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Female artists lead second South African sale to world record figures at Bonhams in LondonBonhams

Bonhams holds record for six of top nine Irma Stern’s sold worldwide

Pictures by Irma Stern and Maggie Laubser dominated prices at Bon-hams second South African sale in London yesterday (30.1.08) which was over £2m up at £3.7m on the previous sale in May 2007 which achieved £1.4m.

The packed saleroom in Bonhams Bond Street Headquarters said it all, as 200 bidders in the room and many more on the bank of phones drove prices sky-high. Many com-mented that it was not only South African gold that was attracting attention now. The sale which took place during a very turbulent week on the financial markets, was seemingly untroubled by any uncertainty.

The success of the sale was also evident in the number of pictures which beat the top price achieved at the last sale – an Irma Stern titled The Tomato Seller which made £186,00. At yesterday’s sale the top price was £378,400 (esti-mate £250,000 to £350,000) for Lot 79, Irma Stern’s `Still life with chrysanthemums and a pumpkin’. This set a new world record for a still life by this artist. Irma Stern (1894-1966), South Africa’s artistic grande dame, entrenched her reputation at this sale with seven paintings in the top ten pictures sold. Prices ranged from £378,400 to £120,000

Another well-known female art-ist, Maria Magdalena (Maggie) Laubser, (1886-1973), achieved a stunning result with lot 65, The Harvesters which made £126,000

against an estimate of £25,000 to £35,000. This is a world record price for a Maggie Laubserlandscape painting.The only other painter to make the top ten was Jacob Hendrik Pierneef (1886-1957) who was represented by two pictures, lot 38 Olifants River, Northern Transvaal, which made £108,000 and lot 39 Acacia trees on the veldt, £81,600.

Giles Peppiatt, Director of Bonhams South African sales expressed delight at the growth and strength of this particular art market. “We have seen great strength in depth with 72 per cent sold by value. What we are seeing is knowledgeable buying with the best prices achieved by quality. One is always nervous to speak about investment value but the best works have always appreci-ated in value.”With the largest proportion of buyers being from the USA and Europe, South African Art is now truly well established as an inter-national market. This second Bonhams South African sale featured 295 pictures by 100 artists. The next South Afri-can Sale at Bonhams in London’s Bond Street, will take place in September 2008.

Nine world records achieved

Lot 79: world record for an Irma Stern still-life

Lot 65: world record for a Maggie Laubser landscape

Lot 59: world record for an Adolph Jentsch (beating Bonhams previ-ous record)

Lot 267: world record for a Helen Sebidi (£36,000; previous record was US$2,750!)

Lot 150: world record for a Fran-cois Krige

Lot 151: no.2 for a KrigeLot 19: world record for a Frans Oerder still-life

Lot 191: world record for a Freder-ick Hutchison Page

Lot 201: world record for an Alexis Preller installation

Lot 34: world record for a Tinus de Jongh.

Young eyes blazing confidently into eternity , a young and beautiful Maggie (Maria Magdalena) Laubser (1886 – 1973) Self Portrait, dated 22 (1922) is on The Sotheby’s Decorative and Fine Art Auction 19 & 20 February. This sketch, as it is referred to in Johan van Rooyen’s essay on the artist, is reflective of the turning point in the artist’s style. Estimate price is R 30 000 – 50 000. For more work see www.swelco.co.za

Page 2 South African Art Times. February 2008

The South African

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Steve Kretzmann

CAPE TOWN (WCN) Longstanding staff leaving on acrimonious terms, a major funder prematurely cancelling a lucrative contract, and an inability to pay creditors has led to questions being asked about the Crafts Council of South Africa’s ability to assist local crafters.It would appear the CCSA’s integrity has eroded rapidly since the resignation of the then Chief Executive Officer Susan Sellschop in May 2006.Sellschop had founded the NGO with Wendy Goldblatt in 1991 and, according to many involved, cre-ated a strong organisation which greatly benefited a number of crafters throughout the country by providing access to international markets, skills and networks.Central to the CCSA’s success at the time was a contract obtained in 2001 with the Handswerkskammer des Saarlandes (HWK), which pro-vided some essential core funding and opened doors to European trade fairs and exhibitions, as well as numerous skills projects locally.The CCSA’s former HWK Saarlandes projects co-ordina-tor Susanne Allers – who walked away from the CCSA in April last year – said the HWK’s funding amounted to “a few millions”.However, following a major reshuf-fle of the board at the 2006 AGM, which some members described as a “BEE move”, and Sells-chop’s subsequent resignation, HWK managing director Hans-Ulrich Thalhofer said it became increasingly difficult to accomplish planned activities. In an email from Germany, Thal-hofer said the HWK was not kept up to date with project activities and there was a “breakdown in communication”.He said although attempts to sup-

port the CCSA were renewed in 2007, HWK were forced to break completely with them.Their contract of co-operation origi-nally signed in 2001, would have extended until March this year.Allers said a contingent from the HWK visited South Africa twice in 2007 to try patch the relationship and find workable solutions, but were “kicked in the teeth”.She said it appeared as if the CCSA, which was “going places” at the time, wanted to “get rid of the old stock (personnel)”.But it “happened in a terrible man-ner”, she said.One pointer to the CCSA’s current administrative difficulties is the fact that work produced by 30 jewellers has been in storage for over six months following an exhibition tour of Munich, Berlin and Turnov last year.Although the last exhibition, in Turnov, ended in July last year, the jewellery was only freighted back to South African at the end of November.The jewellery, estimated by jewellers to be worth over R150 000, has been held by customs clearing agents Micor for a further two months as the CCSA has been unable to pay their outstanding bill of R22 000.Their former funders, the HWK, have finally agreed to settle the CCSA’s bill so that the work can be returned to the crafters, although they were under no obligation to do so.Emails sent between the network of jewellers reveal mounting frustration with the CCSA, indicat-ing a lack of communication and perceived irregularities over pay-ment for work sold overseas, with some jewellers threatening to sue or lodge cases of theft against the organisation.Jeweller Adeline Joubert from Firepetals Creative Studios said

the administrative bungle, resulting in about R16000 worth of their work being out of their hands, had affected their income.“We could’ve sold it many times over by now,” she said.Joubert said last years’ European exhibition tour was the first time they had engaged with the CCSA and everything went very well in the beginning.“They were very professional, contacted us every week and let us know what was happening.”But she said after Allers left in May, things went rapidly downhill.“Afterwards we heard nothing from them. The lines went all dead.”Additionally, she said about R2000 worth of Firepetal’s jewellery was sold during the exhibition, but pay-ment from the CCSA was never forthcoming, until she resorted to sending lawyer’s letters.Jewellery exhibitor Beverley Price said the CCSA was “in over their heads” and “nobody wants any-thing to do with the Crafts Council now”.Price said the current situation was a “tremendous loss” as she had experienced “incredible benefits” from the CCSA in the past.Referring particularly to exhibi-tions at the Munich International Trade Fair, she said the CCSA had “opened up my career”.But she noted that she was relatively well off financially and there were people in rural areas who were in much greater need of proper support from the CCSA.Current CCSA CEO Veliswa Gwin-tsa said she could not comment on the circumstances under which Sellschop and Allers left as she was only appointed in March last year, after Sellschop had resigned, and Allers left a month later.Regarding the administrative bun-gle over the jewellery which was exhibited in Europe last year, Gwintsa put the blame on Allers,

who had been co-ordinating the project up until she left.She said delays were caused in Turnov by paperwork not being completed correctly, and the sub-sequent bill demanded by Micor was not budgeted for because more work returned than was expected.This was due to jewellery having left the country in exhibitor’s hand-bags and was thus undeclared – a fact substantiated by Micor – with the result that it caused problems when it was freighted back into the country.“Ideally, everything should have been sold,” she said, negating the

need to pay a customs clearing agent. “The costs are costs we should not be incurring.”Whether or not the CCSA was in financial difficulty, she said: “We are like any other NGO, reliant on funding.”She said she could not comment on whether similar problems had been experienced in the past when work had been sent to interna-tional exhibitions.Numerous attempts to get com-ment from current board chairper-son Evelyn Senna, or to get further comment from Gwintsa, were unsuccessful. – West Cape News

Major funder ends contract as Crafts Council bungles

Dendy Easton, Senior British and Continental Paintings Consultant and Joanna Hardy, Senior Jewels Specialist and Head of Department will be visiting South Africa from 25 Feb to 7 March 2008.

If you would like an appointment for an appraisal or require a visit, please contact us.

A series of lectures will also be conducted in Johannesburg and Cape Town on the following dates:

Johannesburg: Wednesday, 27 February at 4pm,

Stephan Welz & Co in assoc with Sothebys, 13 Biermann Ave, Rosebank Cape Town: Thursday, 6 March at 5pm, TH Barry Lecture Theatre, Iziko South African Museum, 25 Queen Victoria Street. R50 per person

Schedule:White River - 25 FebruaryJohannesburg 26-27 FebruaryDurban 28-29 FebruaryThe Garden Route 3 – 4 MarchCape Town 5-7 March

Enquiries: 011-880 3125 or 021-794 64 61

Visiting Sotheby’s London Specialists

Dendy Easton Joanna Hardy

South African Art Times. February 2008 Page 3

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Cracked bowl with red cloth by Maud Sumner

Melvyn MinnaarThe Cape Times

The British government has just announced that it will make an exceptional grant of a whopping £50 million towards the expan-sion of London’s Tate Modern art museum.This generous support for the visual arts from the authorities, will increase the capacity of this popular venue substantially in time for the 2012 Olympic Games in the British capital.It is clear that, in the UK arts and culture are seen as a central part of the attraction of such an event - and worth serious investmentContrast this to South Africa and Cape Town, where arguably an even bigger sports event, the Fifa World Cup, takes place in 2010. Has anyone heard anything about art and culture being promoted, not to mention grants being made to our crumbling art museums and galleries?The British secretary of state for culture, media and sport, James Purnell, is quoted as saying that the very popular Tate Modern was the leading exhibitor of modern art in the world, and well worth the support as “the defining project of the millennium”.The Tate Modern draws hundreds of thousands of visitors as the sec-ond most visited tourist destination in the UK.Famous Swiss architects Herzog and DeMeuron will design the extension. The same architects were responsible for the Beijing Olympic stadium, nicknamed “The Bird’s Nest”, which is already drawing massive tourist attention as a landmark.Contrast this to the new Green Point stadium. Does anyone

actually know who designed this? Will this massively-expensive, bought-off-the rack “design” have any architectural merit at all? What a wasted opportunity to make a statement -for good (African) archi-tecture this entire process seems to have been.Meanwhile Cape Town’s art institu-tions are battling to stay alive. And there is no word about doing anything about it for 2010.In the Company’s Garden, Iziko’s SA National Gallery is desperately understaffed and underfunded.The elegantly operatic Labia museum in Muizenberg, a curious “satellite” for Iziko’s art endeavours - once a jolly place to spot how those |in the gilded cage lived, but also a fine space for small cham-ber art exhibitions - is presently in the spotlight because of neglectOriginal benefactor, Count Labia, is claiming back the property which he gave to the state as a public museum. The fine old building and its treasures have been boarded up due to lack of Iziko funds. The way things stand. Cape Town is going to miss a rare opportunity to showcase our art and culture to the world in 2010. Art tourism is one of the world’s great growth industries - in many instances, out-performing sport. Yet no one seems to pick up on this locallyTaking up on the British govern-ment’s investment in the arts and now in the Tate Modern’s expansion, ideally Cape Town should have had a city museum of contemporary art for the tourist onslaught of 2010.South Africa and Cape Town have the artists and even the architects but we don’t have the vision by the authorities.

Reprinted from the Cape Times

Andrée Bonthuys reports from Bantamsklip

A Creative Land Art Protest was held at Bantamsklip in the South Western Cape, one of the 5 pro-posed nuclear sites, on January 27th 2008. The workshop, organised by land artist Andrée Bonthuys, involved members of BANG (Bantamsklip Anti-Nuclear Group), as a way of releasing the frustrations caused by a buck-passing, bumbling government/eskom and more importantly, to serve as a wake-up call to the complacent, trusting, un-informed, energy-guzzling public. And of course, to express the personal emotions of the artists themselves, who all live within

either the undesirable 5km, 10km or 16km radius of the proposed nuclear site. Dealing with the threat of a nuke, 2.5 times the size of Koeberg, in your pristine biosphere backyard is bad enough, but all live totally or partially off the national electric-ity grid and survive extremely happily, without the power outages the rest of the country has been experiencing, using the plenti-ful alternative energy resources available in this land of sunshine and wind. Anyone wishing to further land art protest workshops should contact Andrée at andree@whalemail.co.za or on 0726223456

SA doesn’t have vision to punt arts for 2010

Land Art as creative protestJoshua Miles: Stranded Kelp Boat Photo: Andrée Bonthuys

Peter Eastman, Cape Town: exhibits at the Obert Contemporary Gallery, Jhb

South African Art Times. February 2008Page 4 South African Art Times. February 2008

By Melanie PetersWeekend Argus

Artworks by famous South Africans are expected to fetch all-time record prices when they go under the hammer in London next month.But local art admirers fear the six-figure sums are pricing local galleries out of the market and that South Africa’s art heritage is being lost to the country.Bonhams, one of the world’s oldest and largest auctioneers of fine art and antiques, became the first international auction house in the world to hold a sale dedicated solely to South African art outside of South Africa.Bonhams’ Director of South African Art, Giles Peppiatt, said this was the third such auction and it expected to gross up to £5 million (R70m).The continuing strength of the South African art market had pro-duced exceptional prices, including £123 450 for Gerard Sekoto’s Self Portrait, which shattered the previous world auction record for the artist.

“Private buyers, collectors and mu-seum and gallery curators from the United States, Europe and Britain have all shown serious interest in the sale at the end of January next year. This will make it the biggest sale of South African work.”

Peppiatt said they had already consigned a number of important works for sale, by artists such as Irma Stern, Jacob Pierneef, Maggie Laubser, Helen Sebidi and Dylan Lewis. In an auction held in London earlier this year, three works of South Africa’s major artists such as Alexis Preller, Adolph Stephan Friedrich Jentsch and Alfred Frederic Krenz sold at record prices. The sale realised a

total Of £1 422 528.The top two sales were of Irma Stern’s The Tomato Picker and Portrait of a West African Girl, which fetched £186 000 and £138 000 respectivelyPeppiatt was in South Africa in September sourcing more artwork for next month’s auction.But while the art is doing well internationally there is concern in local circles that South Africa’s art heritage is being lost. The govern-ment budget for buying art has been slashed to the point where the entire annual allocation for purchases cannot cover the cost of a single major work.The Iziko National Gallery in the Company’s Garden, which houses the country’s national collection, is not even trying to buy the works of great South African artists. The budget of just R200 000 is R40 000 less than it was in 1986. It is a fraction of the amount spent by national galleries in other countries: R45m in Britain, R60m in Australia and R205m in the US.Curator of paintings and sculpture, Hay den Proud, slammed the ongoing under-funding of acquisi-tions as “parlous”. He said he had a table of comparative figures on acquisitions spent by other institutions in South Africa and internationally.It seems that despite efforts to draw attention to the funding crisis, ignorance and indifference continue to prevail. “We here at the Iziko SA National Gallery are doing our utmost best to keep this coun-try’s flag flying proudly with major exhibitions of South African art from our collection being staged in Barcelona and New Delhi at this very moment.“If we were representing sport instead of culture there is no doubt that there would be more funds available for making this a viable

institution, and there would be tax breaks for donors where none exist at the moment.”

Iziko National Gallery Director Marilyn Martin said the acquisi-tion budget was unacceptable. “It’s much , worse than a year ago. It is a / complete outrage. !“The temptation to sell’ the works in pounds sterling is great, and it makes it difficult to retain these artworks, but the gallery has canvassed the financial support of the Friends of the Gallery.”Peppiatt said the problem was not confined to South Africa; Britain was in a similar situation, with galleries unable to afford to buy British art. “The situation is slightly different in the US were there are generous tax incentives for those who donate art to national galleries.”The CEO of the South African Heritage Resources Agency, Phakamani Buthelezi. said: “There is an urgent need to have dedi-cated funding so that South Africa keeps its heritage and that future generations continue to appreciate what we have. Clearly, there is a role for both the private sector and public sector in the setting up of such a fund.”According to law, the agency can prevent the export of an art piece and try to find a local buyer. But if the agency cannot find one then the piece can be exported.This is the challenge, because South Africa does not have a fund to retain heritage objects. In addition, museum budgets are not geared towards competing with the private sector on the open market where objects are sold to the highest bidder generally because of the object’s intrinsic investment value. Reprinted from the Weekend Argus

Patrick Burnett

CAPE TOWN (WCN)

Controversy has erupted around a Stellenbosch-based artist who uses urine in some of her artistic creations, after an Afrikaans Sunday newspaper reported on complaints that she had shown her students a naked photograph of herself urinating on her artwork.

Carol-Anne Gainer, who works at the Stellenbosch Academy of Design and Photography, has hit back at the claims.

“While in some of my work I utilise urine or the image of urinating Ido not urinate on artworks – the urination is itself the artwork,” shesaid.

Gainer, who has used urine in some although not all of her works, has exhibited at the Bell-Roberts Gallery in Cape Town, curated a show at the South African National Gallery and has her work in a number of public collections.

Embedded, she dug a three metre by four metre bedroom in a suburban garden.

In one of her installation pieces called Embedded, she dug a threemetre by four metre bedroom in a suburban garden.The one metre deep dug-out

had wallpaper, a bed and a TV, which showed a video called Piss in which she is shown from the waist down urinating through her panties. It was this image that she showed to students and which apparently led to complaints from the student body.Around the perimetre of the instal-lation water leaked from a metalpipe, eroding the structure.“The whole idea around that was working with something that was a safe space, a domestic environ-ment, and that becoming eroded. That leads to

a number of other issues to do with private and public [spaces],gender issues and issues of post-colonialism and neo-colonialism.”Since the publication of the article, supporters have sprung to her defence.

The ArtHeat blog said reducing her work to a woman “urinating on herartwork” was a “gross misrepre-sentation” but also “a patronisingattack on female artists’ rights to make work that deals with issuesof femininity and the abject body”.“Would these students complain about a classical, or contemporary,photograph of a female nude? Could we really be that backward, and conservative to fear this kind of art making? Well, apparently inStellenbosch, we are,” said an entry on the blog.

Gainer maintains that the Academy supports her, together with “99%” of students and the contemporary art world.

“I don’t feel I’m like this lone sol-dier out behind the boereworscurtain,” she said, even though she admits that she finds Stel-lenbosch conservative. Mentioning Steven Cohen, the controversial

public performance artist, she said she is “like chewing gum, like bubble gum”.

The use of urine or references to it in artistic work have been aroundfor centuries, and Gainer links her work to an exploration of privateand public spaces, gender and issues of colonialism, post-coloni-alism and neo-colonialism.

The gap between urine and space, gender and politics is associatedwith the marking of territory.“I think that a very similar thing happens with men when they piss in certain areas. It might be a very simple, bodily function, yes, fine,but it also is an issue of being able to piss then and there andfeeling that you have the power that translates into a state ofownership, so its linked into this kind of colonialist, post-colonialist, neo-colonialist debate because of those things, because of the power embedded in it.”

She gives the example of how she had to struggle to find an area withred earth - “for me the kind of sym-bolism of Africa” - to make thevideo installation, which she de-scribes as being “really difficult”because she is female.“Had I been a male, no problem, you whip it out anywhere, you can piss anywhere, its not an issue,” she said.

Exploring baser bodily functions is not new, points out Gainer,mentioning Freud, who contended that the first creative act a childdoes is squish their own faeces, showing that theoretically her workis situated in a broader context and cannot be inaccurately reduced to her urinating on her artwork. -- West Cape News

SA can’t afford to keep its art heritage Government budget cant meet UK auction prices

Furore over urine paintings

South African Art Times. February 2008 Page 5

In the heart of Welgemoed, with an impressive view of the Bellville Golf Course, the gallery is situated with its tranquil ambience in a stylish, homely environment. It is the ideal place for art lovers to enhance their souls amongst one of the largest collections of South African Art.

The gallery also offers a selection of modern framing techniques and art restoration.

WORKS OF ART BY:

Jeffrey Appollis, Anine Barnard, Rick Becker, Alexis Bester, Sandi Beukes, Nadia Bezuidenhout, Gregoire Boonzaier, Carla Bosch, Adriaan Boshoff, John Botham, Mel Brigg, Liesel Brüne, Carl Büchner, Frans Claerhout, Gavin Calf, Christo Coetzee, Johan Coetzee, Cedric Coetzer, Glenn Cox, Dimitrov, Tony de Freitas, Hannetjie de Clercq, Tinus de Jongh, Jan de Rooster, Erna Dry, Duggie du Toit, Dale Elliot, Titus Faciotti, Edna Fourie, Ann Gadd, Anthony Gadd, Frans Groenewald, Piet Grobler, Sandra Hanekom, Ian Hertslet, Izolda Heydenrich, Michael Heyns, Christa Kearns, Theo Kleynhans, Alexan-der Krenz, Francois Krige, Amos Langdown, Isabel le Roux, Mary McMillan, Lukas Vusi Mahome, Robin Mann, Terence McCaw, Jenny Merritt, Dino Paravano, Petro Neal, Hennie Niemann, Gilbert Pearse, David Reade, Joy Rose Innes, Roelof Rossouw, Audrey Rudnick, Elmarie Smit, Johan Smith, Willie Steyn, Vernon Swart, Giorgio Trobec, Conrad Theys, Pat van der Merwe, Pieter van der Westhuizen, Kaffie Pretorius, Derric van Rensburg, Bert van Wyk, Frieda van Zyl, Jan Vermeiren, Theo Paul Vorster, Elzette Welgemoed, Volga White, Katherine Wood etc.

Gallery hours: Weekdays: 09h00-18h00 Saturdays: 09h00-14h00 Sundays: 15h00-17h00 Enquiries: 31 Kommandeur Road, Welgemoed, Bellville Tel. 021-913 7204/5, Fax. 021-913 7206 Email: lindy@artpro.co.za, Website: www.artpro.co.za, www.lindyvanniekerk.com

‘Be Inspired by Our World of Creativity’

We buy and sell paintings by South African Old Masters

Patrick Burnett

CAPE TOWN (WCN)

It was to have been a prestigious gallery showcasing the finest examples of African wildlife and landscape photography, housed in a premium location in central Cape Town.

But just weeks after the November opening of the Wild Screen Africa gallery in the Hudson Building in De Waterkant, the gallery’s pro-prietor removed the photographs on display and vanished, leaving everyone involved with a string of unpaid bills and unanswered questions.

Furious photographers, framers, property agents and a cleaner who did business with the gallery say they are owed money and are ea-ger to establish the whereabouts of the proprietor, Stephen Edds, who is believed to have left the country for the United Kingdom. In the meantime, the property management agents for the build-ing have launched an action in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court to recover arrear rental of nearly R80,000 from Edds.

Smaller contractors interviewed said they are owed lesser amounts, but believe the legal costs of recovering the money would not make it worth their while.

The whereabouts of an estimated 30-40 photographic prints removed from the gallery, at least one of which is valued at more than R20,000, are believed to be stored

in a Green Point flat rented by Edds.But Edds has not been seen at the flat since the closure of the gallery in late November, although the property agents confirm that he paid the R5,000 rent due on the flat for January by post.After the sudden closure, Edds was initially in contact by email, telling photographers that he had temporarily closed the gallery because the building was in a bad state and that he planned to re-open on January 7.

In an email to photographers on December 15, Edds said he had returned to the United Kingdom because of a family tragedy.“I also decided that although the gallery itself was looking fabulous the rest of the building was still fully finished with a lot of dust and noise. I was very concerned about the situation and decided to renegotiate the terms and condi-tions of the lease. I am still fully committed to the project and we will reopen on 7th January,”[sic] the email reads.But the gallery failed to reopen and there has been no news from Edds.

In the meantime, a car parked in the parking bay allocated to the Green Point flat has been plastered with notices stating that it is the subject of a Labour Court judgement to recover outstanding wages.

The notices where served by Charles Banks, who runs a Sea Point guest house, on behalf of a domestic worker, Patience Sinxeke, who said she had done

cleaning for Edds at his gallery and flat.

Banks said he had approached his attorney to draw up the notices after Edds had disappeared with-out paying Sinxeke or giving her notice.But he said he had instructed his attorney not to take further action because they had been unsuc-cessful in confirming the owner-ship of the car, a Toyota Condor, through the temporary licence number.

Sinxeke said the claim was for R1,200 in unpaid wages and R600 for a notice period. She said the loss of the income in December had come at a “bad time” as she had been unable to buy clothes for her 12-year-old daughter and mother. Denzil Deacon, who runs Picture Hanging Services, described the circumstances around the gallery as “smoke and mirrors and vapours”.

He said although he had been paid a deposit for installing a picture hanging system in the gallery, he was still owed “about R10,000” by Edds.

Deacon said although his was a small business and the money owed was a “shock” he would be able to absorb the loss, but that he was more concerned that he had spread the word about the gallery amongst the community of businesses doing trade with Cape Town’s art world.

“It is a small community, small businesses help each other and I

think it’s a crying shame that we come away feeling hurt and less willing to help each other,” he said.Photographer Marc Stanes, who exhibits around the world and contributed a picture to the gallery, believes photographers involved in the gallery face similar issues of trust.

“There are quite a few artists that are extremely upset and there is also an issue of trust. You are obviously desperate to get your name out there, but if an artist gives someone a consignment then what are the issues?”

Stanes, who described the project as a “potentially good gallery” in terms of there being a gap in the market for landscape and wildlife photography, said Edds had made “all the right noises”, but had then disappeared “literally overnight”.Although most are baffled by the sudden disappearance of Edds, John Gowlett, the managing direc-tor of Maxigroup Property Manage-ment, who handle the rental on the Hudson Building, believes a letter of demand issued to Edds for outstanding rental was the reason for his disappearance.

Attempts to contact Edds through numerous sources, a South African cell phone number he had previously used, a number in England and an email address were unsuccessful.

It seems Edds is intent on not being found.

-- West Cape News

Smoke, mirrors and vapour: The gallery man, the unpaid bills and the missing pictures

South African Art Times. February 2008Page 6 South African Art Times. February 2008

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THIS MONTH IN PICTURES

Standard Bank Young Artist 2007 Pieter Hugo Exhibits his photographs Messina/ Musina at The Oliwenhuis, Bloemfontein 12 Feb - 5 March

Painting by Marna Hattingh

Image from The Kings Tea by Jaco Sieberhagen at Artb Gallery, CT 13 Feb - 1 March

Image from Visualizing Sound Exhibition by Lyn Smuts currently running at the US Art Gallery, Stellenbosch

Red Afrikaaner painting by Diana Durrant who started to paint seven years ago at the young age of 79. Diana Durrant’s unique flower paintings were painted on her historic farm, Springfield, near Cape Aghullas, in the remote, romantic Strandveld.

Nomusa Makhubu,(The 2006 winner of Gerard Sekoto prize, ABSA L’Atelier) is exhibiting at the Gerard Sekoto Gallery with an exhibition entitled: Iso Eliphandliwe

South African Art Times. February 2008 Page 7

Custom Stretched Canvasses

Hand made Easels

Painting & print stretching Artist: Ann Gadd

ArtStuff now available on the Garden Route Call Paul Tunmer 083 2610084

Tel: 021 448 2799 Fax: 021 448 2797 artstuff@webmail.co.za www.artstuff.co.za Free delivery within Cape area

Chagall, Cezanne, Picasso, Gauguin, And Van Gogh

What did they have in common? They all used Sennelier paints

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The

G a l l e r y

THE local community was shocked by the death of well known Mbek-weni artist Solomon Siko (42) just before Christmas.

Siko was born at Sakkieskamp, Wellington, in 1965. He went to school at Langabuya Primary and Desmond Tutu Secondary (then known as Simon Hebe), and ma-triculated in Dimbaza in the Eastern Cape. After matric he worked as a labourer on the construction of the Huguenot Tunnel in Du Toit’s Kloof from 1985 until he started to study art at the Community Arts Project in Woodstock in 1987 at the age of 22. His first solo exhibition was held at the Paarl Museum in 1990 and he became a full-time artist in 1991.

In 1992 he assisted the Bhabha

tane Spinners and Weavers as carpet and tapestry designer.He developed into a successful artist and has exhibited widely, also overseas.

He has exhibited in Cape Town, Pretoria, at the KKNK in Oudtshoo-rn (1997), the Sasol art museum in Stellenbosch (Volkskas Atelier Award finals 1991), in Lisbon, and in Germany.He is considered to have been a re-markably versatile artist, switching from charcoal drawings to vibrant watercolour, carving and oils.

His diverse subject matter included taxi ranks, street vendors, shebeens, townships and their inhabitants.Over the past three years his health gradually deteriorated until his admission to hospital just before Christmas.He died in the Karl Bremer Hospital in Bellville on 21 December of a TB-related illness complicated by diabetes.

He is survived by his wife Noku-phumla and three children Avuvile (17), Andisiwe (14) and Lukhanyo (10).

Article from Paarl Post.

Born Nicholas Oswald Roos in 1940 in the Herbert District near Kimberley, he moved to Namibia with his parents in 1950. Nico Roos initially studied under Banie van der Merwe in 1956 and privately under Otto Schroeder in Windhoek for two years before attending the University of Pretoria in 1960. Here he was taught by HM van der Westhuysen, Anna Vorster, Zakkie Eloff, Leo Theron and Gunter van der Reis. In 1960, having been requested to write a paper on Adolph Jentsch, he met the artist. Jentsch was to have a strong guiding influ-ence on Nico Roos and remained a firm friend until his death in 1977. He graduated in 1963 with a Bachelor or Art in Fine Art and after five years of informal studies under Adolph Jentsch, he gained a Master of Art in Fine Art in 1970. He attained a Doctorate in Philosophy in 1974 from the University of Pretoria. In 1972 Roos was responsible for the introduction of the Fine Arts training programme at the University of Pretoria becoming Head of the Department of Fine Arts there in 1978 and Professor in Fine Arts in 1979,

a position he held until December 1999 when he retired to his farm in Khomas-Hochland in Namibia. In 1978, Roos published his book “Art in South-West Africa”, the culmination of many years of research on this topic. His academic project became the first publication on Namibian art the forerunner of future studies. Roos has held over twenty sole ex-hibitions and taken part in numerous group shows. In 1991, the University of Pretoria held a Retrospective Ex-hibition of his work and he was pre-sented with a Silver University Medal by the Principal of the University in recognition of outstanding achieve-ment. In 1993 he was honored with a Retrospective Exhibition of his work at the Pretoria Art Museum. The catalogue of this exhibition was written by Dr. Albert Werth who wrote: “Over a period of nearly thirty years, Nico Roos has grown in stature as an artist, until today he is regarded as one of South Africa’s most important artists.” In 1998 he was awarded the Medal of Honour for painting by the South African Academy of Arts and Science – the highest award made to an artist in South Africa.From the Alette Wessels Kunskamer websitewww.artwessels.co.za/roos.htm Picture credits: www.friedlandarts.

OBITUARIES

NICO ROOS 1940 - 2008 SOLOMON SIKO 1965 - 2007

Landscape 1996 Oil on canvasa

Making Music with nature (Carmel Art)

Self Portrait (Cape Gallery)

The Philip Harper GalleriesHermanus, Western Cape

www.thephilipharpergalleries.co.za We specialise in South African Art, both Old Masters and select Contemporary Artists, catering for both corporate and private clients

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

Jean Welz (1900-1975), Portrait of a Woman, Oil on Paper 520 x 370