SA Art Times September 2019 by SA ART TIMES

SEPTEMBER 2019 WWW.ARTTIMES.CO.ZA

INVITING CONSIGNMENTS

SUMMER AUCTION Johannesburg, 3 November 2019

Modern & Contemporary Art VENUE Gordon Institute of Business Sciene, 26 Melville Road, Illovo, Johannesburg

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ENQUIRIES & ART VALUATIONS JOHANNESBURG +27 11 243 5243 | +27 71 675 2991 | enquiries@aspireart.net CAPE TOWN +27 21 418 0765 | +27 83 283 7427 | ct@aspireart.net

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Dumile Feni, Silence, Estimate: R3 000 000 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 5 000 000

Modern & Contemporary African Art AUCTION LONDON 15 OCTOBER

EXHIBITION FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC 11 – 15 OCTOBER 34–35 NEW BOND STREET, LONDON W1A 2AA ENQUIRIES +44 (0)20 7293 5696 HANNAH.OLEARY@SOTHEBYS.COM SOTHEBYS.COM/CONTEMPORARYAFRICAN #SOTHEBYSCTPAFRICAN

GERARD SEKOTO Cyclists in Sophiatown Estimate £250,000–350,000

GAVIN JANTJES Homesickness a Blindman’s Paradise Estimate £25,000– 35,000

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Invitation to Consign Stephan Welz & Co is now under new ownership and we invite you to consign to our forthcoming October Cape Town and November Johannesburg auctions.

Contact your nearest branch for more information and to schedule your valuation with our specialists

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Forthcoming Auctions Cape Town

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25 & 26 November 2019

CONTENTS

Art Times September Edition 2019 14 FNB ART JO’BURG New Name New Approach 22 SANLAM PORTRAIT AWARD 2019 Winners Announced 30 SASOL NEW SIGNATURES Winners Announced 36 NINA HOLMES it is not what i see 38 LIMINALITY A Series of Biographic Illustrations 52 KIMATHI MAFAFO Connected by a Thread 62 M.O.L.1 - A BLESSING OF UNICORNS Ashraf Jamal’s Monthly Column 68 BARRY SALZMAN The Other Side Of Christmas 74 ARBOR ONEIRICA A TOTAL ART IMMERSION 80 ART COLLECTION MANAGEMENT The Digital Age 82 INVESTEC CAPE TOWN ART FAIR 2020 Statement from director, Laura Vincenti 90 THE NEW ART HISTORY Value in Black South African Art

SEPTEMBER 2019 COVER Sanlam Portrait Awards 2019, Finalists and Winners

SEPTEMBER 2019 WWW.ARTTIMES.CO.ZA

Kevin Collins, The House in Wollo Safa, Addis Ababa, Oil on Canvas, 160 x 160cm, 2019

Letter from the editor SOUTH AFRICA’S LEADING VISUAL ARTS PUBLICATION

t gives me immense joy to introduce our new art columnist, Ashraf Jamal, who I had the pleasure of seeing in action chairing a panel of howling Art Writers and Journalists at the Turbine Art Fair last month. It was my luck that while over a late morning recession breakfast in Observatory he agreed to write for us. Even over and above his busy schedule, by the second Americano we were negotiating names and angles of the new M.O.L column.

The edition this month is packed with art dynamite, there is just so much going on. Making huge beeps on the SA art radar is FNB ArtJoburg and Latitudes, both happening 300 meters from each other in Sandton, within the same 3 days. I am sure the 2 Fairs will compliment one another and draw in bigger art crowds for the art weekend. So too, is the opening of the Mega Blockbuster show of William Kentridge who takes over the Norval and Zeitz MOCCA Art Foundations in Cape Town. With his creative genius and signature kindly human approach to the world, lucky locals and regular traveling art junkies are in for a huge treat. Another huge treat for the art world is The Sanlam Portrait Awards at Rust en Vrede Gallery, Durbanville, which for me is the Olympic games of Portraiture. Hamlin and Donavan, with the sponsorship of Sanlam put on an incredible show of exceptional quality. Also The Sasol New Signatures Award winners work is on show at the Pretoria Art Museum, sporting in my opinion one of the strongest selections yet. Cecilia Martins van Vuuren’s A presentiment of dried roots are just incredible. Also making waves are Strauss, Aspire, Welz and Kaplan Art Auctioneers who are still setting records and reaching new markets through quality and innovative ways. As patrons invest uncertain local currency for local art it is a huge boost - not so much for the local currency, but trust gained in the real value of good local art! In mentioning local innovation, check out Tamzin Lovell’s sassy Art Fundi Gallery and Collector Software to organise your gallery or collection. It will make your life better and more organised. This pre Spring month is incredible, and despite current local politics and the economy, South African’s, our culture, heritage and future is simply amazing and inspiring. Switch off the media for a day or two and invest some time in yourself with a walkabout, or enjoy the spiritual peace of the galleries, hug an artist and kiss the art that you love. After all, this is it, this is the here and now and it’s amazing. Live life as your best masterpiece every day.

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CONTACT ART TIMES Tel: 021 424 7733 P.O Box 428 Rondebosch 7701 EDITOR Gabriel Clark-Brown editor@arttimes.co.za ON THE KEYS Brendan Body ADVERTISING & MARKETING Eugene Fisher sales@arttimes.co.za SEND AD MATERIAL sales@arttimes.co.za DIGITAL MEDIA & EVENT LISTINGS Jan Croft subs@arttimes.co.za ARTGO CONTENT info@artgo.co.za RIGHTS: THE ART TIMES MAGAZINE RESERVES THE RIGHT TO REJECT ANY MATERIAL THAT COULD BE FOUND OFFENSIVE BY ITS READERS. OPINIONS AND VIEWS EXPRESSED IN THE SA ART TIMES DO NOT NECESSARILY REPRESENT THE OFFICIAL VIEWPOINT OF THE EDITOR, STAFF OR PUBLISHER, WHILE INCLUSION OF ADVERTISING FEATURES DOES NOT IMPLY THE NEWSPAPER’S ENDORSEMENT OF ANY BUSINESS, PRODUCT OR SERVICE. COPYRIGHT OF THE ENCLOSED MATERIAL IN THIS PUBLICATION IS RESERVED.

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Modern & Contemporary African Art New Bond Street, London | 3 October 2019

ENQUIRIES Giles Peppiatt +44 (0) 20 7468 8355 macaa@bonhams.com bonhams.com/macaa

* For details of the charges payable in addition to the final hammer price, please visit bonhams.com/buyersguide

DUMILE FENI-MHLABA (ZWELIDUMILE MXGAZI) (SOUTH AFRICAN, 1942-1991) Head Â£40,000 - 60,000 *

FNB JOBURG ARTFAIR RENAMED FNB ART JOBURG Bonga Sebesho, FNB Head of Sponsorships says, “We are excited to continue our journey of empowering South African artists and those from across our continent. FNB’s 12-year involvement as a sponsor of the exhibition demonstrates our commitment to partner in efforts that will take our artists and the arts to even greater heights. Our continent is home to world-class talent, and there’s no better platform to showcase what our artists, collectors and art lovers.”

he FNB JoburgArtFair has been renamed FNB ART JOBURG after it was officially acquired by its former director Mandla Sibeko, taking over from previous owners Artlogic. With Sibeko taking full ownership, the art exhibition is now 100% black-owned and FNB’s 12-year tenure as a sponsor continues. Sibeko says he’s excited to chart a new chapter in the transformation of the arts in partnerships with FNB, artists, local and international galleries. “The opportunity to host a truly world-class fair comes with a great responsibility to uphold a standard that reflects the quality of our artists. This goal is embodied in a new model focused on strong content and greater collaboration between galleries and all stakeholders in Johannesburg and around the world. This will be reflected in fewer participating exhibitors and an innovative section devoted to new, emerging artists and spaces as well as international galleries and those who are looking to engage with a contemporary African audience.” “This is also an opportunity to return to the drawing board and embrace an entirely new chapter which incorporates a hybrid curatorial and commercial approach. This will include the celebration of Johannesburg and its diversity, recognising its importance as the cultural and economic hub of Southern Africa,” says Sibeko.

FNB ART JOBURG will take place from the 13th to 15th September 2019 at the Sandton Convention Centre. Galleries and artists have expressed their anticipation ahead of the new fair. “This new fair reflects the needs of the marketplace and is coming at the right time. It’s an opportune moment to start something that is more focused, in terms of quality that is brought into the marketplace.” - Monna Mokoena, Gallery MOMO “As an active member of the South African art community it gives me immense pride to work with the next generation to shape a new format of art fair” - Mark Read, Everard Read Gallery “African contemporary art is in the spotlight globally, and it’s critical that content in a fair in Johannesburg is excellent in order to further the work we’re doing to platform our artists and ensure their relevance in art history” - Liza Essers, Goodman Gallery “Artlogic, created the Joburg Art Fair and with the generous sponsorship of FNB has run the FNB Joburg Art Fair for 11 years, making it one of the longest-running annual art events on the continent. It was the first art fair in Africa and the first to focus on work from the continent. I’d like to thank our sponsors, shareholders, buyers, artists and most importantly, galleries for their loyalty and support over the years. Artlogic shareholders are delighted with Mandla stepping up to the role of owner and director and wish him the best of success in the future.” - Ross Douglas

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Zanele Muholi, Faniswa, Seapoint, 2016, Stevenson 58th International Art Exhibition - La BiennaleRuga, di Venezia, MayModel You Live In Interesting - Italo Rondinella Athi-Patra Proposed of Francois FeralTimes. BengaPhoto (1906-1957), 2018, MAX

Above: 16 - 16 Space. Below: MJ Turpin, 2019, NO END Contemporary. Right: Athi-Patra Ruga, Proposed Model of Francois Feral Benga (1906-1957), 2018, WHATIFTHEWORLD

FNB Art Joburg announces two new sections - Gallery Lab and MAX • 18 leading galleries from 5 countries selected • Introducing Gallery Lab as a 600sqm pavilion • Introducing MAX, which transcends the traditional art stand. As part of new and exciting changes and highlights at FNB Art Joburg, the fair announces details of its upcoming show, taking place this September. This year, the first-of-its-kind Gallery Lab will be a 600sqm pavilion where galleries and hybrid spaces from the continent and beyond gather for an annual conference of collaboration, discussions and sharing of best practices. The section is curated by Nicole Siegenthaler (Fair Manager, FNB Art Joburg) and Banele Khoza (Founding Director, BKhz) with nine exhibitors. Gallery Lab will serve as an incubator, a space to develop and nurture emerging galleries and programs as well as a space for exploration; to present and test new artists, ideas and business models relevant to the contemporary African arts landscape.

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Hussein Salim, Untitled (HS 255), 2019, Eclectica Contemporary 16

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Above: Jody Paulsen, Find Your Gaggle, 2019, SMAC Left: Marcellina Akpojotor, Rele Gallery

Invited to participate on a proposal basis, featured artists from nine galleries from five countries include 16/16, Lagos; BKhz, Joburg; Hussein Salim, Eclectica Contemporary, Cape Town; ELA Espaรงo Luanda Arte, Luanda; Modzi Arts, Lusaka; Balekane Legoabe and MJ Turpin, NO END Contemporary Art Space, Joburg; Sejiro Avoseh, Tonia Nneji and Marcellina Akpojotor, Rele Gallery, Lagos; Revolving Arts Incubator, Lagos and Khulekani Msweli, Mbongeni Dlamini, Mesuli Mamba, Tony Marshak, Phindile Mamba, Thabo Lukhele and Sakhile Gumbi, Yebo Contemporary, Swaziland. They will make up an active hub set up for workshops, talks and informal gatherings that focus on specific professional practice topics such as artist relationships, web design, art fair applications and financial management and other wider themes affecting the contemporary African creative economy. Also new to the fair this year is

the MAX section - a first in Africa - which will exclusively be dedicated to showcasing large-scale installations that might typically be challenging to exhibit in a fair setting. Unconfined to booths, Goodman Gallery, Cape Town + Joburg will present a massive painting by Misheck Masamvu; Everard Read, Cape Town + Joburg, will exhibit a showstopping sculpture by Brett Murray; blank projects, Cape Town has commissioned Igshaan Adams to create work on site; SMAC, Joburg will present a new collage by Jody Paulsen; WHATIFTHEWORLD, Cape Town, will exhibit a multimedia sculpture by Athi Patra-Ruga; and Stevenson, Cape Town + Joburg will showcase a large scale photographic print by Zanele Muholi. Galleries in the central section will exhibit in a booth structure and include blank projects; Everard Read, Gallery MOMO, Cape Town + Joburg; Goodman Gallery; Kalashnikovv Gallery, Joburg; SMAC; SMITH, Cape Town; Stevenson; and WHATIFTHEWORLD.

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Loyiso Mkize, Vuka!, 2019, Eclectica Contemporary

Eclectica Contemporary at FNB Art Joburg Following a successful solo exhibition at Eclectica Contemporary earlier this year, an installation and workshops and the Zeitz MOCAA and many high profile international commissions, Loyiso Mkize (South Africa) presents an installation wall at Eclectica Contemporary’s booth for Art Joburg’s Gallery Lab. Accompanying this installation, Hussein Salim (Sudan) and Ibrahim Kharab’s (Egypt) evocative and vibrant paintings will add to the overall exuberance of the booth - bursting with colour, concept and content, from

different reaches of the African continent. The presentation for Art Joburg’s Gallery Lab aims to reflect and extend a strongly afro-centric narrative, that focuses on commonalities of experience, the vast richness of different contexts and the representations necessary by and for people on this continent. Eclectica Contemporary represents a diverse and multidimensional stable of artists, working across media and medium. The team looks forward to engaging with visitors’ interests and stories, alongside the exhibited works.

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Zug Installation - Switzerland

Christopher Moller Gallery 7 Kloofnek Road, Cape Town; www.christophermollerart.co.za; @christophermoller_gallery

SANLAM PORTRAIT AWARD 2019 Winners Announced www.rust-en-vrede.com

he Sanlam Portrait Award, now in its fourth iteration, once again culminates in the highly anticipated Top 40 exhibition – opening at Rusten-Vrede Gallery in Durbanville, and the Portrait 100 exhibition at the AVA gallery in Cape Town respectively on the 23rd and 24th of August. This was the inaugural year of the digital entry process and the panel of judges, already familiar with this process, adapted their approach accordingly. The 2019 adjudicating panel consisted of Dr Charlotte Mullins (UK-based art critic, writer, broadcaster and 2009 BP Portrait Award judge). Dr Elfriede Dreyer (Researcher, writer, academic, curator, visual artist and esteemed lecturer at Unisa) and Pfunzo Sidogi (Art historian, founding member of Ithuteng Art, Chair of the De Arte journal editorial board and lecturer at Tshwane University of Technology). A video conference with the judges was hosted by Sanlam in Cape Town, Johannesburg and London to finalize the digital selection process, leaving a manageable number of works to be delivered to Rust-en-Vrede Gallery, for final on-site adjudication. During the on-site selection round, the judges whittled down the entries to 100 portraits. From these, the Top 40 portraits were selected and the remaining 60 works make up the Portrait 100 exhibition. Each year, 5 portraits are distinguished with special mention. This year the fifth-place honour went to Aimee by Ruan Huisamen, fourth place to Champion by Willem Pretorius, third place to Oliver by André Serfontein and in second place, Dr Charles Niehaus by Annette Pretorius. Ultimately, lucidity and the acute awareness of lighting reigned supreme, resulting in the selection of Craig Cameron-Mackintosh’s Lesala in Silhouette as the 2019 overall winning portrait. Craig Cameron-Mackintosh, an artist, writer and director hailing from White River, and currently residing in Cape Town obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Motion Picture Medium from AFDA in 2009. His background in filmmaking has been fundamental in the production of Billy Monk – Shot in the Dark, a short documentary that he

directed about the legendary and enigmatic South African photographer Billy Monk. Craig is also the custodian of Monk’s photographic archive. Drawing from his knowledge on cinematography, Craig showcased great sensitivity and a remarkable understanding of lighting in the creation of Lesala in Silhouette. Taking visual cues and references from photography, Cameron-Mackintosh reworks the traditional silhouette motif to highlight the importance of light in capturing the beauty of the human form. The figure is backlit, creating an effect almost like a photo negative, distorting some detail in the process and rendering certain features of the subject ambiguous. Lesala in Silhouette also explores contemporary notions of beauty, ‘blackness’ and masculinity. The painting references the modern-day Adonis, gracing the covers of fitness magazines, whilst giving a nod to the art historical tradition of depicting the ideal male figure in Classical Greece. As the beauty industry welcomes an era of inclusivity, men worldwide are redefining the standards of ‘male beauty’. According to writer David Yi, this has resulted in a new generation of men taking a stand against conservative visions of masculinity, ultimately reclaiming control over their own image. Cameron-Mackintosh’s chosen subject represents this new ideal and the strongly silhouetted figure exudes vigour, confidence and yet, an aura of gentleness. Cameron-Mackintosh ultimately succeeded in creating a painting that is not only unique in its technical approach, but presents the embedded narratives in a fresh and inspiring way. Lesala in Silhouette, along with the rest of the Top 40 portraits will be on display at Rust-en-Vrede Gallery from 23 August until 23 October during gallery hours. www.rust-en-vrede.com / 021 976 4691 / rustenvrede@telkomsa.net The Portrait 100 exhibition will be on display at the AVA Gallery from Saturday 24 August until 21 September. www.ava.co.za / Tel: 021 424 7436

Winning Work

Craig Cameron-Mackintosh, Lesala in Silhouette

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2nd Place

Annette Pretorius, Dr Charles Niehaus

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3rd Place

AndrĂŠ Serfontein, Oliver

4th Place

Willem Pretorius, Champion

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5th Place

Ruan Huisamen, Aimee

Sanlam Portrait Awards 2019 Selection from the 100 finalists

Jolante Hesse, Cats

Bettina Elten, Here We Are

Annelie Venter, The Farmerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Wife

Mari+ÂŹ Stander, Vivian Lennert

Christiaan Blaauw, Adriana

Emma de Bruin, I am Individual

Janet Traut, Oupa Jans

Alexander Knox, My Mother

Juria le Roux, Inheritance

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Kim Myerson, Rachel

Malose Pete, Unaware Mimic

Mari+ÂŹ Stander, Rethabile Vongwe, Daughter of Light

Brenda Koper, My Friend Anna Nhlonipho

Kathryn Harmer Fox, The Tattoo Artist

Veronica Reid, Accessorized!

Kerry Arnot, Innocence of a Daughter

Kim Mobey, Nora in Winter

Peter Steere, Jessie

Crossing of Cultivation, 200cm X 100cm, Photography, resin, Found objects, Paint, Layers

SASOL NEW SIGNATURES 2019 Pretoria student wins with oil on canvas work. sasolnewsignatures.co.za

retoria student, Patrick Rulore, 24, currently completing a National Diploma in Fine Arts at the Tshwane University of Technology, has been announced as the winner of the 2019 Sasol New Signatures Art Competition.

Rulore has won the coveted award for his oil on canvas work titled Stage 4 moments. In his artist statement he said, “In the beginning of this year (2019), South Africa had to endure extreme shortages in electricity supply with electricity scheduled in stages. This painting portrays stage 4, signifying that the electricity of a large sector of the community has been cut off”. In his painting, Rulore has captured the typical behaviour of his family during load shedding and the artwork celebrates the fact that all electrical devices are set aside during these blackouts, allowing the family to interact with each other, face to face, to talk, laugh and play games. “This painting does not complain about load shedding, it rather celebrates dark moments given into by these circumstances. As soon as the electricity comes back, we resume our earlier activities in isolation” he added. Rulore’s primary medium is paint and he uses both oils and acrylics. “I am fascinated by the complexity of the human body (male and female) and attempt to discover its magic on the canvas. I always endeavour to capture the emotions and spirit of each individual I paint. To achieve this I manipulate and play with colours, textures, paint and brush marks”. As the winner of Sasol New Signatures, Rulore walks away with a cash prize of R100 000 and the opportunity to have a solo exhibition at the Pretoria Art Museum in 2020. Patrick Rulore, Tshwane, Moments

Nico Athene, Johannesburg, After After Party (Resurrection), DiaMount

Above: Kgodisho Moloto, Polokwane, Disguise mask, Pot scrubs and wire Right: Cecilia Maartens-Van Vuuren, Bloemfontein, A presentiment, Dried roots

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Angelique Patricia Mary Bougaard, University of Johannesburg, Crucified, Mixed media drawing on handmade paper

The runner-up of 2019 is Durban Master’s student Luyanda Zindela, with a pen, ink and graphite work on pine-board titled Phowthah sis’ Mgabadeli. In this work, he explores the limitless possibilities of a medium so readily available that it is often taken for granted. “I have tried to capture the boundless intricacies of black skin using traditional pen and ink drawing techniques like cross-hatching and stippling,” said Zindela. As runner-up, he walks away with R25 000. The 5 Merit Award Winners are: Nico Athene (Johannesburg) After After Party (Resurrection) DiaMount Angelique Patricia Mary Bougaard (University of Johannesburg) Crucified, Mixed media drawing on handmade paper Cecilia Maartens-Van Vuuren (Bloemfontein) A presentiment Dried roots Kgodisho Moloto (Polokwane) Disguise mask Pot scrubs and wire Mlamuli Erik Zulu (Durban) Enlightened Art gathering Mixed media Each Merit Award winner received a R10 000 cash prize.

Acclaimed artist, judge and Sasol New Signatures Chairperson, Professor Pieter Binsbergen, said: “It is interesting to note that in this the 30th year of Sasol sponsoring the longest-standing art competition in South Africa, our winner and runner-up have both been recognised for works created in traditional media – ink and paint. The works have been painstakingly laboured and show immense drive and passion”. “On behalf of Sasol, we congratulate all the 2019 Sasol New Signatures winners. It is also fitting to acknowledge all the emerging artists who have participated in the competition over the past 30 years. The majority of winners and merit award winners have gone on to carve out illustrious careers in the visual arts and have made significant contributions to our country’s artistic heritage. Here’s to the next 30 years of developing our cultural economy,” said Nozipho Mbatha, Sasol Senior Manager: Group Brand Management Jessica Storm Kapp, 2018 Winner will present her solo exhibition entitled Artefacts of Belonging at the Pretoria Art Museum, alongside the 2019 finalists as part of her prize. The exhibition will also feature the 2019 winner, runner-up and five merit award winners as well the 80 finalists, all of whom are included in the highly respected competition catalogue. The exhibition will run until the 29th September 2019.

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Ordinary World This room belongs to an ordinary girl The problems she faces aren’t unique Because every girl has a story like hers And not one of them any less bleak She opens up her phone day after day And expects things to get better She feels unsafe behind the comfort of her room Because of unwanted love letters

OUR STORIES

group exhibtion

The love letters are not like they use to be It must have been some generational switch She remembers the romantic ones she had read Not the ones where they called her a bitch Or where they sent her pictures of their “masculinity” None of which she gave consent Men in this modern day world Think their dicks are some visual present The ego is the most fragile thing in 2019 As rejection is met with violence It doesn’t matter if you scream it from the rooftops Or deny advances with silence She knows the world doesn’t sympathize with girls who are empowered No matter how modest or revealing the outfit Victim blaming is just too common And "she MUST have been asking for it” She hasn’t felt safe in a really long time And it’s set her off into despair When millions of girls told their story of survival The world didn’t act like they cared They ignored thousands of women in her city They ignored when she complained guys were too pushy The world chose to move on even after a president said, “Grab her by the pussy” This room belongs to an ordinary girl Who refuses to lay under the covers She wants to wake up the world with a million voices And hopes there is strength in numbers. - anonymous

+27214224145 | 69 Burg Street,Cape Town info@eclecticacontemporary.co.za | www.eclecticacontemporary.co.za

NINA HOLMES it is not what i see

www.eclecticacontemporary.co.za

the dankness, the brown mustiness deeply integrated into fathomless pits of earth under earth the sharp, excited green of new life, new promises prim and contained each leaf shape. the frilly, delicate ferns lacy tendrils and soft. the albino white patches on trunks of trees blending into sap green, mouldy dark - so unexpected the intricacies of branch crossing branch crossing twig, the whistle quietness and subdued secrecy of winding paths earth under earth Nina Holmes returns to Eclectica Contemporary this August with her second solo exhibition at our gallery titled ‘it is not what i see”. This show was largely informed by a landscape painting workshop in Karatara, near Knysna, that Holmes attended earlier this year. Working instinctively and through a process of reflecting on all her senses, the pieces reflect an urge to make visual what is heard, smelled, touched and emotionally experienced while working in a new and alive environment. On returning to her studio in Cape Town, a process of reflection and translation began. She attempted to recapture and re-experience the forest with the experience of working ‘en plain air’. Holmes filled her studio with the studies she had created and brought back with her. Speaking of her experience of working in Karatara she described the concurrent dualities of nature: “The apparent lazy serenity of blissful farm life, blue skies, distant rumble of the local woodchoppers, snorting of horses, undulating valleys versus the harsh sun beating down on one side of one’s face, unexpected gusts of wind sending materials flying, the swarms of relentless mosquitoes in the forest, stinging rain, the difficulty in lugging one’s own equipment through unwelcoming terrain”.

Colours and textures spread across her canvasses, around the space, and across vision in abstraction that invoke the ambivalence of nature, occupying space, and interacting, within it. Each painting offers abstracted motifs that bounce across and between the works, with clues and hints in the titling that point to inspirations and anecdotes. For this exhibition Holmes has mostly worked large, creating a kind of vast landscape to work on. Inspired by the work of Fabienne Verdier, Holmes painted on loose canvasses taped to the floor, working aerially. She worked quickly, instinctively, mainly painting with acrylic to allow for speed, spontaneity and improvisation. Trying to recapture elements of working outside, using her memory to recall and record: the single tree, the intersection of branches, the shouting of hens. Recurrent motifs, abstracted forms seemed to reappear again and again. “It is not what I see. I have tried to look at each work and really feel what the painting needs and wants as opposed to superimposing any idea of preconceived outcome. I have tried to become comfortable with not knowing.” There is also the implied understanding of the show’s title, that it is not about what the artist sees, but what the viewer sees or experiences. Holmes holds the belief that while some knowledge of the artist’s intentions and methods may allow for greater appreciation of specific work, the viewer may experience something entirely different to the artist’s original ideas and intended outcomes. With a collection of works on canvas and framed works on paper, Holmes returns with a body of work that speaks through her evocative use of colours, illusion and allusion. In our gallery, run by womxn, we are excited and honoured to celebrate the work of incredible womxn artists for the month of August, and are thrilled to present this solo exhibition by Nina Holmes in this context. it is not what i see, (Detail) 2019 Acrylic on canvas 154 x 190 cm

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‘LIMINALITY

A series of biographic illustrations Graham Modern & Contemporary 29 August - 19 October 2019

Liminality refers to the state between conscious (supraliminal) and unconscious (subliminal) which recalls so much of my working process. Dream, thought and ‘real life’ often intersect in my universe. Accused of not being able to focus at school, my world has never been one of dogged focus with a clear outcome in mind. Long term planning is often what I am going to have for dinner. Today, right now, is very exciting for me - the blank canvas is loaded with possibilities every time. My world is a curious duality in which conforming has always been incredibly difficult however I am certainly never to be associated with the celebrated myth of the ‘tortured artist’. I paint what I am, which is a really positive, curious and highly personal (but I hope sufficiently universal for anyone to engage) journey. The small items that are embedded in my mind from years ago are still so vivid and vital although others are faded fragments.

Above: A Steamy Day in a Far Off Place, Oil on Canvas, 100 x 100cm, 2016. Right: The Old Farm at Dargle, Oil on Canvas, 100 x 100cm, 2018

To quote Francis Bacon’s words of “courting accidents”, my application of paint and mark making is often spontaneous and not particularly well planned - the joy of accidents in material and mark making is incredibly exciting for me. I used a rather limited palette of less than 10 colours and would never be able to work without white. White is a crucial colour for me. The glorious pigment of colour comes alive when I add white. My wonderful tutors from Michaelis School of Art in the 70’s - Stanley Pinker, Gavin Young, Cecil Skotnes, Helmut Starcke - all influenced my work and I will be forever grateful for the privilege of having been taught by them. The paintings are so often a series of disassociated elements which weave a story of delight and intrigue. I invite you to dip into the works and see the series of contradictions and juxtaposed fragments of my life, past memories and my sense of being African today. - Kevin Collins

Above: A Close Shave and a Stiff Drink - Robert Hodgins Arrives in South Africa n 1938 from Dulwich, Oil on Canvas, 160 x 160cm (detail). Left: Adventure May Hurt You but Monotony will Kill You, Oil on Canvas, 160 x 160cm, 2019

A River Called Bull, Oil on Canvas, 100 x 100cm, 2016, (Detail)

Studying under Stanley Pinker, Helmut Starcke and Cecil Skotnes at Michaelis, UCT, Kevin spent the late seventies specialising in paint. His mentors shaped Kevin’s use of colour, composition and the manner in which his paint is “laid down”. Oil on canvas offered Kevin’s work an honest sense of effort, colour subtlety and texture not possible in other mediums. Kevin draws inspiration from youthful memories of travel, the novelty and design of everyday items from years gone by. After graduating, Kevin worked in advertising and brand communication, over and above painting, but experienced a very serious health trauma to his eyes, which as a visual artist, without one’s eyes, makes it extremely difficult to paint. However, once he had fully recovered from this life threatening illness, he returned to his first passion, that of being a full time artist, and painted with even greater enthusiasm, vigor and verve as a result of the sight returning to his one eye. By being given a second opportunity to paint, Kevin displayed an even greater appreciation of firstly, the gift of life and secondly, the gift of his sight, he now was more determined than ever to honour his inner being and voice to express himself as an artist and paint for the world to see how he sees (with only one eye) the world with all its beauty, the landscape in its abundance, the characters

and caricatures that populate this landscape, and subtle nuances that exist in everyday life. Upon his return as a full time artist he began painting small works, mostly of animals which formed the basis of his first solo show in 2005 titled ‘The Taxonomy of non-endangered Species’. The show was a hit selling 43 of the 50 works on show. For the past 10 years Stephanie Hoppen, a gallerist in Knightsbridge, London, travelled to South Africa to buy up all of Kevin’s works. On her return to the UK, Kevin’s works resulted in continuous sell out shows. Stephanie now in her 80’s, decided to retire and closed her gallery about 18 months ago. After 10 years of exhibiting exclusively in the UK, we welcome Kevin Collins’ return to South Africa, this will be his first major exhibition to be hosted on South African soil. Kevin’s sophisticated, soothing and ethereal palette is ideal for the South African market. Graham and the gallery team would like to wish Kevin the greatest success for the opening of his exhibition; Liminality: a series of biographical illustrations, opening at Graham Modern & Contemporary on the 29th of August and runs until the 19th of October 2019.

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‘embolden’

kimathi mafafo

‘embolden vi’, embroidered panel

5th september - 2nd november 2019 ebonY/CUrated Cape toWn | 67 loop street, Cape toWn info@ebonYCUrated.Com | WWW.ebonYCUrated.Com

REFLECTING ON AUGUST

THK Gallery, Cape Town 5 September - 25 October 2019 By Sven Christian www.thkgallery.com

urt Vonnegut once wrote that “if you open a window and make love to the world … your story will get pneumonia.” The take-away for me is that the world outside is a very big place — too big, too complex, too much, to absorb. You can’t tell it all. As someone who grew up in Durban’s sticky suburbs, though, it’s not pneumonia but bilharzia that I fear. There’s value in an open window, in the free-flow of air, light, and sound. “In taking to the air”, wrote Ho Rui An, “we are taken out of ourselves, yet at the same time returned … not quite inspired, but ventilated.” One feels this strongly in the work of Jake Michael Singer, whose large steel sculptures— currently on show as part of the group exhibition, Reflecting on August, at THK Gallery, Cape Town—are as impossibly light as they are heavy. Similarly, Fatima Tayob Moosa’s abstract worlds—made through a mixture of acrylic, water, enamel, acetone, turps, glue, canvas, and paper—bleed and congeal in a wash and splatter of blues, blacks, and greys. As metallic as it is atmospheric, her work brings to mind the perforated surface of a calcified coral reef or a landscape laid to waste by fire. “Growth has everything to do with degeneration and regeneration,” she explains. “Forest fires are necessary sometimes … Nature is doing what’s best for itself … We really don’t need to control everything.” Reflected through her process, this sentiment harbours an understanding of the world and the invisible forces that bind us to its surface. Cycles, orbits, and gravitational pulls—the only matter depicted as ‘linear’— fold back in (or out) of themselves, like the inverse of giant thumb prints.

Journeys of the Soul 4, Andrew-Ntshabele, 2019

Above: Consciousness is Omnipresent, Fatima Tayob Moosa, 2018 Right: Comrades!” He cried, Thina Dube, (Courtesy of Guns and Rain)

The gaps between these inscriptions complete the whole, occupying as much space as the contours that attempt to circumscribe them. The fragile compositions of Thina Dube’s monotype prints also play with negative space. In Transition (2018), a figure ghosts through a circular portal, cast in sharp relief against a black backdrop. In its centre, another doorway flaps open to reveal a series of cellular forms that disappear into deep space. At the base of the work, another portal—this time rectangular—reveals the top of an electric pylon against a dark, shimmering night sky. Split by the whiteness of the page, the two vistas are loosely held by a series of entangled threads, as well as an embossed shape—halfrectangle/half-semi-circle—which serves to

bridge, but also untether, the two. The work is uncanny, in a Miró-esque kind of way. Subtle, but loaded. Although linked by a fascination with all things surface, Vusi Beauchamp’s approach is drastically different. Repeated caricatures form a vocabulary of the grotesque, which he calls upon to provoke the constructed world of stereotype, prejudice, and power. Speaking on the use of the venus flytrap as motif, Beauchamp notes: “We easily fall into these hate traps, confusing that with culture.” This might explain the recent move toward more figurative work, an attempt to ground and relate his art to real people in a context in which stereotyping is fast becoming the norm.

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Burning-and-Looting, Themba-Khumalo, 2019

Toni-Ann Ballenden has, in contrast, stepped away from figuration into the world of abstraction. “I find [abstraction] very healing and cathartic. I don’t have to have that stress of working from an image … I can wait for the work to tell me what to do.” Ballenden’s approach is the result of years of hoarding what she calls ‘unresolved work’, which she cuts into strips and reconstitutes into playful artworks like Found Pieces, or the suggestively titled Rooftop View. Mingled amongst (intentionally) illegible bits of writing, these strips become something of an abstracted diary, joint together by the kind of mapping pins one might find on a mood board or in a poorly spotlit forensics office.

Andrew Ntshabele’s work shares something of this quality. Solitary, contemplative figures sit centre stage, each superimposed onto a backdrop of newspaper articles from across the globe. Rather than being carefully selected, the articles mishmash from 9/11 through to a court appeal by five retrenched staff, flattening time and space, which the artist then re-invokes by overlaying maps. Not any old maps, but the intersecting streets of Doornfontein, where August House is located, and where the artist has lived since 2016. Having all spent time there at one point or another, the five-story building connects the hopes, fears, and ambitions of all of the artists on show. In Ntshabele’s rendition, the

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Rooftop View, Toni-Ann Ballenden, 2019, photo Bob-Cnoops

Holy Land, Themba Khumalo, 2016

Dived Murmur, Jake Michael Singer, 2019

road names have been substituted for words like ‘worry’; ‘pride’; ‘responsible’; and ‘wise’. Both figures in the series appear to search for something therein, as if racking their brain for an answer. Perhaps my favourite thing about these works, though, is Ntshabele’s use of light: not the temperate, domestic interiors of Vermeer, but the radiant, contrasting vibrancy of Johannesburg’s inner-city. In the foreground of Themba Khumalo’s Burning and Looting (2019), charcoal flames lick the skeletons of two cars. There is nobody there, bar a distant line of blue and red police lights. Looking at it, I can’t help but think of Laurie Anderson’s Words in Reverse: “The reason you always think there are fires at riots is because that’s the only place at the scene of the riot where there is enough light for the video camera. Actually, maybe this fire is only something happening near the riot … incidental to the riot. Someone’s trash is on

fire or someone is having a barbecue near the riot but not as part of the riot. But that’s why you think there are always fires at riots when sometimes there aren’t any fires at riots, or in any case, not at every riot.” This is certainly not the case here. Nobody torches a car to roast marshmallows on. But it does make me wonder about the spectacle — about why cars get burnt during service delivery strikes; about how the media are drawn to these kinds of images; and about how that might perpetuate violence and misrepresentation, if only for the guarantee of an immediate and willing camera crew. There are many ways to vent. ‘Reflecting on August’ is a show that brings seven artists from August House together under another roof. Held at THK Gallery, Cape Town, the exhibition will run from 5 September - 25 October 2019.

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Reflecting on August 05 September – 25 October 2019 Andrew Orapeleng Ntshabele Fatima Tayob Moosa Jake Michael Singer Themba Khumalo Thina Dube Toni-Ann Ballenden Vusi Beauchamp

THK GALLERY 52 Waterkant Street, Cape Town www.thkgallery.com Image © Vusi Beauchamp

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THE ARTIST CONNECTED BY A THREAD

From a lineage of artists connected by a deep cultural malaise, Kimathi Mafafo chooses otherwise by Anelisa Mangcu

imathi Mafafo was born to a Xhosa Mother who made an income as the local seamstress and a Tshwana Father, Rocky Mafafo, a well-known watercolourist by profession. Her Father often put the needs of the community above his own family and at an early age, Mafafo was exposed to tight-lipped stoicism and the dichotomy of tradition and modernity. When I visited her studio, Kimathi Mafafo, a mother of two, had just returned from collecting her daughter Nompumi from daycare and I am welcomed into the space by this vibrant and commanding 3-year-old. As I began to touch her unfinished artwork, Mafafo politely tells me the needle I was fiddling with was intentionally placed by her 13-year-old daughter Inga. The large abstract pieces that currently hang on the wall of her studio are in preparation for her forthcoming solo exhibition at EBONY/ CURATED. They are noticeably different to her previous work. In those earlier pieces, Mafafoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s meticulous and bold embroidered figurative panels were reflective of her resistance against external control and the historic ceiling placed upon women. In her latest works, large-scale abstract hand-stitched pieces are complex and layered; bold in colour and size, highlighting a more playful side to the artist. These new abstract panels have a kinetic feeling achieved by using different stitches and the repurposing of fabric off-cuts in order to give existing materials meaning. (Detail) Embolden V, Embroidered Panel, 2019, 157cm x 139cm

Above: Embolden VI, Embroidered Panel, 2019, 140cm x 110cm Left: Umtwalo Wami I, Embroidered Panel, 2019, 51cm x 39.5cm

Mafafo’s work confronts the viewer with mankind’s innate connection to respect tradition which contrasts with our desire to evolve whilst evoking feelings of empathy, curiosity, strength, playfulness and sometimes discomfort. “I am telling a story of how I overcame a generational curse of being a voiceless woman, my healing and how liberating it has been for me. I think this is something many women have experienced going into marriage or partnership and having to compromise more than expected. In my new body of work, I do not want to be painted as a victim. It is about choosing myself as a woman before my previous title of being a wife or partner to someone, and my most precious one, a Mother.” – Kimathi Mafafo

Her embroidery has not only opened doors figuratively for new collectors and admirers, but also literally opened her studio doors to lead a group of 15 women in an artistic skills development workshop through The Greatmore Studio Trust. In a world where women are often questioned about their everyday activities, their dreams and their voice, her workshop has become an environment to critically analyse conflicting views that women of colour often face. ‘EMBOLDEN’ A solo exhibition by Kimathi Mafafo at EBONY/ CURATED, 67 Loop Street Cape Town 5th September 2019 to 2nd November 2019 Kimathi Mafafo will be included in ‘Spotlight’ at Latitudes Art Fair in Johannesburg 13th September 2019 to 15th September 2019

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ART IN THE YARD

A Group Exhibition 31/08/2019 - 24/09/2019 www.artintheyard.co.za

Richard Pratt, Indigo, oil on canvas, 80cm x 60cm

eople are basically the same the world over. Everybody wants the same things - to be happy, to be healthy, to be at least reasonably prosperous, and to be secure. They want friends, peace of mind, good family relationships, and hope that tomorrow is going to be even better than today. - Zig Ziglar Everything changes, but certain patterns repeat themselves. When we look back over the last hundred or so years, it is, in the context of humanity’s history, quite astounding how much progress we’ve made as a species, despite the oscillating nature thereof. We’re finally seeing movement towards a place where society is more accepting of people on its fringes, where individuality can be expressed, where otherness does not lead to (at least, in growing geographical locations, official) persecution. Slowly but surely, change is happening. However, although we are slowly moving towards a mindset of valuing our fellow humans and non-human earthlings more, with the rapid progress and Duncan Stewart, The Call, Oil on canvas, framed, 110cm x 110cm

Detail: Dave Robertson, Take off your shoes, Mixed media on canvas, 200cm x 100cm

Vanessa Berlein, All seeing (installation) 3 of 13, Oil on gold leaf, vintage frame. Left: Ley Mboramwe, Pass it on, Acrylic and mixed media, 110cm x 110cm

Vanessa Berlein, The good son, Oil on canvas, 40cm x 60cm

advancement comes more challenges, like the global climate crisis, environmental destruction, disparity and overpopulation. And yet, amidst all of it, people still want and need the same things we did hundreds and perhaps even thousands of years ago. Selfreflection, mindfulness, mental health and the feeling of connectedness to something greater than ourselves are as important as ever to be able to function optimally and live our short little lives to their fullest. A group show for Heritage Month, this exhibition alludes both to presence/living in the moment, and current and contemporary affairs and issues, and how these two facets of the human existence co-exist. Being pertinent to the times and to our continual evolution as a species, an exciting line-up of artists will explore an insightful variety of perspectives on the theme.

Participating artists Ley Mboramwe | Vanessa Berlein | Mandy Herdien | Duncan Stewart | Richard Pratt | Greta McMahon | Simphiwe Mbunyuza | Theko Boshomane | Leila Fanner | Haidee Nel | Dave Robertson Gallery Details Art in the Yard Gallery | The Yard, 38 Huguenot Road, Franschhoek Email art@artintheyard.co.za Phone +27 (0) 21 876 4280 Website www.artintheyard.co.za Contact person: Gita Claassen Opening Saturday 31 August 2019, 14:00 Exhibition runs from 31 August 2019 – 24 September 2019 Winter opening times 9:30 – 17:30, Monday - Sunday

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themelrosegallery.com

TheMelroseGallery

themelrose_gallerysa

M.O.L .1

A BLESSING OF UNICORNS: Looking at art while sick

By Ashraf Jamal

fter a night at the Alexander Theatre on Strand Street in Cape Town, my flu-clogged brain bludgeoned by dialogue penned by a Brit and spat out with a lethal force, I slumped on a brocaded chair in the lounge and ordered two double-whiskeys and another for my companion, a former student of mine who’d spent the past year trying to wrench me out from under a rock. That booze-fuelled night segued into another, this time in my home in Observatory, with me in woolly pyjamas watching two friends beat the mental crap out of each other – their heated focal point the appalling fate of America. Watching Federer v. Nadal sprang to mind, my bruised brain lurching left to right as I polished off the Bells. There’s a moral here, somewhere. While watching back-to-back drama was a good idea, mixing these with booze as I succumbed to a plague with scythe hand was not. So, when it came to boarding a plane to Johannesburg two days later, en route to an exhibition I was co-curating with Maria Fidel Regueros, it was not surprising that I felt terribly sorry for myself. Thankfully the two seats adjacent to mine were unoccupied, allowing me to crumple my carcass into a jagged question mark. Self-inflicted or fated, sickness levels any fantasy we might have of being immune and indestructible. The embodied sense of ourselves as self-possessed sentient beings echoes an age-old Apollonian myth. Sickness blasts wide-open this classical vision, because as we groan in a fever-stricken and drenching sweat, it is the all-too-human Dionysian swamp that consumes us. The vagaries of our bodies – our sickness and health – is therefore also the sum of our understanding of art – Apollo v. Dionysus, Beauty v. the Sublime. Federer v. Nadal. Byron berry, Float, 2019, Giclee on cotton rag, 84x119cm

At the Sandton station – the Gautrain from O.R. Tambo prompting the delusion of racing through sleek Germany – I was picked up by another former student, Byron Berry, notorious for burying his rolls of film in his back-garden in his family home in Fairways, or dunking them in jars of pickles, or nuking them with acid before developing them. Was my own body – my ‘film’ as it were – going through a comparably ruinous rite of passage? Because there was no doubt, as I pathetically handed over my luggage to which I’d clung as though to a colostomy bag, that I was no longer what I’d imagined myself to be. Reason had foundered, and along with it any Apollonian notion of volumetric perfection, depth, and certainty. What gripped me far more was a Dionysian ooze – the awareness that nothing is whole, everything quivers, blurs, and opens itself to an infinity which cannot be tagged. It was this hapless awareness which allowed me to think about sculpture, and what it might mean today. Juddering in the only plastic chair in a bunker at St Johns College, the venue for the show I’d titled ‘Bunka Kulcha’, I watched lithe bodies haul in Jake Singer’s ‘murmurations’, magisterial stainless steel sculptures that twisted and spun into oblivion. The stark contrast between Singer’s flights of fancy and my own state – me in a Puffer like parboiled offal in an off-grid cooker – was achingly apparent. A murmuration describes the swoop and arc of Starlings, the on-rush of a giddily exquisite pattern of movement. It speaks to the ineffable yearnings of a great artist whose reach, at that point, I was woefully unable to match. Which is why, contritely, I turned my gaze to the works by Kobus la Grange. Made from the wooden off-cuts of signage for the food-chain, Spur, these works, however, were in no way compromised by the banality of their origin. Wood, after all, is wood, despite the abuses it may undergo. La Grange’s sculptures – ‘Remnant Girl’ and ‘Remnant Boy’ – chose to edify waste. If Singer’s works are baroque in their twisted yet rectilinear intensity, then La Grange’s figures of a boy and girl evoke a calm inwardness, conditions poised yet restful. Here, in the works of Singer and La Grange, was our Yin and Yang, the point and counterpoint which allowed us to believe in balance in an otherwise indifferent world.

5644

Amber Grace Geldenhuis

Chris Soal

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Kobus le Grange, Remnant Boy, 2019, Jetulong wood, 120x90x80cm

Sven Christian, A Happier Shipwreck, 2019, Inflatable, steel, spraypaint,pool noodles, glitter, plastic balls, oil paint on canvas.

It was then, reflecting on these dualistic yet interdependent states, that I picked up the contented gurgle of two girls in the distance to my right. They were seated cross-legged on the floor assembling hexagonal shapes with spanners. The pieces were the laser cut stainless steel elements which served as the building blocks of AmberJade Geldenhuys’s assemblages. An advocate for DIY, a culture from which South Africans generally shy away – and the reason why IKEA’s flat-pack ethos has never taken root – Geldenhuys, unlike Singer and La Grange, believes in sculpture as a communal activity, as something that can be made, then remade. She is a ‘fixer’, someone who galvanises and empowers – a quality I desperately needed, stranded as I was like a battery discharging in a void. Watching two young girls building worlds from relative scratch proved a greater tonic than watching a mauve Linctagon tablet fizz in a bottle of still water in my one trembling hand as I glugged copious draughts of Prospan cough syrup – having tossed aside the measuring cup – from the other. At that point I concluded that Comte de Caylus, reflecting on sculpture in 1759, was wrong – sculpture was not ‘less visible’ than painting even though it was ‘harder to move’. As to whether it was ‘slower in its operations and less extensive in its compositions’? Whether it was truly more restrictive than painting? Whatever one’s view, I was certain of one thing – sculpture did not ‘cloud an artistic career’. This conclusion was potently reinforced as I looked at two works by Chris Soal, the one balanced against a white flat, the other, evidently heavy, being achingly shifted into place. Both works were 66

inspired by birch, the staple for the production of tooth picks, which is Soal’s core resource and point of inspiration. The free-standing sculpture, titled ‘The embrace across time’, comprised two birch logs, each filed to a fine point the shape and length of a tooth pick, held in their ‘embrace’ by clasps of concrete. Solid yet delicate, this remarkable work affirmed the precariousness of life. Everything it seemed was tenuous and fragile, everything poised at the cusp of a yearning. The other work, entitled ‘Love in a loveless time’, suggested the contrary – the desire for a wholeness forever denied. For here we found matter that churned and writhed and seemed to split apart at every point of convergence. And yet, despite the churn which gave this work its energy, there remained the belief in ‘love’, in connectedness. Soal, it seemed, wanted nothing more than to bring together the opposing and conflicted sides of our being – our desire for a perfected stillness and union and the imperfect fact that we ceaselessly morph. Chastened by this paradox, I finally turned to the sculpture which at that moment summarised my hapless state. Inspired by Gericault’s famous painting, ‘The Raft of the Medusa’, it was a reworking of a ready-made – an inflatable plastic unicorn used to stay afloat in pools. Sven Christian however had blackened this once-spangled toy. In the centre of the tube lay a gaudy painting of Teletubbies. About its circumference lay crumpled black plastic sheeting sprinkled with blue glitter. The effect was phosphorescent yet gloomy, a sensation amplified the more by the fact that, at that point, the work was partially deflated, the unicorn’s head – like my own – forlornly sunk. There was a pathos in this curious sculpture that reminded me of innumerable examples across time of sculptures infused with solemnity and despair. When first exhibited in the early 1800’s, a cynic, appraising Gericault’s beautiful and tragic painting, enquired as to why the artist had not painted ‘a happier shipwreck’. Like most ironic barbs this one was monstrous. But then, in our own depraved and immoral time this cruel barb still possesses its sting, which is why Christian has given us his dark and eerie riposte. As I mused upon this work I was interrupted by the chief art teacher at St John’s College’s Preparatory School, Bridget Shelton, who, following the trajectory of my bowed head, sagely reminded me that the collective noun for unicorns is ‘a blessing’. Jake Singer, Dawn Chorus, 2019, Marine grade stainless steel, 2800x2400x2000mm

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BARRY SALZMAN The Other Side of Christmas Deepest Darkest Gallery 7 November - 28 Dec 2019

ward-winning photographer Barry Salzman reveals The Other Side of Christmas at Deepest Darkest gallery this festive season. Barry Salzman is an award-winning contemporary artist who currently works in photography, video and mixed media and whose projects have been shown widely around the world. His photographic work in particular, began with a fascination for the practice as a teenager, during a time when it served as a way for him to grapple with the racial segregation in Apartheid South Africa. Today, his work continues to explore challenging themes around social, political and economic narratives, often coming down to the core concept of identity. Acutely relevant and brave in its willingness to confront, Salzman’s photography garnered the 2018 International Photographer of the Year Award in the Deeper Perspective category at the International Photography Awards (IPA). Born in Zimbabwe, Salzman’s family relocated to South Africa, but he elected to leave the country in the mid 1980s, and has been based in New York City, USA for the last 30 years. That being so, his experience of the USA has largely been limited to Manhattan, with the artist identifying more as a New Yorker than an American, and a naturalized citizen at that. He struggled to assimilate into American culture, often identifying as “foreign” to his fellow Americans – a tension which bleeds into his work and forms the basis for his exhibition, The Other Side of Christmas. He currently lives between Cape Town and New York. In his artist statement for the show, Salzman writes: “When the time came for me to consider the next phase of my life as an artist, I first set out to understand what other parts of America really looked like. I wanted to see beyond the Third Street and Avenue A, 2014, Archival Giclee Print on Hahnemühle, Photo Rag, 77 x 60.8cm

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flimsy veil of its official image of equality and opportunity, comfort and confidence – ‘the land of the free and the home of the brave’.” To do so, he set out across the Southern USA, documenting his observations through the lens and building a substantial body of work exploring and responding to this stimulus. In The Other Side of Christmas, Salzman mines numerous themes – identity, place, belonging and in large part examines what it means to be an ‘American’. He began working on the resulting documentary series around the time of the 2014 American midterm elections, the precursor to the divisive 2016 Presidential elections and continued through Christmas of that year. Now, in 2019, the series has become even more pointed, not just in the America of the Trump administration, where issues of identity, naturalization, citizenship and belonging are so heightened; but across the socio-political globe, in a world irrevocably affected by mass movements of refugees and asylum seekers. The Other Side of Christmas’s penetrating gaze can indeed be extrapolated outwards. In its stylistic execution, the photographic series draws on the rich tradition of the road trip – that journey of discovery that the open road presents and its capacity to facilitate understanding. Salzman states: “As I traversed the country, it was blatantly apparent that for many Americans, perhaps even the majority, the lives they live have little bearing on the promise of that often romanticised dream held by so many who seek to be ‘American’.” An historic and defining example of the road trip across America as the subject and vehicle of the documentarian is provided by Swiss photographer Robert Frank – specifically, his work in 1955 to 1956. Indeed, Frank inspired subsequent explorations by many other photographers, including Salzman, who duly credits Frank as an influence. Frank’s ambition for “observation and record of what one naturalized American finds to see in the United States...” was instrumental in terms of his memorialization of the everyday: “I speak of the things that are there, anywhere and everywhere - easily found, but not easily selected and interpreted.” The Swimming Pool, 2014, Archival Giclee Print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag, 127cm x 98.4cm

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By The Bayou, 2014, Archival Giclee Print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag, 127 x 98.4cm

The same level of engagement and intense powers of observation are revealed in Salzman’s own ouevre. South African contemporary art commentator Ashraf Jamal describes Salzman’s The Other Side of Christmas as “a sobering reminder that there is no indifferent place” (using the description by poet Rainer Maria Rilke). “No matter how dispassionate or detached our everyday encounters might appear,” Jamal writes in his thoughtful essay on Salzman’s project, “it is within these fleeting moments that our existence assumes its deepest traction. We know ourselves best not through special or extraordinary circumstances, but in-andthrough the indifferent bilge and bric-a-brac which is the binding sump of life.” Jamal’s essay goes on to note the depiction of fleeting moments - everyday objects, the forgotten the discarded, the abstract. This includes the presence of the exhibition’s central theme, Christmas, which is captured most directly in three photographs, where a less-than-festive season is commemorated by randomly placed, dejected-looking Xmas garden decor and an unlit star on a lone lamppost. Apparent too is the lack of physical human presence: “It is the mise-en-scene of everyday life, the structures both man-made and natural which are uppermost in the photographer’s sight-line,” comments Jamal.

In Salzman’s collection of photographs we see too the fingerprints of other artists who have been informed by Frank. These include some of the genre’s luminaries - Garry Winogrand, William Eggleston, Lee Friedlander, Joel Meyerowitz, Stephen Shore, Alec Soth, Todd Hido and South Africa’s David Goldblatt - all of whom Salzman credits with influencing, either directly or indirectly, his own work. The Other Side of Christmas will be showing at Deepest Darkest gallery in Cape Town from 7 November to 28 December 2019. The opening evening on Thursday 7 November 2019 begins at 18h00 and forms part of First Thursdays. All are welcome to attend. For more information please see: www.deepestdarkestart.com For more information on the artist, please see: www.barrysalzman.net ESSENTIAL DETAILS Dates: 07/11/2019 to 28/12/2019 Venue: Deepest Darkest, 20 Dixon Street, De Waterkant, Cape Town Contact: 079 138 4203 or info deepestdarkest.com Opening hours: Monday–Friday from 10h00 to 18h00 and Saturday from 10h00 to 16h00

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THE HELGAARD STEYN AWARDS DIE HELGAARD STEYN-TOEKENNINGS

NOMINATIONS ARE NOW INVITED FOR THE

HELGAARD STEYN AWARD FOR PAINTING IN 2019 THE HELGAARD STEYN TRUST The Helgaard Steyn Trust was established by the estate of Dr J H (Jan) Steyn (1902-1983), an old boy of the former Grey University College (now the UFS), late MP for Potchefstroom and director of companies. The Trust is named after Dr Steyn’s father, past MPC for Bloemfontein and youngest brother of M T Steyn, the last president of the Orange Free State Republic. The current trustees are Me Hanneli Rupert-Koegelenberg, Mr Gerard Rupert, Mr Francois van der Merwe, Mr Johannes van Niekerk and ABSA TRUST LTD.

art prizes in the country (exceeding R400 000.00). The prizes are awarded in a quadrennial cycle, alternating between the disciplines of musical composition, painting, literature and sculpture. The presentation venue alternates between Potchefstroom and Bloemfontein.

The Trust benefits the conservation of agricultural land in the Free State and the promotion of artistic culture in South Africa. Fifty percent of the net annual rental income from the conservation area is dedicated to the Helgaard Steyn Award. The value of the prizes make the Helgaard Steyn Award one of the most substantial

The principals of the universities of North-West and the Free State annually appoint an adjudicator in the relevant discipline. Together they nominate a third adjudicator. Richardt Strydom, independent artist and curator, joins Angela de Jesus of the UFS and Moya Goosen from NWU as adjudicators for the 2019 painting award.

Past recipients of Helgaard Steyn Awards for Painting were Pippa Skotnes (1987), Nel Erasmus (1991), Robert Hodgins (1995), Cyril Coetzee (2003), Bronwen Findlay (2007), Pauline Gutter (2011) and Penny Siopis (2015).

NOMINATIONS FOR 2019 The following stipulations apply for the nomination of candidates for the Helgaard Steyn Award for Painting in 2019: 1. Any artist of South African birth is eligible for the Helgaard Steyn Award. The prize is awarded for any work of art considered, in the opinion of the panel of adjudicators, to be the most meritorious in the discipline, provided that it was produced during the preceding four years and that it remains accessible to the South African public, for example by being included in a public art collection or by being exhibited in a public building or space. 2. The adjudicators interpret the provisions to imply that the merits of the works of art under consideration would include their exemplification of a high level of artistic achievement and innovative leadership maintained by the artist over an extended period of time. 3. The adjudicators have the responsibility of reconciling the original stipulations with an inclusive interpretation of the categories of painting and sculpture, in keeping with current practice in the visual arts. Thus ‘painting’ may include work in series, drawings, tapestries, prints and work on paper.

4. Art museums, galleries and their appointees, curators, art consultants and arts practitioners are invited to nominate artworks by submitting a statement of motivation, a curriculum vitae of the artist and the details of the artwork (including visual documentation) to the panel of adjudicators. 5. Direct nominations or enquiries to the panel of adjudicators at the following address: Angela de Jesus, Johannes Stegmann Art Gallery, University of the Free State, P O Box 339 (12), Bloemfontein, 9300 Tel: (051) 401-2706 Email: helgaardsteynaward2019@gmail.com The deadline for nominations is 30 September 2019. 6. No correspondence on the merits of any specific award will be undertaken on the behalf of the Trust.

ARBOR ONEIRICA

Arbor Oneirica is a joint solo of a ‘Total Art Immersion’ exhibition with David Griessel and Talita Steyn at Art@Africa at the V&A Waterfront’s Clocktower Centre on the 3rd of October” Written by: Nadine Froneman www.artatafrica.art

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The title is old Latin and encapsulates both artistâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s workâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mysticism. Arbor means tree. Additionally forests and plant life have held an integral role with humanity where dendrology has featured in myths dating back civilizations and recurring in various liturgical legends and myths. Contemporary epistemology of trees manifested in Jungian psychoanalytical practice. Furthermore anthropological discourse of trees and their mysticism have been a symbol for wellbeing which is the playground for artists Griessel and Steyn. Oneiric means relating to dreams. Although not physical particles, dreams of parallel universes have had enormous effects on physical realities. Dreams of saints and martyrs have transformed the world positively. Adversely darker dreams of dictators have had negative effects for countless souls. Griessel, a full time artists and book illustrator, draws whimsical looking fantasy scenes. Themes he visualizes are often serious and personal. The travelling nomad, displacement, alienation, destruction and melancholia are recurring themes through metaphors. Arbitrary references from literature from Franz Kafka, Nietzsche, Samuel Taylor Coleridge and T.S Elliot inspire Griessel where prominent and ambiguous narratives influence his drawings. Above: The Red Tree. 2019. Ink and Guache on Paper. 42X29cm. Left: The Seekers. 2016. Mineral Resin & Mixed Media.

Above: Donkey Skin. 2018. Mineral Resin & Mixed Media. Edition 1 of 5. 34X22X19cm. Left: Dream Roots. 2019. Ink on Paper. 29X42cm

Gently Profane. 2019. Mineral Resin & Mixed Media. Edition 2 of 10

Griessel’s art walks the tightrope between playfulness, solemnity and whimsical pensiveness. He uses picture book illustrations as an idiom to express his ideas. Griessel says that “Illustration is not seen as forming part of the ‘Fine Arts’ family, but more as a bastard child spawned in a scandalous union between word and image. ‘His’ pictures are ‘his’ own restless bastard children: They are not completely at home in fine art galleries but also not comfortable enough to be safely encased between the boundaries of book covers”. They are somewhere in their own created abyss . For Griessel trees are a visual presentation of a lifelong obsession. A recurring theme in the body of his work is ‘tree portals’ which act as a gateway into an alternate ‘dreamscape’ that he hopes viewers get lost in. He states that “he has been captivated by the labyrinthine constellations of tree canopies around him since childhood”. His fascination has never led to a scientific study of trees and plant life but rather an aesthetic and spiritual appreciation. As an artist who

works within the realm of the fantastical he has taken imaginary liberties with his depiction of the natural world. Griessel has blurred lines between iconographical South African botanical species like fynbos and aloes with humanity, spirituality and the secret life of trees. Griessel’s art is an act of building a parallel universe one drawing at a time. Talita Steyn is a full time artist who comes from a nursing background. Up until recently her medium of choice has been oil painting. Sculpture is new to her and she wishes to explore this medium in order to access childhood freedom where creation is limitless. Steyn makes art to express things that are hard to put into words and often feels shouldn’t be put into words. She feels the need to capture moments or thoughts that fill her with spontaneous beauty and nostalgia. The need to preserve sacred moments and dreams from being lost and understanding the existential dichotomy of spirituality versus human experience puzzles, mystifies and awes Talita Steyn.

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Feral Angels. 2019. Ink and Guache on Paper. 42X29cm

Animals influence her art as they were a big part of growing up. Animals were more intriguing than people as they represented a type of purity that resonated with her. Monkeys were a frequent sight in her childhood garden in Kwazulu Natal. She was fascinated by their mischievous play and cheeky curiosity. She also saw cats as a companion and type of household essential. Steyn draws influence and inspiration from magical realism, films, popular culture and confronts remnants of vivid childhood memories which she desires to recapture as she gets older. She feels that adults have lost childhood wonder and are blind to beauty which surrounds them by controlling the world with boundaries. Talita’s work explores the consequences of this with sad looking monkeys, as creatures, having experienced a life something other than what was intended. Some monkeys even contemplating over 43 quintillion possibilities of a Rubik’s cube as metaphor for evolving and that we create

our reality. Like the monkeys are a certain metaphor for Steyn, similarly the cats portray a general disregard for rules and expectations. Each of her animals she creates have their own character and uniquely painted remnants which she attempts to preserve. Talita wishes to create a forest of dream and ‘otherly’ dimension where sacredness is held and rites of passage beyond our understanding are undisrupted. Her creatures allow us a glimpse into their world and reflect on various expressions of our human experience. Griessel and Steyn, although not saints or martyrs, are two South African artists creating fantastical worlds in a forest of dream-like narratives which Arbor Oneirica, through the analysis of the words meanings, taps into a life-source of creation, dreams, mysticism, and freedom.

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JHB: 011 206 1500 | fineartjnb@stuttafordvanlines.com CPT: 021 514 8700 | fineartct@stuttafordvanlines.com www.stuttafordvanlines.com

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ART COLLECTION MANAGEMENT IN THE DIGITAL AGE

An interview with Tamzin Lovell, CEO of Artfundi www.artfundi.com

What has precipitated the global rise of art management software systems? Art collecting is undergoing accelerated growth and change, from being just a passionate indulgence of the wealthy few to an accepted investment instrument in a balanced portfolio for a greater number of art lovers. Along with this “broadening” of the art collecting community has come the need for more data, enhanced secuarity and more active management of each work in a collection. This is where digital platforms, especially collection software products have come into their own.

Why has Artfundi created a “Collector” version of its art management software? Most serious art collectors face challenges familiar to professional galleries: how to manage locations, condition and provenance of the artworks under their custodianship. Our experience with corporate institutions, topclass galleries, and important art foundations has demonstrated the value of our Artfundi solution to art world professionals. We felt that collectors would benefit from the same systems and rigour.

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What tangible benefits do these digital systems offer the collector? Good digital technology like Artfundi offers many significant benefits: It automates the drudgery of managing collections, keeping artwork details, images, history and documents in one place. It helps improve the value and the legacy of the works by strategically managing provenance, It saves money by ensuring the accuracy of the worth of the collection which reduces insurance-loading, And it enhances the visceral joy of collecting by allowing collectors to view and share their collections with privacy assured. And finally, a good art management software system keeps a record of the pieces in your collection. Youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d be amazed how much information about individual pieces in a collection is lost, and thus how much value is destroyed, when collectors fail to leave accurate and up-to-date records of their full collection to their loved ones.

What should collectors consider when choosing an art software system? The four key measures are utility, simplicity, support and security: Utility refers to the features and benefits offered: does the system offer what you as a collector need, now and for the future? Simplicity is crucial: the system should be elegant, intuitive, easy-to-learn and simple to use. The back-up service and support should be knowledgeable about the digital technology and the art world, be visible and ideally local and available. As with many digital offerings, if youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re not paying for the product, you ARE the product. So be prepared to pay a reasonable subscription for a product that guarantees your data privacy and security.

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INVESTEC CAPE TOWN ART FAIR 2020

Statement from Investec Cape Town Art Fair director, Laura Vincenti

or four years, I have played a leading role in the organisation of Investec Cape Town Art Fair, the largest contemporary art fair on the African continent, first as Fair Architect and then as Fair Director since 2017. In each edition, we have seen Investec Cape Town Art Fair go from strength to strength, growing in impact, quality and reputation. Offering a more intimate fair which matches global standards, we have attracted a number of high profile international exhibitors who are particularly excited to engage deeply in the local context during the upcoming 2020 edition. This attraction extends to our international collectors.

Each year they are exposed to artistic practices that feel fresh and exciting to an audience coming primarily from Europe and the United States. To give them as much access as possible to the local scene, we create a varied programme of visits to institutions and artists’ studios. This also allows us to strengthen our relationships with the local institutions that make Cape Town’s art scene so stimulating, including Zeitz MOCAA, Norval Foundation, A4 Arts Foundation, Iziko South African National Gallery, AVA Gallery, and Greatmore Studios. In terms of our local galleries, we are very proud to see that the local galleries and the Fair have grown alongside each other. As Investec Cape Town Art Fair has become an internationallyrecognised event, the galleries that have exhibited at the Fair since its inception have sky-rocketed in their global reputations, placing their artists within leading museums and galleries around the world. This pride extends to our exhibiting galleries working outside of South Africa, within the African continent, who have contributed significantly to the representation of ‘contemporary African art’ as a complex, varied, and unique

part of the global scene. We look forward to expanding our representation of the region within the Fair in the coming edition. With the ongoing support of Investec, and their insight into the fast-growing passion for art collecting that exists within their extraordinary client base, Investec Cape Town Art Fair will continue to evolve. In 2020, we look forward to the input of our newly appointed guest curators, Nkule Mabaso and Luigi Fassi in Tomorrows/Today, and Portia Malatjie in SOLO. Returning to the Fair as the curator of Cultural Platforms and the Talks Programme is Tumelo Mosaka (ICTAF Curator from 2017 to 2019). All of our curators have incredibly rich networks of artists, art professionals, and institutions from around the world, as well as a wealth of creativity and curatorial expertise which we believe will help to take the Fair to the next level. We also look forward to planning a programme of public-facing events which will take the Fair out of the convention centre and into the city, with the hope of making art more accessible to a wider audience.

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MODERN & CONTEMPORARY AFRICAN ART 3 October, Bonhams, London www.bonhams.com

e are delighted to share a few of the highlights in the upcoming Modern & Contemporary African Art auction at Bonhams, New Bond Street, on 3 October 2019.

One of the sale’s top lots is an atmospheric oil painting of Venice’s Grand Canal (1945) by the South African grande dame, Irma Stern (estimate £350,000-500,000). Stern was one of the first South African artists to be invited to exhibit at the Venice Biennale, and represented the nation on four occasions over the course of her career. Also on offer is a work by South Africa’s most celebrated contemporary artist, William Kentridge. The charcoal and pastel is a still from Kentridge’s famous film sequence, ‘Felix in Exile’ (estimate £60,000-90,000). The drawing depicts the devastated landscape surrounding Johannesburg – the result of years of mineral mining. Composed just before the first general election in South Africa, the film asks the question whether the new government will be able to heal the social and geographic trauma inflicted by the Apartheid regime. The piece remains as powerful 20 years on, foreshadowing present days concerns about climate change and sustainability. ‘Isililo XX’ is a self-portrait by photographer and visual activist, Zanele Muholi. The title, translated from Xhosa as ‘The Cry’, references the challenges facing black lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and queer people in South Africa. In the photograph, the artist wears a black balaclava that covers her nose and mouth, effectively rendering her mute.

Irma Stern, Grand Canal, Venice – estimate £350,000-500,000

Above: Zanele Muholi, Isililo XX, estimate £3,000-5,000 Belowt: William Kentridge, Felix in Exile – estimate £60,000-90,000 Right: Dumile Feni, Head – estimate £40,000-60,000

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Gerard Sekoto, Portrait of Mary Dikeledi – estimate 70,000-100,000

However, her unwavering gaze meets the viewer’s courageously, defiantly. It is a powerful assertion of identity in the face of external pressures. Other highlights include an impressive bronze head by the South African sculptor, Dumile Feni. The work was acquired by the celebrated American actor, Anthony Quinn, who had become friends with the artist during his self-imposed exile in London. Far from being cowed by his patron’s fame, Dumile responded to Quinn’s commissions with characteristic tongue in cheek, requesting more funds “for inspiration”. The sale will also feature a rare early portrait painted by Gerard Sekoto shortly after moving to Eastwood, Pretoria in 1945. The portrait

most likely depicts Mary Dikeledi, who had married his brother Bernard earlier that year. The sitter appears to be reluctant to meet our gaze – simultaneously shy and stubborn. This is consistent with the artist’s description of his sister-in-law as a “tough character”: “we got on well and…I could moderate her into a mild mood, even of gaiety, whenever she was in a contradictory state”. The few, brief sittings that resulted produced some of the artist’s most intimate and revealing character studies. We are excited to announce that Bonhams will be holding its first Modern & Contemporary African Art online auction in conjunction with the live sale. The online auction will be published on the website on 4 October and finish on 18 October.

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THE NEW ART HISTORY: VALUE IN BLACK SOUTH AFRICAN ART www.aspireart.net

Left: Dumile Feni, Children Under Apartheid. Right: Sydney Kumalo, Mythological Rider, (1970). Opposite page: Gerard Sekoto, Lady in Red

ne of Aspire’s most consistent strategic concerns since it started has been the growth of the South African art market in specific areas. The company has made no secret of developing value in the markets for contemporary South African art, in modern, twentieth century art by black South African artists, and in African art more generally. It’s an ongoing concern in the art auction market in South Africa that values for twentieth century black modernist art have lagged behind the top signatures of white artists from the same time period. The reasons for this are not difficult to ascertain. During the decades of the last century when apartheid held sway, black artists were not only banned from representation by most white-owned galleries in so-called ‘white areas’, but they were also denied access to the networks of

arts education, opportunity and peer groups which white artists took advantage of through universities and gallery networks, and even access to basic materials and spaces which many black artists were denied. Given that values in the auction market are largely, and rightly, set by precedent, the prices set over decades for the major signatures in the modern art market in South Africa have often followed an upward spiral, spurred on by excellent prices achieved in the past setting precedents for ongoing prices. This is very much the case, for example, with the work of Alexis Preller currently. Apart from the fact that the whole market for fine art in South Africa has grown in size and value in recent years, fuelled by the additional competition Aspire has brought to it, a definite uptick in the values attributed

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Peter Clarke, Lazy Day

to black modernist art is becoming evident – testimony to the attention being paid to the segment by the auction house. This is a rare example of the primary and secondary parts of the art market working in concert. Aspire’s commitment to the inherent worth of top-quality work in the segment by the best signatures – Dumile Feni, Gerard Sekoto and George Pemba among them – has been mirrored by strong critical and museum collections coming to the fore recently, such as the Standard Bank show The Black Aesthetic. Aspire’s success in the segment extends to world record prices for Dumile Feni, whose work is growing steadily in influence and value, and whose repatriated drawing Children under apartheid sold for the record of R1,250,480 in 2017; and a world record for respected sculptor Sydney Kumalo, whose work Mythological Rider sold for R1,932,560,

also in 2017. More recent successes include R1,115,240 in 2019 for a remarkable early work by Sekoto, Lady in Red, and a further record for Peter Clarke in 2018, R1,479,400 for Lazy Day. Concludes Aspire’s MD Ruarc Peffers, “We consider the successes we are achieving for the the best quality works by the important black modern signatures to be an essential part of our remit and our business strategy. As interest in South African art by these artists increases elsewhere in Africa and continues to grow in value in the major Western markets, we will continue to support that growth. Already, we are also seeing additional collectors and better prices for contemporary work by black South African artists. We look forward to continued market expansion in this important segment”.

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Ndikhumbule Ngqwinambe, (1977 - ), Walk of Numbers, 2010, oil on canvas.

A Century of South African Art from the Sanlam Art Collection 1918 – 2018 An exhibition of exceptional works from the Sanlam Art Collection tracing South Africa’s transformation in art over a century

Knysna Fine Art Thesen House, 6 Long Street, Knysna Tel: 044 382 5107 / 083 457 2699

13 – 28 September 2019 Viewing Times: Mon - Fri 08:30 – 17:00 Saturdays and most public holidays 08:30 – 13:00

www.sanlam.co.za/about/artcollection

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STRAUSS & CO OCTOBER SALE Features unexpected delights from Stern and Pierneef www.straussart.co.za

Jacob Hendrik Pierneef, Gold & Green, Rooiplaat, N.T., oil on artist’s board, 45,5 by 60,5cm, R 500 000 - 700 000, Property of a Lady

stirring Irma Stern portrait of a Watussi Woman, painted on Stern’s second trip to the Belgian Congo in 1946, leads Strauss & Co’s impressive offering of historical paintings at its forthcoming Spring sale in Cape Town. The painting, which is valued at R9 – 12 million, will go on sale at the Vineyard Hotel, Newlands, on 7 October, along with three portraits by Maggie Laubser and a diverse selection of works by J.H. Pierneef, among them five joyous paintings from a single-owner collection.

The Pierneef offering similarly attest to the power of travel to energise artistic practice. In 1926 Pierneef returned to Pretoria from an extensive European tour with plans to “shock” art connoisseurs with his new style. Part of a consignment of five paintings from the Collection of a Lady, Gold & Green, Rooiplaat, N.T. (estimate R500 000 – 700 000) is a neoimpressionist wonder that depicts the artist’s beloved Rooiplaat with short, wiggly strokes of pure colour, notably mauve, teal, pink and yellow.

Says Bina Genovese, Strauss & Co’s joint managing director: “Irma Stern and J.H. Pierneef are bellwethers of the South African auction market. Since 2009, when we began trading, Strauss & Co has achieved R630 million in sales from just these two artists. This astonishing figure bears testimony to the broad base of collectors who have found deep pleasure in owning works by these important South African moderns.

The consignment also includes two early oils of willow trees, the dominant motif of Pierneef’s early career, as well as the dazzling and self-assured Tall Trees in a Mountain Landscape (R500 000 – 700 000). Painted in 1925, the work dates from Pierneef’s marriage to May Schoep following an unhappy earlier marriage and is a remarkable example from this energized period of renewal.

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Other notable Pierneef lots include the majestic 1943 work Near Thabazimbi, Tvl (estimate R2 – 3 million), which features a mountain landscape dominated in the foreground by geometrically stylised camelthorn trees. The work is an expression of Pierneef at his most iconic. Pierneef’s attentiveness to the flora and geology of South Africa was cultivated during camping trips with his godfather, Anton van Wouw. Produced in 1918, At Pienaars River (Rooiplaat), Transvaal, Bushveld (estimate R700 000 – 1 000 000) records the luxurious simplicity the artists were accustomed to on their artistic expeditions. A contemporary of Stern and Pierneef, Maggie Laubser is represented by two early portraits of female sitters. Painted in 1922, Portrait of a Young Girl (estimate R500 000 – 700 000) reveals Laubser’s technical prowess working in a more academic style, while Weemoed (Melancholy), (estimate R 800 000 – 1 200 000) exhibits a more expressionist approach, notably in her use of colour work. The latter work was acquired in 1931 and has remained in the same private collection ever since. Laubser ranks with Stern, Pierneef, Alexis Preller and William Kentridge in the top five artists sold by Strauss & Co. All five are represented on the October sale. The top Preller lot is Two Urn Heads (estimate R400 000 – 600 000), an undated work that corresponds with works he produced after his return to South Africa in 1943 from Italy where he had been a prisoner of war. An inveterate traveller, in 1948 Preller spent six months on Mahé in the Seychelles. Coral Fish (estimate R180 000 – 240 000) is a small, jewel-like painting recalling this important sojourn. William Kentridge is South Africa’s most acclaimed living artist. Currently the subject of two concurrent survey exhibitions in Cape Town, at Zeitz MOCAA and Norval Foundation, Strauss & Co is pleased to offer The Artist’s Garden (estimate R700 000 – 900 000), a charcoal drawing by the contemporary master. Other contemporary artists featured in this sale include Wim Botha, Georgina Gratrix, Esther Mahlangu, Walter Meyer, Sam Nhlengethwa and Lionel Smit. Painted in 2011, Gratrix’s Hässlichen Frau (estimate R100 000 – 150 000) is a portrait of the artist’s late grandmother and claims an impressive exhibition history. Meyer’s Neo-expressionist Composition (estimate R250 000 – 350 000) dates from 1988 and records his enthusiastic embrace of German-influenced neo-expressionism.

Irma Stern, A Watussi Woman, oil on canvas, in the original Zanzibar frame, 81,5 by 60 by 5cm, R 9 000 000 - 12 000 000

The premier evening session will commence with the sale of five works from the estate of Namibian art collectors, Peter and Regina Strack. The offering includes two oils from 1944 by celebrated landscape painter Adolph Jentsch, Sunset Landscape with Trees and Namibian Landscape (each valued at R500 000 – 700 000), as well as works by Fritz Krampe. “German-born Peter Strack immigrated to Namibia in 1950 and began honing his skills as an artist and collector under the tutelage of Adolph Jentsch,” says Bina Genovese. “His impeccable taste is recognised by collectors. In October 2018, at a Strauss & Co sale, we sold all 20 lots from the Strack Collection and established a new world record price for Fritz Krampe.” Other prominent historical artists to come under the hammer include Walter Battiss, Peter Clarke, Robert Hodgins, Wolf Kibel, Sydney Kumalo, Judith Mason, Gerard Sekoto and Maurice van Essche. Kumalo’s bronze figure, Matriarch (estimate R500 000 – 700 000), was cast at the Vignali Foundry in Pretoria in 1984 and is part of an edition of five works. Mason’s arresting oil, Roar (R200 000 – 300 000), depicts a lion’s rearing head, multiplied in an arched motion. Battiss aficionados may want to investigate Kevin Atkinson’s enigmatic abstract painting Waves and Squares (estimate R120 000 – 160 000), which was originally owned by King Ferd of Fook Island.

Since 2016, Strauss & Co has every year collaborated with the Association of Visual Arts (AVA) on a limited-edition portfolio of prints. The 2019 portfolio, A Cut Above (estimate R30 000 – 50 000), features lino prints by seven artists, notably Mmakgabo Helen Sebidi, Claudette Schreuders and Khehla Chepape Makgato. Proceeds from the sale of this lot will benefit the AVA ArtReach fund. The October sale includes a lot by abstract painter Marlene von Dürckheim that will directly benefit the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra (CPO). Active since 1914, the CPO has in recent years illustrated its printed concert programmes, concert cards and newsletters with works by Von Dürckheim, Nel Erasmus and Jean Welz. Strauss & Co will waive its fees for the sale of the Von Dürckheim lot. A global leader for South African art, in March 2019 Strauss & Co became the first South African auction house to achieve over R100 million in sales at a single auction. Three important works by Irma Stern formed part of the offering at this sale. Stern’s highly important A Watussi Woman will no doubt attract great attention when it goes under the hammer on 7 October in Cape Town. Strauss & Co will also be hosting an extensive programme of public talks and social events in the lead-up to the sale.

Above: Maggie Laubser, Portrait of a Young Girl, oil on canvas laid down board 34 by 30,5cm, R 500 000 700 000. Right: William Kentridge, The Artist’s Garden, charcoal on paper, 57 by 76cm, R 700 000 - 900 000

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THE MELROSE GALLERY PRESENTS: The Largest Annual Sculpture Fair in South Africa

Above: Grace Da Costa. Right: David Brits. Red Edge (Ouroboros 1. 3 ) 2019. GRP, Hagar. 98,9cm x 69,4cm x 65,1cm. 1

he Melrose Gallery is proud to announce that the third instalment of SculptX, the largest annual sculpture fair in South Africa, will run from 30 August to 29 September at Melrose Arch. Over 200 artworks created by more than 90 established and emerging sculptors will be showcased in numerous indoor and outdoor spaces throughout the Melrose Arch Precinct. These include The Melrose Gallery, the 8Â 000 sqm Daytona showroom, Stanlib, the African Pride Hotel, Letsema Holdings, One On Whiteley, the Galleria and other public spaces. SculptX was formed by The Melrose Gallery, in association with Melrose Arch to provide a valuable platform to promote sculpture and sculptors to those who live, work and play in the precinct, as well as art collectors and

enthusiasts in general. Sculpture has seen a strong increase in demand over the last 5 years leading to the establishment of many new foundries. But we have traditionally witnessed underrepresentation of sculpture created by female artists and those from the previously disadvantaged communities which we hope to positively impact on. SculptX provides emerging sculptors with the opportunity to exhibit alongside some of our most established artists, which is often not the case. Participating artists include such notables as Noria Mabasa, Willie Bester, Pitika Ntuli, Vusi Khumalo, Wilma Cruise, Gordon Froud, Adejoke Tugbiyele and Strijdom van der Merwe amongst numerous others.

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Self, Cobus Haupt, Bronze, Varied Dimensions, 2014

Megan Theunissen and Ruzy Rusike, the curators, have considered more than 350 works in order to select over 200 sculptures for showcase this year. These come from different cities throughout South Africa and include numerous mediums ranging from bronze, steel, found objects and stone to wood, crystal, glass, grass, fibre glass, carbon fibre and even virtual reality. “This fair is quite an assault on the senses, but in an extremely stimulating and positive way. To see so many sculptures in one area representing so many different media and styles is very rare and has proven extremely popular, consistently attracting a large crowd of artists, art collectors, art enthusiasts and media alike”, Craig Mark – The Melrose Gallery director. The Fair is accompanied by the ‘Sculpture Dialogues’ which consist of a panel discussion involving experts who will discuss issues of pertinence to sculpture in Africa. We have put much effort into sourcing female and young

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artists from the previously disadvantaged communities to give them the benefit of this valuable platform as they are often over looked and under-represented in this genre. Education also plays an integral role in SculptX, both for emerging sculptors who have the opportunity to hone their practice and to learn from so many different mediums and styles, and the public by making sculpture more accessible. SculptX is a testament to the increasing number of talented sculptors who are working with a diversity of materials, new mechanisms and technologies that are testing their production and creativity, the growing demand for sculpture from local and international collectors seeking powerful Pan-African narratives and a desire to encourage the continued growth of the genre within South Africa and the African continent at large”, say curators Megan Theunissen and Ruzy Rusike.

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STEPHAN WELZ & CO

Dear Collector www.swelco.co.za

Walter Whall Battiss, (South African 1906 - 1982), Fruit And Flower Sellers, Grande Comoro, R 600 000 - R 900 000

orking in the auction world offers many rare pleasures and privileges, none more so than encountering objects and artworks that one has only ever seen in books, or never thought to come across. We are very proud to have been able to offer these hidden treasures to our collectors. Leading these works is Anton van Wouw’s earliest known sculpture in South Africa: De Vogelaar. This work is one of six thought to exist, and it is extremely rare for this work to appear on auction. As an early example of the artist’s nascent abilities this work provides us view of van Wouw’s early artistic footsteps in Holland as he grew in confidence and abilities. Alongside this sculpture is Maggie Laubser’s Still Life with Poinsettias (with its recto Study

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for a Still Life with Tulips). Presented as a wedding gift by the artist soon after her final return from Europe this rich still life work has remained in a private collection since 1933. Walter Battiss’s Fruit and Flower Sellers, Grande Comoro, is another case of a luminous work that has remained cherished, but out of sight, for decades. This work showcases many elements of Battiss’s work in its prime – the layering of rich colours with a palette knife, the ‘etched’ sgraffito, the African locale recorded and reimagined through the artist’s inimitable vision. Esias Bosch’s large shimmering wall tile highlights our Decorative Arts department. Created with ceramic stains mixed with china clay and various frits under a clear glaze, the tile was fired multiple times in a kiln custom-

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Maggie (Maria Magdalena) Laubser, (South African 1886 - 1973), Still Life With Poinsettias (Recto); Study For Still Life With Tulips (verso), R 300 000 - R 500 000

Left: A Gentleman’s Stainless Steel Wristwatch, Rolex Submariner, R 80 000 - R 100 000. Centre: A Ward’s Improved Recumbent Chair, London 1880-1900, R 15 000 - R 20 000. Right: Anton van Wouw, (South African 1862 - 1945), De Vogelaar, R 800 000 - R 1 200 000

Esias Bosch (South African 1923-2010): A Painted And Glazed Ceramic Tile, Depicting a stream flowing through reeds and flowers, R 500 000 - R 700 000

made by the artist to handle the scale of works that he was creating. It is a spectacular example of the artist’s large-scale works. Between 1880 and 1900 John Ward manufactured his Improved Recumbent Chair in Tottenham Court Road, London. We are proud to have handled such a unique object in our Furniture department. Ward had previously exhibited his original Recumbent Chair at the Great Exhibition of 1851, and over the years refined his design into this current model. With its movable arms, leg-rests and recumbent back, the chair – which could be converted into a day bed – was hailed as an ingenious object for recovering patients, invalids and the frail. Very few remain in existence. Accompanying an appealing range of elegant tennis bracelets we are delighted to have offered a highly sought-after Rolex Submariner. With a waiting list that runs into years for new models, and the rarity of vintage models on the secondary market, this is sure to pique the interest of any discerning watch collector.

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With the above in mind, we are actively consigning for our November, February and March auctions across all three of our branches (Pretoria, Johannesburg and Cape Town). Our specialists are happy to examine and supply you with an obligation-free evaluation. We aim to make the consignment process as efficient as possible: send us an image or enquiry via our WhatsApp line, email channels or via our app, available from Google Playstore and the Apple Store. We are looking forward to the end-of-year bustle, and bringing to light more desirable and exciting rarities for our collectors. For any further information, please do not hesitate to contact any one of our offices: Johannesburg: 011 880 3125 | info@swelco.co.za Pretoria: 012 010 0121 | pta@swelco.co.za Cape Town: 021 794 6461 | ct@swelco.co.za

Please visit www.swelco.co.za to view the results from our Johannesburg August auction.

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2/' -2+$11(6%85* :$5(+286(

͖͝ ǡ ǡ Ǥ ̷ Ǥ ǣ ͔͕͕ ͚͗͜ ͕͚͙͔

Business Art News

NB @ OJW 2019

www.oldjwauctioneers.com

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ith this year two thirds of the way down already, and the rest speeding along swiftly, it is well worth taking note of all the important dates coming up at OLD JOHANNESBURG WAREHOUSE AUCTIONEERS before we are greeted by the December holidays and wish each other a ‘Happy New Year!’ As a practice an auction a month is the rule of thumb, but we have started running out of weekends! Here are our last auctions of the year so that you do not miss out: 23, 24 & 25 August – Art and Antiques Vintage Car Auction: In house Apart from amazing art, antiques and jewellery, Friday of this sale is dedicated to 300 lots of fine wines and spirits, corkscrews and related items. Also under the hammer, one of the largest taxidermy collections in the country. And to top it off, amazing automobilia, classic cars and enamel signs. 7 & 8 September – Boer War and Militaria Auction: In house This niche auction of close on a thousand lots is probably the largest of its kind. Included: POW, Anglo Boer War, guns, bayonets, knives, medals, statues, original art pieces, crockery and ceramics, Paul Kruger items etc. 27-29 September – Art & Antiques Auction: In house An auction starting off with a clearance Friday session to get the warehouse uncluttered! Thereafter the usual suspects of antiques, collectables, silver, jewellery, art etc. to give auction goers an exhilarating experience. A large collection of antique fishing reels and rods and the Music rights to one of South Africa’s biggest black female singers from the 90s will be up for grabs… Lot 771 - Ephrain Ngatani, Bicycles, signed, dated 67, oil on board, 61cm x 90cm. Auction estimate: R180 000 to R240 000

Lot 764 - Rare Oriental hardwood writing desk ornately carved with dragons, birds, turtles and foliage, circa 1890, 121cm x 73cm x 152cm and matching chair. Auction estimate: R15 000 to R20 000

Lot J190 - Certified, 1,01ct cushion modified brilliant cut diamond, colour D, clarity Internally Flawless - GIA cert. - Valuation cert. R455 220,00. Auction estimate: R180 000 to R200 000

5 & 6 October – Cars & Automobilia – On site: Benoni

8, 9 & 10 November - Art & Antiques: In house

A privately owned, self-set-up collection of classic cars, automobilia, enamel signs, petrol pumps, tools, oil cans, model cars and toys and everything else car related all going under the hammer. 19 October- Books – On site: Johannesburg A bookshop that has been an establishment for over 30 years is shutting down and the collection built up over years will be sold. Many rare and treasured books that are not often seen is included in this sale. 25, 26 & 27 October- Art & Antiques Action: In house Our usual house sale, with 1500 items of interest to collectors and dealers alike… 30 October – The Art Auction: On site, Alliance Francaise This small scale art auction will be held with a Charity aspect to raise funds through arts to teach kids to be valued citizens.

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Friday of this auction is dedicated to antique tools – a large scale privately owned tool collection will be up for grabs with some tools so scarce they only come up globally for auction once in a blue moon! 29, 30 November & 1 December – Art & Antiques Three day Extravaganza: In house Here, the best is kept till last – the biggest auction of the year and last chance to buy for 2019, is topped off by a fine wine and spirits session, as well as a classic cars, motorbikes and automobile selection. Keep checking our website www.oldjwauctioneers.com for online catalogues for all of the above sales (released timeously in coherence with the sales). Alternatively, 011 836 1650 to find out about consigning your goods to auction or buying from our exciting line-up.

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Deep in the Quiet Angela Banks Everard Read Gallery

Izixazululo (Solutions) Sibusiso Duma EBONY/CURATED

Metamorphosis – the universal human Zié Jean-Laurent Koné ODA Gallery

25 to 27 October 2019 As with fine food and world-class wines, so too fine art needs to be experienced to be appreciated. Visitors to Franschhoek can once again look forward to a weekend of artworks and exhibitions, as the 4th annual Art Franschhoek ‘opens its doors’ to the public over the weekend of 25 to 27 October.

This weekend of art appreciation affords visitors the opportunity to leisurely browse the galleries situated along Franschhoek’s main road, or alternatively view the artworks on display at some of the participating wine farms.

Land Rewoven / Land Herweef MJ Lourens Pierneef Art Gallery, La Motte

A first for Art Franschhoek this year will be the unique exhibition entitled ‘Masterpieces from Franschhoek Private Collections’, which will be on display at EBONY/CURATED’s Bordeaux House Gallery during this time. This exhibition will showcase some of the exquisite artworks on loan from private owners in Franschhoek.

For more information contact Franschhoek Wine Valley at 021 876 2861| info@franschhoek.org.za

www.franschhoekart.co.za

EXHIBITIONS & GALLERY GUIDE: SEPT 2019 Ongoing Shows: September 2019 Opening Exhibitions: Sept - Dec 2019 Duncan Stewart, Sheep Dreams

GALLERY MOMO RAÃ&#x2030;L JERO SALLEY WAR OF THE ROSES UNTIL 14/09/2019

STANDARD BANK GALLERY THIS SONG IS FOR... GABRIELLE GOLIATH UNTIL 14/09/2019

WWW.GALLERYMOMO.COM UNTIL 14/09/2019

UNTIL 14/09/2019

GALLERY MOMO ADOLF TEGA AFRICA WITHOUT BORDERS UNTIL 14/09/2019

ABSA ART GALLERY TRIPE LIBERTY BATTSON, ELRIE JOUBERT AND PAULINE GUTTER UNTIL 15/09/2019

OLIEWENHUIS ART MUSEUM

UNTIL 15/09/2019

UNTIL 16/09/2019

WWW.GALLERYMOMO.COM UNTIL 14/09/2019

SALON NINETY ONE MANGO FARM ZARAH CASSIM UNTIL 21/09/2019

THE CLOWN, THE HORSE AND THE HOUND: A SELECTION OF WORKS BY FEMALE SURREALIST KARIN JAROSZYNSKA UNTIL 16/09/2019

WWW.NASMUS.CO.ZA

UCT MICHAELIS GALLERIES SPECULATIVE INQUIRY #1 (ON ABSTRACTION) 08/08/2019 UNTIL 24/09/2019

WWW.SALON91.CO.ZA UNTIL 21/09/2019

UNTIL 24/09/2019

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UNTIL 24/09/2019

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ONGOING SHOWS: SEPTEMBER 2019

ASSOCIATION OF ARTS PRETORIA SASOL NEW SIGNATURES WINNER 2018 JESSICA KAPP SOLO EXHIBITION ARTEFACTS OF BELONGING UNTIL 29/09/2019

SCULPTX 2019 THE LARGEST ANNUAL SCULPTURE FAIR IN SA 90 ARTISTS AND OVER 200 SCULPTURES UNTIL 29/09/2019 WWW.THEMELROSEGALLERY.COM

WWW.RKCONTEMPORARY.COM

UNTIL 29/09/2019

Christopher Moller Gallery

ECLECTICA CONTEMPORARY IT IS NOT WHAT I SEE: NINA HOLMES UNTIL 30/09/2019

www.christophermollerart.co.za @christophermoller_gallery

WWW.ECLECTICACONTEMPORARY.CO.ZA

UNTIL 30/09/2019

ECLECTICA COLLECTION OUR STORIES: GROUP EXHIBITION UNTIL 30/10/2019

ECLECTICA PRINT GALLERY FUNDEMENTALIST RATIONALISM: GROUP EXHIBITION UNTIL 30/09/2019

WWW.ECLECTICACONTEMPORARY.CO.ZA

UNTIL 30/10/2019

UNTIL 30/09/2019

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RK CONTEMPORARY ‘WORKS ON PAPER 50X70CM’ UNTIL 29/09/2019

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UNTIL 30/09/2019

Eben

Barney Bernardo

Eben

Barney Bernardo

David Griessel

Kara Schoeman Kara Schoeman

Henning Ludeke Henning Ludeke

Gregg Price

Ndabuko Ntuli

Gregg Price

Kobus Walker Kobus Walker

www.artatafrica.art

www.artatafrica.art dirk@artatafrica.art dirk@artatafrica.art +27 82 774 1078 +27 82 774 1078 V&A Waterfront, Cape Town Clocktower, Clocktower, V&A Waterfront, Cape Town

Ndabuko Ntuli

Lauren Redman Redman Lauren

Maureen Quin Maureen Quin

Talita Steyn Talita Steyn

ONGOING SHOWS: SEPTEMBER 2019

OLIEWENHUIS ART MUSEUM 31ST ANNUAL SOPHIA GRAY MEMORIAL EXHIBITION: IN[DE] FINITE BY JON JACOBSON UNTIL 06/10/2019 WWW.NASMUS.CO.ZA UNTIL 04/10/2019

UNTIL 05/10/2019

UNTIL 06/10/2019

GRAHAMS FINE ART GALLERY LIMINALTITY KEVIN COLLINS UNTIL 19/10/2019

RUST-EN-VREDE GALLERY SANLAM PORTRAIT AWARD FINALIST EXHIBITION UNTIL 23/10/2019

PALETTE FINE ART GALLERY OPEN AT CAPE QUARTER SQUARE UNTIL 01/12/2019

WWW.GRAHAMSGALLERY.CO.ZA

WWW.RUST-EN-VREDE.COM

WWW.PALETTESCULPTUREGALLERY.CO.ZA

UNTIL 19/10/2019

UNTIL 23/10/2019

UNTIL 01/12/2019

DEEPEST DARKEST GALLERY THE OTHER SIDE OF CHRISTMAS BARY SALZMAN 07/11/2019 UNTIL 28/12/2019

LAND REWOVEN / LAND HERWEEF MJ LOURENS IN CONVERSATION JH PIERNEEF 09/08/2019 UNTIL 12/01/2020

WWW.DEEPESTDARKESTART.COM

WWW.LA-MOTTE.COM

RUPERT MUSEUM FACES AND FIGURES SELECTED 20TH CENTURY SOUTH AFRICAN ARTISTS UNTIL 12/04/2020 WWW.RUPERTMUSEUM.ORG

UNTIL 28/12/2019

UNTIL 12/01/2020

UNTIL 12/04/2020

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5 th Avenue Fine Art Auctioneers J. H. Pierneef, Oil on Canvas Die Wynkelder, Lanzerac, 174 x 158cm Estimate: R 2 500 000 - R 3 500 000 On auction 20th October 2019

Entries are now invited for this auction.

www.5thaveauctions.co.za

Enquiries: stuart@5aa.co.za ~ 011 781 2040

THE AMPERSAND FOUNDATION

21 YEAR CELEBRATION EXHIBITION WALKABOUTS

22 & 29 SEPT :: 11:30 25 SEPT :: 13:00

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GALLERY HOURS M O N D AY – F R I D AY 09:00 – 16:00 CLOSED ON WEEKENDS + P U B L I C H O L I D AY S

EXHIBITION RUNS FROM 11 SEPT - 9 OCT 2019

K I N G S WAY C A M P U S CNR UNIVERSIT Y ROAD + K I N G S WAY AV E N U E AU C K L A N D PA R K

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OPENING EXHIBITIONS SEPTEMBER 2019 WEEKS 1-4 Artwork: Fiona Goldthorpe, Farai, (Sanlam Portrait Awards)

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ART@AFRICA MAUREEN QUIN 01/09/2019 UNTIL 31/12/2019

RED! THE GALLERY

SHOWCASES THE BEST IN CONTEMPORARY & EMERGING ART. STEENBERG VILLAGE & BREE STREET 01/09/2019 UNTIL 30/09/2019

WWW.ARTATAFRICA.ART 01/09/2019 UNTIL 31/12/2019 WEEK 1 SEPTEMBER

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05/09/2019 UNTIL 02/11/2019 WEEK 1 SEPTEMBER

01/09/2019 UNTIL 30/09/2019 WEEK 1 SEPTEMBER

ART@AFRICA ARBOR ONEIRICA 03/10/2019 UNTIL 05/11/2019

SMITH FURTHER PROTOTYPES BY DALE LAWRENCE 04/09/02019 UNTIL 12/10/2019

ART@AFRICA BLUE DOT 05/09/2019 UNTIL 02/10/2019

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03/10/2019 UNTIL 05/11/2019 WEEK 1 SEPTEMBER

04/09/02019 UNTIL 12/10/2019 WEEK 1 SEPTEMBER

05/09/2019 UNTIL 02/10/2019 WEEK 1 SEPTEMBER

EVERARD READ CAPE TOWN RECENT WORKS BY WILLIAM PEERS 05/09/2019 UNTIL 28/09/2019 WWW.EVERARD-READ-CAPETOWN.CO.ZA

UNTIL 31/10/2019 WEEK 1 SEPTEMBER 118

05/09/2019 UNTIL 02/11/2019 WEEK 1 SEPTEMBER W W W. A R T G O . C O . Z A

05/09/2019 UNTIL 28/09/2019 WEEK 1 SEPTEMBER

WWW.ARTGO.CO.ZA OPENING EXHIBITIONS: SEPTEMBER 2019 WEEKS 1-4

GROUND ART CAFFE THE LIGHTNESS AND DARKNESS OF BEING DANIELLE ROVETTI 05/09/2019 UNTIL 01/10/2019 WWW.GROUNDARTCAFFE.CO.ZA 05/09/2019 UNTIL 01/10/2019 WEEK 1 SEPTEMBER

THE CAPE GALLERY HARVEY ROTHSCHILD & IAN HERTSLET 05/09/2019 UNTIL 27/09/2019

THK GALLERY REFLECTING ON AUGUST 05/09/2019 UNTIL 25/10/2019

WWW.CAPEGALLERY.CO.ZA

WWW.THKGALLERY.COM

05/09/2019 UNTIL 27/09/2019 WEEK 1 SEPTEMBER

STEVENSON JHB 07/09/2019 UNTIL 25/10/2019 MELEKO MOKGOSI OBJECTS OF DESIRE, ADDENDUM WWW.STEVENSON.INFO 07/09/2019 UNTIL 30/09/2019 WEEK 1 SEPTEMBER

07/09/2019 UNTIL 25/10/2019 WEEK 1 SEPTEMBER

05/09/2019 UNTIL 25/10/2019 WEEK 1 SEPTEMBER

THOMARTS GALLERY THE MARC SANDTON NKOSINATHI THOMAS NGULUBE AND MARCELINO MANHULA 11/09/2019 UNTIL 29/09/21019 WWW.THOMARTSGALLERY.COM 11/09/2019 UNTIL 29/09/21019 WEEK 2 SEPTEMBER

UCT IRMA STERN MUSEUM “BETWEEN” AN EXHIBITION OF CERAMICS AND PAINTINGS BY KATHERINE GLENDAY. 21/09/2019 UNTIL 05/10/2019 WWW.KATHERINEGLENDAY.COM 13/09/2019 UNTIL 15/09/2019 WEEK 2 SEPTEMBER 120

21/09/2019 UNTIL 20/10/2019 WEEK 3 SEPTEMBER W W W. A R T G O . C O . Z A

21/09/2019 UNTIL 05/10/2019 WEEK 2 SEPTEMBER

WWW.ARTGO.CO.ZA OPENING EXHIBITIONS: SEPTEMBER 2019 WEEKS 1-4

SALON NINETY ONE ENTROPY | A GROUP EXHIBITION 28/09/19 UNTIL 26/10/19 WWW.SALON91.CO.ZA UNTIL 21/09/2019 WEEK 3 JUNE

31/08/2019 UNTIL 14/09/2019 WEEK 4 JUNE

28/09/19 UNTIL 26/10/19 WEEK 4 JUNE

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JULY/AUG 2019 WWW.ARTTIMES.CO.ZA

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ONLINE

EXCLUSIVE

David Madlabane - Cold Sites - 2019 (detail)

LIMITED EDITIONS AVAILABLE ON OUR ONLINE SHOP

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Left to Right > Harvey Rothschild, Ian Hertslet

THE CAPE 60 Church Street, GALLERY Cape Town,

021 423 5309, web@capegallery.co.za Saturday 10am - 2pm, weekdays 9.30am - 5pm

HARVEY ROTHSCHILD & IAN HERTSLET ON VIEW SEPT 5 - OCT 30

ENTER THE NEW BLOOD MONTHLY AWARD TODAY www.arttimes.co.za/newblood

New Blood Art NPC is a valuable platform for SA Schools Art Departments to share artworks by Grade 10-12 learners â&#x20AC;&#x201C; to learn about issues that are important amoungst the youth and for enjoying growing trends and influences by the next generation of SA Artists. By participating in New Blood Art your work will be seen by the SA arts community and art lovers from around the world that read the Art Times, publishers of New Blood Art. Hosting The NBA Award is a great honour for us, but the most important is that you participate, we want to hear your voice and reflection here. How to send your art work Email: art@newbloodart.info with 1-3 images a month, include your Name, Age, Grade and School Terms and Conditions (1) Learners can submit up to 3 artworks per month (2) Work should be submitted by 15th of the month to be considered for publishing in The Art Times Magazine (3) Work submitted must be done by the learner and produced in 2019 (4) Entries open to learners ages 15-19 at time of entry (5) Please try to keep files Jpeg and less than 5Meg. Call New Blood Art 021 3005888 www.newbloodart.info

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Miguel Adams, Schoonspruit Secondry. September New Blood Art Winner

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Shuna van Zyl, Stellenberg HS

Khumo Ramaila, Pieces of a man, G12, National School of the Arts

Leya Davie, Abbotts College

Mhlana Yamkela, Chris Hani HS

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MARITZ MUSEUM 5 Nemesia Street DARLING SOUTH AFRICA

Paintings, Prints & Sculpture By appointment: 078 419 7093 https://sites.google.com/view/

GET YOUR COPY OF THE ART TIMES ON ROVOS RAIL

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SOUTH AFRICAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S LEADING VISUAL ARTS PUBLICATION

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Auction in Cape Town, 7 October 2019 Tel +27 21 683 6560 | www.straussart.co.za

Irma Stern, A Watussi Woman (detail), 1946 R9 000 000 - R12 000 000

Modern, Post-war and Contemporary Art, Decorative Arts & Jewellery

SA Art Times September 2019

Articles inside

ART IN THE YARD A Group Exhibition Franschhoek 2019

INVESTEC CAPE TOWN ART FAIR 2020 Statement from Director, Laura Vincenti

ART FUNDI: ART COLLECTION MANAGEMENT IN THE DIGITAL AGE

ARBOR ONEIRICA

BARRY SALZMAN The Other Side Of Christmas

M.O.L.1 - A BLESSING OF UNICORNS Ashraf Jamal’s Monthly Column

KIMATHI MAFAFO Connected by a Thread

REFLECTING ON AUGUST THK Gallery, Cape Town

NINA HOLMES it is not what I see

SASOL NEW SIGNATURES 2019 Winners Announced

22 SANLAM PORTRAIT AWARD 2019 Winners Announced

FNB ART JO’BURG 2019 New Name New Approach