South African Art Times April 09

THE SOUTH AFRICAN

ART TIMES

April 2009 • www.arttimes.co.za • Subscription 180 p.a • Print & Distribution. 9 000 copies. • Includes The Business Art Supplement

Nandipha Mntambo, Praça de Touros I, 2008 (Detail, see overleaf for full image) Courtesy of Michael Stevenson

Traditional South African art set to dominate Johannesburg April Auction sive structures of industrialisation and apartheid. ‘The Highveld Style Masked Ball’ (Lot 329) is signed and dated ’88, sized 95.5 x 70cm and estimated at R500 000 – R700 000.

Stephan Welz & Company, in association with Sotheby’s, has announced their autumn auction of Fine & Decorative Arts, Furniture, Silver, Ceramics, Books & Jewellery. This Johannesburg auction of 900 lots will be held in the company’s Biermann Avenue, Rosebank sale rooms on 20 & 21 April 2009. The sale is of remarkably broad appeal, though the spread of highly prized paintings by South African artists is sure to dominate the sale. One of the most unique offerings from the company’s paintings department is the Irma Stern (Lot 225) which comprises the hauntingly beautiful ‘Portrait of a girl in a Red Frock’ (recto) and the sombre ‘Samuel Stern’ (verso). The latter is the only known portrait of Stern’s father and the painting is illustrated on page 12 of Marion Arnold’s work ‘Irma Stern; A Feast for the Eye’. This work was

presented by the artist to her cousin and thence by descent. It is conservatively estimated at R800 000 – R1 200 000. Of equal significance in a historical sense is the sale’s ‘cover lot’, the dramatic pastel and charcoal work which draws on William Joseph Kentridge’s earlier bitingly satirical work of the mid-1980s featuring a dancing couple under the oppres-

From a remarkable array of traditional South African artists there are significant works from Krige, Sumner, Battiss, Boshoff, Koenakeefe-Mohl, Boonzaier, Bhengu and Pemba and others, like Pieter Wenning. The latter’s ‘A Cape Homestead’ demonstrates the vitality of Wenning’s brushwork with which he imbued scenes of the Cape. This painting is Lot 224, estimated at R500 000 – R800 000. Lot 218, ‘Landscape with Distant Houses’ by Jacob Hendrik Pierneef (R400 000 – R600 000) is notable for Pierneef’s brave impressionism lending it almost infinite depth. The furniture on offer brings to the market extremely sought-after examples of Cape craftsmanship in yellowwood and stinkwood. Of particular note are Lots 580 and 585, the former being a generously

proportioned gate-leg table dating from the 18th century and estimated at R40 000 – R60 000. Lot 585 is a beautiful cupboard from the 19th century at R30 000 – R50 000. Other furniture items of note include a late 19th/early 20th century carved mahogany serving table with six fluted legs and carved ramshead details (Lot 546, R60 000 – R80 000). Mirroring the trend evidenced in previous auctions by the company in both Cape Town and Johannesburg, the selection of quality silver is certain to attract enthusiastic bidding. Lot 612 is a pair of 20th century French silver tureens (950 standard) from Henin & Cie, estimated at R8 000 – R12 000. Also vying for attention are Lot 662, a George lll silver coffee pot by William & James Priest, London 1766 (R14 000 – R18 000) and Lot 677, an Edwardian silver revolving top breakfast dish from 1908 (R8 000 – R12 000). The company’s jewellery department has again turned in

comes with a bound pouch, and is from the short production run of annual calendar wristwatches made with moon phases. Its estimate is R160 000 – R180 000. A similar model recently realised almost double that in New York!

a sparkling performance. With over 200 lots, highlights abound, including Lot 709, a solitaire diamond ring of 5,0330cts estimated at R70 000 – R90 000, Lot 714, a magnificent late Victorian hinged 15ct gold bangle (R7 000 – R9 000) and Lots 824 and 825, respectively a Bulgari cased Cicladi diamond pendant on a chain (R10 000 – R15 000) and a Bulgari cased Lucea diamond ring (R12 000 – R15 000). Two lots from two different departments give further weight to this sale’s unusually broad appeal. There are two cannons on offer, one of them, Lot 447, being an early 18th century Finbanker 4-pounder on a twin-tailed carriage, estimated at R80 000 – R100 000. As a final example of this sale’s appeal, Lot 507 is a gentleman’s fine 18ct white gold automatic wristwatch by Patek Philippe. It is certificated (ref 5036),

Lot 84, 6 volumes of ‘Voyagien na Oost en West-Indien’ R200 000 – R210 000 Enquiries: [email protected] + 27 11 880 3125 Auction: Monday 20 April 14h00 and 19h00 Tuesday 21 April 10h00, 14h00 and 18h30 Venue: 13 Biermann Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg Viewing: Friday 17 April 10h00 – 17h00 Saturday 18 April 10h00 – 13h00 Sunday 19 April 10h00 – 13h00 & 14h00 to 17h00

Announcing our Autumn Auction of

Fine & Decorative Arts,

Furniture, Silver, Ceramics & Jewellery Two days, five sessions, 900 lots

Lot 225 Irma Stern (South African 1894-1966)

PORTRAIT OF A GIRL IN A RED FROCK (recto); SAMUEL STERN (verso) 56 by 47cm

Estimate: R800 000 - R1 200 000 AUCTION DATES: 20 & 21 APRIL 2009

Johannesburg 13 Biermann Avenue, corner Oxford Road, Rosebank Telephone 011 880 3125 Facsimile 011 880 2656 [email protected] www.swelco.co.za

VIEWING DATES: 17, 18 & 19 APRIL 2009

THE SOUTH AFRICAN

ART TIMES

April 2009 • 9 000 copies printed and distributed. Full version also available at www.arttimes.co.za • RSA value R 40.00

SA Art braces itself for Joburg Art Fair Photo: www.wetheatproject.com

After eight years of directing the ultra-prestigious Rubell Family Collection in Miami, Mark Coetzee is now chief curator of Puma.Creative Alex Dodd The summer is nearly over, but temperatures are close to sizzling on the Joburg art scene in the run up to the second FNB Joburg Art Fair, three solid days and nights of visually driven mingling, oogling, assessment and acquisition, that kicks off on Friday (3 April) at the Sandton Convention Centre. Despite reports of a faltering international art market, FNB has renewed its commitment to the contemporary art scene in Africa, and 26 galleries have signed up to be part of what promises to be a blockbuster showcase of contemporary visual culture. FNB’s backing makes a sweet kind of sense when you figure that the bank’s head of sponsorship is none other than Francois Pienaar. Yes, the very same Francois Pienaar that captained the Springboks in their moment of transcendent World Cup glory back in 1995, and who is now being played by Matt Damon starring opposite Morgan Freeman (as Nelson Mandela) in the Warner Brothers film based on the John Carlin book Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game That Made a Nation. I take succour in the idea that it’s the same dude that helped to bring this nation together through the universal language of sport in ’95 that is now, at an equally tumultuous time in this country’s history, helping to keep us together through the medium of art. Art doesn’t yet have the pulling power of rugby, but

I bet that most of those involved in the arts in this country will testify to the bolstering power of creativity in the face of the political cynicism and mean-spiritedness that seems to be engulfing South Africa right now. Personally, I might already have chosen to live elsewhere if it weren’t for the wild inventiveness of this country’s artists and writers. It might be some time (think Salvador Dali’s dripping clocks) before we see an art event receive the same tumultuous support as a game at Loftus Versfeld, but I know that I am not alone in believing that the creative force of this country is even more powerful than a Springbok scrum in lockdown against the All Blacks. Yet, earlier this year, one or two gallerists did express some anxiety at the Fair’s capacity to pull a significant audience of international buyers and art industry players. Luckily, those concerns were recently allayed with the advent of a watershed collaboration between the Joburg Art Fair and Puma. Creative, a platform that connects the creative world globally. The partnership with the ultra-hip global streetwear brand was forged by none other than Mark Coetzee. Yes, the very same Mark Coetzee who used to run the Mark Coetzee Fine Art Cabinet in Cape Town in the late Nineties. After eight years directing the ultra-prestigious Rubell Family Collection in Miami, Coetzee is now chief curator of Puma. (Continued on page 4)

Angels or devils - or both , either way Beezy Bailey warms things up for the unveiling of this recently completed a 4m high bronze called Fallen Angel. The angel is now on its way to the Joburg Art Fair 09 that opens on Friday 03 to Sunday 05 April 2009 Photo: Jacques de Villiers

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South African Art Times.

April 2009

The South African

Art Times April 2009 www.arttimes.co.za Published monthly by

Global Art Information PO Box 15881 Vlaeberg, 8018 Tel. 021 424 7733 Fax. 021 424 7732 Editor: Gabriel Clark-Brown [email protected] Advertising: Eugene Fisher [email protected] Subscriptions: Bastienne Klein [email protected] News: [email protected] Shows: [email protected] Artwork: [email protected] Layout: Atlantic Blue

Deadline for news, articles and advertising is the 20th of each month. The Art Times is published in the last week of each month. Newspaper rights: The newspaper reserves the right to reject any material that could be found offensive by its readers. Opinions and views expressed in the SA Art Times do not necessarily represent the official viewpoint of the editor, staff or publisher, while inclusion of advertising features does not imply the newspaper’s endorsement of any business, product or service. Copyright of the enclosed material in this publication is reserved.

ART PIG

THE ART COWBOY

Alex Dodd Art Pig Column continued from Page 3 Creative and is based in Nairobi, because of his will to expand the Puma.Creative projects planned in Africa, and focused on the 2010 World Cup. So what does that mean for the Art Fair? And what does it mean for participating artists? To start with, Puma.Creative will be flying about 60 leading art world operators to Johannesburg to soak up the Art Fair action. On Thursday night, it will be hosting an invitation-only dinner at the plushly revamped Rosebank Hotel to celebrate the launch of the Creative Africa Network and the opening of the Fair. Basically, by my gleaning, this means is that, amid the usual

Front Cover: Nandipha Mntambo, Praça de Touros I, 2008, Courtesy of Michael Stevenson

Sue Pam Grant and composer Xoli Norman’s Guard on Shift, presented by jozi art: lab, was initially presented to great acclaim at the Dance Factory late last year.

suspects and the freshly curious general public circulating around the stalls of the Fair, there will also be a crew of highly sussed and connected international art world figures, who’ll be checking what they dig and who they might be interested in making big. Hey, best case scenario, this year’s Fair might just offer the same kind of global boost to selected careers as the first and second Johannesburg Biennales. It’s a pity that all those VIPs missed out on the event I was lucky enough to attend in Soweto last night. Artist/director Sue Pam Grant and composer Xoli Norman’s Guard on Shift, presented by jozi art: lab, was initially presented to great acclaim at the Dance Factory late last year. But this open-air rendition was one of those rare, tingly happenings that confirm my belief in the quirky imaginative genius of this country’s artists. After watching the sun set like a blazing orange ball of fire over the mine dumps and ghettoes of southern Joburg, we arrived at the empty monolithic Walter Sisulu Square of Dedication at nightfall. The event didn’t take place in this grand state-sanctioned monument, but in an unassuming graffiti-sp

ritzed lot around the corner. We arrived on the scene just as the trumpeter blasted his first plaintive notes across the square, infusing a tone of pained jazz into the night. And then the songstresses opened up their chests and sang… They were dressed as washerwomen and stood on wooden boxes in a maze of security fencing, but they could also have been angels, loosening and cleansing our history of its dark stains. It was a surreal and magical event in which people wandered amidst the ‘high-security’ maze entering the solitary consciousnesses of the security guards who protect our suburbs day in and day out… I would have mourned the fact that something so poignant was experienced by so few, but luckily the event was recorded as part of a documentary film project spearheaded by jozi art: lab’s Indra Wussow and Wonderboy Peters. And there is a possibility of a reprise for the World Cup in 2010. Like the performance of William Kentridge’s 9 Films at the Old Fort on Constitution Hill, these are the moments of tender sublimity that more South Africans deserve to experience.

Peter Machen King DiniZulu surveys the land. As does Louis Botha. Like figures from a novel – either science fiction or post-modern – they look lost in their urban landscape. Once enormously powerful, they are both now reduced to the role of ghosts, who although visible to the naked eyes are largely unseen by all those who pass by; they cannot move. And what would they think of the histories they helped to make, as they look out onto the gentle delapidation of the bottom of Berea Road – or King DiniZulu North as it is now known? And why are they wearing red bandanas? The bandana’d statues are the work of Durban Art Gallery education officer Bongani Mkonzsa who staged the intervention, together with a walk through town to Farewell Square outside the gallery, where a bunch of mostly male former colonialists have also had a red bandana added to their already elaborate dress in an attempt to raise awareness around the HIV virus. The march was led by perfomer and activist Musa Njoka and staged, along with the interventions, as part of the major exhibition Not Alone: Make Art Stop Aids, still on show at the DAG. Bongani’s intervention – together with the walk through town where the friendly, smiling faces of this year’s political nominees lurched out insistently – gave me an idea for another intervention, one in which you, me and everyone we know can participate. While there are only a small number of statues to subvert, there are a relatively

infinite number of election posters, most of them just begging for a bit of decoration. And of course, a few of them have already have that desire satisfied; you may have seen pictures of the ANC poster on whom someone has drawn a red mask over Jabob Zuma’s face in the style of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and dubbed him Zumatello. But I thought that, if - all over South Africa - we stuck red aids ribbons on the lapels of those who appear in the election posters, we could very simply and subliminally, put one the country’s real burning issues onto the political agenda. This would add a degree of meaning to the whole thing, something you’d be hard pressed to find in any of the empty words that accompany the campaign portraits. I know it’s illegal to mess with election posters so I’m not actually advising you to do any of this. But if you did, it would be great, and if you’re caught I have nothing to do with it. One of the wonderful things about art is the way that it fiddles with notions of legality, acceptability and structure. In fact, it’s a key part of the job. Without the possibility of subversion, art history would be bland and blank, a canvas of little more than ever-increasing virtuosity. And only the hardest of hearts would call this particular aid ribbon intervention vandalism, vaguely subversive as it might be. I just had another look at my own virtual intervention - the photoshopped ANC poster that accompanies this column – and I was struck by the fact that if it had been a real campaign poster, it would mean that we were living in a far more compassionate society.

South African Art Times.

April 2009 When this is all over and we are all gone, and the things we make are thrown away or packed into boxes or archives or adorn walls or hearts or even occupy public squares or are collapsed into virtual space, these giant concrete structures designed so exclusively - so exquisitely – for function, will still reach into the sky, will still hug the earth they span, caring not for meaning or love or suffering, dimly unaware of their own material fatigue which will someday take them too. That’s what Jeremy Wafer has to compete with. Finally, if you’re in Durban over the next few weeks, check out the exhibition Harbour at the KZNSA Gallery. Full of super-saturated South African talent, it promises to be one of the most exciting groups show to take place this year.

Alex Emsley

And I was struck also by the idea that probably the single most important issue for many, many South Africans is that current health minister Barbara Hogan be allowed to keep her post. But that’s not even an element of the conversation; it’s just incidental. The urban monuments reminded me of a conversation that I was having with former Durbanite Siemon Allen who now lives in the United States but who was in town to install his remarkable triad of installations, Newspapers, Stamps and Records (collectively titled Imaging South Africa) at the Durban Art Gallery and Bank Gallery.

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THE ARTFUL VIEWER Melvyn Minnaar Once more: a memorial muddle Siemon, whose own work verges on the monumental despite the fact that you could pack it all into a few cardboard boxes, was talking about how much he loved bridges and freeway infrastructure – a fondness I share with him. And like Siemon, I’ve always felt a bit sorry for sculptors who live in the same world as these giant structures.

Monuments. Memorial sculptures. It sounds so old-fashioned, it’s really off the art history pages, isn’t it? Something that doesn’t belong in a post-postmodern, not to mention post-colonial, era. One would have thought so, but, strangely, the concept keeps flying. And goings-on in the chambers and outside of the Cape Town city council are showing up exactly how

uncomfortable the entire idea sits in our time and place. It seems citizens - make that politicians - have not outgrown the belief that their dead (and some not quite so) heroes and anti-heroes (real or invented) should be ‘honoured’ in outrageous fashion and be propped up in public spaces. No, the lust for monuments/memorial sculptures in bronze, marble and whatever glittering medium, is still churning out there. They want them statues. One of the follies of this thinking is the conviction that an artist can fashion (or get someone to sculpt) an upbeat, ‘heroic’, if not dramatically eye-catching image of a living person (or one who had lived, at some stage). As any real artist - even great photographers - will tell you capturing a decent likeness, making an acceptable portrait, is one of the most difficult things in the manner of art- and model-making. Add ulterior motives to such endeavours and you land up with kitsch or silliness. Unfortunately, since democracy, instead of dumping the old colonial construct of statue production, the new powers have joyfully been commissioning more of the nonsense. (Poor Madiba has been on the receiving end of this sad, misdirected enthusiasms - check the bronze near the prison entrance in Drakenstein, for example.) Of course, public art of highest order is a different matter. But that too, is a tricky business. The city of Cape Town authorities have waded into this area tentatively over the past year or so. But, like the silliness around the recently proposed ‘graffiti control unit’, the thinking, not to mention the enthusiasm, has not been very adventurous neither clear. And often run into trouble. At this stage three ‘memorial’ projects are kind of lingering on the council’s agenda. The restoration of the vandalised Waterwich/Williams memorial in Athlone by Guy du Toit and Egon Tania is obvious, but heaven knowns how they are going to keep the thieves from walking off with the metal again. (According

to council minutes, maintenance - and, for that matter, the issue of commissioning it as well - will, for the time being, be the responsibility of the oddly-named Environmental Resource Management department of the city.) The other memorials officially on the book, are ones to commemorate the founding of the UDF at the Rocklands civic centre 25 years ago last August, and the so-called Langa memorial to be erected on Washington circle in Langa to remember the PAC’s big march in 1960 after the Sharpeville shootings.

KUNSGALERY

JOHANS BORMAN FINE ART GALLERY

CAPE TOWN

The latter memorial, to which the present PAC’s input had been rightly invited, has reached another halt in its slow, very slow, stop-start trajectory. The UDF project is not even out of the blocks. Both had been budgeted for in the last financial year. In a repeat of the process for the Slave memorial on Church square - when invitations for public suggestions and designs, resulted in a pile of nonsense (oh dear, don’t we need to invest urgently in aesthetic literacy?) - what came from outside, after advertising, was useless. So, like for the Church square project, council officials asked specific artists to come up with idees. While it is all very much under wraps, two well-known artists, each polished in public art and memorials, were asked for Langa suggestions. Our own Kevin Brand and Durban’s Andries Botha were called in. But, so rumours go, their ideas didn’t find favour with a gathering of decision-makers (the actual names of the judges have not been made known) a few weeks ago. So it’s back to square one. The only positive, at this stage, is that the city - not traditionally supportive of the arts - has committed money (some R1,25 million for the three projects). But the dead-end where the Langa memorial scheme finds itself is clear indication that the bureaucrats simply don’t known how to handle such undertakings. On the other hand, it might just prove that the concept of monuments is as dead as a dodo.

Dumile Feni - ‘Figure running’ (1968)

Dumile Feni 1968 Drawings April 2009 Telephone: 021 423 6075 www.johansborman.co.za Mon-Fri: 09h30 - 17h30 Sat: 10h00 - 13h00 or by appointment In Fin Art Building Upper Buitengracht Street, Cape Town 8001 Cell: 082 566 4631 E-mail: [email protected]

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Standard Bank’s ongoing commitment to SA Art Standard Bank has been a long term committed supporter of the visual arts and has, through its collections, publications, programmes and gallery, brought the work of a range of artists – both local and international – to the attention of the South African public. Exhibitions at the Standard Bank Gallery have always been complemented by public programmes such as lectures, walkabouts and workshops. Visiting school groups – for whom the gallery is a popular destination – are offered guided tours and workshops and given activity sheets so that learning can continue in their own classrooms. Recognising the dearth of appropriate material for young learners and noting that the distribution of learning materials adds value to exhibitions and extends their longevity, Standard Bank has increased its investment in the development and production of educational supplements to accompany its exhibitions. As Barbara Freemantle, the gallery curator says, “It’s an investment in the future that allows the gallery to meet a number of strategic objectives: adding value to young learners’ experience; building informed gallery-goers for the future; and promoting South African arts”. Nhlanhla Ngwenya, education officer, adds an important element, remarking that the educational supplements, “bridge the gap between the scholarly catalogues and learner needs, enhance the curriculum and provide materials that addresses gaps in existing resources”. The educational supplements have proved so popular that schools in far-flung areas of the country have requested copies.

South African Art Times.

April 2009

Recognising this, Standard Bank has extended the reach of the supplements, firstly through entering into a partnership with the SA Art Times to include one in every copy distributed (with additional copies being sent to schools on the mailing list), and secondly, by making them available in electronic format on the Standard Bank Gallery website, where they complement the virtual tour of the current exhibition. The educational supplements, comprising six A4 pages printed in full colour, provide information about the artist and the current exhibition, and include fact files focusing on related topics, a glossary of relevant words and activities: things to think about as well as practical projects. These are presented in a fold out pamphlet that is easy to file, but also laid out so that they can be displayed in poster format on the classroom wall. As a grateful teacher said, “Your resources are incredibly valuable. It is good to see that there are still galleries who produce such awesome educational stuff for our kids – and the virtual tour is unbelievable! I will be putting it up on screen in class!” Visit the Standard Bank Gallery website, www.standardbankgallery.co.za, to see the current exhibition’seducational supplement, and look under the archives section for copies of previous editions on artists including Marlene Dumas, Willem Boshoff, Pieter Hugo, Cecil Skotnes, Churchill Madikida, Christine Dixie, Karel Nel, Judith Mason and Johannes Phokela. These are resources that no teacher can afford to miss.

Eduardo Villa (Photo: Standard Bank Gallery), Johannes Phokela (Photo Courtesy of the artist), Andrew Verster (Photo Courtesy of the artist) Lolo Veleko (Photo from the artist), Nicholas Hlobo (Photo: Suzy Bernstein)

South African Art Times.

April 2009

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Mark midgley’s tutti-frutti sell-out Lloyd Pollock Every work at Mark Midgley’s fourth solo exhibition at the Atlantic gallery was sold before the exhibition even opened. Riva Cohen, the gallery’s director maintains the artist’s scrupulously detailed still-lives are so labourintensive and time-consuming that Mark cannot possibly meet the demand, and she has a long list of collectors who are patiently waiting for the opportunity to purchase his future output. “That precious red sticker is on the canvas before Mark even touches it with his brush”, Riva stated proudly. The artist’s dazzling trompe-l’oeil virtuosity explains this connoisseurial enthusiasm. His fruit and vegetables look so convincing, one confuses illusion with reality, and does a double take when it becomes apparent that the strawberries that have you licking your lips, are nought but paint on canvas. However Midgley is far more than a master-magician wowing us with illusionist abracadabra. The painter’s themes are dictated by Pop art’s obsession with consumer society and saleable merchandise, but his style inclines toward the fanatical precision of Photorealism, and he presents his fruit as if seen under a microscope with even the most minute details meticulously reproduced. In his tightly-cropped, big close-up formats, scale is hugely magnified: the fruits become 25 times larger

than life-size, and the frontal, centralised and symmetric compositions give them a sharpness and definition so absolute as to be tantamount to revelation. These still-lives are modern variations on the traditional vanitas of 17th century Holland. The vanitas addresses the brevity of life and the transience of earthly pleasure: it whispers Memento Mori and Tempus Fugit. Overripe fruit was a popular motif as it provided a metaphor for the inevitability of death and dissolution, and although Mark’s fruit is wholesome and fresh, blight in the form of scratches, spots and areas of bruising, intimates future decay. Tissue paper envelops the fruit like a shroud or winding sheet, and the black box frames and broad black borders insinuate funereal overtones. A dense symbolical underpinning and subtle allusion to sacred geometric and numerical archetypes project the fruit onto a metaphysical plane. Although the paintings baldly acknowledge the brevity of our mortal span, they also urge us to enjoy it. Their burthen becomes Carpe Diem, and they form rousing celebrations of plenty, abundance and the glory of creation. Vibrant colour and scintillating light transform each still-life into an act of thanksgiving, a visual lekhayim. This is indeed a feast for the eyes!

The slippery slope of consciousness Cold sweat Chris Diedericks - Focus Gallery Written by Franci Cronje, 2009 In this must-see show, Reasons for breaking out in a cold sweat is metaphorically not connected either to pleasure or contentment. (Dis)content and (dis)topia therefore, can arguably be described as appropriate bedmates. This abject component draws the viewer to Diedericks’ drawings initially. What makes one stay is the deftness in medium, accomplished markmaking, and ease of expression. But such a claim also poses a contradiction in itself. What is moral, and what not? Good or evil, self or Other, desirable or despicable? Diedericks exposes these issues, inviting speculation. His symbolically dense imagery simultaneously soothes and disturbs the viewer. In Bloodline one is drawn to the

flowery script of ‘Brave’, the full disturbance of the combined imagery only hits home when reading the fine print: ‘I am not..’. The body of an anonymous laughing pre-adolescent boy contrasts with a morose portrait of the old man, vector leading us into a secret world of desire and repulsion. The boy seems to be precariously balanced between childhood freedom and prohibitive act. As the artist tries to ‘reconcile two seemingly irreconcilable driving forces of postmodern consciousness – the desire for Otherness and the fear of losing autonomy’, the resultant imagery portrays Diedericks’ dystopic space. Borrowed popular cultural iconography spins the work as universal, relatable in our hybrid culture of globalization.

Carl Büchner (1921-2003) Portrait of a Young Man, 90x90cm, Signed Oil on Canvas

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Christopher Møller Art 82 Church Street (Corner Church & Loop St) Cape Town 8001 Tel: +27 21 439 3517, Fax: 086 611 3871 Email: [email protected] Website: www.christophermollerart.co.za 26 March – 8th of April “Three Perspectives” exhibition featuring: Alan Mckerron, Geoff Burr

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April 2009

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Brahm van Zyl portrays typical South African landscapes.

Just a Moment: 1 - 28 April 2009 Brahm van Zyl portrays typical South African landscapes. The absence of human drama adds to the almost melancholy mood in the works, as if a fleeting moment of enlightenment can be felt in the presence of nature. These oils coax one to stop for “Just a Moment” to engage in quiet contemplation.

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South African Art Times.

April 2009

Page 9

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Wolfe Street • Chelsea • Wynberg • Tel: 021 761 2816 + Buitengracht Street • Cape Town • Tel: 021 423 2090 E-mail: [email protected] • web www.infinart.co.za

design � books and catalogues � large format graphics � archiving � installations � specialised retouching � exhibition displays � digital scanning

w w w. s c a n s h o p . c o . z a

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ART FOR THOSE WHO SEEK UNIQUENESS Fusing colour and texture ! JJA de bruyn’s art draws inspiration from the rich African milieu that spawned him. It encourages a paradigm shift that is both startling and revolutionary, redefining not only art, but how we relate to it. Blurring the borders of neo-contemporary and post-modern artistic expression into one coherent whole, his work often results in pieces that encourage the viewer to employ multiple senses, thereby creating artistic statements that strive to overcome the disjointedness inherent in modern art. It translates into art that is less of an abstraction viewed from afar and more of an intimate encounter of ideas and expression. For more info visit www.jjadebruyn.com or email: [email protected]

aspire to be

controversial contemporary cuttingedge

sasol new signatures art competition 09 Entries close 15 July 09 For details contact association of arts pretoria 012 346 3100 or visit www.sasolsignatures.co.za

AROUND THE GALERIES

Angus Taylor (1970 - ), Homage to Hermes, ed 1/3, 2008, 10 tons + of stacked marico slate stone, 120 x 500 x 850cm. See www.everard-read.co.za

Beezy Bailey, (1962 - ), SUNSET FLIGHT, mixed media on canvas, 170 x 250cm. See www.everard-read.co.za

Drawing from the exhibition “Stillewe, a portrait of the Paschke and Stef Bos, see: www.dorpstraatgalery.co.za

Neil Rodger, (1941 - ), KAROO NUDE III, oil on canvas, 100 x 100cm see www.everard-read.co.za

(left) Johan Myburg is this years visual art curator for the KKNK Art and Culture fesitival, (middle) a sound installation by James Webb, (right) Hylton Nel is this years KKNK’s Fesitival Artist. The KKNK runs from 4-11 April 2009. See www.kknk.co.za for more details

Get The South African Art Times delivered to your door R 180 for 11 issues Call Bastienne on 021 424 7733 - or - email: [email protected]

DECADE Oliewenhuis Art Museum Harry Smith Street Bloemfontein Tel: 051 447 9609

For more information call the Sanlam Art Collection Tel: 021 947 3359 / 083 457 2699

www.sanlam.co.za

HIGHLIGHTS

from 10 Years of Collecting for the Sanlam Art Collection

22 April – 24 May 2009 Monday – Friday 08:00 – 17:00 Saturday 10:00 – 17:00 Sunday/Public holidays 13:00 – 17:00

BROUGHT TO YOU BY

Frans David Oerder MAGNOLIAS signed, oil on canvas, 69 by 89cm Estimate R600 000 - 900 000

Irma Stern MAGNOLIAS IN AN EARTHENWARE POT signed and dated 1949, oil on canvas, 68 by 94cm Estimate R2 800 000 - 3 400 000

SOLD IN MARCH 2009 FOR R1 760 000 A WORLD AUCTION RECORD FOR THE ARTIST

SOLD IN MARCH 2009 FOR R7 100 000 A WORLD AUCTION RECORD FOR A STILL LIFE BY THE ARTIST

Invitation to participate in our auctions Johannesburg Important South African Paintings, Watercolours and Sculpture 14 September 2009, entries close 30 June Stephan Welz 082 330 0798 Mary-Jane Darroll 082 567 1925 Cape Town Inaugural Auction of Important Paintings, Furniture, Silver and Ceramics 8 October 2009, entries close 31 July Vanessa Phillips 072 445 4717 Ann Palmer 082 468 1098

If you have paintings, furniture, silver or ceramics, please contact us timeously for an obligation-free appraisal. Our aim is to focus on the highest quality that the South African art market can offer, to provide greater expertise and service and to make Strauss & Co the first choice from any perspective – making selling and acquiring art and antiques at auction challenging, interesting and a pleasure.

Tel: + 27 11 728 8246 Fax: + 27 11 728 8247 [email protected] www.straussart.co.za 89 Central Street, Houghton, Johannesburg, 2198 P O Box 851, Houghton, Johannesburg, 2041 Postnet Suite 200, Private Bag X26, Tokai, Cape Town, 7966 Tel: + 27 78 044 8185 [email protected]

Sydney Carter (1874-1945) Mine Shaft on a Windy Day, Gouache 530 x 710 mm

The Philip Harper Galleries Hermanus, Western Cape www.thephilipharpergalleries.co.za [email protected]

We specialise in South African Art, both Old Masters and select Contemporary Artists, catering for both corporate and private clients

Oudehof Mall, 167 Main Road, Hermanus, Tel: 028 3124836