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Michael CoulsonFor some months now, those whotravel along Jo’burg’s Jan SmutsAvenue have noticed a strangeelliptical concrete structure slowlyrising on the corner of Jellicoe, justdown the road from the EverardRead Gallery. The corner site wasactually bought by the gallery20-odd years ago, when the thenowner, the old Johannesburg CityCouncil, decided it was surplus torequirements, but for most of thetime since then it stood idle, usedmainly for surplus parking duringgallery openings.How to develop it has thus had along gestation. For years the gal-lery’s present director, Mark Read,felt that the gallery’s handsomeand much-loved premises rather etered out on the western bound-ary, and at one time considereduilding a small space – “nothingambitious” for contemporary artthere.But gradually the concept expand-ed, and a desire grew to put up amulti-purpose building that woulde an adornment to the city. Also, partly through the passageof time and partly given greater freedom after buying out other members of the family fromthe business, his own horizons
expanded. The nal building
block fell into place when he metarchitect Pierre Swanepoel, anddiscovered in enthusiastic discus-sions that they shared a vision of what could be done.
When I rst spoke to Read about
the building, last year, unof-
cial cost estimates were put at
R10m-R12m, and he planned anenvironmentally positive project.Today he ruefully admits that thosewere vain hoped. “The cost hasgone way north of that, as for anelliptical building almost everycomponent has to be purpose-made, and you can hardly have aless environmentally sound build-ing than one made of concrete withan aluminium cladding.” Nevertheless, the building will
reect Read’s growing interests in
things other than selling art, espe-cially palaeontology. The buildingwill basically have three levels(“Unless some day I build a penthouse on the top”). The ground
oor he describes as a project andofce space, with a ramp curling
up to the middle level, a toweringexhibition space big enough to sus- pend motor cars from the ceiling,and then another ramp up to thetop to accommodate Darwin’s, anoyster bar which will be a privateclub for his friends.He doesn’t see the exhibition spaceas primarily for selling art, thoughthat won’t be precluded. Rather,he envisages seasons displayingnew technologies. Like buildingwith bamboo, as is being done ata resort he’s involved with in theSeychelles.He’s also increasingly involvedwith people like Richard Leakeyand Richard (The God Delu-sion) Dawkins and wants to showLeakey’s “amazing” East Africanfossils. He’d like to take worksout of museums and show themin a different space, juxtaposed
with other objects, and is condent
museums will go along with this.For example, the old TransvaalMuseum has a chunk of moonrock: he’d like to show this next toa coelacanth and a DNA machine.Other possibilities seem limit-less. “All I can say is that it will be a confused and non-directional path.” He hopes outsiders willalso propose relevant projects andevents.The building has been namedCirca – Latin for about. “This isthe perfect name, because it’s notactually any one thing. In someways it’s like an opera house, but it’s really a techno-space thatcan take on many identities.” It’s planned to link it across KeyesAvenue with the existing building,though Read is still vague on pre-cisely how this will be achieved,which will have to be determinedin conjunction with the Jo’burgMetro.
The rst show, towards the end of
the year, will be a collaborative ef-fort by Willem Boshoff and Karel Nel. “I couldn’t wish for a better duo.”Read stresses that his relativelynew minority shareholder, banker Paul Harris, has not put up any of the money, “though he loves the project.” The existing business willhave to pay for it. “It’ll be tight, but we’ll manage it.”If passion is any determinant, thisshouldn’t be a problem.
With newspapers in terminal decline,what future for arts journalism?
Coverage of the arts is migrating online but unless someone is prepared to pay for it, the outlook is uncertain
By András SzántóFrom The Art Newspaper www.theartnewspaper.comFrom Issue 202 (May 2009)Before we succumb to nostalgia,let’s be clear: arts journalism hasnever had it easy. Culture, espe-
cially in its rareed incarnations,
has never been a high priority for the mainstream press. Criticismis a strange bird in an enterprisedevoted to “objectivity” and massreadership. And news bosses rarelycare about “soft” arts stories. Theyare into “hard” reporting on warsand money and sport—boys’ stuff.Instead of a reliable income, arts journalism has paid dividends inthe form of access to art and avoice in cultural debates—that,and an occasional VIP pass, dinner invite or goodie bag.Recently, though, the situationhas taken a turn for the worse.The imminent demise of printednewspapers is no longer a paneldiscussion topic, but a reality.Many US cities including Denver and Seattle are losing their second papers; others (including, pos-sibly, San Francisco, Miami andPhiladelphia) are contemplatinglife without a printed daily. TheDetroit Free Press is only printinga paper edition three days a week.Even the New York Times, itsstock worth barely more than itsSunday edition, has sold its RenzoPiano tower, imposed steep costcuts, and is threatening to close itssubsidiary, the Boston Globe. Themassively overleveraged TribuneCompany, owner of dozens of newspapers, is in bankruptcy, leav-ing the fate of the Chicago Tribuneand the Los Angeles Times in the balance. At the Los Angeles Times,newsroom positions have beencut by half over the past decade,and arts coverage substantiallyreduced. An aptly named blog,Paper Cuts, counts 24,000 news- paper jobs lost in the US since thestart of last year. The outlook for newspapers on both sides of theAtlantic is dim.Arts journalism as we used toknow it is sinking with the ship.The forces undermining the news business are the same every-where and have been extensivelycatalogued by now. Studies show,however, that arts journalism is not being singled out for inequitablerollbacks. The problem is thatthe cuts are deepening an alreadymiserable shortage of resources,set against a cultural universe thatcontinues to expand. We are pastthe tipping point: it has becomeacceptable to run a paper with justa skeletal culture staff. Specialisedwriters are giving way to general-ists. Culture sections are beingtossed overboard (standalone book review sections, in particular, area dying breed). Article lengths and“news holes” (space for editorialcontent) are shrinking. All this haseviscerated newspapers’ abilityto deliver quality arts coverage,which, as a result, must migrateelsewhere.Beyond the tipping pointBut where? Many experts believethat daily newspapers will never
nd a way back to sustaining solid
arts journalism. Magazines are do-ing marginally better, but they can-not shoulder the burden of timelylocal arts coverage, especially for non-specialist readers—and someare folding. The news industry,on the whole, was too slow toembrace the internet and deployits once abundant war chests to
nd new ways of capturing readers
seeking information, services andcommunities. Myopically obsessedwith their traditional product,newspapers failed to acquire,let alone invent, game-changingtechnologies such as Craigslist,Facebook or the Kindle.Under relentless shareholder pres-sure, publishers have tried everygame in the book to monetise journalism on the web—fromcharging for online subscriptions,to fencing off “walled gardens” of premium content, to surrounding journalism with clever advertising.Lately, some executives have been pinning their hopes on an iTunes-style micro-payment scheme. Lastmonth, the Associated Press threat-ened to make sites that link to itscontent pay up or face legal action,while Rupert Murdoch warned:“People reading news for free onthe web, that’s got to change.”But so far nothing has worked. Nosubstitute for newspapers’ monop-
oly on local and classied advertis
-ing has emerged. For DouglasMcLennan, publisher of ArtsJour-nal, a popular arts newsletter andlink aggregator (with 50,000 dailyusers), it is simply too late for papers to innovate their way outof this quandary. “We just need toregretfully bid them adieu and getthem out of the room, because theyare sucking up oxygen. It is going
to make it difcult for the new
models to take hold until some of this dead wood is pushed out.” Now the good news: it is only amatter of time before someone puts the pieces back together again. The search for a hopefulfuture begins with the insight thatalthough journalists and publica-tions are suffering, readership isup by wide margins. More peoplethan ever are reading and writingabout art, thanks to the web.The problem is not the scarcity or the quality of arts journalism (thelatter has always been mixed), butthat no one is paying for it—atleast not yet. Broadly speaking,there are three ways forward fromhere.Recreating economies of scaleClearly, arts journalists aren’tdisappearing. They are just movingonline. Technorati lists 185,000“arts” blogs at present, including5,396 on “art criticism” and 1,858on “arts journalism” (disclosure:I am a co-founder of one of them,artworldsalon.com). From a busi-ness standpoint, the question ishow to generate audiences aroundthese atomised writers to allowthem to collect paid advertising.One strategy is for individual blogsto scale up to a size where their writers become popular “personal brands”. This has happened in political punditry and may happenin entertainment writing. But it isunlikely in visual arts journalism,where audiences even for top writ-ers are thin.A more realistic, already extantscenario links blogs to heavily
trafcked journalism, entertain
-ment, or aggregator sites, whichattract large numbers of readers by providing access to a wide rangeof news content.
New Everard Read Gallery, Johannesburg rises
Deborah van Niekerk (2009), From the series ‘The hand that feeds’ Oil on canvas, Now showing at The KZNSA Gallery, Durban, Kwa Zulu - Natal. Until 10 May. see www.nsagallery.co.za for further details
BUSINESS ART
May 2009 | Supplement to The South African Art Times | E-mail: subs@arttimes.co.za | Member of the Global Art Information Group
By Johans Borman‘Safe as houses’ and ‘you canank on it’ are just two phrasesthat come to mind when most of us think about investing in someor other asset class. We have beenconditioned, from the time that wewere able to comprehend the con-cept of investments, to believe that
the value of xed property and the
trustworthiness of our banks areeyond doubt. That was until the‘toxic debt’-inspired credit crunchof 2008 - which seems to havedeepened now, at the start of 2009.With South African collectors pay-ing millions of Rands for worksy our most desirable artists, thereis no doubt that our art has nowecome a recognised asset class. Inmy opinion, ‘investment art’ can bea very misleading concept as it cer-tainly does not apply to all worksof art but only to a select group.The core issue, which offers thekey to understanding the character-istics and nature of this asset class,is the degree of uniqueness. Everyoriginal work of art is a uniquecreation, which will be interpretedy uniquely different individuals,who will all have uniquely differ-ent views about its appeal, successand value.The investment value of any assetis ultimately determined by itsdesirability. How desirable a par-ticular asset is depends on diversefactors like the emotional impactit has on the potential buyer, theintellectual stimulation it provides,its inherent quality and condition,how fashionable it is and to whatdegree the price matches the buy-er’s perception of its current valueand its potential for appreciation.Investment characteristicsIn order to make sense of theseabstract concepts we need to iden-
tify and dene the characteristics
that determine that segment of theart market that can be regarded to be of investment quality – thereby justifying its status as an assetclass:
Desirability
It is a sobering thought that thevalue of any painting is determined by its desirability only, as it hasno intrinsic value such as that of
a xed property or shares in a
company with a net asset value.Investments, like ‘blue chip’shares, are rated by their historical performance and the perception of their expected future performance.These two aspects are largely re-sponsible for the premium paid for
such shares, thus reecting their
desirability. It is for this reasonthat most ‘investment art’ piecesare works by deceased artists whowould normally fall under the ‘oldmasters’ category. Works by theseartists have a proven track recordof the change in its value over time, which offers a sound refer-ence for predicting its future per-formance. With fashionable trendsoften evident in the art market, itobviously helps to know that a par-ticular artist’s work has maintainedits desirability over long periodsof time – unlike some avant-gardecontemporary works that can losetheir relevance or appeal relativelyquickly (Like the ‘Resistance art’of the eighties).
Uniqueness
As mentioned above, we are deal-ing with a unique asset class. Al-though every work by a good artistis an original and unique creation,there needs to be consistency interms of the technical quality, styleand subject matter for the body of work to generate long term inter-est and thus value. Experimentalworks which do not lead to a sty-listic development or a new seriesof works will never be as desir-
able as the works which dene an
artist’s oeuvre. The long term valueof any artist’s body of work alsorequires a great enough number of works that will ensure continuous
trade in it – thereby conrming
and reinforcing the value over time. The value of works by artistswho only produce a few hundredworks in their lifetime often suf-fers because of the irregular tradein such works. It becomes very
difcult to establish a fair current
market value of a particular work when there are no records of recentsales of comparable works. Artistsare often criticised for ‘repeating’themselves when they produceworks based on the same subjectmatter or idea – unfortunatelythis is exactly what is requiredto establish a large enough bodyof work to ensure its long termmarket value. If Hugo Naudé hadonly painted Namaqualand’s spring
owers once, these paintings
would never have become his mostsought after, and therefore valu-able, works.
Collectability
The functionality of any work of art can generally be best describedas a luxury item which providesemotional and intellectual stimula-tion. It is therefore obvious that, aswith other luxury goods, it is onlythe relatively wealthy members of society who can afford it. From aninvestment perspective and purelyas a theoretic model, it wouldtherefore be prudent to invest inworks by those artists which the biggest group of collectors are buying. This would guarantee con-tinuity in the competition for, andtrade in, these works and wouldresult in a stable market - under- pinning a steady increase in values.Internationally, artists’ careers have been made when the right museumcurators and collectors started buying their work – collectors likeCharles Saatchi have managed tocapitalise on this characteristic of the market and made millions of Pounds because of it. The basicrequirement to ensure the longterm value of any body of work is therefore a large enough groupof capable buyers and/or collec-tors. For anybody considering aninvestment in this alternative assetclass, it would be wise to followthose in the know – the experi-enced collectors. Private collectorshave much more at stake than anyindividual dealer or auctioneer, asthey are spending their own moneyand have to consider a far greater investment risk.
Store of value
Given the current turmoil in
-nancial markets globally, it is noweven more important to consider the stability of the value of anyasset one invests in. Historically,the values of top quality worksof art have always withstood the
short term volatility of the nancial
markets. With less cash around andwith many established banks andcorporations going bankrupt, all potential investors have to be extracareful about where they store their wealth. Most experts agree that thefocus is now on the preservation of wealth and that the value of invest-ments should be beyond doubt.The stability of the long term valueof quality works of art can in short be ascribed to the following:- Unlike other assets, there is passion involved and ‘the heartwills the mind’ when collect-ing art - it is not an unemotional,rational decision based purely on
nancial principles. Sentiment and
the emotional involvement with awork of art usually provide endlessenjoyment for the owner, bringing
instant and continuous gratication
that does not exist with most other
nancial investments.
- Art purchases are usually not
nanced – works are bought for
cash by art lovers who can affordthem. This means that it is highlyunlikely that owners would comeunder pressure to sell as there is nodebt to service and we are dealingwith people who know how to gen-erate wealth (which enabled them
to purchase it in the rst instance).
- The stability of the art market canalso be attributed to the fact that itis a relatively small market wherea handful of able buyers/collectorscan ensure that it stays healthyand stable at any given time – instark contrast to stock marketswhere panic selling can result in aninvestment’s value being eroded toa fraction of its cost in a matter of weeks.
Buying your prot
The most important difference between art and other recognisedasset classes is that it does not pro-vide any income. There is no inter-est, dividends or rental income andthe performance of the investmentis measured purely in terms of itscapital appreciation. Investors willtherefore have to be extra carefulwhen deciding what a fair purchase price is as the performance of their investment will be based purely onthe entry cost. Unlike other assetswhere investors can enjoy bothincome and capital appreciation,which offer greater investmentsecurity when combined, the pur-chase price is critical when buyinga work of art. This is why an inti-mate knowledge and understandingof an artist’s oeuvre is so important- the desirability (read value) of awork from a particular period, of a particular subject matter or in a particular style can be multiplesof that of other works by the sameartist. This aspect of the art marketis of course used by unscrupulous
dealers to motivate inated prices
based on the record prices paid for the truly exceptional pieces. Toavoid being caught in this trap, itis important to have an in depthknowledge and understanding of an artist’s oeuvre and to have repu-table and trustworthy advisors.Finding a reputable, independ-
ent art advisor is very difcult
– given the subjective nature of artappreciation and the fact that mostadvisors/dealers/auctioneers arecommission driven. The only prac-tical alternative in the South Afri-can market is reputable gallerieswho are prepared to guarantee theauthenticity, condition and value of the works they offer. Dealers whosell works of art as ‘investments’should be asked to provide the
same set of gures and guarantees
one would typically expect from aninvestment advisor. Would they be prepared to guarantee the purchase price in a trade-in or buy-back situ-ation? And, would they guaranteean annual increase in value at a particular rate?One should not expect independentadvice from agents or auctioneerswho are selling works on consign-ment for a commission – theyusually ring-fence themselves with‘conditions of sale’ to limit their responsibility. ‘Buyer beware’
should ash in everybody’s mind
when attending an auction wherethe auctioneer claims the right (inthe small print of their ‘Conditionsof Sale’) to bid ‘on behalf of theseller’ (bidding against the chande-lier!), and passes the responsibilityof establishing the authenticity of any work to the buyer! Most goodsales people are very good at tell-ing us what we want to hear…When analyzing art as an assetclass, another important aspect of the art market that needs to be tak-en into account is the transactioncharges. As the purpose of mostinvestments is to ultimately turn itinto cash, the cost of liquidating an
asset can have a signicant inu
-
ence on the nal return on the capi
-tal invested. Unfortunately thesecharges are higher than in mostother asset classes. Listed sharescan be sold for a commission of as low as 1%, and an agent’s com-
mission on xed property usually
ranges from 4 to 10% (with buyersalso having to pay transfer duty of about 8 to 10%), but auctioneersand dealers in works of art operateon much higher commissions.South African auction housescharge 10 to 12% (Plus VAT)of the hammer price to both the buyer and the seller (a total of 20to 24% plus VAT), while Londonauctioneers charge a buyer’s com-mission of 20 to 25% and a seller’scommission of about 10% on thehammer price (a total of 30 to35%). When buying overseas, anadditional import VAT at 15,4% of the invoice value (calculated on therate of exchange when it arrivesin SA) is payable to SA Customs.Most galleries charge a 20 to 30%commission to re-sell works, withthe commission percentage onhigher priced works usually morenegotiable. It is therefore obvious,given the commission structures inthe art industry, that any ‘invest-ment’ would have to perform verywell for a period of at least 5 to7 years before the real net returnwould be worthwhile.
Conclusion
In my opinion, the unique char-acteristics of works of art thatfall into the investment categorywarrant a strategy where it couldcomfortably make up 10% of anyinvestment portfolio. The motivat-ing factors are in short:- Instant and continuous pleasureand enjoyment with almost noholding costs (Most serious art buyers are art lovers and not justinvestors).- An excellent and stable storeof value and wealth in uncertaintimes where other asset classes canexperience severe volatility anderosion of value.- The potential for exceptionalgrowth in value if buying the right pieces at the right time – like now,
where nancial pressures will cer
-tainly force sales at prices whichwill offer very good value.- No Capital Gains Tax (or any
other taxes) on prots if works
were bought privately as col-lectables and not for speculative purposes.- An opportunity to leave a legacythat says much more about anindividual than any bank balance
can reect - but with a built-innancial advantage. We have often
sold inherited works where the proceeds literally changed people’slives for the better – paying the de-
posit on their rst home, or paying
for their university education.With South African art now anestablished alternative asset class,it is important to evaluate the ef-
fects of the current nancial crises,
and formulate a strategy to take
advantage of the situation. I rmly
believe that one should now look for opportunities to acquire qualityworks of art while the pessimistsare too pre-occupied with thedoom and gloom to even noticethem.© Johans Borman Fine Art GalleryBy Jim RichardsonFrom The Art Newspaper www.theartnewspaper.com(May 2009)Social networks and blogs are thefastest growing online activities,according to a report published in
March by research rm Nielsen
Online. Almost 10% of all timespent on the internet is spent onthese types of sites, which Nielsendescribes as “member communi-ties”, and they are visited by morethan two-thirds of the world’sonline users.This has not gone unnoticed bymuseums and galleries, with manycreating some kind of presenceon sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Flickr. But because this has primarily been done as a marketingtool, institutions are missing a far greater opportunity. By treadinggently into the second generationof web development and design,known as Web 2.0, museums risk achieving little, and are effectively paying mere lip service to onlinesocial engagement. If they were tomake a proper commitment to theenterprise, they could transformtheir relationship with audiences,change people’s perceptions of them and vastly expand the reachof their collections.The Nielsen research shows thata major factor in the success of social networks is that they al-low people to select and sharecontent. This has become a hobby,even considered by some to be aserious creative outlet, with webusers spending time “curating”their online space. Museums arewell placed to appeal to this newgeneration of “curators” becausethey offer rich and interestingcontent that can be virtually“cut-up” and stuck back together online in numerous different ways
to reect the individual tastes of
each user. If remixing, reinterpret-ing and sharing interesting contentis, as Nielsen suggests, the kindof engaging interaction that draws people to social networks, thenmuseums should embrace the ideathat “everyone is a curator”, both
online and ofine.
Most of the institutions that areadapting their own websites withthose facets of the social networks
that so many people nd attrac
-tive are in the US. The Museumof Modern Art (MoMA) in NewYork relaunched its website inMarch. It now includes links to themuseum’s online users on varioussocial networking sites such asFacebook, Twitter and YouTube.Users can also create personalonline accounts, which allow themto bookmark upcoming events, cre-ate online exhibitions and “collect”works of art via their mobile phoneas they walk around the galleryand view them later on the website.Victor Samra, digital media mar-keting manager at MoMA, says:“It’s not enough just to broadcastinformation now. Sharing and participating in discussions are becoming normal activities on theweb, so I think people are comingto expect it. People want to engagewith content they are really pas-sionate about, and museums havea great opportunity to provide thisfor them. This helps to change the perception of the museum as a building with four closed walls toan organisation with personalityand a human face.”One potential obstacle to museumssharing content online is the issueof copyright and how to protectimages if they are put on theinternet. Legal implications aside,from a practical point of view thisapproach is becoming outdated.For example, the Art Museum of Estonia has gone against conven-tion by actively encouraging visi-tors to photograph its collection;the MoMA website helps users toco-create content and share thesecreations with friends.All museums want to create adialogue with their audiences, andmost museum staff are well awarethat the internet can be a usefultool for doing this. But museumssuch as MoMA that have whole-heartedly embraced the new digitalenvironment are becoming part of the conversation, rather then just pushing content or questions atvisitors and then sitting back.Online activity such as MoMA’srequires investment, both in termsof web development costs and staff time, but if this is where peopleare and how they are communicat-ing, then, one can argue, museumsshould be there too.Curators pride themselves on usingtheir collections to analyse issues,
provoke reactions and ask difcult
questions. But these questionsare no longer just being debatedover a coffee or in the galleriesthemselves; they are also beingdiscussed online, whether it is onsocial network sites such as Face- book, online discussion forums or the many blogs, and the content prompting these responses is nolonger restricted to the four walls itactually inhabits. This means mu-seums and galleries need to expandthe sites where they introduce, nar-rate and edit their programmes.The writer is the managing direc-tor of Newcastle-based Sumo, adesign consultancy specialising inarts and culture. He is a speaker atthe conference, “Communicatingthe Museum”, in Malaga (24-27June). www.communicatingthemu-seum.com
Facebook is more than a fad -and museums need to learn from it
ArtsJournal, for example, currentlyhosts 42 blogs on a variety of arts topics, including the widelyread visual arts blogs Modern Artotes and CultureGrrl. Under such arrangements, bloggers geta cut of the advertising fees alongwith greater visibility (which canlead to other paid gigs), while theumbrella site captures readers andturns more “sticky”. Somethinganalogous is happening with someestablished journalism brands.Innovative newspapers like theGuardian in the UK and VG inorway are putting together akind of layer-cake of content thatattracts a sizable number of onlinereaders. At the top are editoriallysupervised staff journalists. Beloware blogs, written by staff and free-lance writers with latitude to shapetheir content. The third tier is thevast, unsupervised “commento-sphere” of opining readers. Thewhole machinery works in unisonto congregate a wide, lucrativead base. In view of these devel-opments, today’s do-it-yourself logs are destined to be a transienthenomenon. Many talented artsournalists will carve out a satellitefranchise in the orbit of larger media entities.How soon such bloggers can tacklethe full journalistic workloadleft unattended by newspapersis another question. In terms of commentary and plain kibitzing,especially about local arts scenes,we may be there already. When itcomes to fair and balanced report-ing, the record is mixed. On theone hand, bloggers are breakingstories, with arts organisations (or their disgruntled employees) oblig-ing them with excellent scoops.The Getty Center’s leadership cri-sis, in 2006, when internal memostrickled to the press via blogs, wasan early example. Much “insider aseball” that may not get ink in a newspaper is now routinelycovered by blogs. Deaccessioningstories alone have become a minor cottage industry.However, journalism is not justabout scoops. It’s about due dili-gence, evaluating accuracy, givingsubjects an opportunity to respond,and providing non-judgmentalcontext. Such protocols are morelikely to be followed under thegaze of professional editors. Major investigative stories are clearly outof reach for even the most intrepid bloggers.Going non-commercialWhat if audience aggregationwon’t make arts journalism intoa viable business? Until recently,it was anathema to suggest thatnewspapers could become not-for-
prot organisations. Yet hospitalsand museums offer public benets
this way, and so might the press.In fact, a few smaller US papers
are already run as non-prots (with
mixed results). Specialised art peri-odicals, such as Cabinet, have for years survived on donations (withexcellent results). Going not-for-
prot involves some legal and ethi
-cal intricacies for the press. Puristsworry that journalism could endup in the pockets of foundationswith random agendas and shortattention spans. Yet, if publishers
can keep a “rewall” between their
editorial and business operations,they can also do it with donors.There are applicable precedents.The Kaiser Family Foundationsupports coverage of healthcare,for example. “The NewsHour” onPBS, one of the most respectedTV news shows in the US, has22 foundation sponsors and twocorporate underwriters (Intel and
Chevron). Some pay for specic
types of journalism—and no out-
rage, so far, over conicts of inter
-est. Public radio (NPR), with 33million weekly listeners (as againstthe New York Times’ 1 milliondaily circulation), is a haven for quality arts journalism that attractssome of the best reporters in the business. It has also perfected theart of raising money for its cover-age—from foundations and legionsof listeners. Both PBS and NPR receive government support. Onlythe trained eye can distinguish the“image spots” of foundation andcorporate underwriters on publicTV from the sort of advertisingthat populates the commercialairwaves.Some fascinating new web-basedfunding models appear less suitedto rescuing the mainstream media
than to helping smaller for-protor not-for-prot publications. ABay Area outt called spot.us has
a method for “community fundedreporting”, which pools small do-
nations for specic stories. People
interested in a proposed story canmake a tax-deductible contribution(typical budgets are below $1,000).The money is held in escrow untilthe entire sum for the story is col-lected, at which point the writer gets the green light. My currentfavourite payment model is Kach-ingle, which promises to “sprinklechange on the blogs you love”. AKachingle member sets a monthly budget for donations to favourite
media sources—say, $50. Bene
-
ciaries are identied by pressing
a Kachingle button already foundon many sites. Everything happensautomatically. The $50 is distrib-uted in proportion to the amount of time the donor spends on each of the chosen sites. Genius.There is a growing realisation thatwithout some form of non-com-mercial support, certain realmsof quality journalism may notsurvive, especially under cur-rent market conditions. CarnegieCorporation president VartanGregorian has suggested buyingnewspaper subscriptions for col-lege students—a bailout that wouldreplenish future readers. The AndyWarhol Foundation supports artcritics and reporters by means of grants awarded through CreativeCapital. In Europe, where suchsupport falls to the state, JürgenHabermas, the German sociolo-gist, has urged direct governmentsupport for the media. Not to beoutdone, France’s Nicolas Sarkozy
has pledged €600m to aid the press
with advertising, tax breaks andstudent subscriptions.Philanthropy can help to build anew arts journalism infrastruc-ture to offset the collapse of localcoverage. Proposals to harnessfreelance writers in an organ-ised fashion date back to the late1990s, when David Resnicow andFrederick Schroeder, of the promi-nent Resnicow Schroeder arts
marketing and PR rm, launched
an independent company named
MuseNews, a national for-prot
art news syndicate that sold storiesto old and new media outlets for asmall fee. The service, which alsosought foundation underwriting,was subsequently merged intoBloomberg, where it evolved intothe site’s arts and culture section,known to readers of this newspaper as an excellent source of art busi-ness reporting. Current proposalsfor a new kind of art news serviceare inspired by the success of online news sites such as Pro-Publica and GlobalPost, whichhired top-notch journalists (some
recently laid off) to ll blind spots
in public affairs and internationalnews coverage, with foundationsupport. Politico, which waslaunched by private investors and
will soon turn a prot, operates on
a similar model, and it has become
inuential enough to sponsor presi
-dential debates and be called up for a question at President Obama’s
rst major press conference. Initia
-tives are currently underway todevelop specialised newsgatheringoperations for science, healthcareand even religion (the Religion News Network). These organisa-tions are recreating alternativesto professional newsrooms witheditorial guidance and supervision.According to some estimates, $2m
per year—one-fth of 1% of US
foundation arts support—couldramp up a new arts journalismservice. Writers at imperiled publi-cations like the Los Angeles Timesare following these developmentsclosely.
The real hurdle for non-prot arts
journalism, it should be clear, isnot technology, or ethics, or alack of ideas. It is fundraising. Toget behind arts writing, founda-tions and arts patrons would needto steer funds away from their traditional recipients (artists andorganisations) towards journal-ists (who are often considered asadversaries). In other words, a not-
for-prot rethink of arts journalism
hinges on a rethink of cultural philanthropy.Arts groups step upThis brings us to the third, andarguably most controversial, curefor the ills of arts journalism—cul-tural organisations. Until recently,there was an unambiguous divisionof labour between arts institutionsand the press. One side delivered programming, the other providedexposure, evaluation and publicscrutiny. Any suggestion thatthese roles could blend together would elicit howls of condemna-tion. But if the marketplace or cultural patrons cannot sustainarts journalism, those with a stakein its survival must come up withalternatives. And it’s already hap- pening.Arts groups are getting better at telling their own stories anddirectly engaging their constitu-ents. It may not always look like
journalism, but it is lling in some
gaps. In the US, regional online arthubs are springing up from Chi-cago to Kansas City, Miami andLos Angeles, supported by coali-tions of local arts organisationsand philanthropists, to provideinformation and discussion aboutthe arts. Museums, in particular,have taken the lead in creating analternative media infrastructure.MoMA’s recently relaunchedwebsite features online groupsthat allow visitors to explore,create and share information viaFacebook, YouTube, Twitter, Flickr and iTunes. London’s Tate (which publishes its own glossy, TateEtc, billed as “Europe’s largest artmagazine”) and the Walker ArtCenter in Minneapolis are amongthe trailblazers pouring resourcesinto deep, polished, personalisedonline content and public forums.Some museum sites are, in effect,starting to resemble interactiveonline art magazines.Their latest features are strikinglysimilar to the innovations newsorganisations are deploying toturn their customers into active, participating, loyal partners in theenterprise of journalism.The next step is pooling resources.“What’s the point of having 1,000museum websites with separatedatabases of information?” asksMaxwell Anderson, director andchief executive of the IndianapolisMuseum of Art (IMA), where herecently launched two innovationsthat bridge the gulf between the press and the visual arts. One isArtBabble.org, a kind of YouTube
for art, with high denition videos
gathered from a consortium of art institutions (IMA, MoMA,SFMOMA, Lacma, the NewYork Public Library, Art 21 andthe Smithsonian, at present). Incontrast to YouTube, the videos arecarefully selected and screened for quality. The transcripts of manyof them are searchable, locallyor via Google, so that a casual
viewer or a researcher can nd
the exact spot, for example, whereEd Ruscha reminisces about theCirrus gallery in a documentary produced by Lacma. Visitors to thesite can add their own commentsand engage in online discussions, just like at any savvy news site.ArtBabble, and others like it, maywell develop into future platformsfor art criticism and commentary.Mr Anderson’s other innovationat IMA is a digital “Dashboard”,located on the museum’s website, providing up-to-date statistics onthe museum’s administration and performance. An array of digital“widgets” tally up everything fromthe number of museum members tothe total kilowatt-hours of energyconsumed daily. Some of the sta-tistics are not for the faint-heartedmuseum director. One of the IMAwidgets tracks the museum’sendowment in monthly snapshots(down $120m since last October).Another chronicles admissions
with data generated every ve min
-utes. A catalogue of objects slatedfor deaccessioning is next, alongwith their sale price and where the proceeds end up. For Mr Anderson,the Dashboard, with its objectivemeasurements of administrativegoings-on, is an antidote to the“risk of institutional control” that pervades most in-house publica-tions. It is no substitute for hard-nosed reporters, but for transpar-ency, it’s a start.The hybrid futureAmid the doom and gloom aboutarts journalism, such innovationsoffer a glimmer of hope. Thereis no going back to the culturaland advertising dominance thatnewspapers once enjoyed. Weshould be mindful that the emerg-ing landscape offers asymmetricalodds for art criticism (which cansurvive by the labour of individualwriters) and arts reporting (which
requires institutional repower and
protections). Writers will struggle
to reclaim the access and inuence
they achieved with the backingof prestigious journalism brands.Even so, the faint outlines of a newsystem are starting to emerge.It’s worth noting that journal-ism schools are seeing a recordsurge in applications. Many topinstitutions, including Columbia,Syracuse, the Annenberg Schoolat USC, and the City University of New York, have recently launchedgraduate programmes in cultural journalism. Despite the currentmeltdown, these are among themost heavily sought after spe-
cialisations. Certication may be
even more important for freelancewriters than for those in accreditednewsrooms. Do-it-yourself journal-ism is expanding so rapidly that itmay be sparking its own demandfor journalism training.Students may be attracted precisely by the lure of the new and un-known. The most exhilarating as- pect of tomorrow’s arts journalismwill be its unpredictable hybridity,how it feeds on multiple sourcesof innovation and energy. It will be an undertaking where nimbleentrepreneurs sustain criticism andreporting through a mix of adver-tising, licensing, social networks,donations, digital space rental,and barter arrangements—what-ever works. Boundaries betweenwriters and audiences, channels of communication, and professionalconstituencies will blur in waysthat are at once alarming and hope-ful. Our notion of what a “newsorganisation” or an “art magazine”is supposed to do will be upendedas new relationships crystallise between the arts, the media and the public.“Society doesn’t need newspapers.What we need is journalism,” me-dia analyst Clay Shirky observedin his blog recently. “No one ex- periment is going to replace whatwe are now losing with the demiseof news on paper,” he added, “butover time, the collection of newexperiments that do work mightgive us the journalism we need.”
With newspapers in terminal decline, what future for arts journalism? - Continued from Page 1
02 BUSINESS ART | MAY 09
A Unique Asset Class
Think of long-established Jo’burggalleries, and you think of theGoodman and Everard Read. Butthere’s a third that’s survivedwell into its fourth decade, andunlike the other two is still run byits founder: the Crake Gallery inorwood, run by the eponymousChris Crake.Crake has in fact been involvedin the art world for more than 40years. Late in 1968, he was sittingin the legendary Chesa coffee bar in the Rand Central building whenhe noticed an old lady putting upa Sit Vac sign in a shop windowopposite. On inquiry, he was sentup to the old lady’s premises on
the rst oor.
The premises were Gallery 101;the old lady, the legendary Mad-ame Haenggi. Despite his waist-length hair and generally hippyishappearance, she took him on. Andhe’s stayed in the business ever since.ot that it was an entirely randomchoice of career. Art was the onlysubject he enjoyed at school, andhad economics permitted he mighteven have become an artist. Butthe need to put bread on the table(he became a father in 1970) pre-cluded that.Crake says he learnt more fromMadame Haenggi than fromanyone, and it was a wrench toleave when he was approached totake over the Madden Gallery inSandton, whose backers includedusinessman Wilfred Robin andLondon-based expat Solly Rissen,whose sister Jean Madden ran theMadden Gallery in London.Crake extended Madden’s rangefrom international to SA art, andtried to promote local artists likeKeith Alexander, Vic Guhrs,Claude Jammet and others abroad.Looking back, he says this was agood idea, but ahead of its time.After some years it was time totake the next step. In 1979 he took the plunge (“Everybody said I wasmad to open an art gallery, with
the townships going up in ames”)
and, with just R60 in the bank,opened up on his own in Grant Av-enue, directly opposite his presentsite, which he moved to 10 yearslater. He takes pride in the fact thatthe gallery has always been self-
nancing: he’s never borrowed
money or had a backer.For years he staged solo exhibi-tions every two or three weeksyear-round, showcasing nameslike Jean Doyle, Michael Cos-tello, Robin Kearney, UlrichSchwanecke, John Brett Cohen,Fred Schimmel, Norman Eagle-stone, Fleur Ferri, Donna White,Simon Parkin, Robert Haber andLeon Sorianos. Some couldn’tstand the pace, some moved on to(possibly) greater things, but oth-ers have remained loyal.These days, he’s slackened hisown pace, cutting back the hecticschedule to a group anniversary
show in the rst half of the year
and half a dozen or so solo showsin the second half, by regular members of his stable: Peter Bonney, Russian-born Dimitri Nikashin, Daan Vermeulen, Roelof Rossouw, Geoff Horne and others.Basically, while they have widelydiffering styles, all are realisticlandscape painters, though he alsocarries sculptures by the likes of Laurence Chait. This is no acci-dent, either; even in his schooldayshe admired Norman Rockwell andAndrew Wyeth, pictures that tellstories. “Any picture you can gotravelling in is a good work.”Though this has become his uniqueselling proposition, it was not al-ways thus. He remembers bringing
the rst David Hockney graphics
to SA, and selling them for a fewhundred rand.And in 1980 he was arrestedfor selling pornography, for anexhibition of erotica inspired bythe Kama Sutra, by Tatu Penrith.Today he admits that this was a publicity stunt, when a friend puton the guise of an old lady andcomplained to the police. Fortu-nately, he wasn’t charged, and nowsays “It was the best publicity weever had.”But, he says, the developing focus
on realism reects both his own
preference, and that of his clien-tele, corporate and individual, whoare “basically conservative” intheir tastes. He also says he’s notinto “investment art”.“People buy from me for love andlife. In 33 years, I don’t think I’vehad 20 pictures come back for re-sale. You have a different respon-sibility to people who spend R400000 on a painting than when they pay R40 000. I want my artists to be accessible and good value.”So his artists must have staying power, and though he tries to intro-duce a couple of new names in hisannual group shows, he concedesthat he’s reached a stage of lifewhere he won’t be around for ever,so he hasn’t much time to build upnew names – not easy in currentconditions, in any event.“You have to do a lot of work behind the scenes to make a suc-cessful solo show. You have to callround all your regular clients and promote the work. And that’s hard,if they’ve never heard of the artist.So those who’ve been with me for 25 years are naturally in the frontseats.”Persistence and hard work are thekeys to the success and longevityof the Crake Gallery. It’s a lessonthe hopefuls who think all youhave to do is put work on the walland smile as the buyers pour in,
so many of whom have ickered – perhaps even ourished, briey
-- across the gallery scene sinceCrake set out on his career woulddo well to ponder.By J. Brooks Spector Artist, educator, Alan Crump passed away on May 1, 2009, al-most sixty years to the day he was born in Durban. He had attendedthe Michaelis School of Art for BA and MA Fine Arts degrees andhe received a Fulbright Scholar-ship for an MFA at the Universityof California at Los Angeles.Before studying for America, hetaught at Michaelis for a year.Returning from Los Angeles,he became a lecturer and thensenior lecturer in art history atUNISA. Joining the Universityof the Witwatersrand in 1980, he became Professor and Head of theDepartment of Fine Arts -- at theage of 31. Alan Crump had a well-earned reputation for intensity andexuberance as an educator. Onestudent fondly recalled Crump
entering her class on the rst day
of lectures, surveying his newstudents, and then striding awayfrom the lecture hall, wearing redleather, bell-bottomed trousers.He was equally enthusiastic in hiscommitment to emerging youngartists, championing artists likeWillliam Kentridge and PennySiopis, early on in their careers.He was a passionate advocate for arts awards that came with real
benets, saying ‘Artists should
get an incentive for their work’.Beyond his role as a universityinstructor, Alan Crump was activein the larger public dimensionsof arts and culture education.He was an arts advisor to theStandard Bank, serving as cura-tor or consultant for numerousexhibitions at the bank’s gallery,as well as in his role developingthe bank’s own corporate collec-tion. Alan Crump was the guidingforce behind the widely heraldedChagall and Miro exhibitions. His public lectures on art and societywere eagerly anticipated becauseof their power to educate, upliftand entertain.In 1984, Alan Crump joinedthe Grahamstown National ArtsFestival’s Governing Committee,recognizing the responsibility of educators to engage with society beyond the academy. He becameFestival Committee chair duringa particularly contentious decade,helping steer the festival to ad-dress the revolutionary changestaking place in South Africa.Among many important mo-ments, the festival provided ANCArts and Culture Spokesperson,
Barbara Masekela with her rst
major public opportunity after returning from exile to address anew artistic and cultural vision for South Africa.Beyond his role as an educa-tor, Crump was a sculptor and aconsummate watercolour artistand his works are in private andcorporate collections around thecountry – and beyond. He foundunlikely beauty in a mine dumpor cast off industrial artifacts andLinda Givon once called him
South Africa’s rst real concep
-tual artist.Crump was a legendary convivialhost and guest who loved a greatstory, a sharp, well-argued discus-sion about art, sports (he had beenan avid rugby player and runner as a student) or politics – just ashe loved to share a good glass of South African wine with friends.A capstone of his career wouldhave been the opening of anexhibition at the 2009 Graham-stown Festival, marking a quarter century of Standard Bank YoungArtist Award winners. Sadly,while he will not be present at the
opening, his inuence assuredly
will be.As he, himself, had said a half decade earlier at the opening of the Bonnie NtshalinshaliMuseum,‘When someone dies, it is whatthey leave behind that counts, theobjects and the residue of their thoughts.By Hayden ProudWell before his recent death atthe age of 83, Cecil Skotnes hadattained something akin to saintlystatus in the annals of South Afri-can art. Prior to his 70th birthdayin 1996, he was already the holder of numerous awards. On reach-ing biblical age he was investedwith many further honours. Theseincluded several honorary doctor-ates in Fine Art and the Order of Ikhamanga in Gold. The latter was bestowed in recognition of his work in the ‘deracialisaton’ of
the ne arts in South Africa. His
nimbus glowed even more brightlyin recent years as greater art his-torical stock was taken of his roleas a catalyst in the emergence of a
signicant urban black art move
-ment in this country.Skotnes’ role at the Polly Street ArtCentre coincided with apartheid’shigh water-mark in the 1950sand 60s. Although he had foughtagainst fascism with the SouthAfrican Army in Italy in his lateteens in 1944-45, Skotnes was by
nature more of a pacist than a
strident activist. His quiet, persist-ent example and gentle encourage-ment gradually opened conduitsfor dialogue between the separatedand vastly unequal worlds of thewhite and the black South Africanartist. Serving the needs of the poor and the disadvantaged was asocio-religious imperative that hehad been born to; his Norwegianfather and his Canadian mother were both active social workerswith the Salvation Army in EastLondon. With their example beforehim, and with time, he realized the parable of the sower. The artisticharvest garnered from the seedsthat he planted was great. In theroll-call of black South Africanartists of the Polly Street era, manyalso now dead, his tutelage and
inuence gures prominently.
Skotnes’ artistic imagination was
always red by his contact with
original works of art. The work of Italian Renaissance masterssuch as Giotto, Masaccio andMichelangelo had deeply movedhim when he was a young soldier in Florence. Back in Johannes-
burg at the edgling Wits Fine
Art department in 1947, he wasinspired by the teaching of Dr Maria Stein-Lessing, a somewhateccentric but highly professionalart historian whose lively interestsstraddled Medieval, Modern andAfrican art. It was through her that
Skotnes was rst introduced to the
principles of the German Expres-sionist woodcut. At that time, printmaking was not yet a featureof the Wits Fine Arts curriculum, but the incised wooden block withthe discipline of its planar limita-tions and its expressive potentialwas to become the abiding concernof his life’s work as an artist. In aleap of inspiration he decided tomake the incised wooden block an independent work of art initself, selectively colouring it with pigments. Such wooden panels became major ensemble art works, particularly when integrated withinarchitectural settings, such as atthe 1820s Settlers’ Monument inGrahamstown.After his marriage to ThelmaCarter in 1951, the couple touredEurope for nine months duringwhich he gained greater apprecia-tion of the implications of Cubismand Egyptian, pre-classical Greek and Assyrian art. A sojourn inEngland brought him into contactwith the work of Henry Moore and
Graham Sutherland. The inu
-ence of the latter was profound,informing his interpretation of theSouth African landscape, whichhe was to revisit continually in his prints and paintings over the yearsthat followed. It could perhaps be argued that in all of Skotnes’oeuvre there is also something sub-liminally present that is redolentof his own Scandinavian ancestralheritage, which somehow alwaysunderpinned and inserted itself into his own efforts at producingan art that embodied the spirit andstyle of Africa. Herbert Read oncereferred to the extreme northern parts of Europe as “the preserve of an indigenous prehistoric style”. Itwas a style that was carried acrossvast oceans through small preciousobjects of impeccable craftsman-ship, as well as through shal-low, painted relief carving in thewooden sections which comprisedthe longboats of the Vikings. Alimited range of motifs and formswas employed, creating patterns of amazing confusion and inventionthat always respected the formsthat held them. In the life and work of Cecil Skotnes, something of thatScandinavian aesthetic persisted;its pioneering spirit enriching andfertilizing the artistic soil of SouthAfrica.
OBITUARIES
Alan Crump 1949 – 2009Cecil Skotnes 1926 – 2009
PEOPLE MAY 09 | BUSINESS ART 03
Chris Crake of the Crake Gallery Johannesburg
chats with Michael Coulson
MAY’S ART PERSONALITY
Artist Andrew Verster receives honourary Doctorate
Andrew Verster is receiving an Honorary Doctorate from the Durban University of Technology (DUT).Concurrent with the award, the DUT Art Gallery will be showcasing Verster’s artworks, from 21 April to 18 May, which are part of the university’sart collection. Last year Verster, who is turning 72 this year, launched his recent publication/book, edited by Carol Brown in celebration of his 70th birthday. Verster has been a practising artist for over 50 years, leaving teaching in 1976 to become a full time painter.Born in 1937 Johannesburg, he was trained at the Camberwell School of Art and Reading University. He has lectured at the University of DurbanWestville (then University College, Durban) and Technikon Natal (now DUT) until 1976 when he gave up teaching to become a full-time painter.Andrew has been a member of the Film and Publication Review Board, Trustee of the Durban Art Gallery, the Arts Work Trust, Very Special Arts, Art-ists for Human Rights Trust and the African Art Centre. He also served on the Committee of the Grahamstown Festival.
He has had over fty solo exhibitions, is represented in many major public and private collections, and has been awarded two retrospective exhibitions
organised by the Durban Art Gallery. To learn more about the artist visit his website www.andrewverster.co.za
Lynette Marais, recieves honorary Doctorate
Rhodes University will be conferring honorary doctorate degrees on Lynette Marais, who was the National Arts Festival director for 20 years, will bereceiving a Doctor of Laws (LLD) honoris causa. Marais has been recognised as one of South Africa’s most accomplished arts administrators. Her advice is constantly sought out by festival producers, arts funders and the government. Since taking over the leadership in 1989, she has grown the National Arts Festival to become the largest arts festival on the African continent.
John Meyer – Schloss Gottorf Museum Award, Germany
The South African painter John Meyer has won a prestigious comtemporary art award from the Museum Schloss Gottorf in Germany. The prize is oneof the most important international art awards in Germany, and the museum will host Meyer at their International Museum’s Day on May 17th thisyear, when up to 20,000 visitors are expected. Gottorf Palace is the largest museum complex in northern Germany and is the headquarters of SchleswigHolstein’s state museums. They regularly enjoy 650 000 visitors visiting a single exhibition. The award was established by the German entrepreneur Gunter Fielmann in 2000, after his donation of 200 lime trees for an avenue in the Gottorf Baroque Gardens at the museum. The prize is regarded inGermany as a prize of honour. He has been commissioned by the director of the Gottorf, Professor Guratzsch, to produce two works this year for themuseum. http://www.everard-read-capetown.co.za
Dale Yudelman gets Profoto Prize
Dale Yudelman was among the top professional photographers who were honored at the Sony Profoto Awards held recently in Sandton, Johannesburg.Yudelman, who lives and works in Cape Town, won six awards - including Gold’s in the Advertising and Fine Art categories. His series of images , “ iam…” was awarded ‘Professional Portfolio of the Year’
Kentridge hits the top of the Times Magazine “100 World’s Most Inuential People” pops
Our William has hit the top top of the media pops with being selected as one of The Worlds Most Inuential People (under artists).
see www.time.com for more details.(Thanks to Artheat fot the tip-off)
Moving on - Suzelle Kriel- Director of The US Museum and Art Gallery Moves on
After nearly six very happy years at the US Museum and Art Gallery is leaving for Robertson to pick up on exciting projects.Colijn Strydom will be acting Gallery Manager until an appointment has been made.
Peter Hayes is the new Director at Vansa Western Cape.
Peter has emerged from a cutting edge theatre background, and as a writer, actor and director with Hearts & Eyes Theatre Collective has earned his
reputation. Amongst his many talent he has worked in lm, owned Gorgeous Restaurant for a number of years and was the creative director for MCQP
for 2 years. As he says in his own words “ I feel fantastically out of the loop! I don’t know who’s in and who’s out, who’s hot and why and why sleep-ing with so-and-so is the fastest way to the top. But I do know who I think is hot and I’m a passionate, if under resourced, collector of contemporarySouth African art. I want to help facilitate more networking opportunities, workshops and training, market platforms. Making your lives easier andyour careers more sustainable is our mission here at VANSA and I am mightily excited to be here”.
IN THE LIMELIGHT
William Kentridge onthe Times Magazine 100 cover Suzelle KrielDale Yudelman poster for Monthof PhotographyPeter Hayes, does good with “FastGirls” outside Joburg Art Fair
E-mail us your stories, images and show openings , as well as “In the Limelight” contribution to us ateditor@arttimes.co.za
Cecil Skotnes in his studio 1967. Photo courtesy Pippa SkotnesAlan Crump Photo courtesy Lynette Marais
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special ends 1 June 09
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