South African Art Times December 2011 - January 2012 by SA ART TIMES

The South African Art Times: SAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s leading visual arts publication | Dec 2011- Jan 2012 | Free | Read daily news on www.arttimes.co.za

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Mikhail Subotzky Life through the lens

2011 SA Graduate Art School Special Highlights of 2011 by top SA art writers

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ART TIMES | NEWS / EDITORIAL

Without the freedom to demand the facts, the democracy that many fought and struggled for will be lost. DECEMBER 2011 - JANUARY 2012 Daily news at www.arttimes.co.za Editor: Gabriel Clark-Brown

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The South African Art Times, as a contributing mouthpiece of the SA arts community says No to the Media Bill. We urge our readers to send in their contributions and thoughts to us sooner than later to let Government know that their desperate measures will compromise our basic right to freedom of expression Please email: editor@arttimes.co.za Facebook us at facebook.com/arttimes You’ll get there via www.arttimes.co.za

PO Box 15881, Vlaeberg, 8018. Tel. 021 424 7733 Fax. 021 424 7732 Contributors: Jenny Altschuler Matthew Blackman Mary Corrigall Sean O’Toole Carl Collison Michael Coulson Nushin Elahi Peter Machen Ismail Mahomed Matthew Partridge Lloyd Pollak Wilhelm van Rensburg

Deadline for news, articles and advertising is the 18th of each month. The Art Times is published in the last week of each month. Newspaper rights: The newspaper reserves the right to reject any material that could be found offensive by its readers. Opinions and views expressed in the SA Art Times do not necessarily represent the official viewpoint of the editor, staff or publisher, while inclusion of advertising features does not imply the newspaper’s endorsement of any business, product or service. Copyright of the enclosed material in this publication is reserved.

Julius Malema as Jean-Paul Marat By Andre Clements

We would like to wish all our readers a Very happy and restful Festive Season, including Christmas and New Year. We all look forward to providing you with the most amazing news, images and stories for 2012. All the very best from each one of us here at The Art Times, and thank you for all your kind Gabriel Clark-Brown

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SA ART TIMES. Dec 2011- Jan 2012

OPEN LETTER TO THE MINISTER OF ARTS AND CULTURE / NEWS | ART TIMES

Open letter to: The Minister of Arts and Culture: regarding the Venice Biennale 2011 Dear Minister Mashatile, I write to you with regards to the financing of South Africa’s participation in this year’s Venice Biennale and the questions that you and your department have not answered on the issue. To date Dr. Lotriet, of the DA, has put questions to you in the National Assembly and I have written to several members of the Department of Arts and Culture (DAC) without receiving any answers. Although I have found your department both eager to answer my phone calls and my emails, I have not found them eager to answer any of the questions set out in those correspondences. Frustratingly the reasons behind both your and your department’s silence on these issues can only be speculated on. And, I fear, that this speculation does your public image no credit. If you are, for some unfathomable reason, unaware of what I am speaking of, let me provide you with a summation of the attempts that I have undertaken in order to get answers form the DAC. On the 11 August I sent both the Chief Director of Communications (Lisa Comrinck) and the Director (Mack Lewele) several questions. The questions concerned the unusual circumstances of both the appointment of the commissioner Monna Mokoena and the financing of our participation. These questions included: 1) What procedures were followed to appoint Mr. Monna (Lethole) Mokoena as commissioner? 2) What money was paid to Mr. Monna (Lethole) Mokoena, Mr. Thembinkosi Goniwe and Mr. Victor Dlamini for their services? 3) Was there any truth to the rumours that the DAC had purchased (or taken a long term lease out on) premises in Venice and, if so, how was this financed? As I have stated, to date I have received no reply to these questions. What, however, has transpired, since these questions were sent to the DAC, is that on the 30 September I made a request for information to your department using the Promotion to Access to Information Act (PAIA). It may interest you to know that after this PAIA request was sent to the DAC some rather unusual communications took place. Firstly nobody could tell me to whom this request was to be sent, nor indeed could they tell me where I was to send the administration fee – a matter that took almost a month to clear up. Secondly when I went to the department offices, in the parliament buildings, to pay the money in person I found the offices completely empty except for a cleaning lady who told me that she had not seen anybody in the department since November last year - this was despite the fact that parliament was in session. Thirdly the Chief Director of Communications, Lisa Combrinck, told me several seemingly confusing and at times SA ART TIMES. Dec 2011- Jan 2012

contradictory pieces of information including: 1) Answers to my original questions had been drafted but had mistakenly not been sent to me. 2) These answers, although in the department’s possession, could now no longer be sent to me because I had made a PAIA request - the PAIA request, I was told, had primacy over the original questions. 3) When I offered to withdraw the PAIA request so that I could receive the already drafted answers Ms. Combrinck said that I could not do this – she gave no adequate reason, however, why I could not. 4) Ms. Combrinck also said that her superiors had told her that she could no longer communicate with me concerning this matter. When I asked her why the chief of communications was being gagged, she said it was because I had made a PAIA request. This PAIA request meant, according to her, that she was obliged not to give information to a person who had made a request for information. Your department, to date, has been true to this directive. Mr. Mashatile, of course I understand that certain procedures and protocols must be adhered to during this PAIA request. I am aware that I will only receive answers to the request within 30 days of the department’s confirmation of having received all the documentation and payments. The head of your legal services, Mr. Anil Singh, did provide me with this confirmation on the 11th of this month. This does, of course, mean that there is still some time before the 30 days expires. However, Mr. Mashatile, what is disturbing is that a deadline has long expired on the answers that you, personally, owe to the National Assembly concerning the Venice Biennale. Although to date you have avoided any sanction in the press it is known that you have not answered the questions set to you - in written form on the 2 August and then in oral form on the 20 October of this year - by the DA’s Shadow Minister of Arts and Culture, Dr Lotriet. What is deeply disturbing is that you have ignored the National Assembly’s rule that demands that oral questions, submitted to the House, must be answered within 10 working days. The reticence of both you and your department concerning the Venice Biennale does seem to be making the already burgeoning suspicions ever more acute. You, however, do have it within your power to put an end to this. Mr. Mashatile, I implore you to please, at the very least, go some way towards clearing up this matter and break your silence. Yours Sincerely, Matthew Blackman 07

ART TIMES | NEWS / SA ART WRITER’S HIGHLIGHTS OF 2011 AND 2012

AT asked a few of SA’s top arts writers about art in 2011 & where it’s all going in 2012

Ah geez, there it goes! Sean O’Toole

Sean O’Toole with Miss SA, London Since I’ve been prompted to say something financial about the year in which the double-dip recession smiled like Jack Nicholson and exclaimed, axe in hand, “Here’s Johnny!”, a sentence on how I survived it, this year of less. I shopped at Pick ‘n Pay, cycled whenever possible, drank beer not wine, spent my free time reading Sergei Dovlatov, Peter Schjeldahl and Ivan Vladislavic, paid cash, generally ate in and sometimes wrote in the nude (although not out of economic necessity). Writing is what I do, but looking often

precedes it. Thankfully looking remains free, or almost free. The following visual encounters freed me from, but also drew me closer to the immediacy of living in the turbulent here and now: 1. Summiting Kilimanjaro with artist Jacques Coetzer’s performance prop, an aluminium ladder, then climbing it on the snowy peak. Sadly Jacques couldn’t make it. Altitude sickness. Bummer. 2. Looking up at the burnt-out wooden stars in Michaelis graduate Daniella Mooney’s confident debut at Whatiftheworld Gallery. 3. Seeing Muammar Gaddafi, swaddled in fabric, confidant in his rage, ranting on television in February – and thinking of Robert Hodgins, how up-to-date his paintings remain of those corpulent, self-assured men who really mean it when they say, “Fuck you!” 4. Watching Tracey Rose ride a horse and orchestrate the necklacing of God for her invigorating mid-career survey at JAG. 5. Comparing the white tendrils of Hokusai’s woodcut of the Great Wave off Kanagawa (1832) with the televised image of a black-lipped wave consuming great swathes of northern Japan. 6. Wandering through the bright white radiance of Wim Botha’s polystyrene and neon installation, Solipsis, at Stevenson Gallery. 7. Repeatedly looking for something (consolation? insight? proof?) in Marlene Dumas’s painting The Pilgrim (2006), a portrait of Osama bin Laden, following his execution in May. 8. Pouring over the ephemera displayed on Santu Mofokeng’s retrospective, Chasing Shadows, at Jeu de Paume in Paris, in particular a pencil-written exchange between the photographer and social historian Charles van Onselen, also a Weekly Mail clipping showing an unremarkable sport photograph credited to “S. Nofokeng” (sic). 9. Feeling adrift and alone and compelled to stay

exactly where I was, in front of Guy Tillim’s mute seascape, which he photographed somewhere near Huahine and exhibited at Stevenson Gallery. 10. Hearing Chas Unwin sigh and seeing Mawande Zenzile dressed like a ragged monk during an evening of performance in a corrugated iron shed in Tamboerskloof. 11. Saying yes and no to myself in front of Ian Grose’s chocolate coloured painting, Passenger Proxy, shown on his debut solo at blank projects. 12. Noticing that Joachim Schönfeldt was blushing shortly before Linda Buthelezi’s unapologetic guitar solo that prefaced the artist’s flag-raising ceremony at the 2011 Joburg Art Fair. 13. Disagreeing with David Goldblatt and really liking the audio texture provided by British artist Haroon Mizra’s sound installation in the photographer’s para-pavilion at the Venice Biennale. 14. Gaping at Peter Clarke’s melancholic colourreduction linocut, Construction Site Fence (1963), part of his astounding retrospective at the National Gallery. 15. Agreeing with Congolese dancer Faustin Linyakula’s demands for the right to autonomy and self-hood during his principled argument with Sudanese hip hop artist Emmanuel Jal at the Goethe Institute, the morning after Linyakula and his dance company performed an exuberant riposte to punk’s nihilism at the Dance Factory. 16. Hearing Nicholas Hlobo quote a line from the Icelandic indie rockers Sigur Ros to Martin Scorsese, Wole Soyinka, Cindy Sherman and plebian schlumps such as myself at a dinner in New York. Anish Kapoor, his Rolex-appointed mentor, was beaming like a proud daddy. Postscript: In 2012, look out for Rodan Kane Hart’s concise architectural structures, Chloe Reid’s finely rendered linear graphics, and Candice Breitz’s homecoming show at the Standard Bank Gallery.

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SA ART WRITER’S HIGHLIGHTS OF 2011 AND 2012 / NEWS | ART TIMES C

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are not insisting on a price hike merely because they have been around for a while. Also painting seems to have come to the fore again but whether that is a trend that is merely running concurrent to the recession, rather than being influenced by it, is difficult to tell. What do you feel is the way through the recession? I leave those kind of dubious projections to the likes of the Clem Sunters of the world. What he would probably say is it may help buying more/less art, making more/less art, not making art/making art and trusting your gut/don’t trust any of you organs because there is a long history of organ failure in human beings. I think one just has to tighten ones belt and hope that the recovery isn’t as far away as it seems.

Matthew Blackman Art highlights for 2011? I think one would have to acknowledge the Joburg Art Fair as a highlight. Where many of the other attempts to organize a large-scale showcase for art in South Africa have failed, Ross Douglas and Art Logic look like they have perhaps developed a sustainable platform. It was also encouraging to see that the Gauteng Provincial Government helped fund it. Where both government and private initiatives have failed in the past it looks like a combination of both public funding and private capital may be the solution. How do you think the current recession is influencing and perhaps set to influence art making, buying in 2012? By the looks of things people seem to have become more selective in their buying patterns. One pattern that seemed to emerge at the Joburg art fair was there seemed to be a focus on established young/mid-career figurative painters. I also think that perhaps artists are a little more worried about what is going to sell than they were three or four years ago. This probably means they are less likely to take any risks with new materials and forms.

What and possibly who, should we look out for in the coming year? I am looking forward to seeing Georgina Gratirx’s show at SMAC early next year. I would also want to see the Joburg Art Fair make its 4th appearance. What would you like to see happen in South African art in the coming year? I would like to see the matter of the Venice Biennale controversy properly investigated. It would be good to see an organization like VANSA being appointed as commissioner for our future participation in it. What other issues do you see playing a role, or somehow affecting the arts landscape in 2012? I really believe that Cape Town needs to get a properly formulated public arts policy in place before they become the 2014 World Design Capital. I am surprised to see that the DA Provincial Government has not acted in this regard and I hope to see them playing a stronger role in arts funding. They could really take a leaf out of the book of ANC Gauteng Provincial Government.

Has the recession played a positive role at all? To a certain extent it may have made people a little more if not discriminating, then cautious about which artists works they buy. I think it is harder to convince buyers about what is going to be a good investment. It has perhaps acted, by proxy, as a quality controller. However, it may have also discouraged potentially good artists from taking the risk of embarking on an art career. What influence has the recession had on the type and price bracket of artwork bought? From what I have seen and heard it seems to have acted a price regulator. Artists seem happy to sell work at the same price that their work was selling for a few years ago. Form what I have heard they SA ART TIMES. Dec 2011- Jan 2012

Georgina Gratirx, Most Beautiful Girl, oil on canvas, 2010 09

ART TIMES | NEWS / SA ART WRITER’S HIGHLIGHTS OF 2011 AND 2012

Recessions are never good for art-making, unless you are of the thinking that it somehow forces the art world to reconnect with its “soul”, the grander purpose of art rather than its commercial value thus ridding the art world of all the avaricious impostors that cling to it during the good times. Personally, I think this is unlikely to occur given how entrenched art is within circuits of commercial exchange. If anything there will be heightened awareness of its monetary value.

Mary Corrigall Art highlights for 2011? Kudzanzi Chuirai’s State of the Nation exhibition in a warehouse in Newtown and Goodman Projects at Arts on Main. William Kentridge’s Refuse the Hour festival at the Market Theatre, Simon Gush’s Representation, Stevenson Gallery, Johannesburg

What influence has the recession had on the type and price bracket of artwork bought?

How do you think the current recession is influencing and perhaps set to influence art making, buying in 2012 It is hard to predict what the outlook might be for next year given we do not know what impact the ‘double dip’ and crisis with the Euro might have on the South African economy. Budget cuts in international arts institutions might translate into less foreign funding for local art projects and less opportunities for overseas residencies, which many artists here depend on. Recessions don’t stop artists from making art. However, there will be less platforms to show work, gallerists will be more cautious in terms of the artists and work they select and corporate collectors and sponsors will reduce acquisitions and spending. Has the recession played a positive role at all?

Though local gallerists appear to be selling more filmic and video artworks than before, a deepening recession is likely to curb interest in this medium. The market for photography will continue to grow, given editioned works are more accessible (in terms of its price point) and photographic works are widely accepted as assets worth acquiring. What do you feel is the way through the recession? Because it is hard to predict how long the recession will last and how it will impact on the art market and community it makes no sense to forge any kind of long-term coping strategies. Survival will depend on artists, gallerists (and lowly art critics) doing what they do even better and responding appropriately and timeously to the shifting climate.

What and possibly who, should we look out for in the coming year? The addition of two more galleries to Braamfontein; the Wits Art Gallery opens in early 2012 as well as Linda Givon and Koulla Xinisteris’ new gallery. I think we can look forward to Everard Read’s Circa gallery finally asserting a stronger presence in terms of a respected venue for contemporary practice. More exhibitions of works by artists from the continent and Europe. More politically-themed work. Artists to look out for: Serge Alain Nitegeka. Bronwyn Lace. Donna Kukama. Marcus Neustetter and Stephen Hobbs’ ten year retrospective of Trinity Session and Hobbs/Neustetter projects will also be a highlight What would you like to see happen in South African art in the coming year? More opportunities for arts writers and critics. Our public art galleries are in a desperate state – limited funds for acquisitions, exhibitions and maintenance of buildings. The temporary closure of the Durban Municipal Gallery this year is a sign of things to come – JAG also has structural problems that are not being addressed and could also face closure in the future. We cannot expect the directors of these public institutions to soldieron any longer under the current conditions. The art community needs to become more involved in engaging with the problems facing our public institutions and identifying solutions.

MICHAELIS GRADUATE SHOW Michaelis School of Fine Art presents: The 2011 Graduate Show Opening at 18:00 on 7 December 8 - 17 December (10:00 - 16:00 Tuesday - Saturday) at 37 Orange Street, Gardens, Cape Town

SA ART TIMES. Dec 2011- Jan 2012

A selection of the best Masters & Contemporary Artists

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Frans Oerder - Oil on canvas Shop 43 Willowbridge Lifestyle Centre,Carl Cronje Dr,

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ART TIMES | NEWS / SA ART WRITER’S HIGHLIGHTS OF 2011 AND 2012

How do you think the current recession is influencing and perhaps set to influence art making and buying in 2012. It seems likely that the art market will continue to outshine the financial markets, both locally and internationally, and high-end art continues to remains a store of value on a par with gold and sensible property purchases, particularly so since fund managers can’t walk away with your artworks or funnel them into a Swiss bank account. At the same time, the possibility of the art bubble bursting remains. Has the recession played a positive role at all?

Peter Machen Art highlights for 2011? 2011 wasn’t exactly an earth-shattering year for art in Durban. That said, It was encouraging to see the KZNSA engaging more with the local art scene again under the curatorial hand of Bren Brophy, and also exciting to witness the opening of The Collective, a new gallery aimed at showcasing the works of younger artists from Durban, particularly since the number of galleries in Durban which are dedicated to contemporary art remains pitifully small. In terms of exhibitions, Hennie Stroebel’s exhibition of embroidered masterpieces at the KNZSA blew me – and everyone else who saw them – away. Years in the making, the body of work on show was remarkable on a technical level but even more so in terms of feeling, composition and an almost moving grasp of colour and history. Stroebel’s talents deserve global recognition and would be at home in any of the world’s major galleries and museums.

industries are facing remarkable challenges and unemployment mounts locally and internationally. There is a real danger, though, of a systemic meltdown that would make the last few years look like a picnic. If that happens, we’re all in major trouble and the art market could collapse along with everything else. In the global South however, where there is still strong potential for growth, and people have long been used to being poor, the outlook might be a little rosier… What and possibly who, should we look out for in the coming year?

I think there’s often an inverse relationship between creativity and economic growth. Recessions might be bad for the art market but they tend to be good for creative output. It’s also worth pointing out that most artists don’t sell many of their works and continue to produce work regardless.

Kevin Goss-Ross is a young photographer on the rise who continues to impress with his distinctive style and remarkable grasp of lighting and composition as well as his evident connection with his subjects. While Goss-Ross specialises in photographing musicians – and does an uncommonly good job of it – his photographs of normal people are even more impressive.

What influence has the recession had on the type and price bracket of artwork bought?

What would you like to see happen in South African art in the coming year?

In Durban art prices do seem to have come down and I saw a lot of work available for very low prices. The downturn in purchasing power – affected by both the recession and the inflationary pressure of the last few years – has meant that younger artists are more likely to sell their work, while those selling at higher brackets have understandably suffered. Durban remains a good place to buy art at relatively very low prices, although that’s also one of the reasons artists leave the city.

I may well have said this last year, but I’d love to see Durban acknowledged to a greater extent for the significant role it plays in the creative life of South Africa. I would also be very happy if wealthier Durbanites were to spend a little less money on their décor and a little more money on art that might not go with their couches and curtains.

What do you feel is the way through the recession?

I think climate change and ecological awareness will continue to have an ever greater impact on the production of art around the world, not so much in a didactic sense, but in terms of a fundamental shift in the relationship between human beings and their environment. I also think the massive shift in politics that took place around the world in 2011 will have a major impact on art production as the chimes of freedom sound ever louder.

The reality is that the 2008-10 recession did not end in 2011, despite the fact that many banking and financial institutions bounced back. In South Africa, the recession was highly lagged and also very segmented. The presence of active construction sites all over the country would suggest a boom in many areas at the same time as some

What other issues do you see playing a role, or somehow affecting the arts landscape in 2012?

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A selection of glass from The Professor Walter Beck Collection

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ART TIMES | NEWS / AN OPEN LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT : BLACK TUESDAY

An Open Letter to the President

SHAME ON YOU! African government. We spoke about personal freedoms and public freedoms. We spoke about a media that would be allowed to be free and critical. We hailed our peers who had the courage to protest and be detained in their teens to fight for a South Africa that would be free, just and transparent.

First published on Artslink.co.za By Ismail Mahomed. Black Tuesday is not just about a protest in favour of media freedoms but it is the day on which we mourn the biggest betrayal of our nation. Dear President Jacob Zuma I was a high school student in Lenasia on Black Wednesday. I remember it as a solemn day. On the Friday that followed a number of my fellow students were detained at a protest meeting held at The Barn just across the road from the Trinity Secondary School. These were high school students who wanted to make their voices heard against the Nationalist government’s banning of the media. That Monday in our mathematics, geography and science classes we discussed the pitfalls of a government that censors the media because it wants to hold the monopoly on truth to corruptly and immorally stay in power. White youth my age were in their schools discussing details about their conscription into the South African Defence Force and how they would be casting their first vote in the next general elections. There was nothing general about that election. African, Coloured and Indians did not have the vote. We spent our youth discussing what life would be like when the Nationalist Party would be defeated by the African National Congress. That, Mr President, is the party that you lead. Progressive teachers at our schools led us in discussions silently but vigorously because the ANC was a banned organisation. We discussed how the ANC would become the mainstream of South African politics and how it would bring us the freedoms that were denied to us by the South 14

I’ve often remembered Black Wednesday and that miserable weekend when high school students from Lenasia were detained at John Vorster Square Prison (now Johannesburg Prison). That weekend detention did not kill the spirit of our school. In fact, that fateful weekend was in many ways an affirmation of the vision that we had that freedoms would be attained in our lifetimes. On 27 April 1994, I said a silent prayer of thanksgiving that South Africa was freed in my lifetime. I thought that 1994 would be the turning point from which we would be able to look towards a future where the horrors of the Nationalist Party would be buried forever and that we would always be able to celebrate our freedoms. That day when I cast my vote I honoured the blood, sweat and lonely nights that many people endured so that we could be a free nation. When President Nelson Mandela promised that South Africa need never fear of not having media freedom, I felt a proud moment because I know that those words resonated through the heart and bloodstream of every one of those students in Lenasia who attended the protest meeting to observe Black Wednesday. This week as the momentum for protests against the Protection of Information Bill which you’ve now made law was building up, I was overwhelmed with anger. I am angry with you because you betrayed the freedom that President Nelson Mandela promised our nation. I’m even more angry that I could be so naive to believe that successive presidents after Nelson Mandela would continue to guarantee us our freedoms. I am angry that the ANC is increasingly becoming the coward that has stolen and worn the clothes of the Nationalist Party corpse. The ANC’s determination to push the bill through parliament despite the protests from large sectors of our society smacks of a political party that is becoming the playground bully. You and your political henchman are so determined to crush any attempt to expose how large numbers of your leadership have become like selfish octopuses

who have their tentacles greedily grasped on milking public funds for their own personal benefits. You, Mr President, should have been so much more vigilant to protect the freedom of the media to demonstrate your integrity, particularly because you came into office under a cloud of corruption charges. It is not surprising that you have failed us. You have reaffirmed your complete lack of integrity and immorality. You and your political henchmen have adopted this Bill so that you can all continue to stand behind an armour that will allow you to plunder public resources and turn this country into the basket case as is the case with large parts of this continent. What will come surprisingly to you and your leadership is that even after the Nationalist government’s clampdown on Black Wednesday, we were still able to access information and share information with our communities. Black Wednesday only strengthened our resolve. As artists, we shared information through our poetry, music, dance and other art forms. Even when the firm hand of the Nationalist government’s came down strongly on a number of artists our artistic expressions became so much more creative and vociferous and they continued to expose and challenge the horrors of the Nationalist Party. There is no doubt that the current threats facing the media will inevitably come down just as hard on the arts. Censorship inevitably comes down on every aspect of our lives. As sombre as Black Wednesday was we drew inspiration from it. We knew that bannings and censorship were the symptoms of a Nationalist government that feared the truth. Someday, perhaps just someday, our children’s children will write in their obituaries that Black Tuesday was the day the ANC tried to steal space in the Nationalist Party’s coffin by pushing through the same laws that the ANC once fought against. Black Tuesday is not just about a protest in favour of media freedoms but it is the day on which we mourn the biggest betrayal of our nation. And you, Mr President, and everyone in parliament who voted in favour of the Bill have led that betrayal. Lower your head in shame, Mr President. (Ismail Mahomed is the Director of the National Arts Festival. He writes in his personal capacity.) SA ART TIMES. Dec 2011- Jan 2012

SA ART WRITER’S HIGHLIGHTS OF 2011 AND 2012 / NEWS | ART TIMES

Wilhelm van Rensburg Art Highlights 2011 The highlight on the art scene this year was undoubtedly the launch of the phenomenal, fourvolume Visual Century; South African Art in context 1907 – 2007, a book project directed by Gavin Jantjes and published by Wits University Press. Not since Steven Sack’s eponymous The Neglected Tradition of 1988 have South Africans seen such a comprehensive, revisionist approach to the history of our art. It posits, through a multitude of essays by prominent South African scholars and art historians, a radically new interpretation of the history of twentieth century visual art in South Africa against the backdrop of momentous social and political events. This is going to be the standard reference work for years to come. Exhibition highlights of 2011 include Peter Clarke’s retrospective, Listening to Distant Thunder at the Standard Bank Gallery in May/June (one got a very good sense of his painting style and the vast range of his prints); Transcode;Dialogues Around Intermedia Practice at Unisa Art Gallery in September (the show was made by Nathaniel Stern’s Stuttering, a brilliant conceptual work, executed in innovative electronic media); Clive van den Berg’s Soundings, In Passage at Goodman Gallery in

SA ART TIMES. Dec 2011- Jan 2012

October (when last did one get to see such good abstract painting?); and William Kentridge’s new video work; Other Faces, also at Goodman, in November/December. At the Johannesburg Art Fair, the best work was undoubtedly featured artist, Paul Emmanuel’s video 3SAI: A Rite of Passage. Individual masterpieces at the Fair included paintings by Serge Alain Nitegeka at Stevenson, and Gunther Herbst at GALLERY AOP, and drawings by Catherine Boyer at Galerie Beatrice Binoche.

(Above) Drawing from Paul Emmanuel’s video 3SAI: A Rite of Passage. The recession certainly impacted on the art market in 2011, the psychological glass ceiling for prices paid for contemporary art seemingly ranging between R20 000 and R30 000.. Anything beyond

that seemed to be difficult to move - just check out the sales records of the auction houses this year. Or the prices were extremely high, with, for example, the latest Kentridge drawings going for a couple of million rand.. There will always be buyers for good art. The best way through the recession is simply to buy more art! There is the story about a famous Los Angeles collector, who, upon request to consign a Rothko painting to a well-known auction house, with a guarantee of US$50 000 000 000, simply answered, ‘What would I do with the money?”. There is also the story of the artist, who, upon returning from Europe, lowered her prices by 40%. And the story of the artist, who, upon returning from the USA, put up his prices by 40%! The trick is to identify tomorrow’s Kentridges today. Many reputable galleries mount excellent shows by young artists, such as the April 2011 exhibition by newcomer Jaco van Schalkwyk at GALLERY AOP. He also designed the elegant on-line catalogue of the exhibition. The shows one should not miss next year are the Candice Breitz retrospective at Standard Bank Gallery in February 2012; the opening of the Wits Art Museum; and the exhibition of abstract expressionist work at the University of Johannesburg Art Gallery, which will include rare drawings by the Japanese Gutai group and paintings by Christo Coetzee, also in February 2012.

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SOUTH AFRICAN

GALLERY GUIDE Woodblock Print by Joshua Miles

May the miracle of Christmas touch your heart with peace and joy!

Alette Wessels Kunskamer Maroelana Centre, 27 Maroelana Street, Maroelana, Pretoria GPS S25º 46.748’ EO28º 1.5615’ Tel (+27) 12 346-0728 / Fax (+27) 12 346-0729 alette@artwessels.co.za gerrie@artwessels.co.za Alette 082 652 6663 Gerrie 084 589 0711 GALLERY HOURS Mon to Fri 09h00 - 16h00 Saturday 09h00 - 13h00 Closed 18 December – 10 January 2012

A quality selection of SA masters and selected contemporary art

JH Pierneef Graaff-Reinet 1953 Oil on canvas, 48 x 65 cm

We look forward to welcome you at our second gallery in Somerset West, which will open in the near future. www.artwessels.co.za

GALLERY GUIDE | FREE STATE, GAUTENG, MPUMALANGA

Free State Bloemfontein Oliewenhuis Art Museum Currently on show until 15 January 2012, “Short Stories from the City of Roses” a Johannes Voets UBUNTU Photography Project. In this exhibition of documentary photographs the Belgian photographer Jo Voets shows his experience of Bloemfontein through a collection of photographic ‘diary entries’, gathered during several visits to Mangaung between 2005 and 2010. Currently on show until 22 January 2012, Contemporary SA Women’s Art from the Permanent Collection. Currently on show until 3 March 2012, a selection of Watercolour & Pastel Works from the Permanent Collection. 2 Dec – 30 April 2012, “Face Value: old heads in modern masks” etching series by Malcolm Payne from the Permanent Collection. 16 Harry Smith Str, Bloemfontein. T.051 447 9609 karen.marais@nasmus.co.za www.nasmus.co.za

Clarens Art & Wine Gallery on Main The Gallery houses an exquisite collection of art by wellknown artists like Gregoire Boonzaier, J.H. Pierneef, Pieter van der Westhuizen, Erik Laubscher, Jan Vermeiren, Marjorie Wallace, Eben van der Merwe, Conrad Theys, Hennie Niemann, Hannetjie de Clercq, ceramics by Laura Du Toit, sculpture by Fana Malherbe & Jean Doyle, glass by David Reade & Shirley Cloete and numerous others. 279 Main Str, Clarens T. 058 256 1298 or Anton Grobbelaar. C. 082 341 8161 anton@artandwine.co.za www.artandwine.co.za Blou Donki Art Gallery A vibrant contemporary art gallery, housing a wide variety of contemporary artworks, functional art, steel sculptures, bronzes, handmade glass and specializing in photography. Windmill Centre, Main Str, Clarens T. 058 256 1757 manager@bloudonki.co.za www.bloudonki.co.za Johan Smith Art Gallery The gallery permanently exhibits a wide variety of classical and selected contemporary art works featuring Johan Smith, Elbè van Rooyen, Elga Rabe, Graham Carter, Nicole Pletts, Gregoire Boonzaier, Otto Klar, and various others. Specializing in ceramics, the gallery supports artists such as Hennie Meyer, Karen Sinovich, and Heather Mills, among others. Collectable bronzes, and handmade glass by David Reade, also available. Windmill Centre, Main Str, Clarens T. 058 256 1620 manager@bhm.dorea.co.za www.johansmith.co.za

Gauteng Johannesburg Absa Art Gallery Currently on show until 2 February 2012, “Landscape, Now and Then” which explores the relationship between the representation of land and the possession of power and includes a selection of works from the Absa collection of old masters such as Anton van Wouw and J.H. Pierneef as well as some of Absa’s more recent acquisitions such as Helen Sebidi, Gerhard Marx and Joachim Schonfeld. Absa Towers North, 161 Main Street, Jhb. T. 011 350 5139 www.absa.co.za

Alice Art 3&4 December, Susan Greyling. The gallery will be closed from 11 Dec – 9 Jan. January – all New Signatures 2012 applicants must be in for appointments with the panel of judges. 217 Drive Str, Ruimsig. T. 083 331 8466/ 083 377 1470 aliceart@global.co.za www.aliceart.co.za Artspace Jhb Until 5 November, “Surface” by Lionel Smit. 3 Dec – 13 Jan 2012, “360° Johannesburg” a group show with participating artists: Angela Banks, Bongi Bengu, Poorvi Bhana, Jacqui Carney, Paul Cooper, Ronél de Jager, Natasha de Wet, Kevin G Friedman -Frankli wild, Danelle Janse van Rensburg, Ruhan Janse van Vuuren, Mandy Johnston, MJ Lourens, Dalene Marais, Colbert Mashile, Collen Maswanganyi, Isabel Mertz, Lee-At Meyerov, Sotiris Moldovanos, Farieda Nazier, Senzo Nhlapo, Sarel Petrus, Karin Preller, Landi Raubenheimer, MC Roodt, Claire Rousell, Sally Rumball, Lori SchappeYouens, Bambo Sibiya, Pat Sithole, John Smyth, Sarah Spring, Nicola Taylor, Ann-Marie Tully, Wayne Vivier, Engela van den Hoven, Estie van der Merwe, Thelma van Rensburg, Marchand van Tonder & Réney Warrington. Chester Court, 142 Jan Smuts Ave, Parkwood. T.011 880 8802 Email artspace@wol.co.za www.artspace-jhb.co.za Christie’s International Auctioneers. Gillian Scott Berning, Independent Consultant. T 031 207 8247 Gillian.gsb@mweb.co.za www.christies.com CIRCA on Jellicoe Until 22 December, “Redeconstructivist” exhibition by Paula Louw. In January , an exhibition by Anton Momberg. 2 Jellicoe Ave. T. 011 788 4805 gallery@circaonjellicoe.co.za www.circaonjellicoe.co.za Everard Read Jhb Until 22 December, “Paint” by Kerri Evans. 6 Jellicoe Ave, Rosebank, Jhb. T. 011 788-4805 gallery@everard.co.za www.everard-read.co.za David Brown Fine Art Until 11 December, Group Show with exhibiting Artists: Alexandra Ross, Chonat Getz, Christiaan Harris, Collen Maswanganyi, Collin Cole, Craig Smith, Daandrey Steyn, Flora More, Gordon Froud, Hermann Niebuhr, Jacki Mcinnes, Jayna Mistry Katherine Taylor, Lance Freidlande, Lesley Price, Mayuri Patel, Neil Nieuwoudt, Nirupa Sing, Poorvi Bhana, Sikho Siyotula, Susan Woolf, Wayne Barker, Yda Walt. Old Sandton Civic Gallery next to Library, Nelson Mandela Square. C. 082 777 7373 david@dbfineart.co.za www.davidbrownfineart.co.za Edwards Fine Art 3 – 31 December, “Kham .... concepts of space”, Kentridge, Dumas, Hirst, Picasso, Chadwick, Villa, Francis, Hodgins, Moore, Geers, Feni, Vasarely, etc. Shop 32, Nelson Mandela Square, Sandton. C. 076 472 9812 info@hiltonedwards.com www.hiltonedwards.com Gallery 2 3 – 23 December, new works by Karin Daymond, Colbert Mashile and Jenny Stadler. The gallery will be closed from the 24 December until 2 January 2012. 140 Jan Smuts Ave, Parkwood. T. 011 447 0155 joe@gallery2.co.za www.gallery2.co.za

Gallery AOP 10 December 2011 to 28 January 2012, a drawing exhibition by John Phalane. Please note: the gallery will be closed from 20 Dec 2011 to 7 January 2012 44 Stanley Ave, Braamfontein Werf (Milpark) T. 011 726 2234 info@artonpaper.co.za www.artonpaper.co.za The Gerald A Lee Gallery cc For Genuine African Art Contact Jason - 0828514783 By private viewing in Johannesburg. Or at the Waterfront in Cape Town Goodman Gallery Until 23 Dec, “Other Faces” by William Kentridge. 26 Jan - 25 February 2012, Rosenclaire. 163 Jan Smuts Ave, Parkwood, Johannesburg T. 011 788 1113 jhb@goodman-gallery.com www.goodman-gallery.com Grahams Fine Art Gallery The gallery houses one of the finest collections of art in South Africa, their focus is on absolute quality and are proud to offer an extensive selection of works for sale. Unit 46, Broadacres Lifestyle Centre, Cnr Cedar & Valley Rds, Broadacres, Fourways, Jhb. T. 011 465 9192 sarah@grahamsgallery.co.za www.grahamsgallery.co.za 16 Halifax Works by Michael Heyns, Leon Muller & Mimi van der Merwe can be viewed by appointment in Johannesburg at 16 Halifax Str, Bryanston. Dana MacFarlane 082 784 6695 bdmac@mweb.co.za www.16halifaxart.co.za In Toto 1- 3 December, The Birdhaven Christmas Fair. There will be a mixed show hanging from the 1 December until closing on 15 December. Opening 19 January 2012, “The Women’s Show” There will only be female artists displaying their works and each piece on the show explores that artist’s individual concept of femininity. The show will run until 28 February 2012. 6 Birdhaven Centre, 66 St Andrew Str, Birdhaven. T. 011 447 6543 megan@intotogallery.co.za www.intotogallery.co.za Isis Gallery Featuring Modern African Contemporary Art and Ceramics by leading Artists: Junior Fungai, Derric van Rensburg, Errol Westoll, Brian Rolfe, Ulrich Schwanecke and Hynes Matshoba. Works can be viewed by appointment. Shop 163, The Mall of Rosebank. Contact Daniel Erasmus T. 011 447 2317 info@isisgallery.co.za www.isisgallery.co.za Johannesburg Art Gallery Until 15 January, “maNyauza: Silent Messages to my Mother” by Mbongeni Buthelezi. Until 29 January 2012, “Pinky Promise” by Pierre Croquet de Rosemond and “Works on Paper” by Vasco Futscher. Until March 2012, Dutch & Flemish exhibition. King George Str, Joubert Park, Jhb. T. 011 725 3130 tinym@joburg.org.za www.joburg.org.za

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SA ART TIMES. Dec 2011- Jan 2012

Windmill Centre Main Street, Clarens Tel/Fax: 058 256 1620

E-mail: manager@bhm.dorea.co.za

* Glass * Bronze * Ceramics * Old Masters * Contemporary *

Anny Maddock

Johan Smith

www.johansmith.co.za Windmill Centre Main Street, Clarens Tel/Fax: 058 256 1757 E-mail: manager@bloudonki.co.za

* Contemporary Art * Steel Sculptures * Handmade Glass * * Functional Art * Photography * Ceramics *

David wheildon

Rheta Kotze

www.bloudonki.co.za Final Level Visual Arts and Multimedia Students as well as selected 3rd year Visual Arts Students

Art Gallery

UNISA

Sam Nhlengethwa new lithographs

Innocent Agbo “Ash” 2011

The exhibition will be opened on Saturday 3 December 2011 by Celia de Villiers at 12:00 for 12:30 The Exhibition closes on Wednesday 11 January 2012

Who's the Boss?, hand-printed lithograph, 44 x 50 cm. Edition 25.

The Exhibition will be closed over festive season from 22 December 2011 to 3 January 2012 Kgorong Building Ground Floor, Main Campus, Preller Street, Pretoria Email: ukun1@unisa.ac.za, Tel: (012) 441-5683

The Artists’ Press

Box 1236, White River, 1240 7HO 013 751 3225 PDUN#DUWLVWVSUHVV FR ]D ZZZ DUWSULQWVD FRP

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GALLERY GUIDE | FREE STATE, GAUTENG, MPUMALANGA Manor Gallery 1 December – 28th January 2012: Grand Year End Sale – a selection of artworks in all media. Great Christmas gift opportunity. Manor Gallery, Home of the Watercolour Society of South Africa. Norscot Manor Centre, Penguin Drive, Fourways, Gauteng. T. 011 465 7934 F. 011 465 8951 gallery@wssa.org.za www.wssa.org.za Market Photo Workshop 7 Dec – 15 Feb 2012, “Picture” an exhibition by 2011 Photojournalism and Documentary Photography Programme Students.T. 011 834 1444 info@marketphotoworkshop.co.za www.marketphotoworkshop.co.za Sandton Auctioneers Fine Art, Furniture, Carpets & Collectables. Showroom: No 8 Burnside Ave, Craighall Park, Jhb. T. 011 501 3360 sandtonauctioneers@telkomsa.net www.sandtonauctioneers.com Standard Bank Gallery Until 3 December, “End Game” by Michael MacGarry, Standard Bank Young Artist 2010. Cnr of Simmonds & Frederick Str.’s, Jhb. T. 011 631 1889 sue.isaac@standardbank.co.za www.standardbankarts.co.za Stephan Welz & Company Auctioneers of Decorative and Fine Arts. 13 Biermann Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg. T. 011 880-3125 jhb@stephanwelzandco.co.za www.stephanwelzandco.co.za Stevenson Johannesburg Closed 10 December - 9 January 2012 19 January - 24 February 2012, exhibition by Sabelo Mlangeni. 62 Juta Street, Braamfontein, Jhb. T. 011 326 0034 jhb@stevenson.info www.stevenson.info Strauss & Co. Fine Art Auctioneers & Consultants. Country Club Johannesburg, Corner Lincoln Rd & Woodlands Drive, Woodmead. T. 079 407 5140 jhb@straussart.co.za www.straussart.co.za UJ Art Gallery Until 14 December 2011 and re-opens 4 – 25 January 2012, “Ashes to Ashes and Smoke to Dust” the Diane Victor solo exhibition. Cnr Kingsway & University Rd, Auckland Park, Jhb. T. 011 559 2099 aedempsey@uj.ac.za www.uj.ac.za/artscentre The White House Gallery The gallery has a wide ranging portfolio featuring renowned masters such as Chagall, Marini, Miro, Moore, Portway, Pasmore, Stella, Picasso, Dine & Hockney - to name a few. Also the more affordable works of up and coming artists in Britain and France, along with globally acclaimed South African artists. Shop G11 Thrupps Centre,Oxford Road, Illovo,Johannesburg. T. 011 268 2115 alan@whg.co.za www.thewhitehousegallery.co.za

Send your Listings to: show@arttimes.co.za News to: news@arttimes.co.za 24

Pretoria Alette Wessels Kunskamer The Alette Wessels Kunskamer operates as an Art Gallery and Art Consultancy, specialising in South African art as an investment, dealing in Old Masters, and selected contemporary art. Maroelana Centre, 27 Maroelana Str, Maroelana, Pretoria. T. 012 346 0728 alette@artwessels.co.za www.artwessels.co.za Association of Arts Pretoria Until 15 December, an exhibition of paintings by Leon Fourie & sculptures by Ruhan Janse van Vuuren. Walkabout: Saturday 3 December at 11:00. 173 Mackie Str, Nieuw Muckleneuk, Pretoria. T. 012 346 3100 artspta@mweb.co.za www.artsassociationpta.co.za Fried Contemporary Until 17 December, “Christmas tree show” the most exciting Christmas trees ever (buy & take home) with well known sculptors: Roelf Daling, Katya Venter, Carmen Truter, Sarel Petrus, Gordon Froud, Kay Potts, Sanna Swart & Sybrand Weichers. Dec- 21 January 2012, “Dimension” participating artists are Angus Taylor, Maria van Rooyen & Wayne Barker. 430 Charles St, Brooklyn, Pretoria. T. 012 346 0158 art@friedcontemporary.com www.friedcontemporary.com Front Room Art & Artists Until 17 Dec, ARTSHIFT: R1,000 & below. Studio raid art sale. Real art from a variety of artists at bargain prices. 116 Kate Ave Rietondale. Jennifer Snyman 082 451 5584 Jennifer@frontroomart.co.za www.frontroomart.co.za Gallery Michael Heyns The Gallery has moved to 194 Haley Str, Weavind Park. T. 012 804 0867 michael@michaelheyns.co.za www.michaelheyns.co.za Pretoria Art Museum Currently on show until 22 Jan 2012, “Play-off” by Gordon Froud & Lance Friedlande, this extensive exhibition of about 150 works featuring sculptures, photographs & etchings by Gordon Froud and paintings by Lance Friedlande. 3 December 2011 to 29 January 2012, the Children’s Tile Art Project. Currently on show until 29 February, “Pedestrian Paintings” by Andries Gouws. This travelling exhibition combines the interiors and still-lifes known from Gouws’ previous shows with a series of paintings of feet on which he has been working since 2006. T.012 344 1807/8 art.museum@tshwane.gov.za www.pretoriaartmuseum.co.za Sandton Auctioneers Fine Art, Furniture, Carpets & Collectables. Showroom: 367 Lynnwood Rd, Menlo Park, Pretoria. T. 012 460 6000 sandtonauctioneers@telkomsa.net www.sandtonauctioneers.com

UNISA Art Gallery 3 Dec – 11 Jan 2012, Final Level Visual Arts & Multimedia Students Exhibition as well as selected 3rd year Visual Arts Students. The exhibition will be closed between 22 Dec – 3 Jan 2012 for the festive season. Kgorong Building, Ground Floor, Main Campus, Preller Str, Pretoria. T. 012 441 5683 ukun1@unisa.ac.za www.unisa. ac.za/gallery

Mpumalanga Dullstroom Art @ sixty seven A selection of fine art, ceramics and blown glass art pieces, by well-known local artists. Shop no9, 67 Naledi St, Dullstroom, Mpumulanga. T. 013 254 0335 mikek@boardwalkmanor.co.za www.shopat67.com Dimitrov Art Gallery Lifestyle Complex, shop no.4 on Cnr. Teding Van Berkhout & Hugenote/ Naledi Street, Dullstroom, Mpumalanga T. 013 254 0524 C. 082 679 5698 info@dimitrovartgallery.co.za www.dimitrovartgallery.co.za The New Dimitrov Art Gallery Situated in the Trams Alley shop no.1 , along the R 540 ( Naledi Drive ). Opening exhibition “Expression of Freedom” by renowned artist Dimitrov. info@dimitrovartgallery.co.za www.dimitrovartgallery.co.za

White River The Artists’ Press Professional collaboration, printing and publishing of original hand-printed artists lithographs, by the Artists’ Press. Also artists books, monotypes & letterpress prints, particularly for artists working in SA. Waterfield Farm near White River, Mpumalanga T. 013 751 3225 print@artistspress.co.za www.artists-press.net The Loop Art Foundry & Sculpture Gallery A collaboration and network for the avid art patron and collector as well as a full service facility for the artist. This is the place where you will find a unique and superior item or have something commissioned that you have always envisioned. Casterbridge Complex Corner R40 & Numbi Roads White River T. 013 758 2409 theloop@worldonline.co.za www.tlafoundry.co.za

St Lorient Fashion and Art Gallery Until 15 January 2012, “Poetry into Imagery” with participating artists: Helena Hugo, Judith Mason, Andre Naude, Anton Smit, Lefifi Tladi, Lynette Ten Kroode. 492 Fehrsen Street, Brooklyn Circle, Brooklyn, Pretoria. T. 012 4600284 anastasi@iafrica.com www.stlorient.co.za Telkom tower by MJ Lourens part of a body of work entitled: Ago/ Gelede showing at Artspace Jhb Gallery

SA ART TIMES. Dec 2011- Jan 2012

Rose Korber’s 20th Art Salon Opening Friday 16 December 2011 until 31 January 2012, Rose Korber’s 20th Art Salon. This year, Korber’s annual survey of contemporary South African art celebrates its 20th incarnation, with a wide selection of work, covering the spectrum of what is currently being produced. An innovation this year will be the collaboration of Andrew Lamprecht much sought-after Cape Town curator and art theorist, who will present a mix of younger, emerging artists, with a focus on the ‘unusual, unexpected and surprising’. The Art Salon brings together a large showcase of quality artworks in various media and styles: paintings, mixed media works, original limited-edition fine art prints, photography, ceramics, sculpture and contemporary Shangaan beadwork. Artists include much acclaimed names, such as William Kentridge, Willie Bester, Sam Nhlengethwa, Zwelethu Mthethwa, Simon Stone, Richard Smith, Robert Slingsby, Marlene Dumas, Deborah Bell, Diane Victor, Claudette Schreuders, Pamela Stretton and Penelope Stutterheime, alongside classical names such as Erik Laubscher and John Kramer. Photographers of note include Stephen Inggs, Tracy Derrick, Jenny Altshuler and Kevin Thomas. Amongst the leading ceramic artists on show are: Louise Gelderblom, Hennie Meyer, Clementina van der Walt, Katherine Glenday, David Walters, Sarah Walters. Carolyn Heydenreich, Wiebke von Bismarck and Patsy Groll, as well as ceramists from the famed Ardmore Ceramics Studio in Natal, while sculptors on exhibition include Kevin Brand, Willie Bester, Jaco Sieberhagen and Anthony Lane. Art Salon hours: 10am - 6 pm daily, including weekends and public holidays. 48 Sedgemoor Rd, Camps Bay, CT. T. 021 438 9152 C.083 261 1173 roskorb@icon.co.za www.rosekorberart.com

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Landscape, Now and Then, ABSA Gallery Absa will be hosting the “Landscape, Now and Then”, an exhibition based on art works from the Absa collection, which explores the relationship between the representation of land and the possession of power. On show until 2 February 2012, “Landscape, Now and Then” draws on selected artworks from the Absa collection and combines them into an exhibition that explores ways in which landscape(s) across South Africa have been historically used, portrayed, read and/or understood. South Africa has instances where, in its rich history, the relationship between power and land-ownership led to drastic shifts within the socio-political landscape. “This exhibition is a visual narrative portraying a historic journey of the chronological representation of land within our country’, says Dr Paul Bayliss, Absa Art and Museum curator. “It includes a selection of works from the Absa collection that starts with the old masters such as Anton van Wouw and J.H. Pierneef and includes some of Absa’s more recent acquisitions such as Helen Sebidi, Gerhard Marx and Joachim Schonfeld. The exhibit will comprise between 15 and 20 wall pieces of art as well as a number of sculptures.” The exhibit captures moments in South Africa’s history surrounding land representation - from the romantic portrayal of landscape and South Africa’s industrial development to the struggle that led to South Africa’s democracy in 1994 and the years thereafter. ““Landscape, Now and Then” will be held at the Absa Gallery at Absa Towers North, 161 Main Street, Johannesburg. The exhibition will be open from 08:30 to 16:00 daily and entrance is free. Members of the public are requested to bring their ID books along for parking and entry purposes.

GALLERY GUIDE | WESTERN CAPE / CAPE TOWN

Western Cape Cape Town Absolut Art Gallery Permanent exhibition with the best Masters and Contemporary artists. Namely : JH Pierneef, Gerard Sekoto, Hugo Naude, Adriaan Boshoff, Frans Oerder, Maurice Van Essche, Tinus De Jongh, Gerard Bhengu, Ephraim Ngatane, Cecil Skotnes, JEA Volschenk, Conrad Theys, William Kentridge, to name a few. Shop 43 Willowbridge Lifestyle Centre, Carl Cronje Drive, Tyger Valley, Bellville. T. 021 914 2846 info@absolutart.co.za www.absolutart.co.za. Art b Until 12 January 2012, UNISA Senior Students Exhibition. 25 January – 29 February 2012, “KR!SP” a group exhibition of emerging artists. The Arts Association of Bellville, The Library Centre, Carel van Aswegan Str, Bellville. T. 021 918 2301 info@artb.co.za www.artb.co.za/gallery.htm Art in the Forest Gallery Until end December: “Passages” an exhibition of linocuts, etchings, screen prints, mono prints & collages by about 15 hugely talented emerging artists from Johannesburg and the townships of greater Gauteng. These artists have never before shown their work in Cape Town. Art in the Forest, Cecilia Forest, Constantia Nek, Rhodes Drive, Cape Town. T. 021 794 0291. Biance@lightfromafrica.com. www.lightfromafrica.com. Artvark Exciting Johannesburg ceramicist Rika Herbst textured and pierced paper porcelain to be exhibited during December and January. As well as Theresa Jo`s latest etchings and monoprints. She was a finalist at Vuleka 2011 with the print ‘Dodo days” and this bird range will be on show. Main road Kalkbay Tel 021 788 5584 artvark@iafrica.com www.artvark.org AVA Until 12 January, Part 2 of the 40 year retrospective exhibitions, “A Natural Selection: 1991-2011” Association for Visual Arts, 35 Church Str, CT. T.021 424 7436 art@ava.co.za www.ava.co.za The Avital Lang Gallery On show at present artists such as Marion Cross, Shannon Phillips, Gregory Joffe, Stuart Valentine Rambridge, Avital Lang and many more upcoming SA artists, or join us for art classes as the gallery provides studio space for artists. Two Oceans House, Surrey Place, Mouille Point, CT. (Next to Newport Deli ) T. 021 4392124 avital.artistinc@gmail.com www.avitallang.com Barnard Gallery Until 13 Jan 2012, an exhibition by the internationally acclaimed artist, Felix Anaut. 55 Main Str, Newlands. T. 021 671 1666 gallery@barnardgallery.com www.barnardgallery.com Brundyn & Gonsalves (formely iArt) 07 Dec 2011 - 25 Jan 2012, “Implemented Environments” a group show featuring artists: Barbara Wildenboer, Jan van der Merwe, Daniella Mooney, Sean Slemon, Mohau Modisakeng, Zwelethu Mthethwa & Willie Bester. 71 Loop Str, CT. T. 021 424 5150 info@brundyngonsalves.com www.brundyngonsalves.com

Brundyn & Gonsalves - Wembley Project Space 08 Dec 2011 - 05 Jan 2012, Ferdinand Kidd exhibition. Wembley Square, Gardens, CT. T. 021 424 5150 info@brundyngonsalves.com www.brundyngonsalves.com Cape Gallery Until 10th December, Recent Ceramic works by Anton Bosch and Hanlie Bosch. Opening on Sunday 11th December at 4.30 p.m. at Recent works by David Kuijers and Tania Babb, on show until 14 January 2012. 60 Church Str, CT. T. 021 423 5309 web@capegallery.co.za www.capegallery.co.za Carmel Art Dealers in Fine art, exclusive distributers of Pieter van der Westhuizen etchings. Cape Quarter Square, 27 Somerset Rd, Green Point. T. 021 4213333 carmel@global.co.za www.carmelart.co.za Casa Labia Galleria Opening 7 December until February 2012 “In Bloom II” a group exhibition, curated by Margie Murgatroyd of Africa Nova, based on indigenous flowers and plants. Over 60 artists working in a number of mediums will be exhibiting and it promises to be a visual feast. Casa Labia Cultural Centre, 192 Main Rd, Muizenberg. T. 021 788 6068 info@casalabia.co.za www.casalabia.co.za Cedar Tree Gallery Contemporary Fine Art Gallery at Rodwell House. Rodwell Rd, St. James, CT. T. 021 797 9880 cedartreegallery@gmail.com www.cedartreegallery.co.za The Cellar Private Gallery The Cellar Private Gallery of Art deals exclusively in original & investment art, offering works by a variety of renowned & upcoming SA artists. 12 Imhoff Str, Welgemoed, Bellville T. 021 913 4189 info@thecellargallery.co.za www.thecellargallery.co.za Christie’s International Auctioneers. Juliet Lomberg, Independent Consultant. T. 021 761 2676 jlomberg@iafrica.com www.christies.com Christopher Møller Art An evening of Val de Klerk 18 January for 1 night. (Invitation only). Val de Klerk portrays rich indigenous characters in her paintings. Each character is depicted in their historical setting, wearing ethnic garb and is chosen for the fascinating story they tell. Her paintings bring to life the colorful and interesting histories of South African tribes. 7 Kloofnek Road, Gardens, C T. T. 021 422 1599 info@christophermollerart.co.za www.christophermollerart.co.za Commune.1 Gallery Until 24 December, “Damn your eyes, damn your eyes” by Robyn Nesbitt and “Further Fictions” by Natasha Norman. 64 Wale Str, CT. T. 021 423 5600 info@commune1.com www.commune1.com Ebony Summer Exhibition. Paintings by Lionel Abrams, Marlene von Durckheim and Dirk Adriaan Meerkotter. Works on paper by Peter Clarke and Dylan Lewis. Conceptual book covers by Olaf Bisschoff.

67 Loop Str, CT. T. 021 876 4477 info@ebonydesign.co.za www.ebonydesign.co.za Erdmann Contemporary & The Photographers Gallery za On view until end December, “Altered Landscapes & the Narrative Portrait.” This mixed media group exhibition features both painting and photography. Well-known painters were invited to participate, Manfred Zylla, Diana Hyslop, David Hlongwane, Clare Menck, Karlien de Villiers, Mark Hipper, Jan Neethling and Lara Feldman. We are also proud to introduce new paintings by Mozambican artist Bernardo Carrula Tomos. Photography is represented by Grada Djeri, well known for his painterly technique. Works by emerging talents, Carla Erasmus, Marike Herselman, and Monique Prinsloo are included. Also integrated into this exhibition is a special selection of works on paper, drawings, lithographs and etchings, by the acclaimed South African artist Johann Louw. 63 Shortmarket Street, CT. T. 021 422 2762 galleryinfo@mweb.co.za www.erdmanncontemporary.co.za Everard Read CT Until 24 December, “15th Anniversary Exhibition.” The show will feature top local and international artists, as well as emerging talent. Stephen Conroy, John Meyer, Ricky Dyaloyi, Dylan Lewis, Helmut Starcke, Lucky Sibiya, Kevin Roberts, Neil Rodger, Sasha Hartslief, Deborah Bell are just some of the artists taking part. 3 Portswood Rd, Victoria & Alfred Waterfront, CT. T. 021 418 4527 ctgallery@everard.co.za www.everard-read-capetown.co.za 34 Fine Art Currently on show until 28 January ‘Relate’ Group Exhibition including new artwork by William Kentridge, Dale Lawrence, Lionel Smit, Asha Zero, Fake and others. 2nd Floor, The Hills Building, Buchanan Square, 160 Sir Lowry Rd, Woodstock. T.021 461 1863 info@34fineart.com www.34fineart.com The Framery Art Gallery Until 17 December, “Season Greetings 17” a group exhibition of original art by a large variety of African artists consisting of oils, etchings, woodcut prints, watercolours, sculpture, and limited edition art prints. The Gallery will be closed between 18 December and 7 January while sight seeing and sourcing art in Mozambique. 8-30 January, group exhibition “Season Greetings 17”continues. 67g Regent Rd, Seapoint. T. 021 434 5022 C. 0781227793 debbiegrewe@gmail.com Gill Allderman Gallery Until end December, “Nguni Been There Done That!” a joint exhibition by a variety of artists featuring the Nguni, in various shapes and sizes. Concord House (Pam Golding Building), Cnr Main & Summerly Rds, Kenilworth. C.083 556 2540 gallery@new.co.za www.alldermangallery.co.za Goodman Gallery Cape Until 10 Dec, “Portraits” by David Goldblatt. 15 Dec - 14 January 2012, Summer Show. 19 Jan - 25 February 2012, Stuart Bird “Promise Land” 3rd Floor, Fairweather House, 176 Sir Lowry Rd, Woodstock. T. 021 462 7573/4 cpt@goodman-gallery.com www.goodman-gallery.co

SA ART TIMES. Dec 2011- Jan 2012

ALICE GOLDIN / REVIEW | GALLERY GUIDE

Photo: Jenny Altschuler

Alice Goldin By Lloyd Pollak When Alice Goldin is mentioned, people often exclaim “Oh the tree painter!” in a dismissive manner that implies that such subject matter is hopelessly tame and conventional, and that it therefore forms the ideal material for the female artist. Her current exhibition ‘Cape Woodcut Prints’ at the SA Print Gallery demolishes these sexist stereotypes, affirms the perennial relevance of her themes, and reveals the audacity of Alice’s invention.

This review of over 50 years of creativity demonstrates that the artist is no titivating prettifier. ‘Winter’ typifies the stark abstraction of her rugged woodcuts. A minimalising ruthlessness is brought to bear on the motif, and the two trees are sieved of volume, and reduced to flat planes in a bold two dimensional composition. Nature assists in this process of paring down, for this is a wintry study of leafless trees, and the image portrays naught but a tracery of trunks and branches standing out in black silhouette against the sky. Alice is a virtuoso of the crop, and instead of portraying trees in their entirety in the conventional manner,

SA ART TIMES. Dec 2011- Jan 2012

she eliminates the lower sections of the trunks and, along with them, the view of the earth from which they spring, and the landscape of which they form part. The viewer is suspended in mid-air as he gazes at the upper reaches of the trunks and branches where fresh growth occurs. The frail, at tenuated shoots contrast with the solid blocky trunks, and create delicate cobwebby patterns like the crazing spreading over a ceramic. This wiry linear mesh is set against subtle grays and pale orange to suggest the rising sun slowly dispersing early morning mists. The artist captures the still of dawn, the chill in the air and the sense of damp. The vital, zigzagging angularities of the twisted branches shatter the calm of the frozen moment, and transfuse the trees with life, revealing how they respond to the stimuli around them as they frisk and palpate the air in search of warmth and light. Trees have long been employed as metaphors for man, especially in 17th century Holland and the German speaking countries during the Romantic and Biedermeier periods, and these traditions infuse Alice’s work with rich humanistic resonance. In ‘Winter’ and ‘Morning Sun’, trees ascending to embrace the light acquire overtones of spiritual aspiration and ‘immortal longings’. In ‘Kiaat’, the trunk and branches blasted by the elements epitomize resilience and heroism. Tranquil groves such as those in ‘Kloof Neck 11’, embody Utopian ideals of mankind living together in amity and concord. A startling Ukiyo-e print of a shrewish Tokyo geisha

by Kuniyoshi graces Alice’s studio. The artist is a passionate devotee of Japanese prints, and the sparseness of her composition, the prominence of the voids, the jagged, angular contours, and marked asymmetry, all manifest the sure but frugal touch of the masters of the floating world. The joy of the woodcutter translating landscape into the grain, figuring and carved grooves of the woodblock is patent in ‘Lakeside 1’, a chef-d’oeuvre of dynamic graphic design. No placid moorland idyll, this is an energized and eruptive composition in which earth, vlei, reeds and trees are dragooned into whirring patterns of colliding line that transcend mere appearances, and capture the natural forces that shape the landscape. During her childhood, the artist spent her summer holidays in the Austrian mountains, and the long walks she took through the woods with her father, imbued her with a deep love of trees. “As soon as I moved from Pretoria to Cape Town in 1971”, she told me, “I fell in love with the environment. The constantly changing vistas of the mountain and stone pines that I saw everyday as I drove along De Waal drive rekindled my passion for trees, and proved a huge source of inspiration to me.” To celebrate the artist’s 90th birthday next year, a retrospective will be held in Vienna where she spent the first fourteen years of her life. After the Anschluss in 1938, the family fled to England, and within months all the relatives they left behind had been murdered in concentration camps. Until recently there was a willed amnesia about this tragic episode in Austria’s history, however the younger generation wish to make amends and confront the past, and this is why Alice believes she received the invitation. Although South Africa, where she has lived for 64 years, raised three children, and lost two husbands, is her beloved home, her European childhood and youth formed her taste and personality, and she still hankers for the crumbling splendors of the old world - its architecture, parks and gardens, the cultural embarrass de richesses and the thriving musical life. Scenes of music-making loom large in her early work, and the Austrian passion for music courses through her veins. Alice has charming childhood memories of Mama singing lieder whilst Papa played the piano and of waltzing lessons with impeccable boys clad in freshly laundered white gloves. Travel satisfied Alice’s yearning for Europe’s ancient parapets. She spent lengthy sojourns in Rome, London and the Cite des Arts in Paris, and paintings and prints celebrating the world’s most beautiful and civilized cities, their monuments, statuary, fountains and gardens, form yet another facet of her oeuvre. Once, whilst in Alice’s company, I foolishly described an eighty year old woman as elderly. “Eighty is not old”, the indignant artist exclaimed, and she is living proof of this. Her birthday exhibition in Vienna made her realize that time waits for no man, and she promptly sat down and penned her memoirs which will be published next year. The Art Times wishes her ample breath to blow out all 90 candles, and keep her in good health for many a year to come.

STELLENBOSCH Kunsgalery Art Gallery

Experience the abundance of South African artistic talent by prominent South African Artists.

The Cape Gallery, 60 Church Street seeks

Hugo Naude Worcester landscape oil, 24 cm x 30cm

to expose fine art that is rooted in the South African tradition, work which carries the unique cultural stamp of our continent and yet can touch the imagination of others who view it. Rotating exhibitions add to the diverse and often eclectic mix of work on show. The Church Street walking mall is the oldest in Cape Town. featured artist: Margot Hattingh

www.stellenboschartgallery.co.za e-mail: mjg@kingsley.co.za hester@stellenboschartgallery.co.za Tel/Fax: 021 887 8343 Cell: 082 566 4630 / 076 279 2175 34 Ryneveld Street, Stellenbosch

THE CAPE GALLERY

Open Mon - fri: 9h30 - 17h00 Sat: 10h00 - 14h00 27 21 423 5309 cgallery@mweb.co.za www.capegallery .co.za

Plant Portraits Susan Kruger-Grundlingh 22 November - 17 December

RUST-EN-VREDE GALLERY 10 Wellington Road, Durbanville Tel +27 (0)21 976 4691 www.rust-en-vrede.com

CAPE TOWN / WESTERN CAPE | GALLERY GUIDE Hout Bay Gallery New artworks by Sarah Danes Jarrett, David Kuijers, Koos De Wet and many more. Open 7 days a week. 71 Victoria Ave, Hout Bay. T. 021 790 3618 F. 021 790 3898 info@houtbaygallery.co.za www.houtbaygallery.co.za

Lindy van Niekerk Art Gallery A large selection of artworks by new and prominent South African artists and SA old Masters. 31 Kommandeur Rd, Welgemoed, Bellville. T. 021 913 7204/5 lindy@artpro.co.za www.artpro.co.za

Infin Art Gallery A gallery of work by local artists. Wolfe Str, Chelsea Village, Wynberg. T. 021 761 2816 & Buitengracht Str. CT. T. 021 423 2090 gallery@infinart.co.za www.infinart.co.za

The Lovell Gallery Until 28 January 2012, “Hug” by Kiki Kemp featuring works in ink on Korean paper. 139 Albert Rd, Woodstock. info@lovellgallery.co.za www.lovellgallery.co.za

Irma Stern Museum On show in Dec & Jan, “Treasures of the house: items from the permanent collection.” Cecil Rd, Rosebank, CT. T. 021 685 5686 www.irmastern.co.za

Martin Osner Fine Art Gallery Archival photographic prints, mixed media & collectable imaging. Shop A14, Cape Quarter Piazza, 72 Waterkant Str, Green Point, CT. T. 021 790 6494 info@martinosner.com www.martinosner.com

Iziko SA National Gallery Until 29 January 2012, “Ever Young” photography by James Barnor and “Neither Man Nor Stone” an exhibition of works from the Iziko South African National Gallery’s Permanent Collection, plus a small number of loaned works. Until 1 April 2012, “Windows on War - Russian posters from World War II” Until 10 April 2012, Renowned British conceptual and land artist, Richard Long, presents a solo exhibition of works made in southern Africa over the last 50 years. 25 Queen Victoria Str, CT. T. 021 467 4660 info@iziko.org.za www.iziko.org.za Iziko Michaelis Collection Ongoing, Dutch treat: Dutch works from the 17th–20th centuries in Iziko collections Iziko Michaelis Collection, Old Town House, Greenmarket Square, CT. T. 021 481 3800 hproud@iziko.org.za www.iziko.org.za Iziko Good Hope Gallery (The Castle) Ongoing exhibition of oil paintings, furniture, ceramics, metal & glassware from the William Fehr Collection. Buitenkant Str, opposite the Grand Parade, CT. T. 21 464 1262 kmooney@iziko.org.za www.iziko.org.za Johans Borman Fine Art Currently showing a selection of works by SA Masters Gerard Sekoto, Maggie Laubser, Cecil Skotnes, Walter Battiss, George Pemba and Ephraim Ngatane. New works by Walter Meyer, Jacobus Kloppers and Ben Coutouvidis. 16 Kildare Road, Newlands, CT. T. 021 683 6863. art@johansborman.co.za www.johansborman.co.za Kalk Bay Modern Opening 7 Dec at 6pm, “Textile & Jewellery Exhibition” until 7 January 2012. Textiles by Yda Walt, Ekoka, Fabric Nation, Casamento, Veldt, Keiskamma Art Project, Barok, Shine Shine, Woo-men, Skinny la minx, Fondant, Mantis Prints, Simple Stuff & Mielie. Jewellery by Nic Bladen, Silver Eppels, Meagan Meredith, Marike Parker, Marzipan, Globe, Ingrid de Haast, Artistic 925, Karen Jay, Michael Cope, Gordon Radowsky, Mignonettes, Gift of Love, Beverly Price, Natasha Wood and Francoise Steyn. Opening 18 Dec at 11 am, “Fine Ounce Goldsmith Collective - 56 Rings Exhibition” until 21 December 2011. Works by Adi Cloete, Maike Valcarcel, Frieda Luhl, Heidi Liebenberg, Giselle Petty, Jane McIlleron & Adeline Joubert. 1st Floor, Olympia Buildings, 136 Main Rd, Kalk Bay. T.021 788 6571 kbmodern@iafrica.com www.kalkbaymodern.com

SA ART TIMES. Dec 2011- Jan 2012

Michaelis Gallery 8 – 17 December, Michaelis Graduate Show 37 Orange Str, Gardens, CT. nadja.daehnke@uct.ac.za www.michaelis.uct.ac.za Nova Constantia Cellars Art Gallery 1 – 10 December, “Art in the Vines” Curated by ArtSideIn: A group exhibition of paintings, etchings, photography, textile art and ceramics by established and emerging artists. Nova Constantia, Nova Constantia Rd. Follow signs from Spaanschematt River Rd near Uitsig Wine Farm. T. 083 6533697 astridmcleod@mweb.co.za www.artsidein.co.za Original Cape Art will be hosting an exhibition of works by 22 established and up-coming Cape Artists at the Sanlam Hall in the beautiful grounds of Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens. The exhibition will open on 6 December at 10.00am and daily from 10.00 to 17.00 until 14 December. Combine a visit to this wonderful venue with the opportunity to experience a first class exhibition of landscapes, still life’s, floral art and innovative abstract paintings. Entrance to the exhibition is free after entry to Kirstenbosch Gardens. Contact Tel No: 021 799 8621 during exhibition hours. The Project Room Gallery is delighted to present ‘A Series of Solo Summer Exhibitions 2011-2012’ Currently on show, 14 Dec – 27 Jan , ”Contained” by Bianca Alexander new works & mixed media works. Please join us for the opening evening 5:30 pm, Wednesday 14 Dec. 2nd floor, Old Port Captain’s Building, Pierhead, Dockroad, V&A Waterfront. T. 021 425 7884 theprojectroom@africantradingport.com theprojectroomgallery.blogspot.com Rose Korber Art Opening Friday 16 December 2011 until 31 January 2012, Rose Korber’s 20TH ART SALON. This year, Korber’s annual survey of contemporary South African art celebrates its 20th incarnation, with a wide selection of work, covering the spectrum of what is currently being produced. An innovation this year will be the collaboration of Andrew Lamprecht - much sought-after Cape Town curator and art theorist, who will present a mix of younger, emerging artists, with a focus on the ‘unusual, unexpected and surprising’. The Art Salon brings together a large showcase of quality artworks in various media and styles: paintings, mixed media works, original limited-edition fine art prints, photography, ceramics, sculpture and contemporary

Shangaan beadwork. Artists include much acclaimed names, such as William Kentridge, Willie Bester, Sam Nhlengethwa, Zwelethu Mthethwa, Simon Stone, Richard Smith, Robert Slingsby, Marlene Dumas, Deborah Bell, Diane Victor, Claudette Schreuders, Pamela Stretton and Penelope Stutterheime, alongside classical names such as Erik Laubscher and John Kramer. Photographers of note include Stephen Inggs, Tracy Derrick, Jenny Altshuler and Kevin Thomas. Amongst the leading ceramic artists on show are: Louise Gelderblom, Hennie Meyer, Clementina van der Walt, Katherine Glenday, David Walters, Sarah Walters. Carolyn Heydenreich, Wiebke von Bismarck and Patsy Groll, as well as ceramists from the famed Ardmore Ceramics Studio in Natal, while sculptors on exhibition include Kevin Brand, Willie Bester, Jaco Sieberhagen and Anthony Lane. Art Salon hours: 10am - 6 pm daily, including weekends and public holidays. 48 Sedgemoor Rd, Camps Bay, CT. T. 021 438 9152 C.083 261 1173 roskorb@icon.co.za www.rosekorberart.com Rudd’s Auctioneers Antique, Fine and Decorative Art. 87 Bree Street, CT. T.021 426 0384 info@rudds.co.za www.rudds.co.za Rust-en-Vrede Gallery Until 17 December, in Salon A & B: “Fugitive Pieces and Places” an exhibition of new and recent works by Leon de Bliquy, Salon C: “Plant Portraits” an exhibition of oils by Susan Kruger-Grundlingh and in the Clay Museum: Ceramics by Linda Hojem. 13 January – 3 February 2012, Photography by The Tygerberg Photographic Society. 10 Wellington Rd, Durbanville. T.021 976 4691 rustenvrede@telkomsa.net www.rust-en-vrede.com Salon 91 Opening 3 December 2011 at 11:30 until 14 January 2012, “If You Let Yourself Love a Wild Thing” A Group exhibition held in association with Greenpop, aimed at promoting environmental consciousness through fine arts. One tree will be planted for every artwork sold! Featured artists include: Lyndi Sales, Frank van Reenen, Elsabe Milandri, Andrew Sutherland, Jean de Wet, Lara Feldman, Paul Senyol, Daniel Popper, Daniella Mooney, Jade Waller, Simon Berndt, Colijn Strydom, Candice Jezek, Marsi van de Heuvel, Tamsin Relly, Mieke van der Merwe, Cassandra Johnson, Zelda Weber, Katrin Coetzer, Maya Marshak, Jade Klara, Linsey Levendall, Maria Lebedeva, Kirsten Beets, Justin Southey, Neill Wright, Suzanne Duncan, Atang Tshikare, Wessel Snyman, Abigail Heyneke, Elise Wessels, Jaco Haasbroek, Lucinda Mudge, Lorraine Loots, Bruce Mackay, Studio Muti & more… 18 Jan – 11 Feb, “Beast in Mind” by Elise Wessels & recent works by Tamsin Relly. 91 Kloof Str, Gardens, CT. T 021 424 6930 info@salon91art.co.za www.salon91.co.za Sanlam Art Gallery Until 13 January 2012, “Clare Menck: Hidden Life” 20 years of painting (1990-2010) Sanlam, 2 Strand Rd, Bellville. T. 021 947 3359 sanlamart@sanlam.co.za www.sanlam.co.za SMAC Art Gallery, Cape Town 8 December – 31 January 2012, Recent Works by Simon Stone. In-Fin-Art Building, Cnr of Buitengracht & Buitensingel Str, CT. T. 021 422 5100 info@smacgallery.com www.smacgallery.com

A showcase of the best of South African artists 1st oor Cape Quarter Square 27 Somerset Road, Green Point Ph: 021 421 3333

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wide selection of works by leading South African contemporary artists Exclusive distributors of

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etchings

CAPE TOWN / OVERBERG / WESTERN CAPE | GALLERY GUIDE South African Print Gallery A wide selection of fine art prints by South African masters and contemporary printmakers. New Work by master wood reduction printmaker Joshua Miles as well as galleryartists until mid January 2012 109 Sir Lowry Rd, Woodstock, CT. T. 021 462 6851 info@printgallery.co.za www.printgallery.co.za StateoftheArt.co.za Online Art Gallery A curated online art gallery bringing you original and affordable artwork created by selected Fine Arts students and graduates emerging from South Africa’s most prestigious art schools. With an extensive selection of styles and genres to reflect your taste, budget and requirements, and a range of services to support your choices, buying art couldn’t be any simpler. T. 0724709272 info@StateoftheArt.co.za www.StateoftheArt.co.za Stephan Welz & Company On show 7 -15, 18-22 December as well as from 3 -14 January, the exhibition “Index: 40 Leading works from the Sanlam Art Collection” The Great Cellar, The Alphen Hotel, Alphen Drive, Constantia. T. 021 794 6461 ct@stephanwelzandco.co.za www.stephanwelzandco.co.za Stevenson Cape Town 1 Dec – 14 Jan 2012, “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love” The gallery is open throughout the season except on public holidays and Saturday 24 December. Ground Floor, Buchanan Building, 160 Sir Lowry Rd, Woodstock, CT. T. 021 462 1500 cpt@stevenson.info www.stevenson.info Strauss & Co. Fine Art Auctioneers & Consultants. The Oval, 1st Floor Colinton House, 1 Oakdale Rd, Newlands. T. 021 683 6560 ct@straussart.co.za www.straussart.co.za What if the World Gallery 3 Dec – 28 Jan 2012, “Fucking Hell” by Cameron Platter. 208 Albert Rd, Woodstock, CT. T. 021 448 1438 info@whatiftheworld.com www.whatiftheworld.com

Franschhoek

Ebony Summer Exhibition of South African Masters. Gerard Sekoto, Alexis Preller, Maud Sumner, George Diederick During, Gordon Vorster and Ephraim Ngatane. 11 Huguenot Street, Franschhoek. T. 021 876 4477 info@ebonydesign.co.za www.ebonydesign.co.za The Gallery at Grande Provence 11 Dec – 3 Feb 2012, “Angels 6” the 6th annual Christams exhibition celebrates a splendid year of fine art. Participating Artists: Jaco Sieberhagen, Donna McKellar,

SA ART TIMES. Dec 2011- Jan 2012

Richard Forbes, Job Kunneke, Eugenie Marais, Hannes van Zyl, JP Meyer, Gavin Risi, Dale Yudelman, Sua van der Westhuizen, Colleen Brand, Willie van Rensburg, Uwe Pfaff, Loni Drager, Lean Coetzer, Jeanne Hugo, Stefanie Schoeman, Oonagh Morgan, Brahm Van Zyl, Frans Smit, Annelie Venter, Erika Prinsloo, Liekie Fouche, Margaret Woermann, Karin Lijnes, Rae Goosen, Johannes du Plessis & Shani Marais amongst others. Main Rd, Franschhoek. T. 021 876 8630. gallery@grandeprovence.co.za www.grandeprovence.co.za Holden Manz Collection The Holden Manz Wine Estate is proud to announce the opening of its Art Gallery in the city centre of Franschhoek Village. The Holden Manz Collection is focused on contemporary local art and showcases works including charcoals, collages, oils, drawings as well as photography & prints. 30 Huguenot Str, Franschhoek T. 021 876 44 02 info@holdenmanz.com www.holdenmanz.com Is Art Until 21 December, recent works by Sam Nhlengethwa. 16 Huguenot Str, Franschhoek. T. 021 876 8443 isart@lqf.co.za www.is-art.co.za

George

Strydom Gallery “George 43” 43rd Summer Exhibition of South African Art. 79 Market Str, George. T. 044 874 4027 info@artaffair.co.za www.artaffair.co.za

Hermanus

Abalone Gallery Until 31 December in the Annex:”Street-Soul”, new work by Elzaby Laubscher. On show until end January in the Main Gallery: Group exhibition - Contemporary and modern art - painting, works on paper, sculpture - including John Clarke, Gail Catlin, Christo Coetzee, Hannes Harrs, Tadeus Jaroszynski, Judith Mason, Leonard Matsoso, Lynette ten Krooden, Fred Schimmel, Louis van Heerden, Anna Vorster, Jackson Hlungwani, Carl Roberts, Susanna Swart. 2 January - 29 February: “Printed V”: Graphic and photographic works by established artists. 2 Harbour Rd, The Courtyard, Hermanus. T. 028 313 2935 info@abalonegallery.co.za www.abalonegallery.co.za Art Amble Hermanus Village Ten diverse and unique Galleries all within walking distance in the heart of Hermanus Village. Four resident artists’ studios to visit. Collect your Art Amble Guide at any one of the Galleries in Main Road or at the Hermanus Tourism Office. Contact Terry Kobus on 083 259 8869 or email originals@hermanus.co.za for more information.

Originals Gallery The art studio and gallery of Terry Kobus. See the artist at work in his studio and view his latest paintings in an intimate gallery space. Shop 22 Royal Centre, 141 Main Rd, Hermanus. T. 083 259 8869 originals@hermanus.co.za www.OriginalsHermanus.blogspot.com Shelley Adams Studio & Gallery A permanent exhibition of artworks by Shelley Adams in her personal studio space. She also offers ongoing art courses, crit classes and workshops. 19A Royal Centre, Main Rd, Hermanus. C. 072 677 6277 www.shelley-adams.com Walker Bay Art Gallery View the wide selection of paintings, sculpture & ceramics by established as well as up and coming South African artists. 171 Main Rd, Hermanus. Contact: Francois Grobbelaar 028 312 2928 francois@walkerbayartgallery.co.za www.walkerbayartgallery.co.za

Klein Karoo

Sheena Ridley Open Studio and Sculpture Garden Sculptures and Paintings N9 Langkloof near Uniondale, Klein Karoo T. 083 5892881 sheena@ridley.co.za www.ridley.co.za

Knysna

Dale Elliott Art Galleries Leaders of the painting course concept in South Africa Festive Season Exhibition of latest oil paintings by Dale & Mel Elliott 2 Galleries: Woodmill Lane Shopping Centre & The Knysna Mall T. 044 382 5646 dale@dalelliott.co.za www.daleelliott.co.za www.elliottartonline.wordpress.com A Different Drummer From 1 December, an on-going exhibition of traditional African artefacts, photographs, ceramics, sculpture, paintings and objets de vertu. Thesen House, 6 Long Street, Knysna. T. 044 382 5107 gallery@finearts.co.za Knysna Fine Art Opening at 6pm Friday 16 December, recent ceramics by Hylton Nel and Nico Masemolo as well as recent works by Toby Megaw, Phillemon Hlungwani, Clare Menck, Velaphi Mzimba and Simon Stone. Thesen House, 6 Long Str, Knysna. T. 044 382 5107 C. 082 5527262 gallery@finearts.co.za www.finearts.co.za Sally Bekker Art Studio Ongoing holiday season exhibition “Recent Watercolour and Oil Paintings” Upstairs in the Knysna Mall. C.082 342 3943 sally_bekker@hotmail.com

the art of recognising yourself

Summer Exhibition: George 43 A Selection of SA Art NOW SHOWING

Tel: 044 874 4027 • 79 Market Street, George www.artaffair.co.za • GPS 33°57’42.66’’S | 22°27’24.54’’E

M I C H A E L H A L L P H O T O G R A P H Y 021 461 6344 www.mikehallphoto.com

art documentation

Ever dreamed of owning your own art gallery?

Now you can!

One of South Africa’s most respected contemporary art galleries is up for sale. Situated at the top end of Durban’s trendy Florida Road, Artisan Contemporary Gallery is housed in what was once a 1926 dwelling more recently converted in to a purpose-built, light-filled space. An acronym for Arts in South Africa Now, Artisan has established an enviable reputation for show-casing the finest representation of South African art and exquisitely-executed craft. Included in the sale price is the property which also comprises a garden flat. Enquiries to be addressed to sue@artisan.co.za

OVERBERG / WESTERN CAPE | GALLERY GUIDE

Langebaan

Somerset West

Bay Gallery Bay Gallery supports excellent, local artists, many of whom are members of S.A.S.A. All mediums exhibited. Marra Square, Bree St., Langebaan. Contact: Daphne 073 304 8744 baygallery@xsinet.co.za www.baygallery.co.za

Art Between Oaks 10 & 11 Dec exhibition 14:00 – 17:00 or by appointment with featured artists: Harry Adriaans, Nicolas Lehmann AND Jan Vermeiren. Manor House, Knorhoek Estate, Sir Lowry’s Pass. T. 021 200 2521C. 079 772 7827 adriaans@twk.co.za Liebrecht Art Gallery Custom-built fine art gallery in the CBD of Somerset West, only deals in original works of art. 34 Oudehuis Str, Somerset West. T. 021 852 8030 C. 082 304 3859 vineyardartists@gmail.com www.liebrechtgallery.com

Oudtshoorn

Artkaroo Gallery A selection of authentic Karoo fine art by various established and emerging artists. 107 Baron van Reede, Oudtshoorn. T.044 279 1093 janet@artkaroo.co.za www.artkaroo.co.za

Stellenbosch

Paarl

Oude Libertas Art Gallery Opening 23 November at 18:00, “Ikoon vir Kersfees”, an exhibition of works by sculptors Nicolene Swanepoel, Lenie Harley, Evette Weyers, Linda de Wet and ceramics by Laura du Toit. The exhibition will also feature paintings by Strijdom van der Merwer, Wendy Malan, Inge de Wet, Marie Stander, Tertia du Toit, Keiskamma Art Project, Ingrid Brumer, Madeleni Marincowitz and jewellery by Therese De Villiers and Brendan Marx from Hoo-doo Design. Oude Libertas, c/o Adam Tas & Oude Libertas Str, Stellenbosch. T. 021 809 7463

Artist’s Studio Hosts a joint exhibition of works by Boland Artists: Adele Claudia Fouche, Selwyn Pekeur, Kervin Cupido, Victor Harley and Jeffrey Appollis. The works are vibrant and depict the surrounding area in all its colour and life! Opening 6 December at 6:30 pm, “Approach” an exhibition by the students of Artist’s Studio will run until 11 December. 136 Main Rd. Paarl. Adele 082 522 4010 adele@artiststudio.co.za www.artiststudio.co.za Hout Street Gallery Currently on show until 31 January 2012, “The Thirty-Sixth Summer Salon.” The exhibition features a range of more than thirty South African artists, including paintings, sculptures, ceramics and Carrol Boyes functional art. 270 Main Str, Paarl. T. 021 872 5030 zetler@icon.co.za www.houtstreetgallery.co.za

Rupert Museum Until 28 March 2012, an extensive selection of works by Willem Strydom. Stellentia Avenue, Stellenbosch T. 021 888 3344 saw@remgro.com www.rupertmuseum.org Sasol Art Museum Currently on show until 28 January 2012, “The Secret Place” featuring landscapes by Brian Bradshaw. Until October 2012, “20Stellenbosch”: two decades of South African Sculpture (inside sculptures) David Brown, Jackson Hlungwani, Noria Mbasa, Collen Maswanganyi, Samson Mudzunga, Meshack Raphalalani & Philip Rikhotso.

Plettenberg Bay

Lookout Art Gallery A fine selection of interesting contemporary paintings, sculptures & blown glass. The Courtyard, Lookout Centre, Main Str, Plettenberg Bay. T. 044 533 2210 www.lookout-art-gallery.co.za

52 Ryneveld Str, Stellenbosch T. 021 808 3691 corliah@sun.ac.za SMAC Art Gallery Until 18 February 2012 “Review” by Nel Erasmus. De Wet Centre, Church Str, Stellenbosch. T. 021 887 3607 info@smacgallery.com www.smacgallery.com Stellenbosch Art Gallery An extensive selection of paintings, sculpture, handmade glass & ceramics by selected Western Cape artists are on offer to the discerning buyer. 34 Ryneveld Str, Stellenbosch. T. 021 887 8343 mjg@kingsley.co.za www.stellenboschartgallery.co.za US Art Gallery (University of Stellenbosch) 1 December 2011 – 10 January 2012, “Elegie” by Juria Le Roux. Opening function 12 December 2011 18:30, opening speaker: Chris Chameleon. MA Student exhibitions: 17 – 19 January: Gussie van der Merwe19 - 28 January: Maryke van Velden, Robbie Milan, Schalk Venter, 28 – 31 January: Neil Vosloo, 31 Januarie – 2 February: Adri le Roux. Cnr of Dorp and Bird Str, Stellenbosch. T. 021 808 3524/3489 corliah@sun.ac.za

Villiersdorp

Dale Elliott Art Gallery 10 Dec – 15 January, Christmas Season Exhibition of latest oil paintings by Dale & Mel Elliott. 80 Main Rd, Villiersdorp. T. 028 840 2927 dale@daleelliott.co.za www.daleelliott.co.za www.elliottartonline.wordpress.com

Wilderness

Beatrix Bosch Studio Unique works in leather as well as paintings & photography can be viewed at her studio. 57 Die Duin, Wilderness. T. 044 877 0585 www.beatrixbosch.co.za

SUPERIOR QUALITY. EXCEPTIONAL VALUE. NO COMPROMISE. Importers and distributors of Raphael brushes

Sennelier Paints and Materials

Maimeri Paints and Materials

Mabef easels

Unison Pastels

THE ITALIAN ARTSHOP Visit our website www.italianartshop.co.za for more information or call +27 (0)21 685 1877 207 Main Road, Newlands, Cape Town We deliver throughout South Africa at a nominal charge

APV Art DVDs

‘Still Life’ Maud Sumner (1902 – 1985)

67 LOOP STREET, CAPE TOWN FRANSCHHOEK SQUARE, HUGUENOT STREET, FRANSCHHOEK WWW.EBONYDESIGN.CO.ZA

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â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;The Practice and History of Paintingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; 2011 Olaf Bisschoff (1976 - )

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Feeling bored and have no idea what to do this holiday? Then feel free to stop by the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Art Museum where exciting and entertaining things happen! We offer an active programme that includes contemporary art exhibitions and creative holiday workshops. Painting on Paper 10 September 2011 – 30 January 2012

It’s all in the Mind 08 October 2011 – 16 January 2012

Coastal City 12 November 2011 – 06 February 2012

Come see how artists have manipulated watercolour painting paper to create spectacular scenes of beauty.

It’s literally all in your mind when you visit this exhibition, which explores fantasy, the unconscious, dreams, the psychological and the spiritual. Come challenge and boggle your brain – you won’t be the same person after you’ve seen this exhibition.

No holiday is complete without a trip to the beach. So pack your gear and stop by the Art Museum to check out our paintings and prints of local and international coastal scenes.

Maud Eyton SUMNER Mantelpiece, 1941, watercolour, ink on paper Anton KANNEMEYER When I came here first..., 1994, silkscreen

Thomas BAINES Port Elizabeth, Algoa Bay, 1848, oil on paper on canvas

James WEBB Autohagiography, mixed media

George Mnyaluza Milwa PEMBA Ting-Ting, 1945/8, watercolour

Ethel SAWYER Port Elizabeth, c1923, oil on canvas

Unknown (Indian) A lady at her toilet, miniature on paper, c 1770 Mughal

Jennifer ORD White bulls with wings, mixed media

Marc SHOUL Beyond Walmer: Swartkops, Port Elizabeth, 1999, black & white photographic print

Holiday Workshops We have exciting and fun holiday workshops planned this December. Embrace creativity with your hands in our clay workshops or test your creative skills painting on glass. There is much more on offer so keep an eye out for our Holiday Programme.

Opening times

Weekdays: 09h00 – 17h00 (closed Tuesday mornings) Saturdays & Sundays: 13h00 – 17h00 | Public holidays: 14h00 – 17h00 | First Sunday of the month: 09h00 – 14h00

1 Park Drive, Port Elizabeth, 6001, South Africa Telephone: 041 506 2000 Fax: 041 586 3234 artmuseum@mandelametro.gov.za www.artmuseum.co.za

EASTERN CAPE | KZ- NATAL | GALLERY GUIDE

Eastern Cape Alexandria Quin Gallery & Sculpture Garden Enjoy refreshments under the jacaranda tree while enjoying the sculptures of international sculptor Maureen Quin. 5 Suid Str, Alexandria, Eastern Cape, following the signs from the main street. T. 046 6530121 C. 082 7708000 quin@intekom.co.za www.quin-art.co.za

East London Ann Bryant Gallery During December& January in the Main Gallery: The Ann Bryant Art Gallery’s Permanent collection will be on display, some of these are paintings by Emily Fern, Piet van Heerden & Joan Wright. Among the pictures donated by private persons are works by Wiles, Nils Andersen, Sydney Carter and a most interesting drawing by Irma Stern “Transkeian Native”. In the Coach House: Chanelle Staude will host her solo exhibition until 17 December. Primarily a painter of recognizable landscapes, Chanelle often works in impasto,

using a palette knife to produce textural work which conveys her view of the world. 9 St. Marks Rd, Southernwood, East London. T. 043 722 4044 annbryant@intekom.co.za www.annbryant.co.za Malcolm Dewey Fine Art Ongoing exhibition of oil paintings by Malcolm Dewey plus works by a selection of local artists. 60 Darlington Rd, Berea, East London. T. 043 7260421 art@dewey.co.za www.originalart.co.za Vincent Art Gallery The gallery houses an exceptional collection of fine arts, sculptures, blown glass, ceramics, exclusive jewellery and decor items. 2 Donald Rd, Vincent, East London. T. 043 726 4356 vinceart@lantic.net www.vincentartgallery.co.za

Port Elizabeth ArtEC Will be closed from 15 December until 9 January 2012. 31 Jan – 10 Feb, 2010 New Signature Winner & Friends exhibition.

36 Bird Str, P.E. T. 041 585 3641 gallery@epsac.co.za www.artecpe.co.za Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Art Museum On show in December until January 2012, “Painting on Paper” (Lorimer Hall) an exhibition exploring works on paper from the Art Museum’s permanent collection, as well as “It’s All In The Mind” (Arts Hall) The use of fantasy, the unconscious, dreams and the spiritual will be explored through works from the Art Museum’s permanent collection. Until 6 February 2012, “Coastal City” (Main Hall) paintings and prints of local and international coastal scenes 1 Park Drive, Port Elizabeth. T. 041 5062000 artmuseum@mandelametro.gov.za www.artmuseum.co.za Ron Belling Art Gallery From December until end January 2012, the Ron Belling collection on show. Opening 19 January 2012, Rina Badenhorst, a celebration and a retrospective exhibition. 30 Park Drive, P.E. T. 041 586 3973 ronbelling@mweb.co.za www.ronbelling.co.za

Kwazulu- Natal Durban The African Art Centre Exclusive handmade Christmas Gifts and Decorations produced by crafters from KwaZulu Natal. Visit the shop and gallery showcasing the best of traditional and contemporary South African art and craft by Master Craftspeople and Fine Artists. Products include Antique Zulu fine beadwork and artefacts, telephone wire products, Ilala Palm Baskets, handmade ceramics, Fine Art and embroideries. Until 15 January 2012, A Solo exhibition of works on paper by Sandile Goje. 94 Florida Rd, Durban. T. 031 312 3804/5 africanartcentre@afri-art.co.za www.afriart.org.za ArtSPACE Durban Currently on show until 28 January, “9th Annual Affordable Art Show” a wide range of fine art, keeping the prices down, with many participating artists exhibiting a variety of mediums from oil paintings, ceramics, sculptures, prints, photographs, and more. 3 Millar Rd, Stamford Hill, Durban. T.031 312 0793 info@artspace-durban.com www.artspace-durban.com Christie’s International Auctioneers. Gillian Scott Berning, Independent Consultant. T 031 207 8247 gillian.gsb@mweb.co.za www.christies.com The Collective Currently on show until 21 January 2012, “It’s a Wrap” end of year exhibition fine art along with a mixture of design stuff, street art, jewellery, and more.

23 January – 11 February, “Hidden Like a Cottonmouth in the Woods” Group Night Life Photography Show. Includes Photographers: Kevin Goss-Ross, Erin Wulfsohn and Grant Payne. 48b Florida Rd, (entrance in 4th Avenue) Greyville, Durban. T. 031 303 4891 thecollectivedurban.blogspot.com Durban Art Gallery Until 19 February 2012, “Don’t/Panic.” The exhibition presents powerful artistic voices from across the African continent, including works by Mlu Zondi, Clive van den Berg, Otobong Nkanga, David Koloane, Batoul S’Himi and Moshekwa Langa. Smith Street, Durban CBD. T. 031 311 2264 strettonj@durban.gov.za www.durban.gov.za Elizabeth Gordon Gallery The group exhibition entitled “Durban - City for All Seasons” runs through till Christmas. 120 Florida Road, Durban T. 031 3038133 joy@elizabethgordon.co.za www.elizabethgordon.co.za Tamasa Gallery A small commercial gallery, Tamasa exhibits a broad variety of contemporary KZN artists. 36 Overport Drive, Berea, Durban. T. 031 207 1223

Pietermaritzburg The Blue Caterpillar Art Galley December & January will continue with the exhibition by Linda Lemon (original oils and giclee prints) and Marion Townsend, Charmaine Eastment and Sandi Beukes.

Butterflies for Africa, 37 Willowton Rd, Pietermaritzburg. T. 033 387 1356 art@butterflies.co.za www.butterflies.co.za Tatham Art Gallery 1 Dec – 29 Jan 2012, “The A.R.T. Show: Reclaiming Lives” Cnr of Chief Albert Luthuli (Commercial) Rd & Church Str. (Opposite City Hall) Pietermaritzburg. T. 033 342 1804 www.tatham.org.za

Umdloti The Audrey Rudnick Gallery Surrealist Paintings, Sculptures and Pod People by Audrey Rudnick. 77 North Beach Rd, Shop no.10 Upper Level, Umdloti Centre, Umdloti. T. 031 568 2445 audrey@thehoozoo.com www.audreyrudnick.com

Underberg The Underberg Studio Set in a delightful garden facing the mountains, the gallery specializes in South African Fine Art landscape photography & Ceramics. Owned by photographer Lawrance Brennon and his potter wife, Catherine Brennon, the gallery is regularly updated with their latest work. 21 Ridge Rd, Underberg. Signage from R617 T. 033 701 2440 / 072 141 9924 / 082 872 7830 bren@yebo.co.za www.underbergstudio.co.za

For the most comprehensive daily art news click onto our website www.arttimes.co.za SA ART TIMES. Dec 2011- Jan 2012

Joshua South African Print Gallery Opening Saturday 10 December

109 Sir Lowry Road, Woodstock, Cape Town. Tel. 021 4626851 www.printgallery.co.za Show runs until mid January 2012

Miles

Golden Artist Colors is looking for Workshop Teachers!

The Golden Artist Educators Program is looking for qualied candidates in South Africa to join our esteemed team of acrylic educators. Patti Brady, Director of the GOLDEN Working Artist Program, author of Rethinking Acrylic from Northlight Publishing and an accomplished professional acrylic painter, will be conducting an intensive four days career development workshop designed to enhance your acrylic skills, give you new teaching ideas, and increase your workshop offerings. Delve into the broad range of GOLDEN Acrylics, learning new ways to reinvent acrylic uses with gels, grounds and a variety of paint. During the workshop you will create an extensive series of nished sample/instructional demonstration boards to take back with you upon completion of the workshop for use in your own workshops.

Topics include: • unique and unusual colour mixing • understanding the variety of gels and mediums and how each one can be used in expanded forms for painting, for grounds, for texturing, for glazing, and for making “skins”. • Experience the new OPEN Acrylics that have a very long stay-wet time and master the new Digital Grounds that allow for printing with an ink-jet printer. Upon successful completion of the workshop, participants will receive a GOLDEN certication, as well as ongoing support and benets as a member of the Golden Artist Educator Program. There is no workshop fee and the majority of the costs will be covered. Training for South Africa, Israel and the EU workshop teachers will take place May 14-18, 2012, in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

Teachers who participate in the certification program will: • Create new and unique teaching tools for use in workshops • Explore new ways to teach colour mixing • Increase their knowledge/repertoire of acrylic products and the uses for these products • Gain a comprehensive understanding of the array of acrylic gels and mediums • Learn new acrylic techniques to be able to offer workshop students • Learn techniques for both traditional and contemporary painters • Learn mixed media techniques using new-to-the market products, such as Digital Grounds and OPEN Acrylics • Be able to ask all their acrylic questions • Be able to go home with the ability to answer all their student’s questions Participation in this workshop and ultimately the Golden Artist Educator Program requires an application process. If you are interested in joining the GOLDEN team of educators and you meet the following requirements, please complete the application process below:

• Accomplished in teaching a range of acrylic techniques including traditional techniques, watercolour or water media and mixed media applications • Have a well-established Workshop business? • Have strong ties with local art supply retailers? • Teach a range of painters, from beginners to professionals, from art leagues to schools? • Have a strong local presence and travel to outlying areas for workshops. • Have the ability to communicate in English. • Be willing to participate as a member of the Golden Artist Educator Program for a minimum of three years. Application Process: We require a Letter of Intent (why you are interested) along with the URL to your website. Email the letter of Intent and website address to: ppirrone@goldenpaints.com subject: GOLDEN Artist Educator Program For more in depth information contact the South African Distributor: Apex Rolfes Tel: 011 608 4678 or email: info@apexrolfes.com

Requirements: • Currently a resident of South Africa

OR go to: http://www.goldenpaints.com/artist/ IWTP/recruitment.php

ARTLife |

ARTLife THE SOUTH AFRICAN

2011 Art School Graduate Show Special

| ARTLife

ARTLife | 2011 ART SCHOOL GRADUATE SHOW SPECIAL / MICHAELIS SCHOOL OF FINE ART, UCT

MICHAELIS SCHOOL OF FINE ART, UCT

Ashley Walters Railway inkjet print on paper 2011

Alexadra Alexandra Karakashian, Oil painting motor oil on canvas

Anna Stielau_Night Letters Series #11

Jessa Mockridge Xhosa is a very Agglutinating language, concrete casts dimensions variable

Hyesu Kim, Alone Together, video still 4

Ashleigh Robinson Papachrysostomou_ Untitled

Ashley Walters Black Sheep inkjet print on paper

Johke Steenkamp, Yes (detail), 2011

SA ART TIMES. Dec 2011- Jan 2012

MICHAELIS SCHOOL OF FINE ART, UCT / 2011 ART SCHOOL GRADUATE SHOW SPECIAL | ARTLife

MICHAELIS SCHOOL OF FINE ART, UCT

Fikile Mqhayi, Untitled, Installation

Nadine List, Seduction and Decay, sugar and wood

Richenda Phillips, Beauty series ‘drag’_digital photographs

Anna Stielau, Nightlight, video installation- stretched matte organza, wood, projection, c-stands

Matty Roodt, Sunrise, oil paint and wood

SA ART TIMES. Dec 2011- Jan 2012

ARTLife | 2011 ART SCHOOL GRADUATE SHOW SPECIAL / MICHAELIS SCHOOL OF FINE ART, UCT

MICHAELIS SCHOOL OF FINE ART, UCT

Lizechen Probart Cloud forest bonsai compost, tree sticks, oasis, rocks

Matthew Gill, Untitled, mixed media

Desire De Villiers My memories are not mine, cretestone

Tarryn de Kok Self Portrait series oil on canvas 46

Joanna Pawelczyk, digital photograph

Liffey Speller Sleep of Reason canvas, oil, enamel, salt

Liffey Speller, Gunpowder Blooms, shot satin, ink, muzzle blast SA ART TIMES. Dec 2011- Jan 2012

UNIVERSITY OF JOHANNESBURG / 2011 ART SCHOOL GRADUATE SHOW SPECIAL | ARTLife

UNIVERSITY OF JOHANNESBURG

Micheal Erasmus

Phumulani Ntuli

Kobie Viljoen

Nicole Booyse,

Muzi Nhlapho

Chivonne Naude

Nicole Booyse

Loreal Muller,

Maria Poala McGurk

SA ART TIMES. Dec 2011- Jan 2012

ARTLife | 2011 ART SCHOOL GRADUATE SHOW SPECIAL / MICHAELIS SCHOOL OF FINE ART, UCT

STELLENBOSCH UNIVERSITY, DEPARTMENT OF FINE ART

Marlene Steyn

Sequence

Lee-Ann van der Schyff , shirt , shorts, Carla Kruger

Carla Kruger 48

Carla Kruger SA ART TIMES. Dec 2011- Jan 2012

UNIVERSITY OF JOHANNESBURG / 2011 ART SCHOOL GRADUATE SHOW SPECIAL | ARTLife

STELLENBOSCH UNIVERSITY, DEPARTMENT OF FINE ART

Andree van Zyl

Melissa Tabisher

Elsa Lourens

Carla Kruger

Melissa Tabisher

Chris Swart

Chris Swart,

SA ART TIMES. Dec 2011- Jan 2012

The NEW INDIVIDUALISTS 2012 100 year Anniversary of Pierneef’s Individualists of 1912

To view works call Ernst de Jong 082 9514533

Carl Jeppe ‘X Revealed ’

Ernst de Jong ‘And they danced by the light of the moon, the moon, the moon ’

Jan van Schalkwyk ‘Bergblom ’

Suzette le Roux ‘The snail’s trail ’

Catharine Kruger ‘Brave heart ’

Carol van Tonder ‘A view with a room ’

Ernst de Jong Academy of Fine Art 366 Hill Street Arcadia Pretoria, South Africa

Years of Professional Art Teaching

Continuous enrolment Beginners , Advanced and Professional Artists Term starts 18 January 2012

Cecile Ronga ‘Still life with Figs ’

Tel: 012 430 4677 Fax: 012 430 6391 email : edejong@lantic.net Cell: 082 9514 533

Ronel Wheeler ‘Snow Buffalo ’

Exhibitions at Major Galleries in South Africa and International

Constance Pansegrouw ‘In an octopuses garden in the shade ’

Affiliated to The Academy of Fine Art and DesignBishop, California,USA

1912 -2012

Kariena Kolisko ‘Giselle ’

Douglas Pringle ‘Monkey Puzzle ’

100 YEARS

ARTLife | 2011 ART SCHOOL GRADUATE SHOW SPECIAL / RHODES SCHOOL OF ART

RHODES ART SCHOOL, GRAHAMSTOWN

Jessica Bosworth Smith.

Kate Brook-Hart

Denys Dixie

Zanne Reyneke

Calypso Ray 52

Simone Heymans

Lauren Edwards

Nastassja Hill

Minke Wasserman

Suvania Naidoo

Leora Jones SA ART TIMES. Dec 2011- Jan 2012

RUTH PROWSE SCHOOL OF ART / 2011 ART SCHOOL GRADUATE SHOW SPECIAL | ARTLife

RUTH PROWSE SCHOOL OF ART, CAPE TOWN

Detail of installation 2 by Kelly van der Watt, installation 2 by Kelly van der Watt,

Fashion Photograph by Darren Gwynn

Installation by Callen Byrnes,

Still from Multi-media Animation by Jessica van der Merwe

Detail of Installation by Lieche van Wyk

Installation 2 by Lauren Pretorius

Installation by Lauren Pretorius

Illustration by Astrid Schwarz

Photograph by Summaya Johaar, Still from multi-media animation. Still from multi-media animation by Warren Maroon SA ART TIMES. Dec 2011- Jan 2012

ARTLife | 2011 ART SCHOOL GRADUATE SHOW SPECIAL / TSHWANE UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY, PRETORIA

TSHWANE UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY, PRETORIA

Andrew Walker

Louise de Klerk

Adeline Wasserman

Erlo Brown

Lindenberg Hardy

Grant Roxanne

Melissa van Heerden

52 Monique de Bruyn 54

Magrietjie van Graan

SA ART TIMES. Dec 2010- Jan 2011 SA ART TIMES. Dec 2011- Jan 2012

UNISA, CAPE TOWN / 2011 ART SCHOOL GRADUATE SHOW SPECIAL | ARTLife

UNISA, CAPE TOWN

Annali Delsink - Scraperboard

Countered Memories Video,

Noeleen Kleve

Pierre Le Riche

Zyma Amien SA ART TIMES. Dec 2011- Jan 2012

ARTLife | 2011 ART SCHOOL GRADUATE SHOW SPECIAL / NMMU: ART DEPARTMENT

NELSON MANDELA METROPOLITAN UNIVERSITY: ART DEPARTMENT

Tegan Sampson

Emma Minkley

Emma Minkley 56

SA ART TIMES. Dec 2011- Jan 2012

NMMU: ART DEPARTMENT: CAPE TOWN / 2011 ART SCHOOL GRADUATE SHOW SPECIAL | ARTLife

NELSON MANDELA METROPOLITAN UNIVERSITY: ART DEPARTMENT

NMMU Sculpture Collective: Oliva Rissik, Luke Lombard, Alexander Fischer, Luxolo Bukani,Leminah Chifadza, Mzolisi Daba, Amelia Maree, Joy Black, Lungiswa Gqunta, Megan Fisher, Clarissa Kaltwsser, Andre Kellerman, Moathodi Kgosietsile, Billy Taka, Thembalalethu M. Manqunyana

Emma Minkley

Lubwe Mgolombane SA ART TIMES. Dec 2011- Jan 2012

ARTLife | SA GALLERY BUZZ

Opening at SMAC of Nel Erasmus’s Review, Stellenbosch

Elzaby Laubscher’s opening at The Abalone Art Gallery, Hermanus

The opening of Everard Read 15th Anniversary Cape Town Gallery

Unisa Cape Town art graduate show, Art b Gallery, Bellville

SA ART TIMES. Dec 2011- Jan 2012

GALLERY BUZZ | ARTLife

SA ART TIMES. Dec 2011- Jan 2012

ARTLife | ARTIST PROFILE: MIKHAEL SUBOTZKY

Mikhael Subotzky The opening week of the Rencontres d’Arles photography festival earlier this year, 2011 culminated with the announcement that Subotzky, and the British artist, Patrick Waterhouse had won the prestigious Discovery award for their three year long collaborative project, Ponte City. This cylindrical 54-story structure (the tallest residential tower block in Africa) and its position as the central melting pot of Hillbrow, Johannesburg’s urban mythology. The piece is a massive installation, made up of hundreds of contact sheets, picturing a photograph out of every window, of every internal door, and of every television-set in Ponte City, and presented in three towering light boxes.

Words and photo’s of Mikhael Subotzky by Jenny Altschuler

Overleaf: Subotzky in his Arts on Main studio, Johannesburg. His books are his most prized possessions, he admits. Subotzky is 30 years old this year. At 28 he was the youngest photographer to be invited to Magnum Photo Agencies, the most prestigious group of photographers in the world. Born in 1981 in Cape Town, South Africa, he received his Fine Arts Degree at Uct’s Michaelis School of Fine Art, in 2003, attaining 100% for his major in the medium of Photography, the highest mark ever awarded to a student. He had completed the first leg of his 1st long term project, Die Vier Hoeke, which accelerated his short and steep ascent to fame. The ingenuity as well as quality of concept and execution of the subsequent additional two chapters, Umjiegwana and Beaufort West, that extend his first project, confirmed his talent, his conceptual as well as his executional skills. In the 6 years since his graduation, he has received countless prizes, grants and prestigious and coveted awards. In 2005 he was awarded the Special Jurors Award at the Seventh Recontres Africaines de la Photographie in Bamako and the F25 Award for Concerned Photography in 2006. 2007 saw Subotzky receive the Young Photographer Award at Perpignan and The KLM Paul Huf Award as well as the W. Eugene Smith Memorial Grant in 2008. And currently Mikhail Subotzky is the Standard Bank Young Art of the Year in Photography, the Highest award Nationally in the Arts. 62

The three light-boxes towering around four meters each, loom above the viewer in similar proportions to the building itself. The contact prints are sequenced in order, as they exist in the high-rise building, floor above floor and apartment by apartment. These lightbox installations build a montage of life in an environment that has lost its Utopia of the mid-70s when it was built for the city’s most affluent white middle classes. “…These three towering lightboxes present three distinct yet overlapping directions of view. The internal, the external, and the imagined are separated by the typological method that made the three works, but confused in each instance by the richness of detail that each one includes in its 600-odd photographs. But step back from each, and they become almost completely abstract, fractals of colour and light that make it hard to believe that they are organized true to the building rather than the artist´s design.” Except from official text Ponte City. “By the 90s, escalating gang violence in the local neighbourhood had turned it into a high-rise ghetto. Subotzky’s photographs look outwards – across the sprawling city below – and inwards – to the domestic interiors of its residents. The installation resembles a mini tower block made up of myriad photographs. As metaphors go it is simple but effective.” (Hagan 2011) “ …When we started our work there in 2008, the development was in full swing. The building felt like a shell, its bottom half completely empty, and the top half sparsely populated. Former residents moved out in a hurry to make way for the developers. Many of their apartments were then burgled and trashed. Months later, when the development had failed, we entered room after room where the floors were covered in piles of broken possessions, torn photographs and scattered paperwork. We would walk the corridors, through whole floors of empty flats, and then suddenly hear children shouting, the fizz and smell of frying fish, and then, briefly, voices and running water as we passed the bathroom and kitchen windows that face the passageways. But these spectres disappeared as quickly as they had come, leaving us to wander through wrecked apartments, corridors and dark stairwells. We met many of the remaining residents in the lifts where we asked to make portraits of those who were willing. When we brought copies back to their apartments, doors opened to all kinds of living arrangements – whole families in bachelor flats, empty carpeted rooms with nothing but a mattress and a giant television consol, and penthouses divided up with sheets and appliances into four or five living spaces…” Subotzky and Waterhouse wrote in their artist statement for Ponte City 2009,“… Ponte has always been a place of myth, illusion and aspiration. This is what we seek to evoke in these preparatory pages. Perhaps this task is best left to the images that we have found there – both in the abandoned flats, and in the marketing material and advertising that we have collected from 1976 and 2008. When these documents are seen next to the dystopian appearance of the building and its surroundings, one begins to project an image of this city during this time. It is a place of dust and dreams, befitting the land on which it sits, which has attracted millions of migrants since gold was discovered in the 1880s. People are still drawn here from all over the continent in search of better lives for themselves and their families. But the gold, in all its incarnations, inevitably fulfills the dreams of so few. All around them, those who service this passion are scattered in a modern metropolis – pinning their dreams to the flashing signs which crest the city and some of its buildings.”

SA ART TIMES. Dec 2011- Jan 2012

ARTIST PROFILE: MIKHAEL SUBOTZKY | ARTLife

Mikhail Subotzky Ponte Lightbox 2

Mikhail Subotzky Ponte Lightbox 1

Subotzky, having moved to Johannesburg in 2008, has set up studio in the Arts on Main culture complex situated in the emerging City and Suburban area in the Johannesburg’s Eastern CBD, between Fox and Main Streets. It markets itself as a hub for Johannesburg’s creative community to develop and share ideas. Subotzky has transformed his warehouse type space that opens from a sparce corridor with a roll-up metal garage door, into a light and airy studio with a good fung shui and plenty of room to create, contemplate, make mess and keep tidy areas. A neat split-level smart-space tucks in an open-plan office for his personal assistant and a dark vault storeroom balances the partnering of two high concrete staircases leading to two more nooks and cranny style spaces. The Standard Bank Young Art of the Year 2012 works really hard and is always on the go, being nationally and internationally in demand. Tuesday he gener-

Mikhail Subotzky Ponte Lightbox 3

ously spent vibing with my camera in between his activities in the studio and by Wednesday he was gone, following his work to his 1st two group exhibitions as fully fledged Magnum Photographer, in Paris and then in Tunisia, Italy. He is still secretive about the contents of the prestigious show next year as Standard Bank Artist but it obvious to me that this was going to be something entirely different once again. See more of Mikhael’s work at: www.magnumphotos.com/MikhaelSubotzky www.imagesby.com Mikhael Subotzky Archive: www.subotzkystudio.com/

SA ART TIMES. Dec 2011- Jan 2012

ARTLife | ARTIST PROFILE: MIKHAEL SUBOTZKY / IMAGES FROM SUBOTZKY.COM

SA ART TIMES. Dec 2011- Jan 2012

IMAGES FROM SUBOTZKY.COM / ARTIST PROFILE: MIKHAEL SUBOTZKY | ARTLife

SA ART TIMES. Dec 2011- Jan 2012

Meeting Dr Paul Bayliss - the new ABSA l’Atelier Award Head

Wilhelm van Rensburg “The biggest challenge I face, is few people in the art world know me but at the same time I am no new kid on the block.” So says new curator of the vast Absa art collection and artifacts in its money museum, Paul Bayliss. “The first question people always ask when first meeting me is who are you and where are you from. They are then amazed to hear that I have worked in Absa for the past nine years. My working background is in the heritage sector but I am an academic at heart.” Besides having managed Absa’s money museum for the past nine years Paul has also managed a number of the bank’s corporate social investment programmes. Bayliss has worked in the museum and heritage sector for more than 15 years. Absa recently took a strategic decision to combine its heritage and art portfolio and manage it as such. His strategic vision in his new position is to ensure that the art collection, the work of the Absa Gallery, as well as the newly opened Absa Money Museum (located in the newly opened Absa Towers West in downtown Johannesburg) adds value to Absa and fits in with the Group’s strategic direction. As Paul states it 66

cannot just be a collection for the sake of having it. “I have an understanding of what is required in managing a large private collection within a corporate environment. There is a very big difference between managing a corporate art collection and managing a commercial gallery.” “I appreciate art and heritage for what they are; I am now trying to understand and appreciate the journey an artist has to travel in his or her career. That is one of the reasons why I appointed Stephan Erasmus, a recognised artist with more than 10 years experience in various art galleries, as assistant curator. He is someone with an aesthetic sense and with a wealth of experience in curatorial work. I also believe in team work and that is why I aim to cultivate a formidable team while managing the corporate collection. Stephan also has very diverse skills to me - there is little point in appointing somebody with the same strengths as my own – but rather someone with strengths that would complement me” Bayliss expresses great admiration for his formidable predecessor, Cecile Loedolf, who was at the helm for more than 22 years. SA ART TIMES. Dec 2011- Jan 2012

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“She was an institution in her own right, laying the foundation of the collection, and consolidating the status of the Absa L’Atelier competition. We are aiming to build upon this foundation.” Bayliss has big plans for the Absa L’Atelier. “It is important in growing the competition both in terms of number and quality of entrants to not only target art students to enter the competition, but also young professional artists. This would include artists in the more outlying and rural communities of South Africa, which in many instances have previously not been able to access to the more central drop off centres. It is equally important to generate another kind of knowledge in and around the competition. For example, building an educational and mentoring dimension, thereby giving artists an opportunity to develop and grow during the competition. This could be through feedback sessions before and after the event.” Other plans Bayliss wants to implement, include extending the exhibition programme of the Absa Gallery to include more curated shows of works within the Absa collection. In addition, been a academic at heart he wants to publish more researched catalogues about the exhibitions, even if it means

doing so electronically. “The Absa L’Atelier catalogues are fast becoming collectors’ items!” he happily relates. Bayliss plans to build a greater appreciation for the arts amongst Absa’s just under 40,000 employees. This would be greater show-casing of the Absa collection internally, as well as monthly lunch-time seminars by leading artists. Bayliss held a number of important positions in his career. He was director of the Ditsong suite of eight National and Natural History museums in Pretoria, as well as curator of the numismatic museum of Absa, now known as the Absa Money Museum. His favourite works in the collection are most likely the Alexis Preller oil paintings that have pride of place in the executive suite of the new Towers building. He constantly visits museums and galleries across the country and across the world, learning his trade all the time. Bayliss passed his baptism of fire by staging a very elegant 2011 Absa L’Atelier function recently, with many subtle changes effectively introduced in mounting the exhibition.

SA ART TIMES. Dec 2011- Jan 2012

BUSINESS ART | GENERAL BUSINESS NEWS

Another good year for Strauss & Co.

By Michael Coulson In the face of increasingly keen competition from Bonhams in London, Strauss & Co remains the leading auction house worldwide for SA art, and chairman (sic) Elisabeth Bradley’s annual report for 2011 expounds on another successful year. Despite the downturn in the final quarter, annual turnover of R170m was less than 10% below 2010’s R184m, and double the 2009 return. By my (possibly fallible) count, the firm’s sales of SA art totalled R153.5m, suggesting that its modest forays into other areas like Cape silverware and antique furniture are a minor but useful developing diversification. Bradley says that at the start of the year the firm expected a shift in emphasis in the market away from Irma Stern, who has driven prices higher in recent years, and notes the “exponential” growth in prices outside the top performers by artists such as Pieter Wenning, Hugo Naude, Gerald Sekoto, George Pemba, Robert Hodgins, Sydney Kumalo, Lucas Sithole and (which not many may have noticed) Rosamund Everard-Steenkamp. Kumalo and Sithole, of course, are sculptors, and this medium gained in prominence this year: she could have added Edoardo Villa and Cecil Skotnes to the list of good performers. Diversification there may have been, but time after time Stern and Pierneef continued to dominate the price lists, and the highlight of the year, a record price for an artwork sold in SA, was still down to Stern, whose Two Arabs fetched R21m, 50% more than the old record of R13.4m for Gladioli in October 2009. Two Arabs had not been seen in public since 1986, having been first in the collection of veteran art dealer Louis Schachat and then another private collection. Two other notable pictures each sold for R10.5m in March: a Pierneef landscape which had been the first SA picture to break the R100 000 mark when it sold for R120 000 in 1985, and Stern’s Gladioli, the first past R200 000

when it went for R209 000 just 10 years later. Strauss & Co was also involved this year in a number of fundraising initiatives for worthy causes. Bradley cites the R550 000 raised by the competition to name a rare new iris discovered on the Cape West Coast, R718 000 for bursaries at UCT’s Michaelis School of Fine Art, R66 000 for restoration of the Boerneef collection, R730 000 for St Cyprian’s Girls’ School and no less than R1.3m at Delaire Graff estate to build a Graff leadership centre in the winelands. Bradley attributes the failure to sell of some Sterns and Pierneefs with high estimates partly to excessive seller-driven estimates, confirming what Bonhams’ Giles Peppiatt had told me earlier: that high prices have brought on to the market works of lesser quality whose owners don’t appreciate that quality commands a premium. Implicitly, therefore, we can expect that Strauss too will be adopting a more conservative estimating approach in the new year. Looking to 2012, Bradley says Strauss will hold the buyer’s premium at 10% for lots selling at R10 000-plus and 15% for R10 000 and below. She doesn’t labour the point, but this is clearly a dig at the likes of Bonhams, whose buyer’s premium starts at 25% with a much higher cut-off point. The auction season starts early, with both Strauss and Stephan Welz & Co’s first Cape Town sales taking place in February, on February 6 and February 21/22 respectively. At Strauss, SA art will be fleshed out with the late Walter Beck’s collection of glass, Chinese porcelain and Japanese cloisonné. Both sales will be closely watched for signs of whether current uncrtaincy (to put it mildly) in the art market is continuing, even deepening, or whether the first shoots of revival will emerge. With so much depending on the world economy, predictions would be fatuous.

Irma Stern painting in export tug of war First Published in The Cape Times: By Michelle Jones. The Qatar Museums Authority may have bought Irma Stern’s Arab Priest more than six months ago at auction for R34 million- but it hasn’t yet been able to hang the painting. The SA Heritage Resources Agency (Sahra) has declined to grant a permanent export permit for the 66-year-old painting because it has been identified as a “heritage object that forms part of the national estate” Regina Isaacs, Sahra’s heritage objects manager, said this was the first time such a decision was being appealed. Under the National Heritage Resources Act, Sahra was able to refuse to export any painting or item of artistic interest older than 50 years and antiquities older than 100 years. On December 13 last year Sahra received an application from Bonhams for a permit to temporary export the painting to London and New York, the agency said. “Bonhams gave their reason as an intention to exhibit the work in their galleries.” Ten days later the agency issued a temporary export permit under certain conditions, one being that the painting must be returned to South Africa. “Bonhams complied with the conditions and the painting was returned on March 7, 2011. Following the issue of the temporary export permit, the Irma Stern trust indicated that it would object to the permanent export of Arab Priest. “The painting was sold on March 23. “On May 20, 2011, Elliot International applied for a permanent export permit for Arab Priest to Qatar Museums Authority, which was cited as the new owner. This was the first time that it became known to Sahra that it had been sold to a foreign buyer.” The Sahra permit committee then decided to refuse a permanent export permit, based on the advice of its art panel. On July 21, Sahra received a letter from the Qatar Museums Authority which said it would like to appeal against the decision and that it was not interested in a repurchase by a third party. Pieter Fouche of Van Huyssteens, a firm of commercial attorneys in Gauteng, has been appointed to represent it. He refused to comment to the Cape Times and said he had been requested not to communicate with the media. 68

Stern’s Arab Priest sold by Bonham’s for R 34 M SA ART TIMES. Dec 2011- Jan 2012

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MICHAEL COULSON’S LAST WORD / SA ART AUCTIONS 2011 REVIEW | BUSINESS ART

Last word on 2011 Art Auctions By Michael Coulson

Table one -- catalogued local art auctions

Remarkably, while the total value for SA art sold on auction this year is much the same as in 2010, this apparent stasis hides a couple of significant changes in trend. In the first place, whether local houses like it or not, it’s unquestionable that there’s a shift in activity from SA to London; in the second place, despite the satisfactory overall figures, there was a significant downturn in the final quarter, mirroring renewed uncertainty in the global economy and other financial markets. Let me repeat a couple of points that must be borne in mind when you look at the figures. First, I cover only sales that have proper printed catalogues. This rigorous approach, in line with international practice, means, for instance, that I do not include some of the auction houses included in the new Citadel art price index, even though the reputations of the likes of Pretoria’s Bernardis and Ashby’s in Cape Town are impeccable. Then, I take prices as published by the houses immediately after the sales, making no allowance for subsequent negotiated additional or failed sales. Finally, prices are on the “hammer plus” basis, which is what buyers actually pay, and adds the buyer’s premium (which can range from 10% to a swingeing 25%) and any other charges – which can vary from sale to sale – to the price t which the auctioneer actually knocks the lot down. So, then, to the details. While the total value of SA art sold on auction, at just under R350m, is within a couple of million of last year’s total, sales in SA have fallen by almost 20% and those in London have risen by more than 40%. Bonhams’ March sale grossed more than twice as much as the runnerup, Strauss’s October sale in Cape Town. The London house’s share of the total market in fact rose from just under a third in 2010 to 41.3% this year, not far behind Strauss’s 44.2%, with Stephan Welz & Co lagging at 14.5%. Two years ago, Bonhams sold only about R30m of SA art.

House Venue Month No of lots % sold Low est (Rm) Gross (Rm) Top price (Rm) S Welz CT Strauss CT S Welz Jhb Strauss Jhb S Welz CT S Welz Jhb Strauss CT S Welz CT Strauss Jhb S Welz Jhb

Feb Mar Apr May May Auig Sep Oct Nov Nov

Total (2010

232 154 236 302 220 160 245 327 330 234

62 73 63 79 63 61 75 49 63 56

2 440 2 811

35.0 58.7 14.3 54.5 15.6 18.4 43.4 16.0 40.1 15.0 311.1 35.2

7.7 42.1 4.3 37.5 9.7 15.0 46.2 8.7 27.7 4.9

0.7 10.6 0.8 2.1 4.1 9.8 21.2 1.3 4.5 0.4

Wenning Pierneef l//s/Stern s/l Van Wouw Postman Preller Primavera Stern WomenSewing Stern Young Arab Stern Arab Man Sumner s/l Stern s/l Alexander The Hold

203.8 249.2)

Table Two -- Bonhams, London Month Mar Oct Total (2010*

No of lots 170 416 586 n/a

Total SA & UK (2010 *

3 026 n/a

% sold 57 36.5 75.6

Low est (Rm) 70.1 107.9 178.0 98.9) 489.1 310.8

Gross (Rm) Top price (Rm) 101.2 34 Stern Arab Priest 42.1 14.9 Stern Watussi

347.1 349.1)

SA AD 2011 93 X 136 TP 21/10/11 13:32 Page 1

*Includes minor sales in New York by Bonhams and Pury C Phillips M Y de CM MY

CY CMY

In SA alone, Welz & Co maintained its market share at 25%, while Strauss appears to have picked up the gap created by the not unexpected withdrawal of Graham Britz. Strauss’s October sale, though we didn’t know it at the time, marked the tipping point. It was R5.5m better than the corresponding sale last year. But in spite of this, the last five sales of the year -- one by each local house in each venue plus Bonhams -- grossed just R130m, down from R200m last year. This shows both how well the market had been doing until then, and the extent of the subsequent crunch. It’s also worth pointing out that the peak price of the year was set as early as March, and was driven less by any SA connotation of the relevant work, than by the subject, an Arab priest. The picture was bought by Qatari interests for its religious significance, and it’s ironic that it’s now sitting in a Joburg gallery storeroom under lock and key, having been refused a permanent export licence by our zealous heritage guardians. However this impasse is settled, it would be unwise to treat this price as any sort of yardstick for Irma Stern paintings in general. Even if this price was anomalous, Stern and Pierneef remain the focus of the market. Auction houses frantically try to talk up others, in the cause of broadening the market, and as well as the perennial runners-up like Maggie Laubser, Maud Sumner , Anton van Wouw, and sometimes Stanley Pinker, there certainly seems to be more interest in such as Walter Battiss, Hugo Naude, Alexis Preller and – as far as I can tell, pretty much for the first time – Keith Alexander. The Christmas/New Year recess lasts only a couple of months: in February it’ll be back on the treadmill. There’ll be more than a few hearts in mouths hoping that recent weakness will prove temporary; but with art very much a discretionary spending item, and the outlook for the world economy increasingly imponderable, hopes should not be pitched too high. SA ART TIMES. Dec 2011- Jan 2012 Composite

BUSINESS ART | SA ART AUCTIONS / STRAUSS & CO JOHANNESBURG SALE

Surprisingly good results at Strauss & Co’s Jhb sale

By Michael Coulson: The morning after Strauss & Co’s last auction of the year I was at an economic presentation by Investment Solutions’chief strategist, Chris Hart. While by no means an optimist, he argued that SA’s financial markets are in better shape than their European counterparts; after comparing Strauss’s Joburg results with those of Bonhams in London recently, I couldn’t but wonder if the same is true of the market in SA art as well. For both sessions sold 60%+ of the lots on offer, and though there were a couple of expensive casualties, auctioneer Stephan Welz even sold threequarters of the 12 highest estimates (those starting at a low of R500 000 and upwards). Excluding the first six lots of non-SA art, 134 of the 216 lots in the minor, afternoon, session sold, or 62%, for a gross of R3.18m, against the low estimate of R3.93m, while 73 of the 114 lots (64%) sold in the evening, for R24.55m, against the low estimate of R36.19m. So in total, 207 of 330 lots sold (62.7%)for a gross (including buyer’s premium and Vat, where applicable) of R27.73m, 69% of the low estimate of R40.12m. This return is all the more satisfactory in that the top estimated work, R4mR6m for an Irma Stern still life (pictured on the back cover), failed to sell, as did two Gerald Sekotos: a landscape estimated at R3m-R4m and Washerwoman (est R2m-R3m). Even so,inevitably the top price was attained by another Stern still life,with roses, at R4.45m (est R4m-R6m). Also in seven digits were a Sekoto landscape at R3.12m (est R3m-R4m, the inside front cover –Strauss & Co says this picture was bought by the seller on auction in Pretoria in October 1987 for R2 300), a Hugo Naude landscape at R1.56m(the front cover, est R500 000-R800 000 -- breaking an eight-yearold artist’s record), a Stern Venetian landscape at R1.5m (est R1.4m-R1.8m, the plate at the end of session one) and Anton van Wouw’s The Scout, at R1.06m (est R500 000-R800 000). Top-priced Pierneef was the inside back cover, at R724 000 double the bottom of the estimate range of R350 000-R500 000).

The rest of the top 12 estimates to sell comprise Walter Battiss’s Mother (R557 000, est R500 000-R700 00), a Maurice van Essche nude (R613 000, est R600 000-R800 000), Alexis Preller’s Hieratic Mango (the frontispiece, R668 000, est R600 000-R800 000) and a Lucas Sithole sculpture (R668 000, est R600 000-R800 000). The two highest estimates in the afternoon, works by Frans Claerhout and Andrew Verster (R50 000-R80 000) didn’t sell, but some excellent returns in this session were headed by R106 000 for Christo Coetzee’s Halley’s Comet, estimated at only R30 000-R50 000. An artist’s record was attained for Trevor Makhoba, The Train & The River fetching R84 000 (est R40 000R60 000). A small Gregoire Boonzaaier oil on board went for R67 000 (est R25 000-R40 000), and three items reached R61 000: another Boonzaaier, a Maud Sumner drawing (both estimated at R40 000-R60 000) and an Errol Boyley beach scene (est R30 000-R40 000). Among other artists to command record prices were Diederick During, Joachim Schonfeldt and Eben van der Merwe. During’s Taking a Break reached R46 800, almost five times the low estimate of R10 000, and Van der Merwe’s still life, at R18 900, was 2.7 times the low estimate of R7 000. Also faring well against estimate were Hennie Potgieter’s David (R32 300, est R10 000), Edoardo Villa’s Villa at 90 (R55 700, R18 000) and Gerard de Leeuw’s Seal (R78 000, R30 000). The firm says this sale takes its total for the year to R170m, more than 90% of its 2010 boom year total. In fact, I think it’s being a tad conservative: I calculated its gross last year at R175m, so by my count it’s within 3% of that. Let’s hope Stephan Welz & Co can maintain this positive note at its upcoming Joburg sale and end the year on a high note.

Art and Glass Sparkle at Strauss & Co’s Cape Town Auction in February 2012 A dazzling array of art and glass are offered at Strauss & Co’s upcoming auction to be held at the Vineyard Hotel, Newlands, on 6 February 2012. Irma Stern’s Portrait of a Woman Wearing a Pink Hijab (R8 000 000 – 12 000 000), depicting a woman swathed in drapery that concentrates all attention on her expressive face, is at once a thoughtful portrait of an individual and an evocation of the cultures that have enriched Africa and the place she called home. Stern’s Two Seated Arabs (R2 500 000 – 3 000 000), with their aquiline features and simplified forms, offer an elegant reminder of the artist’s travel adventures and her passion for different cultures. Following the record-breaking R1 559 600 achieved for a Hugo Naudé on Strauss & Co’s Johannesburg sale, a number of brilliant paintings by the artist trace his travels and interests that ranged from the Western Cape to the Holy Land. Foremost amongst these are paintings from the Krone collection, the family who pioneered brandy distillation and wine making on the oldest wine estate in South Africa. Stanley Pinker delights with his Cézannesque The Bathers (R700 000 – 900 000) and his sassy Girl 72

in Sunglasses (R300 000 – 500 000). Keen interest is focused on William Kentridge’s Head (R600 000 – 900 000), for which competition has seen the highest prices ever achieved at auction for a fine art print by a South African artist. Igor Stravinsky & Four Women (R200 000 – 400 000) by Robert Hodgins is the definitive Hodgins for arts lovers providing both a portrait of the bespectacled composer and a commentary on the creative genius who is said to have had the most profound influence on the evolution of music through the emancipation of rhythm, melody, and harmony. Also included is a remarkable collection of glass, Chinese porcelain and Japanese cloisonné from the late Professor Walter Beck. A prominent cardiologist, who formed part of Christiaan Barnard’s first heart transplant team, Professor Beck passed away earlier this year at the age of 85. His eclectic collection comprised Cape furniture, European glass from 1890 to 1960, monochromatic and blue-and-white Chinese porcelain and luminous Japanese cloisonné from the Meiji period (1868 to 1912). He was an academic with an astute eye for high quality craftsmanship and detail. The sale also features important furniture and

jewellery. For purposes of quoting, the text on the works of art was written by Emma Bedford, Senior Paintings Specialist, Strauss & Co. AUCTION Monday 6 February 2012 Day Sale at 2 pm (Decorative Art including the Collection of Professor Walter Beck Evening Sale at 8 pm (South African Art and Furniture) The Vineyard Hotel, Conference Centre, Newlands PREVIEW From Friday 3 to Sunday 5 February from 10am to 5pm WALKABOUTS Stephan Welz and Emma Bedford Saturday 4 and Sunday 5 February at 11am CONTACT NUMBERS 021 683 6560 / mobile 078 044 8185 Catalogues are available and can be purchased online or from our offices. www.straussart.co.za SA ART TIMES. Dec 2011- Jan 2012

South African Art & Furniture Cape Town, Monday 6 February 2012 Evening Sale 8pm The Vineyard Hotel, Newlands Enquiries: 021 683 6560 / 078 044 8185 Stanley Faraday Pinker, Girl in Sunglasses R 300 000 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 500 000

JOHANNESBURG Entries for our May 2012 auction of South African Art, close end February jhb@straussart.co.za CAPE TOWN 021 683 6560 | www.straussart.co.za | JOHANNESBURG 011 728 8246

BUSINESS ART | YOUNGBLACKMAN GALLERY REFLECTION

Reflections on the closing of the project space Youngblackman: from the corpes’s mouth By Douglas Blackman. First published on artthrob.co.za Originally it had been an idea about which a group of us spoke. It seemed only a dream at that time when Andrew Lamprecht, Linda Stupart, Jonathan Garnham, Ed Young and I discussed how we could achieve the miracle of viewing relevant art from the comfort of the Kimberly Hotel. Linda went on to get into a PhD program at Goldsmiths, Andrew curated the Trechikoff exhibition at SANG and the Goodman Gallery’s bathroom, and Jonathan was aroused to rub shoulders with some of art’s big hitters in Basel, began selling paintings, and organized plastic horses to be distributed around Cape Town. This left Young and I, with our limited creative and financial resources, to make this dream a reality. A paucity of funds meant we had to limit ourselves to a data-projector, a sound system, some drywalling taken from a disused studio and the labour of some people who lurked around the Kimberly. As our mission statement stated that the idea behind YOUNGBLACKMAN was to ‘showcase young, as well as established artists and aims at freeing their production from the structures often imposed by commercially orientated galleries. It operated primarily as a shop front and works as a public art space viewed from the street. In using this model we attempt to increase the visibility of contemporary art in the city’. Its biggest problem was the bottomless well of money that the day-to-day running of a space such as that requires. And it is largely true that YOUNGBLACKMAN’s closing down was ultimately due to the failure of financial sustainability – it was after all only financed by some of my ill-gotten gains and Young’s parents. Ed and I have tried to spin it, if only to ourselves, that the closing of YBM was almost part of the plan, that we never intended to keep it going and that there is a limited life span to these kinds of spaces. It is certainly true that we had started to beg and scrape about for artists to show in the space. We had thought that they would come flooding to us with proposals. But this malaise arose mainly out of a lack of finances rather than a lack of interest in YOUNGBLACKMAN itself – or at least I hope it did. Most of the artists I spoke to seemed to be keen on showing, but when the inevitable question of money came up their overtures of interest always waned. It was really not for lack of artists that the space failed and, to a certain degree, the blame must be apportioned onto me. It is, after all, a rather strange irony that I had come back from London shortly before starting YBM, having just complet74

ed a Masters at the London School of Economics in the philosophy of sustainable development. I, of all people, should have been cognisant of the issues involved in such a venture. I ought to have realized that a project sustained only through funding, and not through commerce, had a predisposition towards failure. I had, after all, based an entire thesis on what William Easterly pointed out in his book The White Man’s Burden. That is to say, over 90% of all development projects in the developing world fail after the overseas funders stop funding them. Simply put, most sustainable development projects are unsustainable. My Masters at LSE was largely concerned with why this failure of sustainability takes place with such alarming regularity. I argued that at the very core of funding a project was the notion of paternalism and that most development projects fail because of the problem Isaiah Berlin noted when mentioning Kant in his ‘Two Concepts of Liberty’: ‘Paternalism is “the greatest despotism imaginable”. Paternalism is despotic, not because it is more oppressive than naked, brutal, unenlightened tyranny, nor merely because it ignores the transcendental reason embodied in me, but because it is an insult to my conception of myself as a human being, determined to make my own life in accordance with my own (not necessarily rational or benevolent) purposes, and, above all, entitled to be recognised as such by others. For if I am not so recognised, then I may fail to recognise, I may doubt, my own claim to be a fully independent human being.’ This is to say that the supposed beneficent Western funding in the developing world attacks a fundamental aspect of human agency. Development projects fail because all too often they give people reasons for doing things that are not in fact their own ‘purposes’. One such example of this, as has been pointed out by numerous theorists, was the Fair Trade projects where farmers were given the means and know-how to grow coffee. Quite often these farmers had never grown coffee before and, in many cases, they had never even drunk coffee. They were being ‘benevolently’ forced into actions that the west believed to be in their financial interests but were not, in fact, part of their cultural and inherited understandings. Projects are sustainable, I argued, if and only if there is a real need for them to exist. This is not merely to say that there is simply a financial need for them, but that the need for them that is somehow written into the DNA of a culture and a heritage. But what does this mean for funding the arts in South Africa? Arts councils and private funding of art initiatives work very well in the West. So why was it so difficult to get funding for YBM after our resources ran out? The funding of the

arts in Europe is, it could be argued, as much a part of a European value system as a 4x4 is to a Constantia housewife – and in many ways notions of funding the arts date back to the Greeks. Of course, the reasons for financing public art in Europe have shifted dramatically, but there remains an almost irrational proclivity for arts funding, both private and public. When one considers most European governments’ reliance on the progress of social programmes like transport and national health for their reelection, the importance placed on funding for the arts seems rather absurd. Nevertheless, both private and public funding of the arts is a high priority in most of Europe. Certainly when I lived in Hackney one couldn’t fling the smallest amount of fake blood without hitting some Arts Council undertaking or some privately funded project space. So why did one of the three project spaces in South Africa fail? The simple answer is because nobody was interested in sustaining it. A very small section of the arts community took an interest in us, but the broader media and public took little to no notice. Young and I spoke to several people who, after a couple of drinks, offered verbal agreements to help fund it. But there was always hesitation when we followed up, and there are only so many times that one can bring a begging bowl to the same house. Unfortunately YBM was never a marketable product and, I suppose, few people showed an interest in it because there was little to gain financially out of funding a bottomless hole in the floor. Doing something for no financial gain simply does not seem to be part of our cultural inheritance. I think that this is something that is inherently South African. There seems to me a distinct difference between the attitude in the poem by Yeats called To a Wealthy Man who Promised a Second Subscription to the Dublin Municipal Gallery if it were Proved the People Wanted Pictures and the questions I encountered when discussing funding. The potential philanthropist in Yeats’ poem was suggesting that art may have a value, but that that value needed to be proved to him if he was to give more money to the gallery. Most potential funders did not seem to confront us with this question. Rather, both private and corporate funding always came with the interest in what funding for YBM could do for the funders. How would branding work, they wanted to know. And was YBM a potentially marketable product? It is true that there was one mystery funder for one month who did not come with this attitude. Sadly it disappeared as easily as Linda Stupart’s blood installation reappeared on our walls despite nine layers of paint. Of course it is true that both Young and I could have tried a lot harder to find a wealthy patron, or we could have submitted more funding applications. SA ART TIMES. Dec 2011- Jan 2012

YOUNGBLACKMAN GALLERY REFLECTION | BUSINESS ART But, in the funding applications for new arts projects that we did submit, we were beaten to the draw by such ‘small’ and ‘developing’ projects such as the Market Theatre and Spier. To be sure, there may have been potential funders out there that were scared of funding something called YOUNG BLACK MAN, especially given that it was run by two white men. There were certainly people out there who believed that they we were only doing it to be offensive. YBM did, after all have its windows whitewashed and adorned with biblical passages etched into the paint during the Cameron Platter exhibition ‘Black Up That White Ass II’. Also, a brick with a message of dissatisfaction scrawled on it was placed on our doorstep before Kendell Geers’ show. And during Malcolm Payne’s exhibition I received several hate text messages after I put a contact number on the window. But anybody who cared to look at the programme we ran would have seen that YBM was a project space primarily about showcasing contemporary art practices to a broader public. After all, many of the more controversial works that were shown there, bar one or two, had been shown in commercial galleries, at art fairs and at biennales before being shown at YBM. If it was thought we were courting controversy then it was only the controversy that had, on many occasions, already being courted by the galleries and the artists themselves. In summation, I do feel the failure of YBM shows a real lack of interest in the appreciation of contemporary art in South Africa. Furthermore, I think it also confirms that very few South Africans believe that art has any moral, revelatory, humorous or pedagogical value. The question is then: why are there functioning commercial galleries that sell contemporary art? I believe the answer has the same radical origins; that is to say it stems from an obsession with money. The interest in art in this country is all too often driven by the art object’s monetary failure, a search for profit and a certain desire for social self-aggrandizement. One only needs to open one’s eyes on the streets of our major cities to see that the adherence to the mores of capitalism is quotidian. After all, we live in a country where the General Secretary of the Communist Party is at pains to defend the continued privatization of the mining industry. My experiences of running YOUNGBLACKMAN have driven me to the belief that these days art in South Africa only has a monetary value – all those lessons that were learned during the resistance sailed out the window in 1994 with Kendell Geers’s untitled brick. My suspicions were confirmed recently while teaching at the Michaelis School of Fine Art at UCT when I asked the students: ‘What is the value of art?’ The class demanded that its value was related to its price. I really hope that these thoughts are merely the result of post-project failure depression anxiety disorder but, to me at least, they seem to be, in the words of Matthew Partridge, ‘rendered in the visible’

Stuart Bird in performance piece: ‘Vex and Siolence’ at Youngblackman

Cape gallery narrowly miss eviction as artist jackhammers floor By Katharine Jacobs First published on Artthrob Cape gallery, YOUNGBLACKMAN, nearly found themselves homeless last week, when their landlord interrupted artist Stuart Bird jackhammering the cement floor of the Roeland Street gallery. The act formed part of a performance for an exhibition entitled ‘Vex and Siolence’, a collaboration between Bird, and fellow artists, Linda Stupart and Belinda Blignaut. In a performance which lasted over two hours, Bird jackhammered the gallery’s floor, while Stupart’s piping, installed above the glass front of the gallery, sent a constant stream of rain or tears flowing down the glass; ‘like in sad movies’, explained Stupart. Blignaut meanwhile, poured congealed lumps of melted Chappies over the welts Bird had produced. On discovering Bird in the midst of his performance, gallerist Matthew Blackman said the landlord was extremely angry and wanted to evict them immediately.

‘He said it wasn’t art, it was vandalism’, said Blackman, adding that the man was only pacified over an hour and a half later, after a builder hired by the gallery explained that he was to re-lay the floor, which had been cracked, anyway. This is not the first time that the gallery’s controversial exhibitions have fallen foul of conventional lease agreements. They narrowly missed eviction in June, when Kendall Geers recreated his 1993 work, ‘Title Withheld (Brick)’, in which the artist tossed bricks through the window of the gallery. Blackman said that the landlord was also not particularly happy with artist Linda Stupart’s ‘Who’s Abject Now Bitch’, an exhibition held in December of last year, which involved stage blood being sprayed over the interior of the gallery. ‘To be honest, he does have a point,’ Blackman conceded. ‘Any landlord wouldn’t want people jack-hammering the floor, breaking the windows and throwing blood all over the place’. Visitors can view the residue of the performance from the street, and after dark there is a projection of the performance, and the rain is turned on.

Send us your Art News and Issues One of the greatest strengths of the SA Art Times is that it carries a great diversity of art news and views from throughout the country. Please feel welcome to send your thoughts and opinions regarding art and issues from were you are, no matter how big - or small we would love to hear from you. Send to editor@arttimes.co.za

SA ART TIMES. Dec 2011- Jan 2012

Index

LEADING WORKS FROM THE SANLAM ART COLLECTION

TOONAANGEWENDE WERKE UIT DIE SANLAM-KUNSVERSAMELING

7 – 15, 18 – 22 December 2011 3 – 14 January 2012

Stephan Welz & Co The Great Cellar, The Alphen Hotel Alphen Drive, Constantia Tel: 021 794 6461 Monday – Friday: 10:00 – 17:00 Saturday: 10:00 – 14:00 Sunday: 14:00 – 17:00

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BOOK RELEASE | BUSINESS ART

Visual Century: South African Art in Context 1907 – 2007 launch

By Carl Collison : When speaking at the Cape Town launch of the recently released Visual Century: South African Art in Context 1907 – 2007, Iziko Museums’ CEO, Rooksana Omar, described the book as “an indispensible benchmark text for the future study and appreciation of South African art”. Utilising the skills of over 30 contributors, the ambitious and, as some have labelled it, ‘monumental work’ is the brainchild of Gavin Jantjes who also served as Project Director. Speaking at the launch, Jantjes, who went into exile in 1970, said: “I decided to do this after I returned to South Africa in 1994 and noticed the distinct absence in historical recording of South African art.” He added: “South African art has an incredible profile internationally - this year’s Venice Biennale, for example, featured six South African artists - but locally there’s still a lack of knowledge

of our own art history.” To redress this, the book, divided into four volumes, each looking at different historical periods, attempts to ‘situate South African art within both historical as well as art historical contexts’ - kicking off in 1907, after the Anglo-Boer War, and stretching through to 2007. In order to allow it maximum accessibility and, according to Jantjes, “engage a broad audience with divergent levels of knowledge of local and international art and history, as well as degrees of literacy” it, rather refreshingly, uses “accessible language without compromising the quality of the content.” This was done in order “to make the value of its resources count within varied settings –from the educational to the professional.” Given the hefty-for-most R1 500 price tag attached to this lush tome, one can’t help but wonder whether this dream for broader accessibility is nothing more than that: a pipe-dream. Mario Pissarra,

Deborah Poynton : Land of Cockaigne 1

To be seen on Stevenson’s show entitled: What we talk about when we talk about love

the book’s Editor-in-Chief, seems all too aware of the stumbling blocks posed here when in his speech he urged the Department of Arts and Culture (who, under the helm of its then Minister, Pallo Jordan, provided seed funding for the project) to “speak to their friends at the Department of Education to make sure that every school had a set”. However, judging by the Department’s Deputy Minister Joe Phaahla’s halfhearted promise during his self-congratulatory, technocrat-speak-laden and ultimately dispassionate speech that the Department would indeed “explore” this idea, one would be naive to hold out any hope for this promise to yield any speedy results - if any. Jantjes, however, believes that “the most important question is: where do we go from here?” To this end, he said, a concerted effort needed to be made “to inspire young people to read this

and other texts in order for them to realise the value of our history.” Although without doubt one of the most important milestones in South African art history and our documentation thereof, Visual Century’s “meaning, significance and value will”, as Verne Harris, Head of the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory, noted at the book’s Johannesburg launch, “ultimately become located in the contexts of its own production and in the contexts within which it will be read and used.” This test of its future value aside, the publication of this book has, as Jantjes said “proven that we can tell our own stories - with our own voices.” All that is needed now is for the powers-thatbe - whether they be government, NGOs, the corporate and/or art world - to ensure that Pissarra is granted his wish for broader accessibility as only this would allow for ‘our own stories’ to really be valued.

Nicholas Hlobo teams up with the Stars

Nicholas Hlobo, protégé with Anish Kapoor, mentor as part of The prestigious The Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative. Read The story on sA Art Times Website www.arttimes.co.za

BUSINESS ART | NUSHIN ELAHI’S LONDON LETTER

Nushin Elahi’s London Letter Leonardo da Vinci: Painter at the Court of Milan

The ultimate must see blockbuster this summer season at The National Gallery, London Leonardo da Vinci: Painter at the Court of Milan has become the ultimate blockbuster in London, with people who would never dream of going to the National Gallery now suddenly camping outside for hours to get tickets. With nine of his remaining fourteen paintings collected in one spot, this was always going to be a hit as an exhibition. It is an amazing opportunity to see some of this great Renaissance artist’s work collected together, especially the two versions of Virgin of the Rocks, which Leonardo himself probably never saw together. One, newly restored, is the National Gallery’s own, the other is from the Louvre. Alongside those, are the exquisite portraits of the haunting Lady with an Ermine from Cracow, La Belle Ferroniere from the Louvre and The Musician from Milan, as well as a newly attributed Salvator Mundi, an unfinished Saint Jerome and the Duke of Buccleuch’s The Madonna of the Yarnwinder. Besides The Last Supper, these are all the works he completed during his time in Milan. No wonder art historians bewail the fact that the artist never completed his work; he was more concerned with exploring the visual problem than resolving it. In this age of celebrity, people are only interested in what they consider the genuine article by the master himself, so copies or collaborations typical of that period are utterly dismissed by the viewing public. I heard some scoff at a work ascribed to one of Leonardo’s pupils, but the exhibition doesn’t really address the fact that there is ongoing controversy about which paintings can unequivocally be called Leonardo’s. There are several versions of the Madonna of the Yarnwinder in existence, and the flat contours of this Madonna’s face, with the puffy cheeks of the Christ child, make it more stilted than others I have seen. The Madonna Litta has also been the subject of debate, and the Salvator Mundi , despite its glorious rendition of a crystal orb, is being tested here as an original. The exhibition is beautifully laid out, with many of the preparatory drawings for the paintings, or those of his pupils, to enhance one’s understanding of the artist. It is really in his drawings that you see the genius at work - quick sketches of the outline of a face, the twist of a baby’s leg, or the folds of drapery. In a simple line he captures the essence of his sitter. There is movement and energy in all of them, a vigour that the paintings don’t have. At times Leonardo would keep drawing over and over the same spot, until all that is left is a tangle of black lines, but if you know what to look for you can see how he is working out the detail of a subject. His fascination with anatomy makes for sharp and often intriguing sketches, with flayed body parts and cross sections showing the brain linked with sight. Sadly the drawings are so small, and in some cases so faint, that really seeing them in the crush becomes impossible. What I would give to have access to the Queen’s extensive collection of his drawings! The two huge Virgins have, rather surprisingly, been placed at opposite ends of the hall instead of side by side. The Louvre’s has a warm golden glow to the tableau, a very human element in the harsh, almost primeval landscape Leonardo has created. The two infants, Jesus and John, look directly at each other, with the Madonna gazing down at them, while the angel on the side points to John and, looking out at the viewer, makes us an intimate part of this inspired religious scene. This was the first version painted, and although the curators believe that in the second the artist brought a wealth of experience to the work, completed over 25 years later, perhaps it was instead a commission that had dragged on and he simply wanted to finish. Underneath restorers have found signs of a change of design, but then he reverted to his original composition. There are significant changes: the group seems more dysfunctional, they all appear to look past each other and, more particularly, they are bathed in a cold blue light, perhaps a result of restoration, which distances the viewer. The exhibition closes with images pertaining to The Last Supper, a fresco in which Leonardo used a disastrous new technique which meant that within twenty years it was considered a ruin – the same amount of time it took to 78

have it restored recently. On display here is the earliest known full-scale copy made by one of his assistants before the deterioration – an oil on canvas now owned by the Royal Academy. Placed against a photo of the flaking original, which I remember being such a disappointment on a visit to Milan long ago, it is amazing to see what this work would have looked like at the time. Exploring the different reactions of each apostle to Christ’s announcement that one of them would betray him, Leonardo really used this work to fulfil his desire to paint the “outward appearance and inner emotions.” The extensive drawings (again mainly from the Queen’s collection), show how he used spontaneous sketches done with unerring observation, and translated them into this great painting. So is it worth it, queuing for hours, and jostling people as you crane your neck to catch a glimpse of a painting? For many, the answer may be yes, but these are works that demand contemplation. I would rather spend the same time upstairs in the magnificent Sainsbury wing, with only a handful of people, while you drink your fill of the Wilton Diptych, Bellini’s Doge Leonardo Loredan, Piero della Francesca’s Baptism of Christ or Raphael’s Madonna of the Pinks and his portrait of Pope Julius II. And in a few months, enjoy the National’s Leonardo’s again. But then I did go right out and queue for two hours to get tickets for my family! SA ART TIMES. Dec 2011- Jan 2012

Portrait of Cecilia Gallerani (‘The Lady with an Ermine’), about 1489–90. Property of the Czartoryski Foundation in Cracow on deposit at the National Museum in Cracow

Portrait of a Young Man (‘The Musician’), about 1486-7 © Veneranda Biblioteca Ambrosiana – Milano/De Agostini Picture Library

Virgin and Child with a Cat, about 1480 Galleria degli Uffizi, Gabinetto Disegni e Stampe, Florence (421 E)

The Virgin of the Rocks, 1483 – about 1485 Musée du Louvre, Paris, Département des Peintures (777)

Virgin and Child (‘The Madonna of the Yarnwinder’), about 1499 onwards. Private Collection, on loan to the National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh

Saint Jerome, about 1488–90 Musei Vaticani, Vatican City (40337) Christ as Salvator Mundi, about 1499 onwards Private collection

The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne and Saint John the Baptist (‘The Burlington House Cartoon’), about 1499–1500 © The National Gallery, London

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