THE SOUTH AFRICAN
ART TIMES
November 2008 • Issue 11 Vol 3 • Subscription RSA 180 p.a • November Print & Distrib. 7 000 copies • Full online version available at www.arttimes.co.za
Joburg Art
Fair ‘09
- a more
modest affair
Artlogic have cut back spending and fallen back
on sponsors, writes Mary Corrigall
The Joburg Art Fair will run in 2009,
confirmed Ross Douglas, the fair’s
director and head of Artlogic, at a
press briefing in Johannesburg last
week.
This wasn’t unexpected news given
the accumulative R27-million sales
garnered during its first three day
run at the Sandton Convention
Centre in March this year. However,
while all the galleries did a roaring
trade, Artlogic incurred a R1-million
loss. Keen to turn the Joburg Art
Fair (JAF) into a sustainable event
Artlogic, therefore, has been forced
to make a few alterations to the
2009 rendition.
It was expected that the fair would
grow in size, attracting more galler-
ies for its second run but only two
more galleries will be participating,
bringing the total to 24. Douglas
implied that there was only a limited
amount of reputable galleries in the
country that could size up to the
ethos of the fair.
“There are a number of ways we
could make it sustainable; we could
have opened the doors to other gal-
leries and expanded the exhibition
but we really only wanted quality
galleries. So to make ourselves
more sustainable we have had
to look to sponsors,” commented
Douglas.
First National Bank (FNB) will
once again sponsor the event, and
Douglas hinted that a partnership
with BMW might also be in the
Ross Douglas, director of Art Logic , has scaled back spending for the 2009 Joburg Art Fair, although it is expected that the fair would grow in size, offing. Despite this backing Artlogic
Douglas implied that there was only a limited amount of reputable galleries in the country that could size up to the ethos of the fair. have decided to tighten the purse
Photograph is of Ross Douglas at the opening of the Joburg Art Fair 08 earlier this year. Photo: John Hodgkiss strings to make the 2nd fair more
ZELLEN ART PRODUCTS
FOR INFORMATION ON OUR OTHER PRODUCTS
PHONE +27 28 271 3122.
financially viable. Artlogic wanted
to kick the first art fair off with a
bang but they were perhaps too ex-
travagant, financing events around
Joburg, observed Douglas.
“We did a launch party at the
old JSE (Johannesburg Stock
Exchange) and discussion ses-
sions at the Alexandra Theatre in
Braamfontein. We wanted to create
a week-long event around the city.
This year the focus is on creating
attractions at the fair to keep
people there.”
Artlogic have somewhat scaled
back all the attractions for the 2009
art fair. Instead of forking out a for-
tune for a world-renowned curator
such as Simon Njami, who curated
this year’s curated exhibition, the
curated show for the 2009 art fair
will be in the hands of a lesser-
known but established international
talent, Tumelo Mosaka, who cur-
rently holds a position as assistant
curator at the Brooklyn Museum,
New York.
Instead of staging events around
Joburg, the 2009 fair will present
talks at the fair by participating
galleries and two international
speakers supported by the Goethe
Institut and WISER. The featured
artist of the 2009 fair will be Jane
Alexander, whose installation,
Security, which was originally com-
missioned for the 27th São Paulo
Biennale, will be on view for South
African audiences for the first time.
•The 2nd Annual Joburg Art Fair
is scheduled to run from
April 3- 5 2009
Page 2 South African Art Times. November 2008

The South African

Art Times
November 2008
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
editor@arttimes.co.za
Advertising: Eugene Fisher
art@arttimes.co.za
Subscriptions: Bastienne Klein
subs@arttimes.co.za
News: press@arttimes.co.za
Shows: show@arttimes.co.za
Artwork: art@arttimes.co.za
Layout: seethestiffmightyfall
Deadlines 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 ma-
terial that could be found offensive
by its readers. Opinions and views
expressed in the SA Art Times do
not necessarily represent the of-
ficial viewpoint of the editor, staff
or publisher, while inclusion of ad-
vertising features does not imply
the newspaper’s endorsement of
any business, product or service.
Copyright of the enclosed material
in this publication is reserved.
Cover: Eric Laubscher
Photo: Steve Kretzmann
‘Benign’ relationship melts under the spotlight
A still from Hentie van der Merwe’s installation (right) that won him the SASOL Wax Award 08
By Mary Corrigall
This article first appeared in the
Sunday Independent
The conflict between corporate
sponsorship and art has dogged
the Sasol Wax Art Award, reaching
a crescendo in this, its third and
final year. It wasn’t just Hentie
van der Merwe’s winning work
that made an overt assault on
the corporate. It was also the
recent brouhaha over Sasol’s
other art initiative, the Sasol New
Signatures Award, which saw the
corporate giant distancing itself
from the winning work, Richardt
Strydom’s Familieportret 2, a sup-
posedly risqué photograph, that
also brought the
politics of Sasol’s art sponsorship
under question.
The art world’s relationship with
corporate South Africa has always
been a love/hate affair; although
corporates have stepped in to sup-
port art initiates in the absence of
government aid, their assistance
has often come at a price. With the
Sasol Wax Awards, the price has
been high – artists were forced to
produce either works in wax or use
wax as the conceptual impetus for
their art. Without a doubt, over
the past three years there have
been artists who have flourished
under the artistic restraints of the
competition, such as last year’s
winner Walter Oltmann, the 2006
winner, Jeremy Wafer, and finalist
Diane Victor.
But the compromises that the com-
petition demanded of the artists
did not engender such satisfying
results this year. The five finalists
– Stephen Hobbs, Tracey Rose,
Brett Murray, Avhashoni Main-
ganye and Van der Merwe – all re-
sponded to the competition’s brief
in intriguing and unexpected ways
but, ultimately, you have to wonder
whether any of the artworks they
produced have any value outside
of the competition.
As one art aficionado observed:
“There was nothing visually thrill-
ing” to view.
Perhaps Hobbs’s State has the
most visual and expressive gravi-
tas. State is an atmospheric video
work that maps the metaphorical
and physical regeneration and dis-
integration of a city. Focusing on
the shadows of rudimentary scaf-
folding structures fashioned from
wax, the cycle of reconstruction
and devastation is played out over
and over, transporting the viewer
into an almost meditative state.
This seems to suggest that al-
though humans are instrumental in
this cycle they are simultaneously
powerless bystanders – we see no
human intervention. Also implied is
that a city is always
trapped in a state of becoming
– either ascending or degrad
ng. Never static, it is unable to
maintain its state of completion.
As it fluctuates between birth,
death and rebirth, the city comes
to mirror an order more common
to nature. So, although cities are
seen to be in conflict with nature,
they follow an organic cycle that
mimics the cycle of all living
beings.
State may be a natural extension
of Hobbs’s artistic practice, which
has always been concerned with
urban issues, but it is not bub-
bling over with the usual heady
concoction of themes that typically
infuse his art. The point is that an
artist of Hobbs’s calibre should
not be hemmed in by any kind of
thematic or technical regulation
– nor should Brett Murray, whose
work for the award was like a wry
and one-dimensional advertis-
ing slogan. His large text piece,
Power, is fashioned from candle
stick holders and consists of the
struggle mantra “Power to the
People”. Lawrence Lemaoana also
referred to this slogan in his recent
solo exhibition. Clearly the
phrase is coming to symbolise the
disillusionment with the ANC and
its betrayal of the values it once
represented. Murray’s work refers
explicitly to the load shedding of
electricity, but it also obliquely
pokes a finger at corporate spon-
sorship.
Van der Merwe’s attack on corpo-
rate sponsorship is more direct.
His video artwork is displayed in
a corporate setting and shows a
suited man giving a speech. He is
standing in front of the company’s
slogan, “Reaching New Frontiers”,
and, speaking in Latin, he explains
how bees make wax.
This is a multilayered piece in
which the corporate’s ambitions to
be part of the future clash with the
staid traditions of its capitalist out-
look. The speaker also represents
the artist, who communicates in
a language that is unintelligible
to the corporate world and needs
translation. The content of the
speech has no place in this set-
ting, creating an incongruous and
conflicted scene that parades as
if it’s an established functional rela-
tionship. Van der Merwe suggests
that it is in the official pageantry
that the vexed and unbalanced
relationship between the artist and
corporate is glossed over.
On the evening of the awards, Van
der Merwe’s observations came to
life in the trite speeches and cor-
porate rituals that all but ignored
the uncomfortable disconnect
between art and business.
• The Sasol Wax Art Award
exhibition is atthe University of
Johannesburg Art Gallery until
November 5

Enjoy the masterpiece before it’s begun

our quality range of art materials are made from the best local materials and skills on offer.

Canvass, Easels, print and painting stretching

Art Stuff now available on the Garden Route call Paul Tunmer 083 2610084
Tel. 021 448 2799 artstuff@webmail.co.za www.artstuff.co.za
Art Transport withing Cape Area
South African Art Times. November 2008
Alexis Preller’s, “New Eden”
R 43 M for latest
Swelco auction
reflects stability in
SA art - for now
A second highest Swelco record
of decorative and fine art auction
sale was set in excess of R 43
Million by Swelco - Stephan Weltz
& Co in association with Sothebys,
Cape Town in it’s two day auction
last week. Paintings alone yielded
close on R39 million, accounting
for 85% of the sale total. Despite
negative financial indicators, these
results indicate that the art market
in South Africa is maintaining a
stability. 19 new artist’s records
were achieved including R1
680 000 for an Alexis Preller,
“New Eden”, sold for five times
its pre-sale estimate. Pierneef
“Naderende Storm in die Bosveld”
sold for R 3 136 000 The Stern
market held strong: a record of
R3 584 000 was achieved for
a series of 14 works on paper
depicting scenes on the French
Riviera, a portrait titled “Woman in
the Kitchen” fetched R4 480 000.
Further artist’s records include
Cecil Skotnes panel for R504
000. The next Swelco auction will
be held in Johannesburg on No-
vember 11 and 12 in Rosebank,
Johannesburg with over 1,100 lots
of decorative art and fine art. For
viewing and auction details see
www.swelco .co.za
Secrecy surrounds
BMW - Marx settlement
Patrick Burnett
Gerhard Marx, the artist who
reached an out-of-court settle-
ment with BMW South Africa after
he took the company to court
over copyright infringement, has
praised the support he recevied
from the artistic community as
“phenomenal”.
However, the details of the settle-
ment have remained tightly under
wraps according to the terms of
the agreement, with both Marx
and BMW South Africa refusing
to comment. Marx was claiming
R1,5-million in damages from
BMW South Africa over the use
of an illustration technique that he
developed in a 2006 advertising
campaign. The case was set down
for court on October 9, but the out-
of-court settlement was reached
before the court date.
And even though the art world has
interpreted the settlement as a
victory for artists, BMW spokesper-
son Benedict Maaga said, contrary
to reports that the company had
apologised to the artist, no apology
had been issued “as there was
no need to do so”. He said the
matter had been settled “amicably”
on the basis that the settlement
agreement and its terms were kept
confidential.
“Without breaching the contents of
the settlement which we need to
abide by, it’s important to point out
that we continue to be of the
opinion that the advert did not
infringe the artist’s copyright,” he
said.
Before the settlement and at the
time of the auction in September,
Marx looked set for a drawn out
– and expensive – legal battle.
The event to raise money for his
legal fees was billed as the David
and Goliath auction and took place
at The Bag Factory in Johannes-
burg. It raised R450,000 through
the auction of donated works of
art, some from the likes of William
Kentridge.
Contacted by South African Art
Times, Marx was clearly relieved
the case was over, but unable
to comment on the details of the
agreement. “That was mindblow-
ing,” he said about the auction
held to raise funds
for his legal fees. “There was basi-
cally two weeks to do it in. It was
phenomenal generosity on behalf
of everyone.” He praised the David
and Goliath auction for support-
ing him as an individual and the
“unprecedented” support from
his gallery, the Warren Siebrits
Gallery.
“Without that kind of financial sup-
port you really don’t have a
footing to stand on,” he said.
He said the David and Goliath fund
would form a base to support
artists in other copyright infringe-
ment cases.
“I think for the artistic community,
which is quite often seen as
being individualistic, it was phe-
nomenal to feel that kind of
support.”
Page 3
KUNSGALERY
JOHANS BORMAN
FINE ART GALLERY
CAPE TOWN
Speaking about the arts in general,
he said he felt “strongly” that
artists had a right to a private
language, meaning that it became
difficult when this was “suddenly
thrown into the public sphere”.
The Bag Factory education officer
Bronwyn Lace said there was a
“significant amount” that would
remain in the David and Goliath
fund for future situations involv-
ing copyright and for education
programmes on copyright and
plaguarism. “The most positive
thing (to come out of the Marx
case) has been the David and
Goliath initiative and also that this
(copyright
infringement) is a serious issue in
the art world and needs to be
raised.” Irma Stern ‘Still life with African sculptures’ - 1938
She said when copyright infringe-
ment took place artists and galler-
A showcase for the best of
ies often did not follow up because South African Masters,
they knew they would be unable to
compete with the legal fees that
as well as some leading
came with taking large companies contemporary artists.
to court.
However, the damage done to art- Telephone: 021 423 6075
ists could be extensive if the
replicated work was of a poor qual- www.johansborman.co.za
ity as it gave the impression that
the artist did not produce quality Mon-Fri: 10h00 - 18h00
work. Sat: 09h00 - 14h00
or by appointment
Lace said the out-of-court settle-
ment was a warning to corporates In Fin Art Building
that if they were interested in using Upper Buitengracht Street, Cape Town 8001
artistic work in an advertisement Cell: 082 566 4631
then it would be better for them to
engage with the individual artist. E-mail: art@johansborman.co.za
Page 4 South African Art Times. November 2008

I adore Red – the outspoken

autobiography of South African artist Jean Campbell

points of departure to introduce introduction to weaving in Pieter-

Veronica Wilkinson. her experiences which include
Informative and candid, this
elegant soft cover volume about
the work and life experiences of
South African artist Jean Campbell
contains significant art historical
information. Her personal and
professional relationships are
exposed with an almost relentless
honesty as the view we are permit-
ted reveals a character that is both
compassionate and vulnerable.
Hers is an unashamed view of
the sometimes ruthless ambition,
pretension and prejudice inherent
in the vested interests of some
elements of the art milieu in South
Africa. She names individuals and
institutions responsible for
encounters with a complex assort
ment of characters; some profit-
ing at the expense of a victim’s
naivety and romanticism and other
more sinister entities prioritizing
personal political agendas above
their official roles. She believes
that her friendship with Vladimir
Tretchikoff resulted in members
of the small art movement known
as the New Group led by Walter
Batiss and Gregoire Boonzaier,
influencing the decision to fail her
final year at the Michaelis School
of Fine art at the University of
Cape Town in 1954.
Anecdotes are interspersed with
relevant art historical reference
readers to Campbell’s sources
of inspiration and way of thinking
and working. She writes that
“everything that is transcendental
is united in painting and music
through the never-ending work
of seeing by the artist.” Serious
flaws in art teaching and public
criticism are highlighted sufficiently
for readers to realize that errors
in judgement can and do occur
but unlike in medical practice,
mistakes don’t get buried and
enemies are made.
Campbell’s first exhibition was in
Cape Town in 1989 at the Gal-
lery International run by Esther
Rousso. She was accepted as a
special student by the art school at
the University of Stellenbosch as a
mature student in her early forties
after ten years as the guardian of
Gabriella, the daughter of mercu-
rial Le Roux Smith Le Roux who
was once the temporary director
at the Tate Gallery in London.
Le Roux’s wife, Campbell’s
friend, Charmian requested that
Campbell become legal guardian
to Gabriella before she died of an
incurable blood disease in 1969.
Trials and tribulations are laid bare
to acquaint us with Campbell’s
constraints during the years fol-
lowing as economic realities took
centre stage.
Many examples of her drawings
and paintings are included in the
book which asks questions like
“Are artists pawns?” and spans
the period from the 1940s to 2008.
Her childhood experiences are
shared in simple, direct language
that also informs us about her
maritzburg, a practical solution
to a taxing emotional conundrum
complicated by geographical
proximity to Gabriella’s domineer-
ing grandmother.
This autobiography by indomitable
artist Jean Campbell who was
befriended by Vladimir Tretchikoff
and often challenged by estab-
lished individuals and hegemonic
infrastructures in the South African
art world makes for a thought pro-
voking if slightly troubling read. Its
relevance is all the more pertinent
at a time when radical rethinking
is taking place around the issues
of education and standards neces-
sary for competence.
Campbell’s work is in private
collections in South Africa and
overseas and in the corporate
collections of Rembrandt and
Standard Bank among others.
Arts lecturer at the Cape Penin-
sula University of Technology; Val
Hill has written a warm foreword,
laden with insight, to the book
‘I Adore Red’ published by
Contemporary Art Publishers.
ISBN -620-41920-9
The book is available through
Exclusive Books,
Clark’s Bookshop and
Wordsworth
or interested readers are invited
to contact Lindsay Coutts directly
at 021 686 6668
082 447 6262 or
mcoutts@netactive.co.za

ART_TIMES_novTP.indd 1 2008/10/20 01:05:53 PM

Daniel Novela Art Studio
One of worth visiting art places in South Africa is the studio
of Daniel Novela, one of the black landscape impressionists
that South Africa has ever produced before. His studio is
situated in Khuma between Klerksdorp and Potchefstroom.
Just one and half hour to drive from Johannesburg to see
this humble international and highly gifted artist.

This is an opportunity for all serious art collectors: individu-

als, groups, executive corporate, art galleries and Museum
Curators, art auction Managing Directors and many others.
Among those who have visited Novela studio is the world re-
Daniel Novela in his studio Sheep going home. Oil on canvas nowned Mr Carlos Parreira, the former BafanaBafana Coach
To visit Daniel Novela art studio please book an appointment and for more information on how to get there or for a preview see: as well as Mr Robert Du Preez the Managing Director of Mr
www.danielnovela.co.za or email to info@danielnovela.co.za Price who all have made a good collection of Daniel’s work.
or contact Daniel Novela at: Studio: +27 18 489 1780 Fax: +27 18 489 1777 Cell: +27 82 262 3600
 ART GUIDE

Peter van Straten’s work entitled: Sky Marriage from his upcoming show: The Silence and the Bell, curated by Mark Read at The Irma Stern Museum, Cape Town starting 18 November 08
 SOUTH AFRICAN ART GALLERY SHOW LISTINGS FOR NOVEMBER
18 – 28 Nov, Magic Arts Show Second Floor, City Hall, Smith Street, T. 021 685 0676, from 10 years of collecting
Eastern Cape

Gallery MOMO
Until 04 Nov, Group Exhibition. Tel: +27 (0)12 358 3477, Durban, 031 3006238 www.davidkrutpublishing.com 2 Strand Road, Bellville
www.pretoriaartmuseum.co.za Tel. (021) 947 3359
06 Nov – 01 Dec, Life and Life’s
Agony, Dumisane Mmabaso & Kizo Erdmann Contemporary / www.sanlam.co.za
East London Manfred Zylla Fried Contemporary Art Gallery 18 Nov – 18 Dec, Meditating with Photographers Gallery
52 7th Avenue, Parktown North, 01 – 22 Nov, Imprinting the cradle, Shamans 2, Dinkies Sithole 05 Nov – 05 Dec, Uncle Six Fingers, Urban Contemporary Art
Ann Bryant Art Gallery Johannesburg T. 011 327 3247 Janina Pechova. Shop G350 Palm Boulevard Gateway Jan Neethling. 03 Nov – 05 Dec, Until 28 Nov. The Bijou burns again,
06 – 22 Nov, Dikeni turned treasures www.gallerymomo.com 25 – 26 Nov Studio exhibition & open Theatre of Shopping Umhlanga New Drawings, Johann Louw various artists
solo exhibition, Ashwin Ramhith day for classes. 29 Nov – 24 Jan 09 T. 031 566 4322 www.kizo.co.za 63 Shortmarket Street, Cape Town 46 Lower Main Road, Observatory,
9 St Marks Road, Southernwood, Goodman Gallery Paper + +, Pascual Tarazona, Lien T. 021 422 2762 Cape Town T. 021 447 4132,
East London T. 043 722 4044 Until 15 Nov, Willie Bester. Botha, Lindi Sales KZNSA Gallery www.erdmanncontemporary.co.za www.urbancontemporaryart.co.za
20 Nov – 12 Dec, Real Beauty, 430 Charles Str, Brooklyn, Pretoria Until 09 Nov, Studio Solo exhibition
Tel: 012 346 0158 – works by Cameron Platter. Until Everard Read Gallery - Cape Town What if the World…
Port Elizabeth Jodi Bieber
www.friedcontemporary.com 09 Nov, Sakhisizwe Project- The art 06 – 19 Nov, New Paintings, Zondi 05 – 29 Nov, How the troubles
163 Jan Smuts Avenue, Parkwood,
Johannesburg, component of Lifeline Durban Prison Skosana. 20 Nov – 04 Dec, Shany started, Wilhelm Saayman & Lizza
Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Art
www.goodman-gallery.com Magpie Gallery Programme van den Berg / Wang Qingli - Littlewort
Museum
Until 06 Nov, Enough Said, Works 166 Bulwer Road, Glenwood, T. 031 A cultural exchange initiative including First floor, 208 Albert Road
09 Oct – 26 Nov, Africa Rifting/Blood-
GordArt Gallery by Kobus Walker, Anna Stone, Craig 2023686, www.kznsagallery.co.za individual and collaborative works Woodstock T. 021 448 1438
lines, Georgia PapaGeorge
Until 15 Nov, D.A.R.K S.A.D.E., Smith inspired by Van den Berg’s recent www.whatiftheworld.com
04 Oct – 26 Nov, Relationships,
Musha Neluheni’s first solo exhibition Shop 21B, Southdowns Shopping visit to China.
Comparing British and South African
Centre, Centurion T. 012 665 1832 Portswood Rd, V&A Waterfront Franschhoek
collections GordArt Project Room
Until 15 Nov, Lazy Eye – Group www.magpie.co.za Northern Cape
1 Park Drive, Port Elizabeth,
show curated by Michael Smith, Goodman Gallery, Cape Gallery Grande Provence
Tel. (041) 586 1030,
Nare Mokgotho, Willie Simon, Phillip Pretoria Art Museum Until 01 Nov, Clive van den Berg Until 13 Nov, Paintings by Hannes
www.artmuseum.co.za
Johnson, Tracy Edser, Anthea Moys, Tel:(012) 344 1807/8, Kimberly 08 – 29 Nov, New Paintings, Robert van Zyl and ceramics by Ralph
Marcel Waldeck and Karin Preller. art.museum@tshwane.gov.za Hodgins Johnson. 16 Nov – 09 Jan 09,
Until 15 Nov Before Moses, Louis PAM- South Gallery William Humphreys Art Gallery 3rd Floor, Fairweather House Angels, Group Exhibition.
Free State Fourie, Dawid Ras Sus and Daan, Until Dec 08, A story of South African Until 31 Dec, Lino-cut artists, Alan 176 Sir Lowry Road Woodstock, Main Road Franschoek
Look and Paint Art. A selection of artworks from the Grobler. Until 31 Dec, Photography, Cape Town T. 021 462 7573/4, T. 021 876 8600
72 Third Avenue Melville, permanent collection of the museum. Marlene Neumann www.goodmangallerycape.com www.grandeprovence.co.za
Includes works of early 20th century Civic Centre, Cullinan Crescent,
Bloemfontein Johannesburg T. 011 726 8519
painters. Resistance artists of the Kimberley, Tel. (053) 831 1724, Greatmore Studios
www.gordartgallery.com

1980s and artists of the 21st century www.museumsnc.co.za 14/11/08, In Celebration of 10 Years- Knysna
Oliewenhuis Art Museum
Johannesburg Art Gallery PAM-North Gallery Exhibition of donated artwork &
Until 13 Nov, Fractal Young artist The Dale Elliott Art Gallery
Until 01 Mar 09 Disturbance - An Until 21 Nov, Permanent Collection, A a raffle draw.
exhibition. 14 Nov – 04 Jan 09, Oyster Festival exhibition on Knysna
variety of artworks from the Museum’s Greatmore Street, Salt River.
Anthology: a mid-career retrospective, exhibition featuring Scandinavian and
South African Contemporary Art. permanent collection Western Cape and her surrounding areas
Lien Botha. 24 Nov – 07 Dec, Planet Woodmill Lane Shopping Centre,
04 Nov – 02 Feb 09, Artist at the PAM-Henry Preiss Hall Irma Stern Museum
Pixl, annual Student Exhibition Knysna, 6570 Tel: 044 3825 646
Nando’s Project Room # 3, Themba Until 24 Nov, Artists by Artists, From Until 06 Nov, Exhibition, Nichola Leigh
16 Harry Smith Street, Bloemfontein
T. 051 447 9609 Shibase. R30 Nov – 30 Mar Retro- the Museum’s permanent collection Cape Town & Diamond Bozas. 19 Nov – 06 Dec, www.daleelliott.co.za
spective Exhibition -Thami Mnyele PAM-Albert Werth Hall The silence and the Bell- New Work
and Medu Until 30 Nov, CANSA Exhibition, 34 Long by Peter Van Straten Oudtshoorn
King George Street, Joubert Park, Sanna Swart, Lynette ten Krooden, On 26 Nov, 19h00, Double Bill: Two Cecil Road, Rosebank, Cape Town T.
Gauteng Johannesburg T. 011 725 3180 Loeritha Saayman, Philip Badenhorst, art auctions in one evening! 021 685 5686, www.irmastern.co.za Art Karoo
Marthinus Höll, Nola van der Merwe Viewing starts 04 Nov Until 21 Nov, Debut Solo,
Moja Modern and Guy du Toit 34 Long Street, Cape Town Iziko South African National Etienne Van Zyl
Until 08 Nov, I was so much older PAM-East Gallery T. 021 426 4594, www.34long.com Gallery 92 Barron van Rheede Street.
Johannesburg then, I’m younger than that now, Wits Until 02 Nov, For Sale Project Exhibi- Until 16 Nov, Journey on a tightrope, www.artkaroo.co.za
Student Art Exhibition tion, The Art Museum’s Education Alex Hamilton Art Studio Albert Adams. Until Jul 09, Scratches
Apartheid Museum www.mojamodern.co.za Assistants’ annual exhibition 05 – 29 Nov, CAST & CREW, Alex on the Face. Until 23 Nov
Until 31 Dec, Transitions, Hamilton. Woodstock Industrial Park Colouring American Photography Stellenbosch
Paul Emmanuel UNISA Art Gallery Stephen Shore. Until 15 Mar 09,
Obert Contemporary www.alexhamilton.co.za
Northern Parkway & Gold Reef Road 29 Nov – 16 Jan (closed 24 Dec – 04 Voices of the Ancestors Dorp Straat Gallery
at Melrosearch
Ormonde Ext. Jan 09), UNISA final Year Visual Arts Government Avenue, Company’s Until 28 Nov, New Works, Paintings
Until 12 Nov, Yellow Lines, Kudzi Art B Gallery
and Multimedia Students Exhibition Garden T. 021 467 4660, by Jenny Parsons, Drawings by Greg
Chiurai 04 – 26 Nov, UNISA group students’
Art Extra www.iziko.org.za Lourens, Sculptures by Stephen Rau-
exhibition
04 Nov – 13 Dec, Alice Art Gallery Hartbeespoort tenbach and Cermaics by Joy Savage
Rooke Gallery Library Centre, Carel van Aswegen
Solo Exhibition, Wim Botha 15 – 16 Nov, Susan Greyling exhibits João Ferreira Gallery 144 Dorp Street, Stellenbosch
Until 30 Nov, A Claude Glass’: a Street, Bellville T. 021 918 2301,
373 Jan Smuts Avenue, Johannes- 110 Scottstraat, Schoemannsvlle, 26 Nov – 20 Dec, Naked, In As- T. 021 887 2256
photographic exhibition, Liam Lynch www.artb.co.za
burg T. 011 326 0034, www.aliceart.co.za sociation with Mica Curitz (at 80 Hout www.dorpstraatgalerie.co.za
37 Quinn Street Newtown
www.artextra.co.za Johannesburg, www.rookegallery.com Association for Visual Arts (AVA) Street Cape Town): Cathy Abraham &
Jenny Schneider. 05 – 29 Nov, Exhibi- Sasol Art Museum
Until 14 Nov, Ashes, Jost Kirsten.
Art on Paper tion of Paintings and Drawings Until 29 Nov, An Eloquent Picture
19 Oct – 08 Nov, Human
Standard Bank Gallery
Until Dec 06, Judith Mason
KwaZulu-Natal Until 14 Nov, Thicker Skin, Natasja de
Wet. Second Childhood Peter Clarke including Leon Vermeulen, Lauryn Gallery, Curated by Keith Dietrich
Contellations, Kim Lieberman. Arnott, Douglas Portway, Michael 52 Ryneveld Street, Stellenbosch.
Retrospective Exhibition 17 Nov – 05 Dec, A woman needs
15 Nov – 06 Dec, Colin Richards Taylor. 08 Oct – 01 Nov, Lyrical 7600
Cnr. Simmonds & Frederick Streets, a man like a fish needs a bicycle,
44 Stanley Ave, Braamfontein Werf Johannesburg, 2001 Durban Eris Silke. 17 Nov – 05 Dec, 17 Nov abstracts Part 2 of Michael Pettit’s
(Milpark), Tel. (011) 726 2234 double exhibition University of Stellenbosch
Tel: 011 631-1889 – 05 Dec, Re-Turning Heroes, Paul
www.artonpaper.co.za Art Space - DBN Loop Street, Cape Town Art Gallery
www.standardbankgallery.co.za Birchall
Until 15 Nov, Loathing and Loving Until 15 Nov, Ceramics (solo), Ruan
35 Church Street, Cape Town,Tel.
Artspace - JHB and Giving, Ceramics and Mosa- Lindy van Niekerk Art Gallery Hoffmann
University of Johannesburg Arts (021) 424 7436, www.avaq.co.za
05 – 26 Nov, ics by Jane du Rand. Until 15 Nov, From 02 Nov, Carla Bosch solo cnr of Bird and Dorp Streets,
Centre Gallery
Jacob’s Ladder, Susan Woolf. Diminutive - A group exhibition of 33 Chantecler Avenue, Stellenbosch
Until 05 Nov, SASOL Wax Art Award Bell-Roberts Contemporary Art
142 Jan Smuts Avenue, Parkwood, Tel. (011) 559 2099/2556, University miniatures. 24 Nov – 17 Jan 09, 6th Gallery Eversdal,Durbanville,
T. 011 482 1258 Annual Affordable Art Show Tel. (021) 913 7204/5, SMAC Art Gallery
of Johannesburg, Auckland Park Until 28 Nov, Convoluted
www.artspace-jhb.co.za 3 Millar Road, Durban T. 031 312 www.artpro.co.za 27 Nov – 15 Jan 09, Retrospective
Kingsway campus cor Kingsway en Involvement, Pierre Fouché
0793, www.artspacedurban.co.za Exhibition, Fred Schimmel at 80
Universiteits Rd, Auckland Park 176 Sir Lowry Road, Woodstock,
Worldart Michael Stevenson Contemporary De Wet Centre, Church Street,
www.bell-roberts.com
MATHABO. Until 15 Nov Bank Art Gallery Until 22 Nov, Double Edge & Fear of Stellenbosch T. 021 887 3607
Warren Siebrits Modern &
95 Commissioner Street 06 Nov – 06 Dec, Memento Mori , a Black Planet, Odili Donald Odita & www.smacgallery.com
Contemporary Art Blank Projects
Johannesburg T. 011 901 5045 Stefanus Rademeyer - Crystalline Bronwen Vaughan-Evans Anton Kannemeyer
www.worldart.co.za 217 Florida Road, Morningside, 27 Nov – 10 Jan 09, 13th Annual Stellenbosch Art Gallery
Variations. 6 November to 5 November - 28 November:
Durban T. 031 312 6911 Summer Exhibition - 10 projects Permanent exhibition of Conrad
10 December 2008 (opening Wednesday 5 November,
David Krut Art Resources www.bankgallery.co.za including Nicholas Hlobo, Deborah Theys, John Kramer, Gregoire
140 Jan Smuts Avenue, Parkwood, 18h00), Kaffers’ Paradys , Vusi
Until 10 Nov, Ryan Arenson. Poynton, Zanele Muholi & David Boonzaier, Adriaan Boshoff and other
Johannesburg, Tel. (011) 327 0000 Beauchamp & Eric Rantisi
15 Nov – 15 Dec Recent Editions, Durban Art Gallery Goldblatt, plus Andrew Putter, Paul artists.
www.warrensiebrits.co.za 198 Buitengracht Street, Bo-Kaap,
Bruce Backhouse Until 31 Jan 09, Construct: Beyond Edmunds and Daniel Naudé. 34 Ryneveld Street, Stellenbosch
Cape Town,
142 Jan Smuts Avenue, Parkwood, the documentary Photograph, Ground Floor, Buchanan Building, T. 021-8878343
www.blankprojects.blogspot.com
Johannesburg T. 011 447 0627
Pretoria Curated by Heidi Erdmann and Jacob 160 Sir Lowry Road, Cape Town www.stellenboschartgallery.co.za
T. 021 462 1500
www.davidkrutpublishing.com Lebeko. Featuring Roger Ballen, Cape Gallery
Alette Wessels Kunskamer
Exhibition of Old Masters and
Zander Blom, Lien Botha, Jacques Until 15 Nov, Recent Oil Paintings, www.michaelstevenson.com Villiersdorp
Everard Read Gallery Jhb Coetzer, Abrie Fourie, Nomusa Ma- Peter Gray
selected leading contemporary artists. Salon91 Contemporary Art
06 – 30 Nov, Two un/related stories khubu, Zwelethu Mthethwa, Barbra 60 Church Street, Cape Town The Elliott’s Art Gallery
Maroelana Centre, Maroelana. Collection
- A collaboration between Zwelethu Wildenboer, Dale Yudelman, Bernie T. 021 423 5309, Exciting Winter exhibition of latest
GPS : S25º 46.748 EO28º 15.615 06 Nov – 02 Dec. Salon (1) - a meet-
Mthethwa and Louis Jansen van Searle. Until 15 Feb 09, Indian Ink, www.capegallery.co.za works by Dale and Mel Elliott.
Tel: +27 (0)12 346 0728 ing of like-minded people,
Vuuren Indian South Africans in the media: A 80 Main Rd, Villiersdorp, 6848, Tel:
Cell: 084 589 0711 Group Exhibition
6 Jellicoe Avenue, Rosebank, photographic history of propaganda David Krut Publishing: Fine Art and 028 840 2927, www.daleelliott.co.za
www.artwessels.co.za Kloof Street, Cape Town
Johannesburg T. 011 788 4805 and resistance. 20 Nov – 18 Jan 09 Books
www.everard.co.za Standard Bank Young Artist 2008: Until Nov 20, Drawings and Editions,
Centurion Art Gallery Sanlam Art Gallery
Lolo Veleko. 05-16 Nov Timbuktu Ryan Arenson
02 - 14 Nov, Watercolour Society, Until 16 Jan 09, Decade Highlights
Script & Scholarship. 31 Newlands Avenue, Cape Town
Tshwane Branch.
 Around the Galleries

Dog II- 2008. Metal and mixed media assemblage by Willie Bester, J is for Jacob and Jesus by Anton Kannemeyer from his Fear of a Black Planet
showing at The Goodman Gallery Jhb until 15 November. showing at The Michael Stevenson Gallery, Cape Town until 22 November

Work by Wilhelm Saayman & Lizza Littlewort from their looked forward to
exhibition entitled: How the troubles started, showing at What if the world A work by Michael Pettit entitled: Night fall , oil on canvas shown at his
Gallery, Cape Town from 05 November Figurative paintings at AVA Gallery, Cape Town last month.

Geographic Dream | 2008 Wood, wax and pigment by Clive van den Berg A work by Stefanus Rademeyer from his show entitled: Crystalline Variations at
from his show last month at The Goodman Gallery CT The Warren Siebritz Gallery Jhb from 06 November 2008 to 10 December 2008
e

GREG KERR
DRAWING AND PAINTING
WORKSHOPS

Booking for workshops in 2009 is

now open. Classes will be held
throughout the year in Cape Town,
Johannesburg, Plettenberg Bay
and Port Elizabeth.

For more information call Greg at

082 4111472 or 041 3662269
or email at gregkerr@yebo.co.za

By Steve Kretzmann
“Would you like a drink?”
asks Claude Bauscharain in her
charming Swiss-French accent,
referring to alcohol rather than tea.
Although it is only the first time I’ve
met her and her husband Erik Laub-
scher, who I had just interviewed,
the invitation provides a glimpse
into the gregarious and easy-going
nature of these two artists.
Although Erik has just crested
the hill of 80 years of age, he and
Claude nonetheless maintain a glint
of youth in their gaze, if not their gait,
likely from a life of exercising the
intellect, and keeping the company
of peers similarly graced with wit.
In fact the almost legendary double
storey house at number 6 Cheviot
Place in Green Point in which they
have lived for most of their adult life
and in their younger years shared
with the writer Jan Rabie and
Marjorie Wallace, was regularly filled
with visitors such as Etienne Leroux,
Ingrid Jonker and Breyten Breyten-
bach, to name only a few.
It likely hosted the kind of parties
and lively discussions that would
pale the better efforts of today’s sms
and Facebook-obsessed set.
For Erik, who brooked no compro-
mise in his art and explored a wide
range of the abstract in his painting
– through Cubist beginnings, ‘pure’
abstraction, Hard Edge and touches
of Expressionism and Surrealism
– immersed himself into the Cape
Town art world almost as soon as he
returned from his final years of stud-
ies at the Académie Montmartre in
Paris in 1950 which followed London
in the late ‘40s.
His frank nature, artistic ability and
24-year-old good looks gained him
immediate acceptance into the
somewhat small but nonetheless
lively Cape Town art scene of the
50s, a scene he was to play an
integral part in shaping over the next
five decades.
The paintings he produced over
these decades challenged – like all
good art does – the accepted modes
of the time, and remain mesmeris-
ing, decades later.
Cape Town of the 1950 and ‘60s
was, by all accounts, rather paro-
chial, with the public on the whole
unwilling to accept anything more
adventurous than a provincial ‘Cape
Impressionism’ which regurgitated
mountain sunsets, vineyards and
thatched cottages, while Erik’s work
was, and remains, largely abstract,
with hardly a human figure to be
found. Thus he did not sell well until
the mid-‘70s he says.
But in the 1950s, having been joined
in Cape Town by Claude, the mar-
ried couple needed to pay the rent,
particularly as there were children
on the way.
His first foray into business, taking
advantage of an offer by Maurice
van Essche and George de Leon to
run the Continental Art School, was
not very successful.
“I didn’t have any bloody business
sense, really. One was sort of
spending the money as it was more
or less coming in. That didn’t last too
too long,” he says with a chuckle.
“Financial success probably came
about ‘74 when I had gone through
the acrylics cycle, which I was begin-
ning to find a bit too easy. You take
a bit of masking tape and you go
zip zip and work out your colours.
I thought that’s it! Now I must stop
that. And I thought I must go back to
oils and I must relax and just enjoy
painting. And that exhibition did
bloody well. But I had to do other
things all my life.”
Chief among the “other things” was
following the suggestion of a
Eric Laubscher’s rich living
friend who worked as an agent for
paint makers Plascon, to “do colour
schemes”.
And so started about 17 years of
being what amounted to a glorified
paint sales rep, but if there’s a trace
of bitterness in Erik’s voice as he
tells the tale, it’s not detectable.
Having a steady income allowed him
to maintain his integrity as an artist
as he was never forced to produce
work to please the predominant
art market of the time, and allowed
him to travel all over the Western
Cape where he discovered many of
magnificent landscapes which would
become the abstracted subjects of
later paintings.
“I’d see all these abstract shapes in
the wheatfields…it was quite a battle
at first, I couldn’t get the bloody
shapes to go…away (show perspec-
tive) and then slowly it came right. I
would stop and I would look at them
and draw them and see the certain
little nuances that would come in.”
In fact he quite enjoyed being free
to roam the country encouraging
people to paint their kitchen doors
orange.
“I had a nice car. I had a Volvo. You
do 30 000 and then you get a new
one. No speed limits, you’d be cruis-
ing at 80-90 miles an hour. Lekker.”
But working “five and a half days” a
week may have prevented him de-
veloping quite as much as he might
have liked as an artist, especially
since he only had evenings and Sat-
urday afternoons in which to paint.
Sundays were mostly given over to
recovering from Saturday nights, he
says with a laugh.
Yet despite these constraints he
managed to exhibit, solely and in
groups both locally and abroad,
and have work selected thrice for
the Venice Biennale (1954, 1956
and 1958 from which he withdrew
in a protest) and the 1957 Sao
Paulo Bienale, plus arranging a
non-governmental entry to the 1959
Sao Paolo Bienale. He also served
on numerous art committees and
institutions and was elected Western
Cape Chairman of the SA Associa-
tion of Arts in 1961 and was the first
South African to be awarded a Carn-
egie grant to study art movements in
the United States in 1966.
Juggling corporate earnings and art
finally came to an end, how-
ever, when he established the Ruth
Prowse Art Centre in 1970, from
which he only retired as principal
in 1996
And even though the years are
catching up with him, there’s more
evidence of laugh lines than frown
lines on his face, and he hasn’t
stopped painting either.
There are still oil paints staining
his fingers and he talks of this and
that painting which still need to be
finished. But whether he produces
new work or not, he has made an
invaluable contribution to South
African art and made the South
African art scene much richer for
his presence. And after a lifetime of
struggling, somewhat successfully,
for the proper recognition of the role
of art in society, the only time regret
tinges his voice is when he mentions
he is no longer able to take his
sketchbook and camera and go
camping with his friends.
*The Stellenbosch Modern and
Contemporary Art Gallery (Smac)
is imminently launching a book
on the life of Erik Laubscher
and will host his 80th retrospec-
tive exhibition next year. see
www.smacgallery.co.za
for more details.
Eric Laubscher in his studio.
g legacy to South African Art

Images from l-r, top to bottom. Storm Clouds Klein Karoo, Landscape, Warm Maanligaand - Rooikoppe,
Dorre Landskap, Namibia 2005, Stilllife-1949
Photo: Steve Kretzmann
Page 10
ART PIG
Alex Dodd
One of the juicier cultural by-
products to emerge out of Damien
Hirst’s recent $198-million Sothe-
by’s auction was a crisp and catty
debate between art critic Robert
Hughes and writer Germaine Greer.
When Hughes took a stand against
Hirst, expressing the unpopular
view that ‘art as spectacal loses
meaning’, Greer went for the jugu-
lar, claiming that Hirst’s work was
beyond Hughes’s analytical reach,
and that his criticism of Hirst’s ego-
maniacal Bond Street greed fest
was quite simply missing the point.
‘Hughes doesn’t understand a good
deal of art – doesn’t get Basquiat or
Baselitz, for example,’ wrote Greer
in The Guardian. ‘What is being
presented as aesthetic sensibility
is, in fact, moralism, of a kind that
has always bedevilled innovative
artists.’ Personally, I think it is Greer
who is missing the point.
Just because lazy, hollow instal-
lations and mass-produced art
objects are the flavour of the
moment doesn’t mean we have to
accept them in bent and cowered
silence. In an age of the radical
dematerialisation of the art object,
in which concept tends to be king,
I celebrate Hughes’s courage in
boldly pointing out that the emperor
is wearing no clothes. ‘No wonder
so many business big shots go for
Hirst: his work is both simple-
minded and sensationalist, just
the ticket for newbie collectors,’ he
writes. Hughes is the only writer
I know of to have pointed out the
gross absurdity of Hirst’s prices
– $12-million for a dead shark, $10
000 for a mere photograph of a dia-
mond-encrusted skull – when half
the hungry world would be happy
to have a bit of old pickled shark fin
for supper.
To drive home her point, Greer
satirises Hughes’s love of Lucian
Freud, jeering at the fact of him be-
ing impressed by the laboriousness
of Freud’s work. ‘Ha ha ha!’ jeers
Greer from her invisible throne of
contemporary derisiveness. But
again, I’m with Hughes on this mat-
ter of labour. I may well be a child
of the 20th century, but personal
labour in art often impresses me.
Evidence of sweat excites me
– even more so of late, for recently
I have witnessed two major art
prizes (the MTN New Contemporar-
ies and the Sasol Wax Art Award)
being awarded to the most chilly,
unaffecting installations I have had
the displeasure and bewilderment
of encountering.
(As for the Sasol Wax Art Awards
evening, pass the spittoon, Sheila.
I haven’t endured a more awful
evening since that ostrich farm in
the Karoo, New Year’s Eve circa
1999. I thought nothing could be
more dismal than the table ar-
What and who is fanning the eternal braai in Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town
rangements, which agglomerated
mirror balls with wooden hearts and
cabbages dunked in wax, until the
deputy minister of Arts and Culture,
Ntombazana Botha, opened her
mouth. It was all down hill from
there.)
But just as I was about to drown
in a small flagon of post-modern
despair, I set out on the M1 South
to experience Paul Emmanuel’s
current exhibition, Transitions, at
the Apartheid Museum. A continua-
tion of Emmanuel’s lifelong engage-
ment with issues of masculinity, this
exhibition is an exploration of ‘mo-
ments of shifting white male identity
and liminal spaces’. Simultaneously
humble and majestic, it entirely
restored my faith in art’s capacity
to awaken and transform. And left
me with a desire to proselytize and
punt, to encourage every likeable
and deserving citizen of this mad
republic to haul their asses down
south for a dose of real profundity.
If it was evidence of hard labour
that I was after, I found it there in
Emmanuel’s insanely dedicated
drawing technique – the exhibi-
tion took the artist over four years
to research and create. Not that
personal effort is my sole criteria in
assessing the power of an artwork.
But when it is unavoidably, ir-
revocably evident, it does somehow
make a difference.
Paul Emmanuel, Crowning:
Detail from Transitions 3.
Transitions comprises a series
of five ostensibly ‘photographic’
sequences of images which, when
examined closely, are revealed
to be drawings which have been
sensitively hand-incised into
photographic paper with a blade.
You can’t help but marvel at the
madness of sheer painstaking
application. There is something
miraculous in the object that stands
before you – something magical,
sublime and beyond the ordinary.
But this superior level of draftsman-
ship is something I have come to
expect from Emmanuel. It was his
film, 3 SAI A Rite of Passage, that
left me wordless. For he has man-
aged to translate that excruciatingly
sensitized essence of his drawings
into a whole new medium. The film
documents the head shaving of
new recruits at the Third South Afri-
can Infantry Battalion in Kimberley,
one of two national military training
camps, which still performs the
obligatory hair shaving of new re-
cruits. With its haunting soundtrack,
it succeeds in taking the viewer out
of flat documentary reality for 12
perfect minutes – and in that sub-
lime stretch of time outside of time,
the world becomes charged with
emotional and symbolic resonanc-
es that render even the fleeting
expression on a young boy’s face
quite unforgettably nuanced. You’re
in a stark mess hall in Kimberley
circa 2008, but it might as well be
Death in Venice.
Fanning the Flames
THE ART
COWBOY
Peter Machen
For those who live in, or even
near the edges, of the art world, it
is easy to forget that the narra-
tives of art history are absent from
most people’s reality. In the same
way that only a small group of
people are particularly interested
in scientific paradigm shifts or non-
contemporary cinema, most people
are entirely unaware of the great
confrontations that took place in art
in the twentieth century. And more
specifically, they really don’t care.
At the same time, however, art is
seen by many as something which
needs to be properly understood in
order to be appreciated. So when it
comes to broadening the audience
for art in South Africa, this conflict
between not wanting to under-
stand and needing to understand
becomes a
real problem. As a result, there are
a great many people who might
enjoy all that art has to offer, but
instead keep well away from it.
Of course, understanding has its
own rich pleasures. But its absence
shouldn’t stop you from experienc-
ing art – or anything else for that
matter. Personally, understanding
trails experience by relative eons
– with which I’m perfectly content.
I’ll swim down a river first, and work
out where I’ve been later. And if I’m
heading for a waterfall, well, I’m not
scared, it’s only art.
All of this comes to mind because
I’ve just finished writing a review of
the show Silent | Listen by avant-
garde sound-based activists Ultra-
Red. It was a show that I liked,
but which others found problem-
atic, both because of its relatively
obscure art historical references
and the fact that it represents a
specifically American reality.
As well as a haunting cacophony
of American voices talking about
the Aids crisis, the show incorpo-
rated specific references to Robert
Rauschenberg’s White Painting
and 4”33’, the four minutes and
thirty three seconds of silence
which avant garde composer
John Cage produced in response.
Space prohibits an investigation
of that relationship here but if you
explored Silent | Listen without that
knowledge, much of it would have
passed you by. Which is both okay,
or not okay, depending on who you
talk to.
The existence of the American
voices in Ultra-Red’s work also
pointed to another problematic
dichotomy. We want to see inter-
national work, but we also want to
see that same work as relevant to
our own context. And, certainly if
I saw Silent | Listen in a gallery in
London or New York, where the
avant garde finds audiences more
naturally due to those city’s large
populations, I doubt that I would
give much thought to its relevance.
But that might also be some kind
of reverse prejudice on my part
because, at the same time, I’m
seen many cutting edge events in
local galleries that would struggle
to find space in the United States
arts world, where conservatism and
radicalism experience far greater
– and often politically fueled – con-
flict than they do in South Africa.
Galleries have many functions, and
given the increasing lack of public
space in this globalised world, they
represent, or are capable of repre-
senting, a replacement or substitute
for the town hall. Admittedly, it is
inevitably a somewhat rarified town
hall but they nonetheless make
excellent venues for public forums.
This is partially because of their
highly formalised structures and in-
frastructures, and partially because
the parameters of conversation
around art tend to be broader than
anywhere else in the culture. If you
are talking about crime, as a group
of us were, also at the KZNSA
a few Mondays ago, in a space
where someone has publicly made
chocolate moulds of their vulva,
you’d imagine there’d be much
scope for discussion.
But while the speakers and top-
ics were mostly fascinating, the
audience was strangely muted.
Perhaps we’ve discussed crime for
so many years that it has moved
on from the collective dinner table,
replaced by the economy and just
how poor everyone suddenly is.
Or perhaps many people have
already made up their minds about
crime and criminals. I spoke to one
woman who had been physically
attacked but who didn’t raise her
voice during the forums; she was
vehemently in sympathy with Su-
san Shabangu’s “kill the bastards”
comment.
Another successful function took
place at Bank Gallery a few weeks
ago, where Paul Willemsen from
the Brussels-based Argos Centre
for Art and Media showed a quintet
of fascinating films. Billed simply as
non-narrative-based films, rather
than video art, the works were
Shelly Silver. What I’m looking for.
USA, 2004, colour, 15’00
– and here I am being allegorical
more than literal – the work of art
film-makers, rather than artists
making films. It might seem like
a silly distinction but the level of
technical skill on display – even
though it is mostly invisible – is
absent from most of that discipline
we call video art.
And I am reminded of that old
chestnut about Picasso being able
to paint perfect realism. The truth is
that film-makers – whether they are
artists, directors or the countless
teenagers around the planet who
are embracing digital video in their
bedrooms– need to learn to make
films before they can make films.
Pointing a camera at a clever idea
is only occasionally enough, and
the vast gulf between this small
fragment of the Argos archive and
so much contemporary audiovisual
expression, is testament to that
truth.
South African Art Times.
Alex Emsley
THE ARTFUL
VIEWER
Melvyn Minnaar
Dead Memorial
Mid morning, on a sunny week day
last month, Church square was
surprisingly empty and quiet. The
recently refurbished centre-city
public space offered an eerie
absence. Just a street away, the
buzz of business was continuing
as usual, but here the only people
present comprised two tourists
and a young family of four.
Church square is one our truly
historical spaces, surrounded as
it is with buildings drenched in the
politics of the past. The upgrad-
ing over the past year or so had
seen the car park removed and
a paving project executed. Just a
few weeks before that summery
day, the mayor had unveiled the
city’s official slave memorial on the
corner of the square.
The concept of ‘giving the space
back to the public’ seemed
curiously at odds with the lack of
passers-by on that bright morning.
The tourists looked in their guide
and took a half-hearted picture
of the towering bronze statue of
Hofmeyr, permanently fixed on
facing the Groote Kerk’s back;
the kids jumped up onto the stony
boxes that form the new monu-
ment.
The boarded-up, grand-old Na-
tional Mutual building (to become
the Iziko Social history centre) with
its medieval-prison style burglar
bars had a dodo presence. An
empty stage, as it were.
After giving a puzzled look at the
new memorial (not in their guide
book yet), the tourists moved on
(towards admiring the beautiful
frieze, half hidden on Parliament
street-side of the Slave lodge).
The boy, who jumped up on the
bigger of the boxes quickly lost
interest and moved on.
Some controversy (so what is
new?) surrounded the selection of
Wilma Cruise and Gavin Younge’s
proposal for the Slave memo-
rial, but here it is: different-sized
polished granite ‘boxes’ engraved
with phrases that relate to the
Cape’s slave history.
With its reference to grave stones
and heroic plinths, the new memo-
rial, together with the unremitting
dullness of the piazza, paved with
those fake, cement cobblestones,
seems to have turned the square
into a funereal public space. The
unfortunate banality of the grey
November 2008
electricity box on the corner seems
to accentuate the unfortunate
revamp.
South Africa’s slave history is one
of sad, darkest horror. Unfortu-
nately, and to our shame, it has
been ignored for generations.
Hundreds of Capetonians who
merrily wandered up Parliament
street to take their places in that
institution, or, on Sundays, sat in
the front benches of the Groote
Kerk, didn’t know or care about
the Slave tree (still barely visible
as marker in the middle of Spin
street).
At a symposium last month to
mark the 200th anniversary of
the Cape’s famous ‘Jij’ slave
revolt, Iziko’s Jatti Bredenkamp
rightly called the men under Louis,
Abraham and Adonis the country’s
first ‘freedom fighters’. Some were
executed for the rebellion.
Yet only in recent times have
South Africa’s bleak slave history
seeped into general historical
knowledge. Coming to terms with
and memorialising it, is difficult
- as the new memorial is proving.
The ‘boxes’ are simply dead and
dull - weighed down by an air of
contrivance.
When that pretty old colonial ba-
roque edifice nearby was renamed
‘Slave lodge’, the irony seemed
uncomfortable and provocatively
calculated. (Not that some fine
exhibitions haven’t been offered
there.) The new monument has a
similar air of superficiality.
Slave memory deserves more
subtle compassion, less gesture,
denser consideration. It is proving
to be difficult to grasp in (conven-
tional) aesthetic terms.
The Cruise/Younge design under-
stood that a minimalist approach is
perhaps the only way in. Abstrac-
tion is preferable when one cannot
claim to speak for those different
and long gone. But ideas on paper
don’t always work on the streets
where we live and work.
Peter Eisenman’s Holocaust me-
morial in the heart of Berlin (from
which the present designers surely
took a cue) also reference burial
markings, but there the entire
block had become an abstract
cemetery, forcing the public to
negotiate the spaces - and, by
implication, to confront the horrors
of history.
Cape Town’s effort to commemo-
rate the tragedy of slavery was
never going to be easy. Obviously
the last thing to do would have
been to utilise the means and
manner of traditional colonial
monuments (bronze, etc). But, for
now, the solution hasn’t quite been
found. Unless we want Church
square to be permanently one
large void.
South African Art Times. November 2008 Page 11

Work from a collaboration show between Zwelethu Mthethwa and Louis Jansen van Dylan Lewis works on one of his works for his show entitled From Animal to Hu-
Vuuren’s entitled un/related stories” shows at the Everard Read Gallery, Johannesburg. man, showing at the Rupert Museum in Stellenbosch. Show runs until 30 April 09.

Irma Stern “Still life of Blossoms in Vase” Oil on Canvas

SOLD 16 October for R 1.5 Million

Excerlent results achieved last auction.

Results available on request.

We invite you to submit items - art, silver and collectables

for our next auction, closing date Monday 10 November.

Next Decorative & Fine Arts Auction

Thursday 04 December @ 10 am
Established 1891
Antique and Fine Art Auctioneers

43 to 51 Church Street, Cape Town

Telephone : 021 423-8060
Web : www.ashbeysgalleries.co.za
Work by Dorothy Kay, entitled Song of the Pick to be seen at the Highlights 10 Kim Lieberman Human Constellations,
Mail : info@ashbeys.co.za
Years of collecting for the Sanlam Art Collection show in Bellville, Cape Town. showing at Art on Paper Gallery, Johannesburg - We exhibit the very best in good gavel manners -”

Two works by Bronwen Vaughan - Evans from her show entitled Memento Mori showing at the Bank Gallery, Durban 06 November - 06 December. see more information at www.bankgallery.co.za

The South African Print Gallery

~ Gallery manager required ~

The South African Print Gallery - a new gallery devoted exclusively to SA old and contemporary printmaking masters is looking for a gallery manager. The gallery is situated in the
new arts strip, Woodstock, Cape Town, that include The Goodman, Michael Stevenson and Bell - Roberts Galleries. We are looking for an individual who has a knowledge of SA
traditional and digital printmaking, as well as has good organisational, networking and marketing skills. Please send your application to art@arttimes.co.za attention: Gabriel.
Page 12 South African Art Times. November 2008

Art Community Profile: Clive Kellner

Michael Coulson chats with Clive Kellner and his new role

Clive Kellner reckons the optimum
period to run a major art institution
is 10 years. So why is he quitting
as head of the Johannesburg Art
Gallery after only four-and-a-half
years, participating in an exodus
that – for various reasons – is
seeing the departure of the heads
of almost all SA’s major public
galleries?
It would be tempting to see this as
Clive Kellner
a result of the frustrations of work-
ing anywhere in the public sector
at the moment, but Kellner is more
diplomatic.
“It’s the right time, both for me and
the institution. I like to build and
fix things, not just maintain them.
Despite the challenges of the lack
of resources, I believe we’ve man-
aged to turn JAG around after a
somewhat subdued phase, and
Photo: John Hodgkiss
made an impression on not just
the African, but the world stage.
“But I sense that in the current
climate a change is necessary, for
both our sakes.”
Though he’s reluctant to be drawn
on his future, saying that other
developments could also be in the
pipeline, it’s no secret that he may
join forces with Gordon Schachat
of African Bank Investments, a
major collector and patron of the
arts.
At the same time, reading between
the lines it’s clear that he’s
unhappy with the lack of support
JAG receives from the Jo’burg
Metro, in common with our other
public galleries. No municipal
money has been made available
to supplement the collection for
money years, though JAG has
one advantage over its peers: an
endowment from Anglo American,
which at present generates about
R700 000 a year for purchases.
When I point out that at current
rates that will buy about half a
Pierneef, Kellner concurs.
“But that’s not what we’re doing.
There are gaps we need to plug in
our historic collection, but we must
spot the younger emerging artists,
that aren’t overpriced.
“Fifteen years ago we bought
a number of Sekotos and Irma
Sterns at what were still affordable
prices. In 1981 the then director,
the late Pat Senior, was able to
buy works by Joseph Beuys, Andy
Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein from
major commercial galleries in
London for tens of thousands of
dollars.
“They were sent out by courier
in plain cardboard tubes – today
they’d have to be accompanied by
armed guards! That sort of talent
spotting is what all galleries have
to do. We’re continually searching
for future trends, and we’re also
looking at photography – we’ve
recently been buying David Gold-
blatt, for example.
“And we’re already loaning out
works by emerging artists to major
international museums – that’s
both positive and significant.”
For all the frustrations, he insists
“It’s an extraordinary privilege to
have managed this institution. We
own 9 000 works, and the respon-
sibility of caring for them gives one
a sense of purpose and mission,
as well as constantly reminding us
of their historic significance.”
He has no doubt about the major
achievements of his tenure: the
Kentridge show and Africa Remix.
More prosaically, JAG has also
completed the first-ever com-
prehensive cataloguing of the
collection.
Kellner could easily have become
an artist rather than a curator. He
studied art history and studio prac-
tice, and won an award to Paris,
where he says his education really
started. He and a friend spent a
year backpacking around Europe’s
art centres: Paris, Rome, Basel
(the Dokumenta) and elsewhere
opened up a whole new range of
possibilities. He began to under-
stand the power of big exhibitions,
triggering a change in his mindset
from maker to curator.
On his return to SA, he joined the
ANC Youth League and worked
for MK and the Women’s League.
The artistic breakthrough came
when he joined an 18-month
curator’s programme for the first
Johannesburg Biennale, with
Jean Hubert Martin; then came a
9-month programme at De Appel,
in Amsterdam, which was largely
an introduction to the politics of the
art world.
The final stage of his transition
into a curator was being part of the
management team of the second
Johannesburg Biennale in 1997-
98, with curator Okwui Enwezor.
Between then and joining JAG in
2004, the highlight of his career
was running Camouflage, a non-
profit art centre in Johannesburg
and Brussels, until its sponsor fell
out, through illness.
Now he faces new challenges,
but whether in association with
Gordon Schachat or elsewhere,
you can be sure the art world has
not heard the last of him.

Obituary: Peter Schutz 1942- 2008

Jill Waterman
Peter Schutz, sculptor and
teacher, died of cancer at his
home in KwaZulu-Natal on 15
October 2008.
Born in Glogau, Germany, 1942,
Schutz obtained a BA(FA) Hon-
ours and MA(FA) Natal Univer-
sity, Durban in 1982. He won the
Standard Bank Young Artist Award
in 1984, the Cape Town Triennial
Gold Medal in 1988 and repre-
sented South Africa in Chile and in
Morocco at official presentations.
He taught at major tertiary
educational institutions includ-
ing the Technikon Natal and the
University of the Witwatersrand,
and maintained fully equipped
sculpture studios at Wits and in
KwaZulu-Natal up to the last three
months of his life.
Schutz’s work is held in innumer-
ous galleries, nationally and
internationally, including Durban
Municipal Art Museum, Atlantis/
Mariposa, Johannesburg Art Gal-
lery and corporate collections such
as the Telkom, Sasol and Chase
Manhattan Bank collections. He
participated in group exhibitions
with luminaries such as Penny
Siopis, Walter Oltman and Neels
Coetzee; and held solo exhibi-
tions – in September 1998, Icons
and Idols, Schutz @ 60 in 2003,
Extraordinary People in 2004, and
Sentient Beings in 2007.
His long association with the
Goodman Gallery positioned him
as one of the major contemporary
artists of South Africa, capable of
speaking to the universal while
maintaining a strong sense of the
particular in the iconography of
his work. For example, Durban
Icon, in the permanent collection
of the Durban Art Gallery, honours
the rickshaw man – the work of a
common labourer, with a halo and
flames of light. Understanding the
sacred within the commonplace,
and presenting these images was
a hallmark of his work.
Female form and mythology
became a major interest in his last
years with works like: Perpetual
Light, Crouching Woman, A Piece
of Blue Sky, Madonna of the Pre-
cious Blood, Goddess of Vegeta-
tion, Invocation to Light. A feature
of this work was to create an
inviting tension between images
of spiritually and lightheartedness.
He found peace and profundity
in nature wherever he was and
organic life forms were constantly
emerging from his work – tem-
pered by some Bavarian restraint
perhaps, but prolific and joyous
nevertheless.
Although he traveled frequently
and visited major art fairs interna-
tionally, his major works always
referred to the African context
within which his post-war family
made home. Mythic, legendary
and religious inspirations came
from across the board – Lakshmi,
the Madonna, bleeding hearts from
the tattoo parlous – all brought
their own particular richness of
reverence and reality.
His preferred medium was wood
but he also worked frequently with
Malcolm Christian at Caversham
Press, re-creating his 3 D images
into graphics that had a simplicity
of their own.
His approach to his work was as
idiosyncratic as his personality
– he brooked no compromise of
craftsmanship, and only emerged
from his solitude to keep steadfast
company with a few but distin-
guished colleagues.
Schutz said of his work: “I take
pleasure in the physical side of
sculpture and like to honour the
old methods of craftsmanship
with contemporary manipulations,
allowing the work to evolve beyond
the original concept.”
Peter is remembered with great
love by his life partner Jill Water-
man; sister Heidi and brother-in-
law Peter Kurth; his nieces Gabi
and Susi and their husbands
Torsten and Herbert; and their chil-
dren Katherina, Benedikt, Laura,
Johanna and Franziska.
St. Columban II 2007 Jelutong wood, found object and Oil colour
Photo courtesy The Goodman Gallery Cape Town

Financial crisis hasn’t hit art market too hard, yet

From Business Report, Alternative
Investment, By Michael Killeen
As the stock markets continue to
gyrate, the Mary Boone gallery
off Manhattan’s 57th Street just
closed an exhibition of John
Altoon’s ribald watercolours and
oils, after selling five for prices
ranging from $ 10 000 (Rl00 800)
to $60 000. “I can’t say that we’ve
noticed any direct response yet”
to the financial turmoil, said Ron
Warren, a gallery director and
partner. “I would expect that we
will, but we remain optimistic”. He
said the gallery’s usual clients from
the financial world “haven’t been
interested in looking at work or
interested in buying it. But I think
as things settle down, they will be
back” Other galleries on the city’s
main uptown art street also report
that business isn’t bad, but not
quite as usual. The Bonni Benrubi
gallery was well attended on two
different afternoons, with people
eyeballing and buying camera
obscura images by Abelardo
Morell priced from $3000 to $20
000. “We have sold quite a few
pieces to financial people,” said
gallery president Bonni Benrubi. “I
think the blue chip, tried and true,
established work, at least here, is
doing really well.”
Emerging or unknown artists are
another matter. “There is less
impulse for something that isn’t
established,” he said. At the Lau-
rence Miller gallery, which special-
izes in modern and contemporary
photography director Laurence
Miller said clients’ reactions to Wall
Street’s woes had varied. “We are
dealing with few collectors who are
in the highest level of economics
and wealth in the country and it
doesn’t affect them,” Miller said.
He noted, though that “clients
who are money managers are not
answering ther phones”. A survivor November Galleries Special
of three recessions, Miller said:
“Interestingly each time, as people
scale back, they scale back into
photography.” “ There is always subscribe to
an upside to things,” said Warren
at the Mary Boone gallery, “If The SA Art Times at
artists are not able to sell things so
readily, they will think less about subs@arttimes.co.za
making work for the market and
will ask themselves what they
really want to express.”
and get 6 free copies for your gallery clients
Michael Killeen is an art critic for
Bloomberg News. The opinions
expressed are his own.
Fred Schimmel | The Couple | 1976 | 91 x 62 cm | oil on board

FRED SCHIMMEL at 80
Retrospective Exhibi tion
27 November 2008 - 15 January 2009

Det Wet Centre, Church Street, Stellenbosch, 7600 | 021 887 3607 | info@smacgallery.com
Page 14 South African Art Times. November 2008

in•fin•arT
Custom Picture Framers & Art Gallery
Fiona Ewan Rowett
0832673013 rorowett@altonet.co.za

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

Hout Street Gallery

David and Gail Zetler

270 Main Street, Paarl, 7646

Phone + 27 (0) 21 872 5030

Fax + 27 (0) 21 872 7133
E-mail: zetler@icon.co.za
www.houtstreetgallery.co.za

Conrad Theys, Kappertjies 30 x 26 cm Pastel

Cape Town’s largest contemporary art gallery

exhibiting works by leading South African artists

Exclusive

Carmel Art distributors of

Pieter
66 Vineyard Road, Claremont van der Westhuizen
Ph: 021 671 6601
etchings
Email: carmel@global.co.za
Website: www.carmelart.co.za full selection on website
South African Art Times. November 2008 Page 15

The Greatmore Studios celebrate 10 years

By David Koloane
The post 94 era in South Africa
was an optimistic period con-
sumed by fervent quest for a new
form of identity within the broader
cultural sphere.
This optimism was further buoyed
by the introduction of an arts and
culture portfolio for the first time in
the government.
The paradox however was that
most of the informal art centers
in the major centers of Johan-
nesburg, Durban and Cape Town
who were the custodians of culture
during the apartheid era were
grossly neglected to the extent
some like the community project
in Cape Town folded with all the
illustrious history of resistance and
the legendary artists it produced.
Other centers equally affected in-
cluded the Nyanga, Fuba and the
Open school in Johannesburg.
to suspend the workshop pro-
gramme in order to concentrate on
the establishment of the collective
studio concept popularly referred
to as the Bag Factory, Cape Town
immediately became the venue for
the annual Thupelo workshop.
The Bag Factory formally known
as the Fordsburg artists studios
were launched in 1991 and the
residency programme in 1997.
The Woodstock area in Cape
persuasions.
A number of significant resolutions
were passed which had far reach-
ing consequences.
These included the consensus
that art should be employed as a
weapon in the struggle against
apartheid and that artists should
align themselves with various
formations of solidarity with the
struggle.
Goodman and Michael Stevenson
having recently set up galleries
there.
The late Madi Phala was one
the artists who were regular par-
ticipants of the Thupelo workshop
programme in Johannesburg and
was an integral component of the
project.
Madi who was a teacher by
profession exuded charm and
charisma which was preceded
by a joy –of-life laughter and he
became a livewire of the Cape
Town art scene during his brief
sojourn there.
Madi Phala had prior to the Great-
more residency been trapped in
teaching situation in the East rand
township of Kwa Thema in order
to make ends meet and in the
process his creative ability had Walter Battiss (1906-1982), oil on canvas, Gathering, 60x90 (detail)
reached its lowest ebb. CM Estimate R400 000-R600 000
Madi’s residency at the Great-
more studios brought in its wake

5th AVENUE FINE ART

The historical Rorkesdrift in Kwa-
zulu Natal defied numerous efforts
of revival by various groupings.
The Thupelo art project initiated
annual workshops from 1985-
1991.
The workshops were convened
in the Alpha training centre just
outside Johannesburg.
The Thupelo workshop pro-
gramme comprised participants
from different t areas of the coun-
try and varied provinces as well.
The primary objective of this strat-
egy was to encourage as many
collectives as possible around the
country with a view of initiating
programmes relevant to specific
areas.
As per example inspiring artists
from the Venda , Limpopo area
to bring together artists who work
with wood or clay in a workshop
situation.
Of all the regional components
which participated in the work-
shops, it was the Cape Town
group who were better organized
and more effective as a unit.
It was not surprising that when the
Johannesburg component decided
Town was one of the notorious
drug zones similar to Mitchell’s
Plain and Mannenberg.
The Cape Town contingency com-
prised a committed group which
included Velile Soha, Jill Trappler
Lionel Davis and Garth Erasmus.
The Greatmore street studios have
hosted some of the most innova-
tive in its residency programme
such as the late Billy Mand-
indi, Sophie Peters and Xolile
Mtyakata.
In 1982 an event took place in
Gaborone Botswana coordi-
nated by the exiled Medu cultural
ensemble of the then banned ANC
Movement
The event was known as the
culture and resistance conference
attended by a variety of organiza-
tions political and liberation move-
ments locally and internationally
as well as as artists of all kinds of
The culture and resistance
conference was in essence the
first event to bring black and white
South African artists face to face
for the first time.
It was in a similar spirit that the
Bag Factory studio concept
became an integrated space
where artists from different cultural
backgrounds worked together as
equals for the first time in South
Africa.
The Greatmore studios set a
precedent by moving into poten-
tially no-go area of the city and
creating an oasis of stability as
has happened internationally with
cities such as New York, London
and Berlin.
These areas eventually become
gentrified and beyond the reach of
the locals.
Woodstock has suddenly become
trendy, arty and upmarket with the
a reawakening and a creative
resurgence in his work and he
played a pivotal role in the Cape
Town art scene,
AUCTIONEERS
Regular catalogued auctions of fine art, antiques
sculptures and collectables.
Next auction on Sunday 30 November 2008 at 10 am
Closing date for entries for November
auction is 15 November 2008
Eusabius Nawa, soft spoken Auction rooms address: 404 Jan Smuts Avenue,
unassuming and deeply committed Craighall Park, Johannesburg.
to his profession was a miner in Tel. 011 - 7812040 Fax 011 7877593
Welkom in the Free State who at
had an urge to draw. Website: www.5thaveauctions.co.za
After an initial residency at the Bag Enquiries: philip@5thaveauctions.co.za
Factory he was invited to Great-
more and his creativity soared
and he has since become a vital
component of the Cape Town
exhibition circuit.

We make canvasses to size

at factory prices

Framing & stationery

& of course all your fine art

material needs - from Art
Spectrum through to Zellen

Piazza St John,
Sea Point Main Rd.
Tel. 021 434 8982
DECADE HIGHLIGHTS
from 10 Years of Collecting
for the Sanlam Art Collection

Sanlam Art Gallery 22 July 2008 – 16 January 2009

Strand Road, Bellville Monday – Friday 09:00 – 16:30
Tel: 021 947 3359

For more information call the

Sanlam Art Collection
Tel: 021 947 3359 / 083 457 2699 BROUGHT TO YOU BY
www.sanlam.co.za