THE SOUTH AFRICAN

ART TIMES
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Photo: Paul Weinberg (detail)

Page 2 South African Art Times. April 2008

FAIR DEAL
The South African

Art Times
April 2008
www.arttimes.co.za Alex Dodd reports back from the Joburg Art Fair 2008
Published monthly by
Global Art Information Ping! I’ve got mail. And… it’s the ist empire while the Fair was lerists, who were rumoured to be was no designated slinky bar or the Wayne Barker series People
PO Box 15881 Vlaeberg,
official postmortem press release underway was a criticism of its a little nose out of joint about the lounge where buyers and artists Who Love Themselves, on show
8018, Cape Town summing up the exhilaratingly commercial nature. ‘All that un- fact that, As You Like It, the pan- could meet over a Martini to at the NSA stand. These small
Tel. 021 424 7733 manic buying and networking conscionable moolah… exclusive African show originated by the discuss their mutual prospects glowing portraits were something
Fax. 021 424 7732 frenzy that was the first Joburg highbrow Sandton Convention organizers and curated by Simon in Dubai. I was told by one disap- we haven’t seen from Barker be-
Editor Art Fair, during which 22 major Centre… too white… kugel Njami of Africa Remix acclaim, pointed international scenester fore, something new and daring
Gabriel Clark-Brown galleries took up 5000 square fetishism… lack of meaningful was a commercial endeavour. that at Miami Basel there’s an to show off at the Fair.
editor@arttimes.co.za metres of the high-rent Sandton analysis… shallow market driven The argument was that this put unofficially decreed spot where
Advertising
Convention Centre to tout the tastes… bla bla bla.’ Well, to the paid-up galleries in competi- everyone knows they’ll catch a Then there was the frisson
Leone Rouse largest collection of African and me, that seemed like a naïve tion for sales with the organizers bit of art fair action. Hopefully between the hard-talking Jo’burg
leo@arttimes.co.za South African contemporary art and misguided argument, like who ceased to be a neutral, we can look forward to rubbing galleries and their straight-dress-
the world has ever seen beneath griping about the price of caviar disinterested party. shoulders with rising stars of the ing artists, and the more oblique,
News: press@arttimes.co.za
Shows: show@arttimes.co.za one roof. in the food hall at Les Galleries local art world at such a joint understated Cape Town galleries
Artwork: art@arttimes.co.za Lafayette. This niggle ended up being next year. and their Diesel-drag, mullet-
So what’s the verdict? ‘A re- something of a red herring, coiffed brigade of hipster fiends.
Layout and Design
Dogsswagger
sounding success,’ trumpets the Obviously it’s a commercial because the curated show Then there’s the issue of prices. The difference between the art
release. ‘More than 6 500 people endeavour. It’s an Art Fair, turned out to be a fairly dismal The Fair was supposed to offer scenes in these two urban cen-
Deadlines for news, articles and clas- attended… with nearly R30-mil- the equivalent of an upscale proposition and one of the Fair’s an in for first time buyers, but I tres is fairly polar. But opposites
sifieds 20th of each month
The Art Times is published in the first lion worth of art work sold during hypermarket for the tastefully few weaknesses. As much as I couldn’t find anything worthwhile attract and the Douglas says that
week of each month. News and ad- the four-day art bonanza.’ Phew, inclined consumer of rare goods might be a fan of Njami’s critical under the R7 000 tag – hardly an all the galleries that participated
vertising material need to be with the
news and marketing managers by the R30-million! That’s a whole lot of mercurial hyper-inflated value. thinking and writing, As You Like enticing prospect for the aspirant in this year’s show have signed
15th- 20th of each month. of aesthetic hunger, proving Art- And since when has art been so It struck me as being a uniformly collector. up again for next year and that
logic impresario Ross Douglas’s exempt from capitalism’s filthy uncompelling and fairly shoddily ten more galleries will be added
Newspaper rights
The newspaper reserves the right to reject persuasive claim that African tentacles in the first place? put together affair. And by Sun- But let’s not nitpick. For an to the 2009 extravaganza.
any material that could be found offensive contemporary art is a highly day afternoon, I didn’t notice too inaugural event, the Art Fair
by its readers. Opinions expressed in the
SA Art Times do not necessarily represent magnetic investment in an oth- ‘People tended to romanticize many red stickers on those dark was a dazzling success and you And if you didn’t read about it
the official viewpoint of the editor, staff or erwise wobbly economy in which the Fair,’ says gallerist David black walls in the centre of the couldn’t but get excited by the here, you could have read about
publisher, while inclusion of advertising
features does not imply the newspaper’s property, for one, has taken an Brodie, who successfully used room, which some had started hugeness of the moment at the it in the Dutch Financial Times,
endorsement of any business, product or all too sobering nosedive and the Art Fair as an opportunity to to describe as ‘the Black Hole’ glitzy opening night party, where online at Art + Auction or ArtInfo
service. Copyright of the enclosed mate-
rial in this publication is reserved.
a tank of petrol is costing as boost the growing reputation his referring to the negative spatial FNB suits, Desperate House- or seen it on CNN. It seems that
much as an impromptu sketch by new gallery Art Extra and profile dynamics of the show’s layout. wife stilettos, auteur hats and the Joburg Art Fair was the big
painterly satirist Lizza Littlewort his younger artists. ‘With the fashionista waistcoats shimmied global breakthrough we all hoped
SUBSCRIPTIONS of Whatiftheworld fame. ghost of CAPE hovering on the And while we’re on weaknesses, through the stalls taking in the it would be and there are a fair
periphery, people were desperate the other aspect Artlogic could best contemporary work that number of gallerists and artists
NAMIBIA But ‘a resounding success’? for it to be so many other things, improve upon next year, is South African and international who are laughing all the way to
Call John at: Is that an honest verdict? I’d but you couldn’t pretend it’s was finding a better way to accom- galleries have to offer right now. the bank as a result of it. (Three
Tel: +264 81 1286585 say so. Of course, behind a biennale. An art fair is a trade modate the schmooze factor editions of Angus Taylor’s epic
every headline hides a knotty show, like a glorified Rand Show, – that crucial social aspect of art One had an electric sense of all R1-million rock sculpture were
ZIMBABWE compound of contesting view- but instead of Kreeply Kraulies world networking. Although the the gallerists stepping up to the sold at the Everard Read stand
Gallery Delta points. So let’s unpack a few being on the floor, there are organizers did put a fair amount mark in a big, bold way – each on the opening night alone.) Per-
110 Livingstone Avenue,
of them. Firstly, let’s get the R150 000 sculptures.’ of effort into curating the Joburg putting his very best foot forward sonally though, as gratifying as
Greenwood Park, Harare,
Tel/fax: (263-4) 792135 curmudgeonly murmurs from the Art Week – a parallel programme to ensure the rent was worth it was to cruise those stalls and
ael@twinarts.co.zw holier-than-thou clan of wannabe So we’ll start by accepting that of events that took place in and it. There was also evidence of absorb the ripples of the whole
Gilles Deleuzes out of the way. Art Fairs worldwide are ruthlessly around the Fair itself – most of artists, using the Fair as a public goddamn scene under one roof, I
Get your free copy The main muffled disgruntlement mercenary market-driven events. these events, including the big incentive to rise to their own think I’ll save my pennies for less
delivered to your door that seemed to circulate the The other slightly more legitimate Saturday night disco meltdown, private occasions. I was struck, peak moments on the global art
www.arttimes.co.za peripheries of the late capital- beef was on the part of the gal- were located downtown. There for example, by the freshness of calendar.
 South African Art Times. April 2008
Joburg Art Fair pulls R27-m success
Not all the galleries were looking to turn a buck at the fair but most profited, writes Mary Corrigall
Although most gallerists were
keeping their sales figures close
to their chests, by all accounts
the first Joburg Art Fair was a
roaring commercial success.
According to Ross Douglas,
head of Artlogic, the firm that
staged the event, accumulative
sales amounted to R27 million.
“It was a financial success. If
- you compare the figures with the
Glasgow Art Fair that has been
running for a decade and only
did a turnover of around £1.2
–million last year we are doing
incredibly well for our first year,”
said Douglas.
t Artworks were flying off the
makeshift walls at the fair, ob-
served Emma Bedford, director
of Goodman Cape.
“Everybody was really upbeat.
We sold a phenomenal amount
of work; we had to rehang every-
day. Linda (Givon) had reserva-
tions before the show but she is
beaming now,” said Bedford.
Jacques Michau of the Everard
Read Gallery in Johannesburg
dwas more than satisfied with his
gallery’s takings.
“The sales were good.”
The Everard Read did not sell
all the artworks they displayed
but they had no problem shifting
several pricier works in the R1-
million region.
It was also rumoured that a 1947
artwork by Gerard Sekoto, which
was displayed at Michael Ste-
venson’s curated show, Travel
I Your Road and Travel Along,
s fetched over R5m.
But it wasn’t just the big galleries
that enjoyed financial success
at the fair; many of the smaller
gallery owners also waxed lyrical
about their takings.
One small independent Joburg
gallery that preferred to remain
anonymous said they received
a 500 percent return on their
investment in the art fair.
Not only did this gallery sell
everything in their stand but they
secured 40 advance orders for
artworks from their small stable
of artists.
“We totally underestimated what
the sales were going to be like,
had we known we would have
brought more art with us to the
fair,” he said.
As a new gallery still establish-
ing a name and a client base
they found the art fair to be an
indispensable marketing tool.
“We left the fair with a regis-
ter full of names and contact
numbers of prospective clients,”
beamed the gallery’s owner.
Many up-and-coming Cape
Town-based galleries, however,
seemed to be less enthusiastic
about their financial returns,
implying that they hadn’t partici-
pated in the fair to garner sales.
“We approached the fair with
a different objective; we are a
young gallery and we wanted
to make a statement. I think it
was obvious from the Julia Rosa
Clarke installation that selling
wasn’t our top priority,” said
Justin Rhodes, co-owner of the
Whatiftheworld gallery.
Most gallerists observed the ma-
jority of the 6 500 visitors to the
art fair to be primarily Joburgers
and first-time buyers.
“It is great that there were a lot
of new clients; it means the mar-
ket is growing. If the entrance
fee was cheaper (it cost R200) it
might have encouraged a wider
selection of buyers,” observed
Rhodes.
Heidi Erdmann of the Erdmann
Contemporary and Photogra-
phers Gallery in Cape Town
concurred with Rhodes, suggest-
ing that the majority of her sales
were to novice collectors and
that recurrent art buyers didn’t
venture past the Joburg galleries
they normally patronised. She
also noticed the absence of
corporate buyers.
“There were no international
curators, publishers or media at
the art fair like you get at interna-
tional art fairs.”
Erdmann clocked up sales but
said she did not participate in the
art fair to make money. “I make
enough sales from my gallery I
don’t need to attend an art fair to
acquire sales.”
Erdmann participates in art fairs
around the world and says that
her primary motive for taking
part is to network with interna-
tional curators and publishers
so as to promote the artists she
represents. For that reason she
felt that the Joburg Art Fair was
disappointing. Erdmann also
felt that the booths were not
competitively priced.
“A booth at a New York art fair
costs half the price. Even Paris
Photo only charge R120 000 for
a booth and at least you have
exposure to a wider international
audience,” she said.
The stands at the Joburg Art Fair
Page 3
KUNSGALERY
JOHANS BORMAN
FINE ART GALLERY
cost R1000 per square metre,
making the 200 square metre
stands come with a price tag of
R200 000, according to Douglas. CAPE TOWN
Based on most gallerists’
favourable feedback, however, it
seems that everyone did recoup
their costs. Well, except for Art-
logic that made a loss of R1-mil-
lion, according to Douglas, who
was unfazed by the outcome.
“We expected to lose money in
the first year, we will probably
only make a profit in the third
year,” he said.
As one may have gathered from
Douglas’ remarks, the Joburg Art
Fair will not be a once off event.
Douglas said that all of the 22
galleries that participated this Philip Barlow, Pause. 100 x 150 cm
year and ten additional galleries
have already expressed interest
in taking part in the 2009 Joburg
Art Fair. A showcase for the best of
South African Masters,
While no galleries have signed
on the dotted line as yet, Bed- as well as some leading
ford, Rhodes and Michau said contemporary artists.
they were all looking forward to
attend the fair next year.
“The art fair really created a
sense of community between Telephone: 021 423 6075
gallerists and dealers, I think
we have learnt that we need www.johansborman.co.za
to all stand together to make
an impact internationally,” said Mon-Fri: 10h00 - 18h00
Rhodes. Sat: 09h00 - 14h00
or by appointment
In Fin Art Building
Upper Buitengracht Street, Cape Town 8001
Cell: 082 566 4631
E-mail: art@johansborman.co.za
Page 4 South African Art Times. April 2008

Photo documentary of The Joburg Art Fair 2008. All photographs by John Hodgkiss, courtesy of Art Logic

Visitors outside Gallery MOMO’s Stall Artist Wayne Barker in good form during interview on the opening night

Justin Rhodes and Cameron Munro’s What if the World Gallery Conrad Botha beautiful wall art on Michael Stevenson Gallery stall wall

Inside the Joao Ferreira Stall Warren Siebritz and friend at Warren Siebritz Contemporary Stall

Joburg Art Fair Director: Ross Douglas and Cobi Laubuscagne on the opening night
South African Art Times. April 2008 Page 5
GG_ArtTimes_83x200_310308 3/31/08 4:17 PM Page 1
C M Y CM MY CY CMY K

Stern, Irma (1894 - 1966) ‘Still Life with Dahlias in a Vase’, Oil on canvas,
76.5 x 76.5 cm. Signed ‘Irma Stern’ (lower/right). Dated 1941

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Outside the busy Everard Read Gallery Stall – with Angus Taylor’s giant sculptures
 Page 6
As a Cape battle about public sculpture commissions continues, a private initiative is unveiled.
By Melvyn Minnaar
At a time when public sculpture
is very much in the news - some
being stolen by scallywags, other
proposals being questioned by
disaffected artists - a quiet little
street art event in Cape Town’s
newly-glamorous Waterkant sug-
gests that a private commission
can pull it off.
Pull-it-off, in this instance, is a well-
chosen, loaded description of the
sequence of events that led to the
unveiling, on a cheerful late-sum-
mer afternoon, of Kwazulu/Natal-
based artist Andries Botha’s kinetic
street piece in Hudson Street.
Let’s put it this way: 24 hours
before the party for the formalities
on the doorstep of architect Leon
Saven’s elegant new multi-purpose
building, The Hudson, the fancy
concrete bollards that act as light-
ers of the sculpture piece had not
been cast. The custom-designed
hoist had barely been through it
test runs and some of the slabs
still had to be positioned.
At the Origin pavement table next
door, Andries Botha was cheerfully
sipping a flat white and explaining
how the concept developed. In
typical Botha fashion, the piece,
enigmatically-named Latitude 33°
55’ South. Longitude 18° 22’ East,
had taken some wonky turns and,
more importantly, challenged his
collaborating craftspeople to the
hilt.
Andries Botha’s new street piece...
Latitude 33° 55’ South. Longitude 18° 22’ East
Unfazed over coffee, he clearly
had full confidence that the skilful
men who work with the basics
would pull it off. Next night, when
the mysterious, metre-square
wooden cube of L 33° 55’ S. L 18°
22’E slowly rose from the depths
below the pavement, his trust was
proved. And after the speeches,
he called them all up to take the
salute.
It was Marilyn Martin, Iziko direc-
tor, doing the official unveiling, who
pointed out Botha’s way of working
with others, charging their skills
and craft; also his manner of giving
them acknowledgement, while
challenging their processes.
To have produced L 33° 55’ S. L
18° 22’E for a real street life, did
indeed throw up tricky questions
for engineers and building crafts-
men to answer.
So what is L 33° 55’ S. L 18° 22’E
? What does Cape Town’s newest
privately-commissioned public art
work comprise?
Hudson streetwalkers will find
to the left of the entrance to the
new building an area of some four
square metres that seems paved
by curiously-carved flat panels.
Closer inspection reveals a kind
of flattened three-dimensional,
stylised topographical landscape
laid out in half-metre square ce-
ment-cast ‘tiles’.
Stand around for a while, or sit
on one of the three bollard-seats,
and a gentle hiss announces the
lifting of four central pieces of
the landscape jigsaw, as a cube
of dark teak wood slowly rises.
It glimmers and then you realise
the wood is wet, as it sinks back,
unannounced.
The impact of the strangeness of
the action and the water, softly dra-
matic, oddly engaging, obviously
needs to be tested against many,
many casual passers-by on the
pavement. But, at least in theory
- make that a hefty, clever theory
- the concept sits well with the idea
of art that stops you on the street.
The physicality is cool even
hip, yet one will wonder how it
will stand up to wear and tear.
On ‘opening night’ some ‘tiles’
had already been chipped. It is
remarkably tempting to walk on the
deliciously uneven surface.
Botha explained that the multi-
layered concept started when he
stood admiring the open lifts as it
took off behind the solid glass that
backgrounds the space originally
reserved for a public sculpture.
His idea was not to obscure that
scene, and then to parallel the
flight of the lift movement.
Flying back to Durban, the
landscape view down inspired the
topographical design. The idea of
the wet block of hard teak comes
from the durable, wooden jetties
South African Art Times.
that run into the sea. Of course,
the ‘lifting’ of a square from the
deep of the landscape has a paral-
lel to typical archaeological ‘digs’.
Andries Botha’s new artwork on
a Cape Town street is a delightful
addition to our cluttered civic
environment. The fact that it was
privately commissioned is an im-
portant marker. As Martin pointed
out, sadly there is no tradition
of commissioning art when new
building plans and budgets are
drawn up.
The new Botha piece was unveiled
at a time when other contemporary
commissioned monuments were
April 2008
making the news - mostly for the
wrong reasons.
A tragedy was the theft and
horrible destruction of the bronze
memorial at the magistrate’s court
in Athlone for ANC cadres Coline
Williams and Robert Waterwitch.
Sadly sold to a scrap metal dealer
for allegedly R9 000, the work was
commissioned in 2005 for some
R330 000. (Now if only the team of
thieves knew that!)
Equally sad about that incident
was the fact that none of the news-
papers cared to name the artists
who had conceived and produced
this, one of the very few smart and
elegant, public sculptures in the
city. There was no mention in the
news of master sculptors Guy du
Toit and Egon Tania.
A few weeks later, when the city
authorities announced that Wilma
Cruise and Gavin Younge’s con-
cept for the new Slave memorial
on Church square was accepted,
a minor rebellion broke out, seem-
ingly mostly by artists who had
their eye on the commission.
All this, of course, once again
stirred up the everlasting contro-
versy about public art and that
bugbear of democracy: consulta-
tion - and who decides. Naturally,
a public commission like that in
Hudson street, will have none of
that.
South African Art Times. April 2008 Page 7

Rise in copper price and low theft conviction rate gives pause for thought
on the use of new cheaper materials for public sculpture
Patrick Burnett talks with some leading sculptors on the matter
Life-sized bronze statues of struggle
heroes Robbie Waterwitch and
Coline Williams, MK cadres killed
in an explosion outside the Athlone
Magistrate’s Court on July 23, 1989,
were brazenly stolen in March from
opposite the Athlone police station.
The thieves, who attempted to sell
the statues for scrap metal, appar-
ently attached ropes to the figures
and then toppled them with the
help of a bakkie, before loading them
up and driving away.
However, a City of Cape Town task
team known as the Copperheads
tracked down 300kg of the carved-
up statues and 10 suspects were
arrested. They appeared in the
Athlone Magistrate’s Court on March
13 and their case is set to continue
on May 30. Shirley Gunn, director
of the Human Rights Media Centre,
was quoted in newspaper reports as
saying that the Athlone thefts would
force a reflection on the security and
maintenance of materials used in
community memorials.
She said it was sad materials used
by artists were easily carted off for
short-term gain. “It has affected
me very deeply. The community
should talk about these things that
undermine our democracy and what
we fought for,” said Gunn.
The Athlone statues, created by
Guy du Toit and Egon Tania, are the
latest in a wave of metal thefts from
public spaces.
Rising metal prices, especially for
copper, have driven the thefts,
which raise important questions for
public artworks made from valuable
materials.
The South African Art Times asked
five artists and sculptors for their
thoughts on the thefts and the
implications for public art, including
whether the thefts would lead to an
increase in the use of materials with
lesser value such as cement and
plastic.
issue as it is a material that has not
been around for such a long time as
bronze. But it’s not just as simple as
concrete or plastic. The problem is
that there is little technical capacity
out there. At universities there is little
technical training, with an increased
focus on the conceptual aspects.
People must think pragmatically and
out of the box. Technology allows
a great variety of new possibilities
which were not available 50 years
ago, yet we still only, or mostly, think
of ‘model-mould-cast-methods’.
Andries Botha
Award-winning sculptor
I am making a concrete sculpture at
the moment and it was not guided by
that [the problem of theft] but it is a
massive problem. Even the informed
public is not respectful of creativity in
the public space. If we move away
from art in the public space then we
lose the opportunity to engage it
as part of the public discourse. We
should be addressing ways in which
to manage the public space. Part of
the responsibility is the responsibility
of the management of public space.
Brett Murray
Created the public sculpture Africa in
Cape Town
If people want to work in bronze
– and it is a seductive, hardy mate-
rial – then people must work with it. It
does not lie with the artist to change,
it is the responsibility of the police to
bring the culprits to justice and put
them in jail. I suppose one must just
secure the works better. There are
criminals out there who want to steal
and it says nothing about the state of
public art. You can educate people
about the value of public art, but if it’s
not secured properly and the metal
is valuable it will be stolen.
Stephen Hobbs
Well-known artist

Angus Taylor The issue with theft is interesting.

Creator of numerous sculptures,
including one of Brenda Fassie in
Newtown, Johannesburg
There are problems with plastic and
cement. The problem with concrete
is it works as a closed composition
but might crack and break where the
thin pieces meet up with thicker sec-
tions, due to expansion differences,
so an open hand, for example, won’t
work. With plastic it is a longevity
We get commissioned a lot to do
public art work and it is specified
that the work must be durable and
‘unstealable’. The Juta Street trees
in Johannesburg made from 4mm
mild steel have sustained a bit of
graffiti, but to this day not a single
one has been stolen and they have
been integrated into the street.
The neighbourhood seems to have
embraced them as valuable to
enhancing the environment.
Working
(Above) Pieter van Dalen member of the crack “Copperheads” unit who’s teams investigation recovered the sculpture within 3 days of theft. (Below)
a once moving statue of the struggle heroes on their way to bomb their target (it is suspected that they picked up the tampered limpet mine from a
counter insurgency member) (Right) Memory dismemberment - hacked pieces of the sculpture ready for the smelter. (all photo’s, bar the left image of
intact sculpture by Guy du Toit and Egon Tania. - are by Neil Baynes of allround photography.com
Working with bronze or any kind of Guy du Toit problem with the copper price going cement as seriously as they do
valuable metal is a pointless exer- Created the sculpture of Waterwitch through the roof. There are certain bronze. I’m very biased towards
cise. The challenge to public artists and Williams in association with things you can do with metal that bronze, but don’t have a problem in
is to come up with inventive ways to Egon Tania you can’t do with cement or plastic. working in a material that has little
work within the confines of durable Bronze has an intrinsic value that value.
but undesirable materials so that the It would be sad not to cast things in makes it precious. I think it will take
work still looks stunning. bronze, but it’s becoming a real quite a while before people take

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