Walmer, Port Elizabeth. T. 041 581 2893 montage1@iafrica.com www.montagegallery.co.za

Northern Cape Kimberly

Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Art Museum Permanent exhibition, “Art in Mind” Until 10 October, “Ubuhle bentsimbi: The beauty of beads” 15 October-05 December, “RE.SPONSE” Lecturers, students and Alumni from the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University School of Music, Art and Design were challenged to produce artworks in response to selected works from the Art Museum’s Permanent Collection. This exhibition showcases these interpretations together with the original artworks. 23 October-12 December, “Fauna and Flora” Images and ceramics. (Artworks include a selection from the print portfolio “Art meets science: flowers as images” produced at The Caversham Press. Artists selected include Vusimusi (Derek) Nxumalo, Douglas Goode, John Manning and famous early South African 20th Century artists Hugo Naude and Irma Stern, will be featured together with ceramics produced at Ardmore Studio and a selection of Hilton Nel’s ceramic cats. Textiles from the Art Museum’s Chinese collection will also be displayed, alongside prints from the Indian

Port Elizabeth Epsac Gallery 17 September-01 October, a solo exhibition by Jennifer Crooks. (Lower Gallery) 05-15 October, Retrospective solo exhibition by

William Humphreys Art Gallery 14-24 October, Works by Grade 12 learners from the Kimberley Art Centre. 21–24 October, Travelling exhibition and outreach project – Richmond Book Festival. 27 October–15 November, Exhibition of works by lecturers of the University of KwaZulu Natal. Work on display from the William Humphreys Art Gallery Collection: Peter Clarke; New acquisitions from the Eastern Cape; Alan Grobler – linocut prints from Port Elizabeth; Contemporary South African Ceramics. Civic Centre, Cullinan Crescent, Kimberley. T. 053 831 1724 artmuseum@whag.co.za www.whag.co.za

Art Review

Jennifer Crooks - Fabric Works activity, the construction of fabric based art works are a labour- intensive activity. In itself, it is a meditative act requiring many hours to structure, arrange and complete each piece. Jennifer Crooks is a Port Elizabeth artist who has reexamined the way in which conventional approaches more suited to painting can be translated into images made from fabric, lace, beads and sequins. Her images are a fusion of her practical skills with her main activity as a landscape painter in which she develops single themes, placing them in a new dimension which is neither painting nor artifact. The process is the continuation of a life-long interest in plant form which she has always used as basic subject matter from the time she was a Rhodes University student in the late 1960’s. Trained at the height of the Grahamstown Group (of which she is a founder member) she was one of a handful of women who fought to establish her female identity at a school which was dominated by strong male personalities. Early oils and water colours show that she used flowers and organic plant forms in an intuitive attempt to explore the sensuous aspect of not only the paint medium but also as subject matter which could provide a vehicle for her need to express sensual aspects of her personality. Her sensibilities were that of a romantic in search of a tactile visual language which would express not only external aspects of landscape but

Jeanne Wright Images constructed from fabric and embellished with needlework have always been considered to be women’s work. There are many traditional female textile arts which include quilt making, beading, weaving, sewing and embroidery, most of which have their origins lodged in the domestic arts rather than the pure fine arts. However, in modern times with art works like Judy Chicago’s 1979 feminist statement “The Dinner Party” and recently, Tracey Emin’s notorious bed images with their intimate revelations of sexuality and private matters, the boundaries have blurred and textiles as an art form have entered the arena of high art. Essentially a pragmatic hands-on 38

also internal aspects of her emotional life. She recalls collecting seed pods and vegetal shapes to use as subjects to be placed in the context of her landscape paintings. Male sexuality is visual and literal. The female equivalent tends to be more comfortably expressed in narrative form, so over a period of years she developed a painting language which translated as textures, opulent colour and soft and hard forms used contrapuntally forming a coded personal erotic lexicography of metaphors for sexuality. In the Rhodes library, as a student, she discovered an 18th century portfolio of botanical illustrators which was to inspire and form her approach to plant forms as erotic subject matter in landscape. The subjects she chooses are simple themes of flowers, plant forms, birds and animals as well as autobiographical fragments from incidents in her own life.

Abjuring to the concept which author Linda Grant humorously declaims as … “being integrated above and below the waistline”, Crooks approaches her work with the minimum of fuss and intellectualization and the images are simple and forma. Large and small beads are used everywhere to define shapes, and as embellishment detail and every surface in her works coruscates with the shimmering textures of sequins, iridescence and opalescence, the gauziness of sheer fabrics, crisp lace and matt and intense velvets.

SA Art Times | October 2010

Stuart Bird gets busy at the KZNSA Gallery as part of the MTN art awards

Kwazulu- Natal Durban The African Art Centre Durban Until 17 October, A solo exhibition of landscape drawings and paintings by Mduduzi Xakaza. 19 October–15 November, “An African Christmas” The exhibition will showcase a large selection of skillfully beaded and telephone wire Christmas ornaments and decorations, colourfully beaded tableware, hand-built ceramic created by crafters supported by the African Art Centre. 94 Florida, Durban. T. 31 312 3804/5 africanartcentre@afri-art.co.za www.afriart.org.za Alliance Française of Durban During October, “Réunion Chroniques” a photographic exhibition from Reunion Island. Featuring François-Louis Athenas, Raymond Barthes, Thierry Fontaine, Yo-Yo Gonthier, Line Leclerc, Edgar Marsy, René Paul Savignan and Laurent Zitte. Artisan Contemporary 22 September-16 October, “Amangwevu” by Ceasar Mkhize and Thafa Dlamini. Ceaser Mkhize and Thafa Dlamini’s mystical and whimsical wirearmature beaded creatures will be opened by Bona Nyawosa, assistant, director at Natal Museums at 6pm on Wednesday 22 September. 344 Florida Rd, Morningside, Durban. T. 031 312 4364 www.artisan.co.za

SA Art Times | October 2010

ArtSPACE Durban 13 September–02 October, “Adornment in Borderland” by Roz Cryer; “Urban Angel” by Caroline Birch 04–16 October, “Local Obsession” by Steve Mandy (Main and Middle Gallery) 18-30 October, “(in)different” by Faye Spencer Vulindlela Nyoni (Main Gallery); Early Learning (fairytales and urban myths) by Bronwen Vaughan-Evans (Middle Gallery) 3 Millar Road, Stamford Hill, Durban. T.031 312 0793 info@artspace-durban.com www.artspace-durban.com

Ballito

Durban Art Gallery 15 September-07 November, Standard Bank Young Artist 2010: Michael MacGarry. 2nd Floor City Hall, Anton Lembede St (former Smith St) Durban T. 031 311 2264 strettonj@durban.gov.za

Margate Art Museum Museums art collection on display. T.039 312 8392 C.072 316 8094 huey@hcm.gov.za

Durban University of Technology Art Gallery 06-22 October, Photographic exhibition by inal year art students. Durban University of Technology (DUT) Gallery, Steve Biko Campus. T. 031 373 2207 nkosinathig@dut.ac.za

The Blue Caterpillar Art Gallery 01-30 October, oil paintings of Midlands farms and rural settings by Charmaine Eastment. The Blue Caterpillar art gallery at Butterflies for Africa 37 Willowton Road, Pietermaritzburg. T. 033 387 1356 art@butterflies.co.za or bluecaterpillarart@hotmail.com www.artsales.co.za

KZNSA Gallery 14 September-09 October, all Galleries: MTN new contemporaries award nominated artists are Donna Kukama, Kemang Wa Luhelere, Stuart Bird and Mohau Modisakeng with appointed curator Nontobeko Ntombela. 12- 31 October, Works by Conrad Botes (main, mezzanine, and park galleries) 166 Bulwer Rd., Glenwood. T. 031 2023686 www.kznsagallery.co.za

Imbizo Gallery 09 September-30 October, “Spring Splashes” featuring Matt Donaldson, Natasha Barnes, Leona Sykes and Jenny Meyer. Imbizo Gallery, Shop 7a, LifeStyle Centre, Ballito. Next to Beira Alta T. 032-9461937 info@imbizogallery.co.za

Margate

Pietermaritzburg

Tatham Art Gallery Until 26 November, “Jabulisa 2010 The art and craft of Kwazulu-Natal.” Cnr of Chief Albert Luthuli (Commercial) Rd. and Church Str. (Opposite City Hall) Pietermaritzburg T. 033 342 1804 www.tatham.org.za

Important British, Continental and South African Paintings and Sculpture Auction in Johannesburg Monday 1 November 2010 The Country Club Johannesburg, Woodmead Walkabout by Stephan Welz on Sunday 31 October at 11 am Enquiries: (01 1) 728 8246 jhb@straussart.co.za www.straussart.co.za Jacob Hendrik Pierneef, Baobab Tree signed and dated 46, oil on canvas, 75 by 100,5cm R5 000 000 – 7 000 000

Patrick Mokhuane & Timothy Zantsi 23 September to 5 November

www.henkserfontein.com The Framery Art Gallery 67G Regent Road, Seapoint debbiegrewe@gmail.com Tel 021 434 5022 / 078 122 7793

The Loop Art Foundry New Sculptor Competition The Loop Art Foundry knows how difficult it is to get your first works cast in bronze with the costs involved and we also know that there is some awesome talent out their so we have created this competition for you to have the opportunity to make it happen. R15000 casting grant up for grabs. Entries open 1 Oct 2010 and close 28 Feb 2011. All the information on www.theloopartfoundry.co.za

Conditions of entry 1. Works sculpted out of any medium may be entered. 2. Sculpture dimensions must not exceed 500mm H x 500mm L x 500mm W. 3. Artists entering the competition must be 18 years and older, must be a South African citizen and live in South Africa. 4. A maximum of two artworks per artist may be submitted. 5. A casting ready artwork must be entered. 6. Only original artworks will be accepted. 7. Entries will be taken by email. A maximum of 5 photos can be entered per piece (2 of angles 3 of detail and 1 for scale - please stand alongside this photo). A proposal letter must accompany each entry. Email size may not be bigger than 3 megabytes. 8. Each of the maximum of 2 entries must be entered In a separate email.

9. Works may not be altered after the photos have been submitted and will be disqualified. Works maybe reentered if altered but must accompany a letter stating which of the entries must be used. 10. Artworks must not be older than one year. Sculptors may not have had a solo exhibition in the past. 11. Your artist profile (CV) and contact details (tel, cel, email) must accompany your entry photos. 12. Winning sculptor may incur a collection and delivery surcharge if living outside of Gauteng or Mpumalanga 13. The competition runs from 1 Oct 2010 and entries close on 28 Feb 201114. A winner will be announced in March 2011 15. The casting grant of R15000 is a market value of casting. 16. Email entries must be sent to theloop@worldonline.co.za happy sculpting..

SA Art Times | October 2010

ARTLife THE SOUTH AFRICAN

Largest SA sculpture group finished with ease by Loop Foundry

SA Art Life | October 2010

Seven weeks before this magnificent sculpture group would be installed and unveiled we were contacted by the Arend Eloff, well known South African Equestrian Sculptor. He had been approached by Golden Horse Casino in Pietermaritzburg to do the almost impossible. To sculpt, cast and install three 4,5m High rearing Horses for their reopening. Something that would normally take 4 to 6 months, the foundry had only 5 weeks to complete. We worked intensely with the artist moulding pieces of the horses as he finished sculpting them. When the final piece was handed over we had a total of 3 and a half weeks left to have the finished product delivered and installed in KZN. Large art casting like this one are divided into sections in the wax stage of the process and then cast. Once all the panels are cast the job of putting a three dimensional jig-saw puzzle back together begins. The sculpture then goes through metal chasing restoring it to its original detail. 111 panels made up the three horses. The Foundry commissioned a special gantry to be made to lift and move the horses around and special cradle beds were made out of wood to fit the horses exactly for transport. Once complete each horse weigh 750kg and took on the 950km journey to their new home. The sculpture group is one of the largest sculpture groups in South Africa and is the largest sculpture group cast by our foundry. The sculpture was unveiled at the re launch of the Casino on the 11th of September.

LIONEL SMIT

Scatter series, oil on canvas, 165 x 230cm

Malay Girl Submerged, bronze, 70cm high

Reportedly ‘fascinated by the structure of the artwork’, Lionel Smit is a painter who’s oeuvre is informed by the processes of sculpture. This twenty-eight year-old artist has been described as ‘constructing’ his paintings ‘… from large but deftly placed brushstrokes and a bold palette’. Painting only large-scale portrait heads, Smit applies his brushstrokes almost as though they were pieces of clay that he vigorously adds on and adds on to build up and model the image. In this way, he creates an image with an exceptionally powerful presence that is especially well suited for the monumental dimensions of his canvases. His unique approach can be understood as part of a running dialogue between sculpture and painting, a dialogue which he recently expanded by creating a group of sculpted portrait heads – informed by painting. This on-going exchange between sculpture and painting is mirrored by a deeper, more subjective dialogue in which the artist explores the tension between human vulnerability and inner-strength. As a result, the subjects in Smit’s portraits have been described as displaying ‘… a mixture of pride,

stoicism, [and] fortitude with the tribulations of oppression and struggle.’ Repeatedly singled out for the explicit manner in which they portray the human situation, his subjects ‘… are not idealised or romanticised, but rather [they are] characters from our daily lives.’ More than depictions of specific individuals, they represent something beyond the individual, with details like race and ethnicity fading away in deference to the depiction of the sitter’s vulnerability and inner-strength. As one writer noted, Smit’s ‘… portraits are about a universal message’. Charged with psychological complexities, Lionel Smit’s works explore a spectrum of personality traits. For the artist, these traits and qualities, and indeed the very portraits themselves are initially submerged in the depths of his Pollockesque slashes and splashes arising from his first explosive burst of creative energy. Then working methodically, Smit adds and adds strokes of paint until the image emerges, and his various running dialogues play out on the canvas. - Sanford S. Shaman

Submerge

Lionel Smit’s Solo Exhibition

opens on 12 October, 18h30, at 34FineArt in Woodstock, Cape Town and can be viewed until 6 November see 34fineart.com for more detail

Transparent variation #2, oil on canvas, 230cm x 165cm

Divulge, resin and oil paint, 120cm high

Swath, oil on canvas, 200 x 150cm

Scatter series #2, oil on canvas, 120cm x 120cm

Marina Clunie

...the West Coast has soul

Marina Clunie’s paintings adorn homes and businesses in all corners of the globe. Marina took graphic art classes at the Cape Technikon, painting classes at Art B, and pottery classes, and has sat under the tutorship of various artists. She is a member of the SA Society of Artists, the West Coast Art Guild and the Blaauwberg Art Society. An ex-Capetonian, she has immersed herself in the spirit and soul of the West Coast. A hundred-year-old vishuis on the banks of the Berg River on Bokkomlaan houses her studio, River Studio, and she lives in Velddrif – at the mouth of the Berg River. She is inspired by the flux of the moods and

seasons of the Berg River and wetlands, transferring her impressionist fascination with light and movement onto canvas, using oil and sometimes a palette knife. “My life here embraces space, freedom and the simplicity yet vastness of nature. Old boats swaying against old jetties, never-ending beaches, a moody cloud-sky, characteristic West Coast buildings, the river and the wetlands have all inspired me.“ River Studio on Bokkomlaan attracts tourists, art lovers and journalists. Marina made her first appearance in a publication in 2001 and since then has appeared in a variety of publications (cultural, art, tourism) as

River Studio’s address: Bokkomlaan (off Waterkant Street), Velddrif, West Coast Bokkomlaan is a river-road leading to historic Velddrif where visbakkies are tied to old jetties, pelicans wait for scraps from the fishermen in their vishuise and bokkoms hang out to dry along the ever-changing Berg River.

soul food

well as brief appearances on TV programmes. She has also received several prizes from various art competitions. A recent trip to Paris included a visit to the Louvre and the house and studio of her favourite impressionist artist, Claude Monet – the lily pond being the highlight. She is currently engaged in a series of paintings of the lily pond. The soul of the West Coast extends beyond her paintbrush. Drop-in guests take on the 120 km journey from Cape Town to visit, enticed

by her imaginative West Coast fare and hospitality. A class of school children found her unique personality and art style an uplifting experience, and both tourists and visiting artists comment on the wonderful peaceful atmosphere of her studio. “I cannot keep this atmosphere and river view to myself. I need to share it. And I always have coffee, tea and condensed milk ready, so feel free to visit.” And they do. Marina Clunie, epitomizing the spirit and the soul of the West Coast.

www.riverstudio.co.za cell: 083 415 9524 Marina praat trots Afrikaans

Layout and text by Wilna Jensen

autumn splendour

Jonel Scholtz I am an expressionist impressionistic artist. I live with my husband and daughter on a farm in the North West region of South Africa. My paintings create domestic scenes in hues conveying intensely subjective and evocative interior spaces. My works – dominated by reds, browns and yellows – depict intimate rooms and worn furnishings that seem to emerge from some eternal dream of rural tranquility. My figurative work depicts the fragility and femininity of the female form. Mostly arising from the emotions women feel and struggle through in the course of their lifes. The warm interior scenes always include a frame of some sort, often doors and windows, occasionally picture frames. This recurring theme calls attention to rites of passage and socialization (many paintings include young children) and the gendered organization of space – the homes in my works are distinctly feminine, with women and young girls often gazing out windows and through doorways. These visual cues also draw your eye to light, as it passes across thresholds and over surfaces, casting an inviting glow. While clearly figurative, my paintings’ expressive qualities evoke the safety and comfort of the ideal home in our collective imagination.

My paintings come from a simple life as a mother and wife and develops into all the complicated aspects that makes up a soul. In a painting feelings are not static - they move. The viewer must feel something when they look at my work. Then I know it’s magic. You can not lie on a canvas. If you do - the whole world will see it. Therefore to be totally honest about who you are, must be one of the most essential qualities of an artist. No pretence can survive on a canvas. My painting gives me solace, reason and energy. Together with the ones I love my life is an amazing complete experience.

Mobile: +27 82 853 8621 Home: +27 18 673 0023 www.jonelscholtz.co.za

These Battles of Mine 76 x 91 cm, oil on canvas

The Writer 20 x 30 cm, oil on canvas

Have I ever Crossed your Mind 76 x 91 cm, oil on canvas

Mallorca 20 x 30 cm, oil on Canvas

In Love with a Gypsy 75 x 90 cm, oil on canvas

Hey Jude 61 x 45 cm, oil on canvas

Strong Enough 56 x 71 cm, oil on canvas

Radiostories 68 x 77cm, oil on canvas

Chasing Pirates 76 x 101 cm, oil on canvas

AIDON WESTCOTT To me, a sheet of newsprint or the pasted-together pages of old journals, documents and hand written letters, presents both the physical base and conceptual starting point for one of my mixed media artworks. My collages are filled with symbolic imagery aimed at awaking stifled memories out of the echo chambers of the subconscious mind. The imagery is build up in layers of antique packaging and selected ephemera which I collect from antique stores. The found objects carry a reality of their own which owe their presence to human action and purpose. They are the remains of a past, broken-down system or culture. These materials are deeply rooted in the collective conscious. The fish symbol is rendered in oil paint and symbolises the psyche in contrast with the body: the unconscious

Poor Me

Unwelcome Situation

Erases Dirt Like Magic

Madame Favart

Au Bon Marche

Hide and Seek

Departure at Noon

Zen of East and West

rather than the ordinary conscious. They act as reminders allowing you to look beneath the surface of your emotions to discover what truly motivates your feelings and interests and by lifting the veil to the subconscious allowing you to examine and understand hidden truths within. The fish symbol becomes productive of the human predicament depicting patterns in the psyche in the cycle of life and in a forever changing world.

experienced as a child yet reminded of the headwind of emotions and reality of adult life.

My work explores fragments of a former culture through the use of found objects which invests new and continually shifting meaning and interpretations for people. Viewed in full context, it explores the psychological realm through which you perceive the exterior world and neglect your true inner self. Acting as a portal to the past, connected through memory you are transported to the innocents, fantasy and misadventure

I graduated cum laude (BTech Degree: Fine Art – Painting) from PE Technikon (now Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University) in 2003. To date I’ve held 12 solo exhibitions and regularly exhibit my work at Knysna Fine Art, David Brown Fine Art, The Cape Gallery, Strydom Gallery, Art Afrique, Rossouw Modern Art Gallery, Rainbow Experience and The National Arts Festival and have participated in numerous group shows. Some of my personal highlights include the group exhibition of Eastern Cape Artists titled “Art from the Ground Up” at the Legislate Buildings in Hannover, Germany; and a Collage workshop held for Top Billing, which was in their lifestyle magazine and website. I also work closely with the South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity and do regular commissions for them.

E-mail: info@aidonwestcott.co.za / aidon.westcott@gmail.com

www.aidonwestcott.co.za

ALICE ART GALLERY Invest your passion- and money- into fine art and realise fine returns by paying a visit to one of the two branches of the the Alice Art Gallery. There’s something for everyone, from the wildly affordable to the serious investment pieces. You’ll receive expert, hands-on advice from owner-curator Alice Pitzer, who’s passionate about art, art education and guiding investors and art lovers alike.

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Portchie Portchie is an unusual if not unique phenomenon in South African contemporary art. He is extremely prolific when he paints, and each piece is snapped up. He’s unassuming, articulate to the point when he speaks with a staccato burst of words and – just plain plucky. For Portchie is that rarest of people, a man who discovered his calling fairly late in life and then there was no holding him back. He is arguably the most successful contemporary artist in South Africa. There’s a saying that the test of courage comes when you are in the minority, the test of tolerance comes when you are in the majority. Portchie took his courage in both hands in 1992 when he decided to stake his name on his quick and undisputed ability with a brush and canvas. Why was he so confident? “I paint universal themes; children hop-scotching, people riding bicycles, people reading – my art doesn’t know any languages and this means it is equally as popular in America,

Germany, the United Kingdom or South Africa,” he says.“It is not difficult to understand or appreciate.” But there is more to Portchie’s work than an easy understandability. Now that he is widely known around the world he has an easy tolerance for others who, he concedes, may have tried as hard but have not met with his astonishing success. A painting by Portchie is always intensely colourful - he seems to see the world in terms of warm yellows, vivid blues, bright reds, and intense greens. He says that part of the secret is that he uses Grumbacher acrylics – “the finest pigments of all paints in the world”. What is equally true is that his equable nature seems to have no room for twilights, for half-shades or for shadow tones. For Portchie the world is a bright, cheerful place and this contagion communicates itself immediately with the viewer. It is very obviously a universal appeal and Portchie has known success ever since he started painting.

Come celebrate Portchie’s birthday with us on 20 & 21 November 2010

BUSINESS ART

The 13th Annual BASA Award winners announced

Deputy Minister of Arts and Culture Paul Mashatile with some of the performers in the Giant Match show >| BASA Award winner Carola Ross and Gail Walters (Hollard) >| Basa Chairman Sikkie Kajee, Business Day Editor Peter Bruce, Deputy Minister of Arts and Culture Paul Mashatile, Adi Enthoven (Son of winner Patrick Enthoven) and Anglo American Head of Public Affairs Premilla Hamid. >|Gordon Massie (Art Insure), Jeanetta Blignaut (Jeanetta Blignaut Art Consultancy) and Lucy Rayner (Jeanetta Blignaut Art Consultancy) who curated the National Treasures exhibition.

The 13th BASA Awards took place at the Villa Arcadia, Johannesburg Thirteen innovative business and arts partnerships were acclaimed at the 13th Annual Business Day BASA Awards, supported by Anglo American; while successful businessman Dick Enthoven was named the recipient of the first Art Champion Award, for his philanthropic contribution to the arts. The winners of South Africa’s most prestigious business/arts awards, were announced at an event held at the historic Villa Arcadia. Speaker on the night was the Deputy Minister of Arts and Culture, Mr Paul Mashatile and performances by renowned mime artist Andrew Buckland, the Big People Puppets, as well as Standard Bank Young Artists Melanie Scholtz and Samson Diamond celebrated the evening. The BASA Award function at Hollard’s Villa Arcadia also served as the official opening of the historic National Treasures Exhibition, a celebration of the 100-year old collection of the Johannesburg Art Gallery (JAG) which will be now be open to the public on certain days in September. Completed in 1910 Villa Arcadia was the Sir Herbert Baker designed residence of Randlord Lionel Phillips and his wife Florence. A leader herself in Johannesburg society, Florrie Phillips was personally responsible for establishing the Johannesburg Art Gallery. “Even as the Recession impacts on the local economy, we were delighted at the growth and excellent quality of the entries, a sign of business’s continued support of the arts. This year we focused on the importance of sustainability and our thanks go to our sponsors, and all the businesses who recognise the value of a country with a cultural backbone,” said Business and Arts South Africa CEO, Michelle Constant. Commented Business Day Editor, Peter Bruce, “Without the arts we are not an authentic society. Given that in South Africa, as in many much larger economies, the arts require external funding, it is essential that business and government become involved – Government as a matter of duty and business because it is morally and commercially the right thing to do. We at Business Day congratulate the winners and their projects and encourage even more companies to become involved in this wonderful project next year.” Premilla Hamid, General Manager of Public Affairs at Anglo American said : “Anglo American is a proud and long-standing supporter of arts and culture in South Africa, Business Art | October 2010

and we are immensely proud of our partnership with BASA. Through this project we are able to provide an ideal platform that recognises those champions that make a difference to the lives of extraordinary people who are equally committed to contributing to the development of South Africa. To this end, we have realised immense value with supporting the BASA awards over the years, and is a reflection of a real partnership between business and the arts. This year’s winners were selected by a prestigious panel of judges - head of Vega School of Advertising, Gordon Cook; arts consultant Nicky du Plessis; Loerie Awards MD, Dr Andrew Human; marketing consultant Dr Ivan May; co-founder and co-owner of multi-disciplinary design firm INK Lisebo Mokhesi and Artistic Director of Siwela Sonke, and academic Jay Pather. The Awards were audited by Grant Thornton. The full list of 2010 winners: - Innovation : The BRT Station Public Art Project (sponsor Johannesburg Development Agency) - First Time Sponsor : Mo-bil-ity: Artists in Residence (sponsor Kwelapele Investments (Pty) Ltd t/a Modern Autohaus BMW) - Increasing Access to the Arts : Africa meets Africa: Ndebele women painting in the city (sponsor Plascon Paints SA(Pty) Ltd - International Sponsorship : Rendezvous Art Project (sponsor Air Liquide Pty) Sustainable Partnership : Standard Bank Young Artist Awards (sponsor Standard Bank of South Africa) - Media Sponsorship : The Witness Hilton Arts Festival (sponsor The Witness Printing and Publishing Company) (sponsor The Movers also known as Bakgat Movers) - Youth Development : The UCT Clanwilliam Arts Development Project (sponsor Fairheads) - Mentor of the Year : Hilton Lawler - Origins Centre Association Art Champion : Dick Enthoven - Shareholder of Capricorn Group (Nando’s, Spier, Hollard and Etana, amongst others) - Chairman’s Award: South African Schools’ Festivals (Grahamstown Foundation, Standard Bank, Sasol Ltd)

National Treasures Exhibition Works from the Johannesburg Art Gallery at Hollard’s Villa Arcadia Until 15 October 2010

Irma Stern : Portrait of a young girl, 1944, Oil on canvas, 615 x 508 mm, Collection of the Johannesburg Art Gallery Villa Arcadia attempts to provide such an occasion. The exhibition began with a conversation between Charles Priebatsch, Harriet Hedley and Katherine Baxter around what might be done in recognition of the closing century that saw Lady Florence Phillips initiate the JAG’s Foundation Collection in 1910. The idea for the exhibition to be hosted at the home of late Lionel Phillips and his wife Florence evolved through discussions between Hollard and the Jeanetta Blignaut Art Consultancy. As the project grew, Business and Arts South Africa (BASA), Artinsure and certainly JAG were quick to pledge their support.

An Introduction Rarely is an institution presented with the opportunity to relocate part of its collection to the home of its originator and founding patron. It is an equally exceptional occasion for an exhibition curator to be tasked with establishing a selection, fair in terms of scope and variety, from a 100-year old collection of over nine thousand artworks. For practical reasons only about ten percent of works from the collection of the Johannesburg Art Gallery (JAG) can be regularly displayed, making way for large-scale, contemporary exhibitions, such as the Kentridge and Dumile Feni retrospectives; the Deutsche Guggenheim Black Box; Africa Remix and the recent Without Masks Afro- Cuban retrospective. During these exhibitions the remaining ninety percent of works from the permanent collection are stored away, carefully preserved, researched, published, and exhibited internationally.

This is with the exception of four European works from the Foundation Collection. They include a portrait of Sir Lionel Phillips by Giovanni Boldini (1903); a portrait of Lady Phillips by Antonio Mancini (1909); a portrait of Sir Lionel Phillips’ sister, Lady Nicholson by Antonio Mancini (1909); and a curious painting by British painter Philip Burne-Jones entitled Mr G F Watts R.A. working on “Physical Energy” (1861). As the most fashionable portrait painter in Paris in the late 19th century, it was a triumph for Lionel Phillips to have had himself handsomely realised by the Italian artist Giovanni Boldini.

Any aspirations of presenting a genuinely comprehensive account of the museum’s collection were dashed on being ushered through the Phillips Gallery and into the depths of the museum. Here 17th century Dutch and 19th century French and British paintings by giants such as Camille Pissarro, Claude Monet, Edgar Degas live alongside the sculptures, drawings, prints and paintings of local masters Moses Kottler, Ezrom Legae, Gerard Sekoto and Alexis

Acutely aware of how little chance the public has to engage with these works, National Treasures at 58

Preller. Added to these are extensive holdings of traditional African art. In a different subterranean vault, works by modern heroes Joseph Beuys, Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein are archived with floor-to-ceiling contemporary African works. In sum, this led to the recognition that a relatively restricted framework was in order. National Treasures thus aims to trace the growth and expansion of the South African collection over the past 100 years.

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Nicolas Hlobo, Iggirha lendlela. Moses Kottler : Meidjie, 1926, Wood, 1570 x 280 x 339 mm, Collection of the Johannesburg Art Gallery Similarly, for Lady Phillips to have been painted by the Italian child prodigy Antonio Mancini was of great consequence. It is for historical, and perhaps a measure of nostalgic relevance that these works have been loaned from JAG and temporarily returned to their former home. With limited access to some works, a number of which were out on loan and some too fragile to travel, inevitably there have been some unfortunate exclusions. Significant artists were not overlooked so much as subordinated in order to limit inclusions to approximately fifty artworks. The chronological framework of the exhibition is intended as both a convenient means of organising a considerable body of material into a coherent exhibition as well as a loosely illustrative method of relating a story of South African art. It begins in first decades of the 20th century with the sensitive portraiture of Moses Kottler and Gerard Sekoto providing relief to a preceding era of austere South African landscape painting. Navigating its way through the influences of 1930s Post-impressionism and Expressionism, the exhibition includes Business Art | October 2010

works by audacious devotee Irma Stern together with later abstract paintings by Maud Sumner and Louis Maqhubela. While most of the works produced during the early years of apartheid were inevitably but regrettably produced by white artists, the selection on display serves also to show an evolving awareness for the African form. Belgian-born Maurice van Essche, for example, painted various African subjects with the modernist techniques of his teacher Matisse, while Alexis Preller combined the influences of European Surrealism in rendering imagery from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Swaziland. Likewise, San inspired figures and motifs populate the semi-abstract, semipop language of the idiosyncratic Walter Battiss. While contemplating a woodcut by Cecil Skotnes, one is reminded of Picasso taking much of his formal inspiration from the African mask. As an influence subsequently denied by Picasso, this practice led to complex debates around representation and applying the notion of â&#x20AC;&#x153;primitivismâ&#x20AC;? to non- Western art. In a different part of the house, the exhibition goes

on to trace a shift in sentiment that took place in the 1960â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s. Anguished drawings and paintings by Dumile Feni and Mmakgabo Helen Sebidi replace the realist Sekoto-type depictions of township life. As the apartheid state became more repressive in the 1970s and 1980s, artistic production became more clearly defined by a discourse of activism and resistance. The lithographs of Azaria Mbatha and Ezrom Legae are intended to emphasise the important role of printmaking as an accessible medium used by many as a means of circulating political and social commentary. Likewise, the photography of David Goldblatt provides poignant documentation of the vast socio- economic and political disparities that existed. Even as there were parallel stories in rural parts of the country of artists such as religious sculptor Jackson Hlungwane working outside the political realm, the majority of artists working at this time were concerned with the vast inequalities of South African life. Several of the fictionalised protagonists that we have come to know in the animated films, installations, drawings, prints and tapestries of William Kentridge were born during these perilous years.

(Top) Brett Murray : Heritage: Corruption, 1992. Mild steel, found objects (knife and coins) 300 x 920 x 180 mm. Collection of the Johannesburg Art Gallery (Below left) Walter Battiss : Artist’s Hand (A bird in the hand...), Ca. 1968-71, Oil and wood on board 927 x 1254 mm, Collection of the Johannesburg Art Gallery, William Kentridge : Johannesburg: 2nd Greatest City after Paris, 1992 : Video Installation, Dimensions variable, Collection of the Johannesburg Art Gallery. Robin Rhode: He Got Game, 2004: Video Installation, Edition 5/5, Dimensions variable, Collection of the Johannesburg Art Gallery With the end of apartheid in 1994, South African art was presented with a chance for a fresh start. International currents in new media – coupled with seminal events like the Johannesburg biennales of 1995 and 1997, saw conceptual art come of age in the 1990s. Interrogating the various processes of art making, works by Sue Williamson, Jeremy Wafer and Kendell Geers are dispersed throughout the rooms at Villa Arcadia. Moshekwa Langa’s collage created from discarded waste materials address his own diasporic identity, while Steven Cohen’s upholstered chair offers an interesting surprise from the artist who catapulted South African performance art into recognition. Free to explore new subtleties and nuances outside the binary realm of apartheid, an explosion of micro-narratives has emerged in recent years. Works by artists that are concerned with complex issues relating to individual identity, cultural diversity, social cohesion and the intellectual underpinning of past imbalances are exhibited together in Villa Arcadia’s Great Hall.

and social violence, to racial anxiety. Conrad Botes explores his Afrikaner identity and the many Calvinist ideas indoctrinated into him as a young boy by the Dutch Reformed Church. In a revised feminist slant, Mary Sibande focuses her practice on South African domestic workers as the victims of a skewed social and political system, while Nandipha Mntambo employs the imagery and hides of cows to explore and challenge current stereotypes of African femininity. Correspondingly, installation artist Nicholas Hlobo refers to Xhosa rituals in his examination of homosexual identity, masculinity and ethnicity. Seemingly less personal, photographer Pieter Hugo documents a range of issues from people afflicted with albinism to Rwandan victims of genocide. In the same vein, but more interrogative in terms of re-interpretation, Michael MacGarry creates sculptures, drawings and films in response to the ongoing implications of Western Imperialism on the African continent.

Lucy Rayner, Curator References De Waal, S. 2010. South African Art. MediaClubsouthAfrica.com. http://www.mediaclubsouthafrica. com, downloaded on 2010/08/07. Perryer, S. (ed.) 2004. 10 years 100 Artists. Cape Town: Bell-Roberts Publishing. Williamson, S. 1989. Resistance Art in South Africa. Cape Town: David Philip Publishers.

In summary, National Treasures neither proposes an inclusive survey of the collection’s century-long span, nor makes overarching or definitive statements about the history of South African art. It is cu-

In her drawing and printmaking Diane Victor tackles a range of issues; from sexual repression to personal 60

rated with the intention of provoking new responses to significant works within the museum’s holdings. From the vantage point of the culmination of over 100 years of South African art, we are now able to pose questions that may guide our thinking about the contemporary art in the next century. For JAG, collaborations such as these allow the institution to periodically re-evaluate itself, in a tradition of openness and willingness, to evolve and to change. An exhibition like National Treasures is testament to the fact that we can play an active role in the preservation of this vital institution.

Business Art | October 2010

Hollardâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Villa Arcadia, Parktown, Johannesburg

Villa Arcadia: A building of unique beauty and artistry since 1910 Hollard preserves heritage and art for the future Not only does Hollard’s Villa Arcadia remain one of Johannesburg’s enduring architectural jewels, it is also of special significance by virtue of its commemoration of Johannesburg’s pioneering history.

initiatives for the cultural and social upliftment of Johannesburg society. In its restoration of the Villa and its incorporation of this Heritage Building into the Holland Campus, Hollard has continued the Phillipses’ legacy: memories of Johannesburg’s tumultuous history are preserved while current day initiatives such as the compilation of Holland’s important art collection and their partnership with Jeanetta Blignaut Art Consultancy’s Creative Block project sees local South African artists receiving much-needed financial and mentoring support, while also being offered a forum to showcase their work.

The century-old Villa Arcadia mansion, home to Randlord Sir Lionel Phillips and his wife Lady Florence Phillips, was designed and built by master-architect Sir Herbert Baker in 1910. When the PhMlipses eventually sold the Villa to the South African Jewish Orphanage in 1922, it became home to 400 children but these numbers dwindled steadily over the years until the orphanage was no longer sustainable.

Baker’s design concept for Villa Arcadia deftly incorporated both European and Cape Dutch architectural styles, while retaining his signature H-shape. The Villa’s enduring beauty and uniqueness can be attributed to Baker’s meticulous attention to detail: he trained local craftsmen, used local materials and encouraged the local production of materials usually not available in South Africa. In fact, the clay roof tiles that give Villa Arcadia its distinctive Spanish elegance were specially designed and commissioned from Vereeniging Brick & Clay. The Villa still boasts its original Italian palazzo-style marble flooring, with Delft tiles adorning Lady Phillips’ original bathroom. Elsewhere, the restored craftmanship of masters George Ness and Anton van Wouw share the interior space with works from Hollard’s contemporary South African art collection.

It is not surprising that it was during their years at Villa Arcadia that this influential duo became known as the ‘King and Queen of Johannesburg’. Although at times tempestuous, the Phillipses’ relationship was a balanced partnership, where each was individually powerful and passionate. They were also, as history has confirmed, trend-setters in many meaningful ways.

The impact of Villa Arcadia In the time that the London-born Lionel and South African-born Florence Phillips lived at Villa Arcadia, it became the hub from which radiated many

Villa Arcadia’s 30-year influence Florence Phillips was fascinated by Herbert Bakers’ use of local materials and craftsmen and became a passionate advocate herself. Indigenous construction materials used to build Villa Arcadia in 1909-10 were to have a far-reaching impact on local building practices for the next 30 years and were to influence other houses and public buildings built in South Africa until the beginning of the Second World War in 1939.

The Phillipses were leading figures on the cultural front. Florence was instrumental in the founding of the Johannesburg Art Gallery, for which Lionel raised the initial funding amongst his Randlord contemporaries. Lionel contributed further by becoming a founding trustee of the Gallery and a donor of seven significant paintings and a Rodin sculpture to the foundation collection. Generally speaking however, Lionel preferred to concentrate his cultural energies on the preservation and accumulation of knowledge about South Africa’s indigenous plant life. He revived the Witwatersrand Agricultural Society, serving as its president from 1906 to 1924, and was later to play an important role in the development of Kirstenbosch Gardens in Cape Town. Even the introduction of the SPCA into South Africa is attributed to the Phillipses. In addition, Lionel invested much time and energy in the early educational structures of South Africa. He served as the first president of the Council of Education in the Transvaal, formed in 1895 and played a prominent role in the establishment of the University of Cape Town. Lionel fostered a spirit of publicmindedness in the companies he controlled and his personal causes and contributions were numerous. He was a dynamic leader in the gold mining industry and later served as president of the Chamber of

Hollard’s restoration of Villa Arcadia presents it, once again, as a dynamic gathering place of exceptional beauty for Hollard and its network of partners.

General Jan Smuts summed up Florence’s contribution to South Africa at her funeral in 1940 when he dubbed her “No Ordinary Woman” and went on to add: “... she and her husband were among the most prominent and outstanding personalities who built up the Rand and the new South Africa, and she left behind her a great impression...”

An influential partnership

One could argue that the incorporation of indigenous materials into the Villa’s construction set it apart as a building ecologically ahead of its time - and this point extends to the Villa’s garden. Originally developed under Florence’s direction, it combined a formal Italian garden and English rose and herb garden with a 26-acre site planted with trees and indigenous aloes, chosen specifically for their ability to attract the local birdlife. Although now much reduced in size, the Villa’s garden still retains a sense of the grace and tranquillity of its origins.

For her part, Florence, born Dorothy Sarah Florence Alexander Ortlepp, and known fondly as Florrie, concentrated on local arts and crafts initiatives and had a hand in the establishment of many institutions and collections that serve to define our history. In addition to her role in founding the Johannesburg Art Gallery, Florence negotiated the donation of the Michaelis Collection of Dutch masters to the nation and was a prominent member of a small committee tasked with selecting the Koopmans De Wet Collection for Cape Town. She was also an ardent supporter of the pioneering bronze sculptor Anton van Wouw, who was responsible for carving the intricate fanlights over Villa Arcadia’s double doorways. Florence supported and promoted South African craftsmen, as is evidenced in the exceptional handmade brass work of George Ness that adorns Villa Arcadia.

The Phillipses were central to Johannesburg’s social scene and Villa Arcadia regularly played host to the who’s who of Johannesburg society. Prominent guests included political figures such as Jan Smuts, Louis Botha and General de la Rey, while business entrepreneurs and artists, such as Anton von Wouw, were also familiar within the Villa’s walls. Business, social change and politics would have been heartily discussed and there is no question that the people who shaped early Johannesburg would all have been wined, dined and entertained at the Villa at some point.

Hollard bought the Villa and surrounding 16-acre estate from the orphanage in 2003 and, in keeping with an entrenched business principle of balance and partnership, opted to develop the Hollard Campus as a carefully considered office environment that would foregrounding both heritage and modern use. Villa Arcadia was extensively restored to its former glory and now takes pride of position within the Hollard Campus.

Mines and chairman of the Central Mining and Investment Corporation. He was also politically active and was elected a member of parliament in both South Africa and the UK at different times.

During the Villa’s 18-month construction period, observers often noticed the diminutive Florence in earnest conversation with the towering, 6-foot tall Sir Herbert Baker. She discussed every detail of the building with him and insisted on her ideas being included. She was a very ‘hands-on’ client, which some say frustrated Baker, who was not used to such opinionated involvement from his clients! During the construction of the Villa, the Phillipses lived at nearby Hohenheim. This building too has historical significance: not only was it at one time the home of Sir Percy Fitzpatrick-author of Jock of the Bushveld but it was also to become the 30-acre site on which the Charlotte Maxeke Hospital, formally the Johannesburg General Hospital, was built.

Business Art | October 2010

Villa Arcadia’s real origins date back to 1897 The name Arcadia has its origins in 1897, when a large and charming Swiss-style timber chalet stood where Villa Arcadia stands today. German-born Carl Rolfes, a successful importer in the earliest tenttown days of Johannesburg, ordered a totally prefabricated timber chalet from Switzerland, erected it and named it Arcadia. In 1898 Rolfes moved into his Arcadia and had the expansive grounds, with their spectacular views, landscaped and terraced by a Russian landscape architect. The picturesque home was purchased by The Corner House for the use of Lionel Phillips in 1906 and the couple moved in for a short time. They soon felt cramped however, no doubt a consequence of Florence’s ambitious visions for a dwelling that could amply entertain guests and become the seat for their many social and political initiatives. The original Swiss Chalet was demolished and Sir Herbert Baker was commissioned to build the Phillipses’

Business Art | October 2010

dream house. It was completed in 1910 at a final cost of £30 000 and it became the social centre for Johannesburg’s decision makers.

brass, doors, stair case, windows and floor tiles would all be carefully preserved.

It was love at first site for the team tasked to find

Conscious of the Heritage Site’s history, Hollard acquired the services of leading restoration experts so that the magic of the original Villa Arcadia building could be rediscovered and revealed. Step by careful step the magnificent Villa was brought back to health, vitality and its former glory. Specialist architects were assigned to design the new office buildings that would harmonise with the elegant Sir Herbert Baker mansion. No less than 32 sub-committees were formed to see that every detail of Hollard’s vision would be accurately translated into reality.

Hollard a new home and restoration work began as soon as they became the proud new owners. The company loved the fact that there was so much meaningful and important history imbedded in every rock and brick and pledged that original carvings,

In June 2005 Hollard moved onto the campus, which in addition to Villa Arcadia, includes a state of the art Wellness Centre (originally the hospital in its orphanage days) surrounded by grounds suited to relaxing, walking and recharging.

Love at first sight Arcadia had been standing empty for about two years when Hollard began searching for a new home in 2003. The Hollard brief was to find a site that offered a large, central, expandable property to unite ‘Hollardites’ from seven divisions, operating from four different locations in the Johannesburg CBD and Randburg.

The Hollard Art Collection In Lady Phillips’ time, as now, art played an integral role in the growth and development of society and it is through Hollard’s founders, the Enthoven family, that this legacy continues. The Enthovens started Hollard’s Art Collection with the aim of merging the historical with the contemporary - as well as fostering unique and long-term partnerships. By way of example, a number of contemporary artists were commissioned to collaborate with skilled Xhosa bead-workers, the Qubeka Bead Studio, to create unique artworks. These are the first works of art the visitor sees when entering the Villa through the spacious foyer. Another unique collection, born from an innovative partnership sponsored by Hollard, is the collaborative initiative where artists were paired with local ceramicists to create impressive works in clay. These creations were originally exhibited at the AVA Gallery in Cape Town and a number of pieces were acquired for display in the Villa. In addition, the works of up-and-coming artists are shown in an upstairs Gallery at the Villa, providing these artists with much-needed exposure. Often these artists are chosen through The Creative Block project, where 180mm x 180mm blocks are bought from a select group of artists. The Creative Block exchanges artworks for immediate cash but goes further than this, providing the artists with professional feedback on their work to assist them in building their careers in the arts. Creative Block works are displayed and for sale in the foyers of Hollard and Etana House. Recently, the Villa had the honour of hosting the historic “National Treasures” exhibition (September 2010). All works on this exhibition form part of the Permanent Collection of the Johannesburg Art Gallery and “National Treasures” represented the unique opportunity to showcase this important collection in the very home of its originator and founding patron, Florence Phillips. The rationale behind the exhibition was not only to draw attention to our valuable artistic heritage but also to offer visitors to the exhibition the opportunity to contribute towards the maintenance and restoration of JAG’s Collection by purchasing a Creative Block artwork from the 1000-artwork installation in the Music Room at Villa Arcadia. Positive and Enduring Change In its restoration of Villa Arcadia, Hollard strives to be a catalyst for positive and enduring change in the community. But their support is not only in the arena of the arts, the Hollard Campus is also home to the Hollard Foundation which provides orphans and vulnerable children, primarily affected by HIV/AIDS, with opportunities to achieve their full potential in life. The Foundation’s work helps thousands of South Africans at grass-roots level. Hollard considers it a privilege to reclaim and preserve the history and beauty of Villa Arcadia and the company will be adding to that magic and influence in the years to come as the proud residents of this South African Heritage Site.

Business Art | October 2010

Melanie Hillebrand Director of The Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Art Museum, Port Elizabeth

bility for either the aesthetic or the practical needs of her institution and if necessary to engage in what she calls “vigorous tactical debate”. Acknowledging that she has become somewhat of a political animal in recent years, she adds with a grin “I like a good fight!” She says that a sense of humour, integrity, a firm conviction of what is right for the local community and the will to carry out structured policies are the key to running the institution successfully. She emphasizes that without clear policies and the will to carry them through, you have no freedom to steer your ship in the right direction.

Melanie Hillebrand arrived in Port Elizabeth in 1987 to take up her post at what was then a rather fusty post-Colonial art Gallery called the King George VI Art Gallery. With a PhD in Fine Art and a specialist interest in ceramic art, she immediately dropped into a hornet’s nest of vested interests, an old garde and a conservative art going public who saw both her youth, her gender and her qualifications as a threat to the status quo. She smiles wryly as she says “It was a place for the commemoration of dead artists!” She arrived during a period of general upheaval in the cultural world nationally with many of the traditional systems and policy outlooks in the Museum world undergoing radical change, and co-incidentally, at a time when many women were being appointed to management positions. This, she says was one of the main factors which has helped her to develop what she calls “A female management style” – a somewhat different approach to running the complex business of a contemporary art institution where decision making is by debate and consensus rather than top-down white male autocracy, which was endemic in South African museums at the time. Women tend to supportive and inclusive rather than dictatorial. However, she makes it clear that as the Director - the ‘someone’ who has to make the hard decisions – the onus rests with herself and that she’s not afraid to take responsi

With her dedicated staff of specialists she has been able to expand and complement community out-reach programmes for school children from previously disadvantaged communities as well as mount informative in-house exhibitions and lectures for scholars. She started these projects long before it was politically acceptable. At one stage, she recalls “I got hate mail”. Today, on any one day at the Museum, there are hordes of children to be seen milling around the gallery spaces or actively engaged in developing their creative skills on specific courses in the activity rooms.

Reflecting on the dramatic changes which the museum has undergone in the year’s under her helm, she recalls how difficult it was to convince both her board members and the public that what was local was “lekker” and that whole sectors of the performing art community in the Province had been neglected for years and had had no forum for showcasing their work. Despite a limited budget at that time because the Museum was a civic gallery, she embarked on an aggressive programme of selecting quality pieces of contemporary Eastern Cape art for the Museum’s holdings as well as building on the museum’s collection of national art works. She also overhauled the exhibition system so that these holdings were shown to the public frequently in an imaginative and unstuffy way. Currently, the museum changes its exhibitions often and displays themes which can range from traditional Xhosa beadwork to the Young Artist of the Year, the Grahamstown Festival project which selects cutting-edge art work for national exposure on an annual basis.

Jeanne Wright

mittees who are responsible for public funds”…. ” When novices (people who know little about art) and insiders clash, their preferred battle ground is the art museum. The public feel rightly that they have a say over how their taxes are spent. The art industry laments their ignorance and poor taste. Caught in the middle are the museum curators and directors who will be blamed by both parties for any perceived lapses in judgment.”

When asked what she’d like to see developed in the future for the Museum, she says that one of the inhibiting factors is the lack of physical space which the Museum occupies at present. The spaces in the gallery are by modern Museum standards antiquated and could do with better digital technology. However, Dr Hillebrand acknowledges with a satisfied smile “We know we do a good job with what we have, and at the moment, there are far many other priorities needed for the community. Culture is always way down on the list!”

Education of the public at all levels is a priority for Dr Hillebrand and she says that although there are still wisps of resistance from conservative members of the public who ‘want it all to go back to the old way’ or from others (who more often than not haven’t physically been to the Museum) who see the institution as a haven for elitist art, the museum is now being taken seriously as a cultural centre by all sectors of the population. As she notes “Art museums founded by governments and municipalities are run by com

Her parting shot was “It has taken over 50 years for our art museum to evolve to its current form. It took 15 years to promote Eastern Cape artists, 30 years to integrate the African collection and introduce Eastern Cape bead work, five more to accept that buying British art was not only politically unacceptable but financially impossible, and another five to instigate a long-overdue name change….. this is a art museum which serves the Nelson Mandela Metropole – hence the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Art Museum”

Business Art | October 2010

Art Leader:

Stefan Hundt Oliewenhuis was an enormously enjoyable and frustrating, yet by the beginning of 1997 I had completed a series of projects at the museum and was about to embark on some new development projects to expand the museum when I was made aware of the position on offer as curator of the Sanlam Art Collection. I didn’t see myself as a likely candidate for such a job at the time, however Sanlam made me a competitive offer and the opportunity to work in corporate environment seemed to me to be a worthwhile challenge.

Art Times caught up to a busy Stefan Hundt, curator of the Sanlam Corporate Art Collection and specialist at Sanlam Private Investments (SPI) and their new Art Advisory Service 1. Were did you study, how did you come into the art community/ develop an interest for art? My interest in art was fostered at home, while growing up in Bloemfontein. In a city that was known to fold up its sidewalks at eight o’clock at night and before television, entertainment was minimal. Surprisingly though a few galleries operated with some success. Whenever a new exhibition came to town these galleries became central attractions and my parents would drag me along. Being often the only child around the gallery meant I had to occupy myself, and so looking at the artworks exhibited became a favourite occupation. At school, where art was fortunately, not offered as a subject I had grand plans of erecting huge structures made of steel, brick and concrete, but a stay in Europe and some time slaving in a laboratory finally convinced me to study the Fine Arts. But not in Bloemfontein. I completed a BA Fine Arts honours at the University of the Witwatersrand under the tutelage of amongst others Alan Crump, Penny Siopis, Karel Nel, Neels Coetzee, Paul Stopforth and a little bit of Robert Hodgins on the Fine Arts side, and Liz Rankin, Rory Doepel, Anitra Nettleton and Cyril Coetzee on the History of Art side. Wits proved to be a hard learning experience and I soon realised that I was not to become a practising artist. Yearning for some change and a stint near the sea I continued studying History of Art at UCT under Michael Godby and Evelyn Cohen, completing a BA Honours in History of Art. The art scene in Johannesburg however still remained the most interesting and I was soon back there for further studies. It was during the brief interlude while studying that I worked in the Wits University Art Galleries and at the Johannesburg Art Gallery and became to some degree familiar with the workings of an Art Museum.

3. Was making a switch from an Art Museum to Corporate Collection easy, what interesting points of view did he have - did he have a strong mandate to collect a certain type of art pleasing to a corporate environment? The switch form Art Museum to Corporate Collection proved not too difficult. I was fortunate that I was allowed the same freedom to develop the collection at Sanlam as I was at the Oliewenhuis Art Museum. In many ways the task at Sanlam was simpler. I didn’t have to manage a building and staff and I had the advantage of a huge corporate infrastructure to make things possible. The collecting mandate was very broad and well established. Sanlam had the foresight to appoint qualified external advisors to recommend suitable acquisitions since the inception of the collection in 1965. The core collection was solid yet the interpretation of the mandate had remained static. Fortunately there were no restrictive demands made by the company directors as to what ought to be bought and there were no requirements for prior approval. The company showed full confidence in the advice provided by its independent advisors. Sanlam must be unique amongst corporate collections in that there is no expectation from the company’s executives to have a say in what is acquired. 4. How has the shift of corporate collection changed from the 80’s to present day? Up until the 1990s the South African corporate collection was largely seen as a prestigious accoutrement to the corporate regalia which promoted the image of the company and elevated the standing of its directors. This is still to some extent the case today, but most companies with art collections today appreciate the role that art can play within the work place as a strong symbol of the company’s commitment to creative thinking and it acknowledging the diversity within its workforce and the society it operates in. In this regard corporate collections have become a lot more tuned into contemporary art and do not shy away from the acquisition of works that confront the viewer with political and ethical questions of the day. Where not so long ago the acquisition of artwork for the company was delegated to the chairman’s wife - this is rarely the case today.

I took up the position of Curator of the Oliewenhuis Art Museum with mixed feelings. After all wasn’t this the town I had wanted get away from? Oliewenhuis Art Museum was a newly established Art Museum with a small collection but an amazing location. Being part of the National Museum structure in Bloemfontein, my colleagues were largely natural scientists whose interests rarely accommodated much consideration for the visual arts. The four years I spent at this museum were highly instructive. I was fortunate to be able to operate largely at my own behest with the support of a governing committee that facilitated the development of the museum. Like all art museums in this country, funds for acquisitions were minimal but with some ingenuity the museum was able to make some significant acquisitions such as the entire letter A of Willem Boshoff’s Blind Alphabet (96 sculptures with stands for a mere R59 000 including delivery), as well as the commissioning and completion of the African Caoursel Project involving 10 sculptors from across South Africa. As far as I know it remains the only surviving public sculpture commission funded by the then Foundation for the Creative Arts, now the National Arts Council, and it still generates funds for the museum’s acquisitions budget. It was at the Oliewenhuis Art Museum that I got know how museums worked and how the state operated in funding them.

6. What is the way forward for the Sanlam collection - is it sharing with other collections and promoting the Sanlam collection with other venues and galleries?

5. In light of many corporate collections being mothballed, or in the case of the Saachi Collection being offered to the state, his revolutionary change from arts curator to arts consultant is very interesting. How did this come about, what in his view are the shifts of taking on a new role in addition to curating for Sanlam?

The future of the Sanlam Art Collection is secure and we will continue adding to the collection within the parameters we have been doing over the last few years. We of course review our strategy on a regular basis. I have always maintained an open approach to collaborative work with other institutions public as well as private. Bringing people in contact with Sanlam’s Art Collection throughout South Africa will remain one of the key programmes. Photo: Jenny Altschuler

In a paper presented to a conference last year I stated that perhaps the golden age of the corporate art collection in South Africa was over. A number of prominent corporate art collections had ceased to make acquisi-

2. How did you enjoy your time at Oliewenhuis? 70

tions and were no longer active in the South African art market. I think this to some extent reflects the change in the way business is done today. Shareholders have become more demanding than ever before and the removal of non-core business activities that are a drain on the company’s value has become a favourite past time of the new age executive. No doubt the Sanlam Art Collection has come under scrutiny and its value adding role within the company has come up for discussion. After 13 years at the head of the collection one ofcourse also looks to what manner one can contribute more broadly to the company without compromising one’s position and what the collection stands for. It was also a challenge set directly to me by the company’s board. It seemed to some degree quite obvious to me. Over the last 10 years the art market has grown experientially. Prices have climbed dramatically and there are more and more dealers opening galleries, agents canvassing clients and auctions houses offering art as an alternative investment. The discussion around art as an asset class has matured considerably and the development of art funds in Europe, United States and India only underline the reality that art has become an investable commodity. Up to R 200 million was spent last year on art on auction at two auction houses last year alone. How do these spenders decide on what to buy? Are they all experts in the field? Do they just blindly follow the market? Do they just believe what the auctioneer, dealer or agent tells them? There appears to be a need and demand for some form of independent expert advice that is a little more than mere opinion. Over the years I have been consulted continuously for advice. It just makes sense that a company such Sanlam and in particular Sanlam Private Investments, that deals with high net worth individuals, should be able to provide its clients with appropriate advice on an alternative asset class such art. I have been doing this for years for the Sanlam Art Collection, why shouldn’t I do this for its clients? I hope that the Sanlam Private Investments Art Advisory Service will introduce something new into the art market. I have always called the South African art market the “Wild West” – everyone just shoots from hip. Over the years we have seen dealers come and go, artists gallery hopping and dealers poaching. There are few consistently professional dealers and agents and some of them are prone to ride the wave of popularity when the going is good and disappear when the going gets tough. The art industry is however showing signs of maturing, with more serious collectors participating in the market. What is sorely lacking in the market is an effective critical network and museums sector, which would provide some perspective on quality and the significance of certain artists’ works in the context of history.

Business Art | October 2010

Appreciating art as an asset The bold launching of the first South African Art Advisory Service part of the Sanlam Private Investments (SPA) happened at the Circa Gallery last month AT takes a look of investing in art. With expert advice on buying and selling art, managing an art collection to best preserve its value, and counsel on how art may fit into an investor’s portfolio, it is a unique service offered to predominantly high net-worth individuals.

Opinion piece by Stefan Hundt, curator of the Sanlam Corporate Art Collection and specialist at Sanlam Private Investments (SPI) Art Advisory Service Appreciating art takes on a whole new meaning when viewing it as an investment. Recently, a still life by South African artist Irma Stern sold for a record R7.6million. How does a painting appreciate to this value? Where are the opportunities in the South African market? How can art be part of a diversified investment portfolio? When should I begin investing in art? These are questions that are asked by those with the means and inclination to buy art as more than just decorative pieces. For part-time art aficionados and buyers, it is vital to understand that like any investment, timing is crucial; as is good advice. For one, the art market is not liquid. Selling a piece on the open market is not easy, particularly if you want to realise full value. It is often a slow process and when considering a purchase, thinking long-term has to be one of the first considerations.

of Irma Stern works and 89 Maggie Laubser pieces was insured for just under R6-million. Today its worth is conservatively estimated at R128-million. Opportunities to buy value in South Africa’s art market abound, but they aren’t infinite. If you’re in the market for art as an appreciated asset, as opposed to just appreciating art, take the time to educate yourself and secure objective advice about what is valuable and has potential.

I believe the nearly R7.6 million recently paid for Irma Stern’s ‘Still Life with Gladioli and Fruit’ was excessive, but someone was slightly desperate to get a Stern on the wall, and that led to the top price being paid at auction. On the upside, though, the chances that the price of such a well-known artist will decline are slim – good news for wealthy investors, who are able to afford these pieces.

As a potential art investor, it is essential to thoroughly research an artist and the art market in general. Similar to developing financial literacy, it is vital to build up knowledge about the sort of art you would like to collect, including speaking to experts in the field and artists themselves. Take your time, think beyond aesthetics and if you are only interested in the ‘marketability’ of a piece be careful not to become too emotionally attached to it. Consider the longevity of a painting, how prolific an artist is currently and what is unique about the art, the artist or the context for the art.

But what if you’re not wealthy enough to put a Stern in your living room? Ideally you want to either find an up-and-coming artist, or a forgotten artist. A young William Kentridge may have been counted as up-and-coming in the 1980s. In 1987, for example, Sanlam bought two of his works for R1814 a piece. Now they’re valued at between R280 000 and R350 000 each. Investors who bought the works of Robert Hodgins up until the 1980s have also made a tidy return. Willem Boshoff was also just being considered 10 years ago. Today he is one of the most successful sculptors in the country. There are some real gems in the South African art market and finding them is the challenge. Sometimes they are right in front of your eyes and in other instances they may have been ‘buried’ for years. Take Gerard Bhengu, for example, an artist whose work was neglected over time, but who has gained fame more recently. One of his pieces cost just R700 a decade ago, but today is worth around R15 000.

Sanlam Private Investments (SPI) launched SA’s first art advisory service this month, to help aspiring and current art collectors negotiate the potential minefield

Sanlam’s own portfolio is a good example of how art can appreciate if the right principles are followed. In 1997, the Sanlam Art Collection - including a number

Stefan Hundt: Curator: Sanlam Art Collection Stefan Hundt has been curator of the Sanlam Art Collection since 1997. Since his appointment the collection has expanded with the addition of some 500 artworks dating from late 19th Century to the present. The collection boasts a representative overview of South African art valued conservatively at R128-million. Over the past decade Hundt has been responsible for the regular exhibition at the Sanlam Art Gallery, as well as national travelling exhibitions that have showcased the Sanlam Art Collection and first time solo exhibitions by under-recognised artists. Prior to his appointment at Sanlam, he served as curator for the Oliewenhuis Art Museum, a satellite of the National Museum in Bloemfontein. He continues to practise as an art historian publishing articles on corporate collecting and catalogues featuring the Sanlam Art Collection and selected artists. For the past 17 years he has played an active role in the South African art world, 13 of which have been dedicated to expanding Sanlam’s investment in its art collection. Hundt holds a BA in Fine Arts with honours from the University of the Witwatersrand (WITS) and studied History of Art at the University of Cape Town (UCT).

Works included in the Sanlam Art Collection Name of Artist

Name of Work

Year and Price Bought

Current Estimated Value

Irma Stern Irma Stern Freida Lock Hugo Naudé Walter Battiss Diederick During

Still Life of Flowers w ith African Sculpture Malay Girl Interior Malay Quarter African Night Market Snoek Seller

R2700 (1974) R1250 (1968) R550 (1972) R2055 (1972) R575 (1967) R3342 (2004)

R4.2-mln R3.5-mln R500 000 R250 000 R220 000 R 30 000

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Business Art | October 2010

Top South African Paintings at Strauss & Co’s October Auction

CAPE TOWN

Important Paintings, Furniture, Silver and Ceramics Monday 11 October 2010 at 3pm and 8pm The Vineyard Hotel, Colinton Road, Newlands, CT On view: Friday 8 October 2.30pm to 4.30pm Saturday 9 October 9am to 5pm Sunday 10 October 9am to 5pm Walkabout: Conducted by Stephan Welz Saturday 9 and Sunday 10 October at 11am Enquiries: 021 683 6560 ct@straussart.co.za www.straussart.co.za The top lots coming up on Strauss & Co’s 11 October sale at the Vineyard Hotel in Newlands are attracting keen attention from prospective buyers. Amongst these, punters are keeping a close watch on Irma Stern’s Gladioli (R5 000 000 to R7 000 000) after a still life painting by the artist fetched R7 575 200 on the company’s Johannesburg auction earlier this year, breaking the record for the highest price achieved at auction for a South African still life. Yachts and Houses (R2 000 000 – 3 000 000) is a rare example of Stern’s adventures into abstraction. Painted in 1950, the year in which she visited Madeira, it shows the characteristic ceramic-tiled rooves, a mill and yachts in the bay. But rather than present a picturesque scene, the artist has compressed the elements into a shallow pictorial space, added dramatic diagonals and a circular rhythm to convey the excitement and passion she felt about Madeira and about the very act of painting. It’s not difficult to understand why a conceptually clever work like Irma Stern’s Figure on a Beach (R800 000 – 1 200 000) would have appealed to the late Professor Neville Dubow, former Director of the UCT Irma Stern Museum and highly respected author of many texts on the artist. In this late work, painted in 1962, Stern depicts a woman, with an arch, over-the-shoulder expression indicating that she’s both aware of being looked at and that she’s looking right back. The painted frame draws attention to the painting as a conscious construction, not a window through which to view the world. The South African-born Edward Wolfe settled in England and soon became a member of the celebrated Bloomsbury set that gathered around artist and critic Roger Fry, writer Virginia Woolf and her sister, the painter Vanessa Bell. He enjoyed considerable success in Europe and his painting, The Spanish Girl, was well received at the Venice Biennale in 1923. As one of the first English painters to be influenced by Matisse, Wolfe’s dramatic palette of bright colours is infused with the light of his home country and of North Africa, where

Business Art | October 2010

he spent many years living in Morocco. In his Portrait of Aisha (R60 000 – 90 000) his admiration of Modigliani is evident in the dark, almond eyes, the sensuous lips and the elegant curve of her neck. May Hillhouse, a still underrated artist associated with the New Group, has been compared to Sonia Delaunay, the Russian-French artist who, along with others, developed the Orphism art movement, noted for its use of strong colours and geometric shapes. Hillhouse’s early colour-science research conducted in London provided the stimulus for ongoing investigations into colour and form. Figures in an Archway (R500 000 – 600 000) is an outstanding example of her unique style that brings together innovative combinations of glowing colours and rhythmic design. The Synthetic Cubism of Picasso and Braque, with its overlapping planes of flat, bright colour, is reinterpreted by Hillhouse with subtler colours like mauves and olives juxtaposed with delightful patterning. Three years before painting The Bull in 1956 (R300 000 – 500 000), Alexis Preller had undertaken a study trip to Italy and Egypt. The influence of the Quattrocento frescoes of Piero della Francesca and the symbolism of ancient Egypt are noticeable in his subsequent work in which bulls are associated with the rituals and mythologies of African and European beliefs and practices. Strauss & Co’s October sale features many paintings that trace the development of landscape painting in South Africa over almost a century. Pieter Wenning’s painting, Durban (R600 000 – 900 000), made in 1918, is a gem both for its rarity and for its exquisite painterliness. Wenning was well informed and deeply influenced by the Orientalism so prevalent at the turn of the last century. He brings to this painting of sub-tropical luxuriance the glowing, jewel-like colours, strong contours and sinuous lines that are also reminiscent of the Art Nouveau movement. J H Pierneef’s Koringlande Agter Paarl (R2 500 000 – 3 500 000) is a rare example of the artist’s Boland landscapes. It was acquired directly from the artist and has never come onto the market before. The Cape Dutch homestead with its pioniershuis, nestling at the foot of the dramatic Simonsberg mountains must have made an enormous impression on Pierneef and struck him as the very epitome of a typical Cape landscape. It also represents a slice of history in that these rolling hills, now covered in vineyards, were in the 1950s planted with wheat and tobacco which was much more profitable then. History, heritage and nature are brought together in a magnificent breath-taking vision by one of South Africa’s top artists. A striking pair of paintings represents Maggie Laubser at her best. Flamingoes on the Beach (R700 000 – 900 000) and Landscape with Blue Crane (R600 000 – 800 000) demonstrate her wonderful gift for distilling the essence of a scene with strong drawing, simplified shapes and bold colours. Both landscapes are so typically South African that we feel we know them and yet they are quite obviously ideal scenes conjured from her imagination. Two paintings by Pinker on this auction offer insights into the progressive development of abstraction in the South African landscape genre. An exquisite little painting of Castagniers (R30 000 – 40 000) was made when he was living in the south of France from the mid-50s to mid-60s. The village is not far from L’Estaque, where Cézanne, Braque and Picasso painted similar scenes that were to become the cornerstones of early Analytical Cubism. Such a seminal painting that so clearly demonstrates the impact of Modernism on South African art belongs in a major collection. Lazing in the Sand Dunes (R300 000 – 500 000) demonstrates how Pinker developed those early

experiments in abstraction into this later style. Broad sweeping planes of subtle colour are contrasted with the intensely blue sky and punctuated with bright accents in the foreground. While it evokes all the sensuous qualities of Matisse whom Pinker admired so much, its bold abstraction makes it a thoroughly contemporary landscape painting. It’s obvious why Stanley Pinker has become a firm favourite at auction. The Wheel of Life (R700 000 – 1 000 000) is a major painting that featured on his solo exhibition at the South African National Gallery in 1983. The artist is playing an amusing game on a number of levels with the elements of art and with art history. The circle, sprinkled with local icons, is also a circus arena in which Pinker produces a carnival of socio-political commentary, delivered with the most incisive intellect and consummate wit. Still life paintings by Cecil Skotnes do not come to auction often. Two are included in Strauss & Co’s October sale. Still Life with Figs (R300 000 – 500 000) was affectionately produced as a gift by the artist and deemed so special that he surrounded it with a hand-crafted frame. Interestingly, he has chosen to present the items in a stylish, horizontal arrangement rather than clustering them together. Still Life with a Bowl of Fruit and a Coffee Pot (R250 000 – 350 000) demonstrates the influences of Paul Cézanne’s Post-Impressionist vision, especially in the treatment of the bowl of fruit. Both are wonderful reminders of the hospitality of Cecil and Thelma Skotnes and their love of sharing, with family and friends, delectable food, excellent wine, good coffee and stimulating conversation.Responding to the growing interest in South African art, Strauss & Co’s October auction offers a wide range of art and antiques. From top lots to affordable acquisitions, there’s something for everyone’s taste and pocket.

JOHANNESBURG

Important British, Continental and South African Paintings and Sculpture Monday 1 November 2010 at 4pm and 8pm Country Club Johannesburg, Woodmead Corner Lincoln Road & Woodlands Drive, Woodmead On view Friday 29 October 10am to 5pm Saturday 30 October 10am to 5pm Sunday 31 October 10am to 5pm Walkabout Conducted by Stephan Welz on Sunday 31 October at 11am Enquiries: 011 728 8246 jhb@straussart.co.za www.straussart.co.za

Because you have money, and don’t buy our art, we have simply burnt it.

A novel approach to promote the plight of artists who struggle to sell there work was illustrated by a Mexican born art curator Jaime Vasquez who curated a show with the title: “Catch 2010” at the 38 Special Gallery in downtown Cape Town. The show had a twist to it : if the exhibited work didn’t sell, it will be burnt, and it did. The show’s curator Jaime Vasquez said that the show is a statement that “artist put their hearts, and lives into making art and meaning for society, they sacrifice all for art, only to be dumped by it”. Vasquez went on to say that that “the fault of the artwork being destroyed is not the fault of the artists, but the fault of people who have money but do not

buy art”. Whether their artwork gets sold is up to the public. After the show, when it came to the unsold work being burnt “Some of the exhibiting artists failed to pitch up with their work” commented Jaime Vasquez. Besides this much of the work was indeed burnt, photographic records were made, and a documentary of this is to be found on Youtube see: www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqw4Hel5aik Artists that exhibited include: Ayanda Mabulu, Xolile Williams, Khaya Sineyile, Roscoe R Masters, Cinga Samson, Adolf Tega, Aphelele Mlaza, Zolani Siphungela, Godfrey M Ntakana, James Alcock, Jaime Vasquez.

Business Art | October 2010

The next Stephan Welz & Company Auction: 5 October 2010, Cape Town Contemporary South African master, and arguably South Africa’s most successful art export, William Kentridge, is the face of the auction. A drawing from a Stereoscope (pre-sale estimate R1 200 000 – 1 400 000), a still from Kentridge’s A drawing from a Stereoscope film produced during 1998/9 is the frontispiece of the auction catalogue. The film Stereoscope and many other drawings formed the cornerstone of Kentridge’s recent exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. “This auction is the most exciting and diverse sale in which I have been involved. South African masters vie for the spotlight alongside Contemporary artists,” enthuses Phillippa Duncan, Senior Painting Specialist and Auctioneer. “We have been fortunate enough to have consigned major works by Irma Stern, Cecil Skotnes, JH Pierneef, Conrad Botes, Erik Laubscher and Edoardo Villa to name but a few,” continues Duncan, personal favorites include the Kentridge, a selection of three incised panels by Cecil Skotnes (R600 000 – 900 000 each) and the finest Irma Stern gouache Still Life to be offered at public auction in recent history (R900 000 – 1 200 000). “This is an exceptional spring sale for us. It includes a wide array of beautiful and significant pieces across a broad economic spectrum. This sale is a highlight in the auction calendar for collectors of memorable pieces,” says Ian Hunter, Head of Paintings in Cape Town. Catalogues for the auction are available from both the Cape Town and Johannesburg offices. For further details please call 021-794-6461, E-mail ct@swelco.co.za or visit www.swelco.co.za Venue: The Great Cellar, Alphen Hotel, Alphen Drive Constantia Viewing: Friday 1 October Saturday 2 October Sunday 3 October

09h00 - 17h00 09h00 - 15h00 09h00 - 17h00

Auction: Tuesday 5 October Wednesday 6 October

10h00, 14h30 & 19h00 10h00, 14h30 & 19h00

Enquiries & Catalogues: Cape Town Office 021 794 6461, ct@swelco.co.za , www.swelco.co.za For further information please contact 021-794-6461

The next auction includes work from William Kentridge, Cecil Skotnes, Pierneef and Keith Alexander. View the online catalogue at www.swelco.co.za

Swelco opens new refurbished auction premises at The Alphen Hotel Stephan Welz & Company, will be holding their spring Decorative and Fine Arts Auction over two days, the 5th and 6th of October 2010. The auction will take place at their newly refurbished auction premises at The Great Cellar, housed on the Alphen Hotel grounds in Constantia. “The renovations have taken up much of the past eighteen months,” says Shone Robie, Manager for the Cape Town office. “When we were first approached by the Cloete-Hopkins, who own the premises, regarding converting the entire cellar for our exclusive use, both as both a show room during Business Art | October 2010

and between auctions- we couldn’t resist.” It has been a labour of love undertaken by the Cape Town office and a team of heritage compliant builders and architects. “Not a nail was hammered before being passed through the heritage council. We were made aware from the beginning that this was not going to be a case of a wrecking ball and a coat of paint,” she concludes. And as with any building project the final snags have been worked out in time for the auction.

The South African Sale Wednesday 27 October at 2pm New Bond Street, London

Enquiries Giles Peppiatt +44 (0) 20 7468 8355 Hannah O’Leary +44 (0) 20 7468 8213 Catherine Harrington +44 (0) 20 7468 8216 sapictures@bonhams.com

Irma Stern (1894-1966) Bahora Girl, 1945 (detail) within original Zanzibar frame Estimate: £600,000 - 900,000 (ZAR 6,800,000 - 10,200,000)

Cecil Skotnes (1926-2009) Three figures incised and painted wood panel £110,000-150,000 (ZAR 1,212,000 - 1,652,000) Jacob Hendrik Pierneef (1886-1957) Bosveld (detail) £200,000 - 300,000 (ZAR 2,204,000 - 3,305,000)

Catalogue +44 (0) 1666 502 200 subscriptions@bonhams.com

Bonhams 101 New Bond Street London W1S 1SR www.bonhams.com/sasale

Decorative and Fine Arts TO BE SOLD IN CAPE TOWN ON 5 & 6 OCTOBER 2010

Cecil Skotnes ICON 13

Conrad Botes

R 600 000 - 800 000

MURDER AND MAYHEM

Edoardo Villa UNTITLED I R 250 000 - 350 000

R 35 000 - 45 000

FOR VIEWING TIMES, AUCTION ENQUIRIES AND CATALOGUES Cape Town 021 794 6461 ct@swelco.co.za

www.swelco.co.za

Johannesburg 011 880 3125 jhb@swelco.co.za

Cape Town | 5 & 6 October 2010 Johannesburg | 16 & 17 November 2010 TO BE SOLD IN CAPE TOWN ON 5 & 6 OCTOBER 2010

Walter Battiss

Irma Stern

STILL LIFE WITH POPPIES AND FRUIT

PRELUDE TO THE DANCE

R 600 000 - 800 000

R 900 000 - 1 200 000

Edoardo Villa RECLINING FIGURE R 80 000 - 100 000

Erik Laubscher

RED FRAGMENT

R 200 000 - 300 000

Gerard Sekoto

TOWNSHIP SCENE

R 450 000 - 500 000

Robert Slingsby C C

U N L I M I T E D

‘At the game park’ 2010 Acrylic on canvas, 74 x 68 cm’s

BA RN A RD 2 9 t h

S e p t e m b e r

1 8 t h

P O W E R

G A LLERY N o v e m b e r

2 0 1 0

55 Main Street Newlands, Cape Town • Tel.: 021 671-1666 • gallery@barnardgallery.com • www.barnardgallery.com