THE SOUTH AFRICAN

www.arttimes.co.za • August 2008 • Issue 8 Vol 3 • RSA Home subscription 180 p.a • August print & distrib. 8 000 copies • Available worldwide

ART

TIMES

PROFESSIONAL

By Johan MyburgThe visual arts have always

beneted from patronage.

In Medieval times the church wasthe grand patron. Many papal

whims contributed to some of

the greatest art ever created byMichelangelo and his peers. And

during the Renaissance amboy

ant individuals and or families

such as the De Medici’s became

synonymous with the proliferationof the visual arts. Today corporate

sponsorship has taken over the

role of institutions offering vitalsupport for the visual arts.Although these tokens of support

and patronage are laudable andindispensable, determining the

nature of the relationship betweenthe benefactors and the arts

become increasingly important. To

what extent have patrons of the

arts become patronising? Would

one be able to speak of a truly

symbiotic relationship betweensponsorship and the arts? What

constitutes the mutual benet of

this relationship? And is reciprocityregarded important at all?

In South Africa we have witnessedthe devastating effects of theabrupt end of the Brett Kebble Art

Awards. And recently we have

witnessed the end of the SasolWax Art Award. No self-respecting

corporate institution would operate

oblivious to the importance of

sustainability.

But when it comes to support for

the arts, sustainability seems to

become a ckle enterprise. Sup

port for the arts could be dishedout and cancelled at the drop of a hat, so it seems. If the chair of the board has a air for the arts,

sponsorship becomes an avenue

for corporate social investment.

Should the chair retire, the supportdwindles or dries up completely.

If one takes into considerationmutual respect (from the sponsor

towards the arts and artists, and

from the art world towards the

sponsor) the question ariseswhether the patron is consult-ing the art world in establishingsponsorship and in withdrawingsponsorship. This could be thecase in establishing the award or

competition or form of support. Butthe termination of support seems

to be a unilateral decision.The pope has another scheme inmind and the work on the SistineChapel comes to a halt.In an age with accountability andtransparency as buzzwords, itseems odd that the visual artshave to be treated as a minor – sponsorship will decide what

is benecial for the arts. Theywill decide the amount of pocket

money that could be allocated tothe arts. While the arts sheepishlydo their best to promote the image

of the sponsor, honouring the

obligation to produce quality workso that the sponsor could cash in

on publicity and a polished proleas ‘supporters of the arts’.Perhaps the time has come for the

art world to enter proper negotia-

tions with sponsors to secure a fair deal for both. The arts need spon

-sors. Sponsors need an aestheticquality to be associated with.No one needs to be reliant on theother.

Artists are professional people

and need to be taken seriously.By Patrick Burnett

You’ve heard of retreading old tyres,

but how about taking your unwanted

pieces of art down to the local deal

ership for a bit of recycling?

While you’re doing it you would alsobe making a statement on the evils

of capitalism and the selshnessof art that hides out on the walls of

private collections.

A group of Johannesburg artists

have launched a “creativerecycling” project that will takeprivately owned art and recondition

it into public works – an idea that if

nothing else has stoked debate inthe art world. The Joburg Art Bin, the

concept of a group of artists knownas Empty Ofce and consisting of

Landi Raubenheimer, Paul Cooper and Brenden Grey, and supportedby The Bag Factory artist studio, isbeing described by organisers

as a “gesture of resistance to theprivatization of contemporary art”.

The collective recently issued a callto private collectors to dump works

of art between 18 July and 2 August.

A debate on the concept was alsoheld on July 4.

The concept of retreading old arthas raised concerns ranging from afeeling that the project is

a tongue-in-cheek indulgence, to

worries about the implications of

tampering with art that is locatedin historical, social and politicalcontexts.But the organisers have explained

their efforts in the following terms:

“The premise behind the project is

to problematize the fetishization,

instrumentalization, commoditization

and privatization of art by generat

ing public art from the physicaldetritus of privately owned pieces

which have been destroyed by their owners.”They hope to explore how the

“meaning and form of a privatelyowned art object transforms when

it is reworked by another artist andre-imagined in a public context”.The proposal is that the recycled

art will be used in a series of public

art works to be installed in central

Johannesburg in preparation for

Joburg Art Week and the JoburgArt Fair 2009. Artists will work incollaboration with those who drop

off work.

Grey said the project was askingquestions about why artists madethe work they did and who sawthat work and was interested in thedialogue and debate around thesequestions. He said work was not

being defaced but recycled and

reconstructed. The Bag Factory

education ofcer Bronwyn Lace said

a panel discussion had been heldon July 4 to discuss the project. “Itwas a heated debate and no clear answers were reached...The debatedid raise many questions though

as to the validity of art in the publicrealm, whether much of it is trulytransformative in nature, the reasonsfor collecting etc.” Lace said some

works had already been depositedbut was not able to give details onwhat would be done with them.

Antoinette Murdoch, CEO of the

Joburg Art Bank, which has dropped

off some art works, said about 10

pieces had been handed over. Shesaid while it was “an interestingidea”, the bank would not be in-volved in re-purposing the work andsaw it more as a convenient way “to

get rid of what you don’t want andre-purpose something”. “If it doesnothing else but to generate a lot of debate then that is fabulous becauseI’m so sick and tired of people notdebating. If new voices can be heard

and people are saying what they

think then I think that’s fabulous.”

Strike down capitalism: dump your old art

Painting by Richard Hart :

The illusive deeper of Rita’s girls

, Oil on canvass, was one of the works on

Bigwood 2

held at

ArtSpace Durban. For more work see: www.artspacedurban.co.za The show will travel to whatiftheworld gallery soon

SASOL snuffs Wax Award

“When it comes to support for the arts,

sustainability seems to become a fckle

enterprise. Support for the arts could bedished out and cancelled at the drop of a hat.”

Page 2South African Art Times. August 2008

Custom Stretched CanvassesHand made EaselsPainting & print stretching

Artist: Ann Gadd

ArtStuff now available on the Garden RouteCall Paul Tunmer 083 2610084Tel: 021 448 2799 Fax: 021 448 2797artstuff@webmail.co.za www.artstuff.co.za

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The South African

Art Times

August 2008www.arttimes.co.za

Published monthly by

Global Art Information

PO Box 15881 Vlaeberg,8018, Cape TownTel. 021 424 7733Fax. 021 424 7732

Editor: Gabriel Clark-Brown

editor@arttimes.co.za

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classieds 20th of each monthThe Art Times is published in the rst

week of each month. News and ad-vertising material need to be with thenews and marketing managers by the15th- 20th of each month.Newspaper rights:

The newspaper re-serves the right to reject any material thatcould be found offensive by its readers.Opinions expressed in the SA Art Times

do not necessarily represent the ofcial

viewpoint of the editor, staff or publisher,while inclusion of advertising featuresdoes not imply the newspaper’s endorse-ment of any business, product or service.Copyright of the enclosed material in this publication is reserved.Views published in this Newspaper

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www.arttimes.co.za

By Patrick Burnett

City ofcials, the police andmembers of the community involved

in tracking down thieves that stolethe Waterwitch statues in Athlone

scooped the bulk of praise in aCity of Cape Town civic awards

ceremony held in early July.

Life-sized bronze statues of struggle

heroes Robbie Waterwitch and

Coline Williams, MK cadres killed

in an explosion outside the AthloneMagistrate’s Court on July 23, 1989,

were brazenly stolen in March from

opposite the Athlone police station.The thieves, who attempted to

sell the statues for scrap metal,

apparently attached ropes to the

gures and then toppled them withthe help of a bakkie, before loadingthem up and driving away. A City of

Cape Town task team - dubbed theCopperheads - tracked down 300kg

of the carved-up statues and 10

suspects were arrested.

However, four months later the

suspects have yet to have their dayin court.

Investigating ofcer Detective Gary

Jacobs said investigations in the

case had been concluded. Of the 10original arrests, ve suspects hadbeen released due to insufcent

evidence.He said it was expected that the

case would be transferred from the

Athlone Magistrate’s Court to theWynberg Regional Court, where a

trial date would be set. Of the ve

accused, all were out on bail andhad yet to plead in the case.Cape Town mayor Helen Zille,

speaking at the civic awards func

-tion, held to recognise extraordinary

acts of service, said the balance of

the awards were to acknowledge the

efforts of those involved in bringingto book the thieves of the

monument.

Zille reserved special thanks for

Rens Bindeman, a private individualthat helped in tracking down thethieves.

She also made special mention of

Arthur October, who had headedthe Copperheads’ response unit untilhe died recently in a car accident.

She said October, the staff of the

Copperheads and its head Pieter van Dalen had gone “beyond the call

of duty, with almost no resources, tocatch the criminals responsible for the memorial’s theft, and to take theght against cable theft in general to

the thieves and illegal scrapdealers.”

She also recognised the efforts of

the SAPS in making themselvesavailable.“They went above and beyond the

call of duty in service to the com

munity of Athlone and of Cape Town

in general, and we want to give them

formal recognition for their efforts.”

Waterwitch heroes win acclaim

One of the praised heroes: Pieter van Dalen member of the crack “Copperheads” unit whose team’sinvestigation recovered the sculpture within 3 days of theft. Photo: Neil Baynes of allround photography.comEditorials from publishers shouldalways be yawned at: what do they

know about art, let alone passion,love and beauty that artists sacri-

ce through their struggle, homecomforts and material gain. Themost beautiful thing art publishers

like is a meager salary and a wildly

wonderful relationship with their

readers. In this regard I am thrilled

to have received a wonderfulresponse from your readers ques

tionnaires, that range from very

good, to irritation on late editions.The readers survey has pointedus into good directions, there is

an overwhelming 90% request for

more pictures!, no we wont switchto newsprint, and yes we wouldlike to include more dialogue withartists and community members,as well as more international news.

We would like to facilitate for the

lastminute.commers and announceour winners next month, as many

folk are still lling out their question

-naires.

I would like to thank everyone for

your support, I hardly write editori-als, but I believe that the paper

should, like a work of art speak for itself. Having said this, one coulddivide the paper into 3-4 different

taste groups and produce a paper

for many groups that see them

selves apart from the other, maybe

its not so bad then, that we learn tosee what others are doing.Please do watch our website. We

are thinking of making a SA ArtMedia feed. A local clipping agency

estimated that they wouldn’t getmore than 100 art related mediaclippings per month- two weeksinto the contract I received a phonecall to say, ooops they have clipped

over 800 so far -can I update theservice? - see these daily feeds on

www.arttimes.co.za

Editorial

Be sure to catch the love at The Rupert Art Foundation - who will bring a

collection of 27 original Auguste Rodin bronzes to the Rupert Museum in

Stellenbosch - opening 21 August.

South African Art Times. August 2008 Page 3

By Patrick BurnettA row has erupted between East-ern Cape art enthusiasts and theNelson Mandela Bay municipality

over the auction of art works from

he Nelson Mandela MetropolititanArt Museum, which is run by themunicipality.he municipality maintains that theart works sold did not belong to themuseum and that stringent proce-

dures were followed in disposingof them, but a former director of

he museum has questioned theseclaims.In a statement dealing with theauction, which took place inJuly and raised over R30,000,municipal spokesperson LourensSchoeman said the museum had

“scrupulously” followed SouthAfrican Museum Association(Sama) professional guidelines on

disposals.“The process was started twoyears ago when a public appeal

was made for owners to remove

heir artworks or to give the art

museum information about them,”

said Schoeman. He said the

works earmarked for disposal had

been advertised via Sama, who

had posted information to all its

members.

After consulting the budget andtreasury, the works had nallybeen sent for auction. Schoeman

said the sale had not been moti-

vated by nancial difculties, but

that the museum had been “des-perate to liberate storage space

which had been taken up for many

years by artworks abandoned atthe museum”.But one art administrator in the

province said: “I am very con

-cerned about what is happening to

collections in South Africa. Thereare ominous rumblings of things

being lost and destroyed. There

is a lack of interest in anythingfrom the colonial period, butthese works are also a part of the

rainbow nation.”And Clayton Holliday, a previous

director of the King George VI

Art Gallery, which became theNelson Mandela Metropolititan ArtMuseum, said the works had beenowned by the council and become

the responsibility of the gallery.“Like lost waifs and strays they

were taken in, most restored and

once beautiful again, became partof our heritage.”

Holliday said he had recognised

most the works out up for auction

when he had seen them two days

before the sale. However, he said

he had not recognised two 32cmby 22cm Victorian landscapes byW. Manners (1892), which musthave been acquired by the gallery

after he had left. “They should

never have been sold,” he said.“That art was sold to ‘liberate

storage space’, sold for R33,500,

should make the community rest-

less and uncomfortable. How safe

are our collections and what are

the safeguards for the future?”

He said there should be “concern”

about the disposal of items fromthe musuem and about the care of

all heritage material.Holliday said while Schoeman

had said the sale had followed

Sama guidelines, he had not seenthese even though he had been

a life member of the association.

Schoeman had not responded to

requests for information about theguidelines at the time of nalisingthis article, but a Sama ofcialconrmed the existence of the

guidelines.

Holliday said he was not satised

that advertising had only beendone through Sama because onlypaid up members received Samapublications.“I never saw the advert or I mighthave responded,” he said.Holliday also raised questionsabout a hanging sculptor in theCity Hall by Edouardo Villa, whichhe said had been destroyed.In addition, he asked how a FrankRogaly painting in the OperaHouse by Neil Rodger had been

removed from its place of honour.

‘Space liberating’ auction causes concern in Eastern Cape

Work by Photographer Stephen

Shore entitled:

Memphis,Tennessee, December 1973

Inuential photographer Stephen

Shore - invited by the newly

formed Roger Ballen Foundation

will be hosting workshops as well

as exhibit in South Africa.

For more details see Page 14or go to www.rogerballen.org