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Page 6 South African Art Times. March 2009 Shop 46, Broadacres Lifestyle Centre, Cnr. Cedar & Valley Roads,Broadacres, Fourways. +27 11 465 9192 Graham Britz +27 83 605 5000 Megan Kidd +27 84 726 2727 Laurelle Baard +27 79 266 1686 Sarah Sinisi +27 84 568 5639 es SA MARCH09.indd 1 2009/03/02 04:44:58 PM Free delivery within Cape area Anthea Buys First published in The Mail and Guardian, February 2009 Late mining magnate Brett Kebble was considered South Africa’s foremost patron of the arts -- and now, with the sale of his private art collection on May 7, aficionados have a chance to find out just what kind of collector he was. Although Kebble sponsored his own annual art award from 2003 to 2005-- the most lucrative in its time -- he was not considered particularly erudite on the subject of contemporary art. But the nature of his art collection, soon to be under the hammer, may contradict that. d e s i g n b o o k s a n d c a t a l o g u e s l a r g e f o r m a t g r a p h i c s a r c h i v i n g i n s t a l l a t i o n s s p e c i a l i s e d r e t o u c h i n g e x h i b i t i o n d i s p l a y s d i g i t a l s c a n n i n g w w w. s c a n s h o p . c o . z a Custom Stretched Canvasses Hand made Easels In early 2003 Kebble engaged gallerist and investment art dealer Graham Brits as his primary art dealer after a series of fall-outs with his previous dealers. Brits took responsibility for valuing and cataloguing Kebble’s collection, as well as trading lesser works out of the collection to make way for more valuable acquisitions. According to Brits Kebble’s personal taste steered the character of the collection. Although some were critical, Brits says: “Brett was a visionary. He had a love for art, a love for the good things in life. You find a lot of wealthy people in the world but not all of them are collectors of art. Brett was more refined. He had already positioned himself on a number of valuable Sterns and Laubsers when I started to work with him.” Brits estimates that Kebble’s effects will fetch up to R100-million. The 142 works on the auction inventory are predominantly important South African paintings from the first half of the 20th century, all acquired after 2001 when Kebble was declared technically insolvent. The impressive collection boasts 13 works by Irma Stern, 10 Alexis Prellers, 12 Maggie Laubsers and Painting & print stretching Tel: 021 448 2799 Fax: 021 448 2797 artstuff@webmail.co.za www.artstuff.co.za a n g e l a @ s c a n s h o p . c o . z a Cashing in on Kebble’s treasure trove valuable works by other prominent artists including JH Pierneef, Walter Battiss, Thomas Bowler and Vladimir Tretchikoff. Three contemporary works, two of William Kentridge’s early charcoal drawings and a steel sculpture by Marco Cianfanelli, have also made it on to the roll. One solitary George Pemba painting, The Gathering of the Elders, stands out on the list as the meagre representation of black artists in Kebble’s collection. Indeed, his personal collection was widely criticised at the time of the inception of the Brett Kebble Art Award -- supposedly a catalyst for racial transformation in the visual arts industry -- as racially exclusive. Despite its controversial provenance the Kebble auction, Brits says, will be one of the largest sales from an individual collection in South African art history. The gains from the sale of the 142 works will go towards paying off Kebble’s numerous creditors. The remainder of his personal collection -- all works purchased before the year 2000 -- Kebble safeguarded before his death as gifts to his wife and children. Brits expects more than 2 000 visitors at the pre-sale viewing at Photograph: Untitled. 2008, pigment print on photo cotton rag paper. Paper size: 855 x 1120 mm, image size: 960 x 640 mm Grahams Fine Art Gallery from April 16 to 30 and is optimistic about the prices works are likely to fetch despite hard economic times. “We are dealing in an economic downturn and what spare cash people have will affect the success of the sale. Had the sale been done last year we could have raised well over R100-million. There’s a lot of uncertainty, but it should raise close to R100-million, even in this climate. There’s a lot of intrigue and curiosity about the sale -- and there’s a lot of good work,” he says. “What makes this auction unusual is here we have major works coming up for sale with no strategic timing. Brett had a lot of creditors, so the sale has to happen now. It’s an opportunity for people to position themselves on top quality works at fair value.” Ian Hunter, a specialist in painting at Sotheby’s, could not comment specifically on whether or not Brits’s R100-million estimate is plausible given the quality of the works in the collection and the present economic climate. But Hunter says: “The bill of fare reads beautifully as a who’s who of the South African masters ... [Kebble] obviously had the money and the eye for an investment needed to build a very strong collection.” A new Gallery Listings space awaits you in The SA Art Times Once off: R 600 vat incl. 6 Months contract: R 3000 vat incl. Get a big impact in the SA art market At 55 x 126 mm your advertising space is by far the largest and most reasonable priced advertising space in the leading and most widely distributed South African art newspaper Please contact Eugene at 021 424 7732 or email sales@arttimes.co.za Artist: Ann Gadd ArtStuff now available on the Garden Route Call Paul Tunmer 083 2610084 UCT IRMA STERN MUSEUM Cecil Road, Rosebank, Cape Town Tel: 021-685 5686 A solo exhibition by MICHAEL WYETH New Photographs 31 March - 18 April www.michaelwyeth.com
South African Art Times. March 2009 Page 7 New work by Judy Woodbourne to be shown at the Cape Gallery together with ceramics by Wiebke von Bismarck Sunday 15th March 2009 – 4th April 2009. For more information see www.capegallery.co.za Staking a worthy claim for performance art: Spier’s ‘Infecting the City’ takes off Melvyn Minnaar Mumblings about using the image of a burning man as emblem for the second, seven-day Spier Performance Festival last month called it ‘gross’ and ‘arrogant’. Of course, Ernesto Nhamuave’s xenophobiacharged death - from whence the image derive (it also refers to the alternative American festival) - is deeply tragic, but such complaints suggest that a performance festival is all play-play, that life and death is only Shakespeare. But these things can hit hard. Many of us who stood next to the fountain in Adderley street on that first Satur day when Exile was performed, were deeply moved. When the burning man was lit, the waters crossed, washing replaced by sjamboks, danger and sadness engulfed us. Tears mixed with water, prayers floated up. This was fearless street theatre in Africa, in Cape Town. The point about performance or street art is exactly that it intervenes where it’s not expected, that it challenges thought at awkward moments. Naturally, it can be as beautiful as ballet, as dark as tragedy, as absurdly theatre, and as South African as politics. Not all of the Cape Town events, neatly or oddly packaged, took flight in this week. One supposes that that too is in the nature of the unanticipation of the genre - one which, more Photo: Sean Wilson or less invented in the 1970s when the field between all the arts became so happily blurred. Right now, in our post-post modern era, it is surging internationally. (Not that any of pushy art events like Documenta ever went without.) Spier’s Africa Centre (which, thankfully, seems to have abandoned that dreadful amphitheatre which is part of the disneyficated Stellenbosch wine estate) can be quite pleased the way it turned out. Importantly, the collaborative efforts - of which three involved various and diverse artistic talent from different countries and produced excellent pieces, in fact, the highlights - will give momentum to future development and similar ventures. Could Cape Town became Gideon Mendel: from Lusikisiki series Still III From performance series Norman O’Flynn changes the World: showing at the Erdmann Contemporary Photo: David Bloomer an international centre for performance art? On the logistical side, the team gets good marks and the co-operation with city and other officials seems to have been fine tuned. That too is good for more of the same. How and what Capetonians - those mostly unsuspecting of what they would encounter on the pavement, city square or next to the iconic fountain - think about it or have reacted may be worth some research. What matters is that many ad hoc opinions by casual passers-by at, say, the Adderley street fountain and the trapeze outfit on Riebeek square were prompted. These two places, hosted two diverse performances which demonstrated the scope of the art, but it also suggested that South African artists have some real, original excitement to offer. The French company Retouramont’s Tuning into the Void had three blackdressed performers hanging around in the air, moving to some invisible choreography and dreary music. One passer-by suggested a shot on the bum might liven up matters, while a more laid-back academic suggested this was typical of bleek European art indulgence. Down at the fountain, on that first Saturday, Exile - brilliantly conceived by Alfred Hinkel from Jazzart, Michael Lister of the Avanti Display theatre in the UK, Zambian performer Mary Manzole, Penelope Youngleson and a host of agile performers and singers who whipped and rode the waters - had everyone talking. A very vocal bergie shopping trolley couple was ready to join in, while an ecumenical crowd got themselves deliciously wet as part of the ritual and went home thinking about their neighbours. A ritual of a more absurd and camp kind formed the basis of Amakwerekwere, another international collaboration. The attics of rising star Athi-Patra Ruga and a fabulous team of human penguins guaranteed broad attention. Take that, you old Thibault square! Limbo on Church square, a potent piece that cut to the heart of the us/them theme of the festival and the dread of xenophobia, activated the stately atmospheric environment superbly. But the usual clever iconoclastic Peter van Heerden’s An Histrionic didn’t quite come off at the Castle. The parody promised simply felt silly. Most of the other offerings were pretty regular, if interesting pieces (such as Incwaba lendoda lise cankwe ndlela) in ‘fixed’, traditional venues. Personal indulgence, a space and place for some wanking, is also part and parcel of this kind of stuff. The most ‘conceptual’ piece in a way, was Call Cutta in a Box, which comprised an ‘intercontinental phone play’. And there were quite some takers. Which means that Capetonians are quite up for and to the challenges of performance art. How much infecting it did, well, that’s tricky. But that it did, that’s for sure. The South African Art Times 2008 Bound edition. A dream present for all art lovers. Available from Art Times at 021 424 7733 at R 299 incl.pack & post. Are you a gallery, get 6 free copies of The SA Art Times fo a price of a R 180 subscription. email us at subs@arttimes.co.za
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