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THE SOUTH AFRICAN
www.arttimes.co.za • July 2008 • Issue 7 Vol 3 • SA Home subscription 180 p.a • July Print & Distrib. 11 000 copies • RSA free from select outlets. Available in Namibia & Zimbabwe
ART
TIMES
By Patrick BurnettCraig Wylie, a Zimbabwean-born artist who studied in SouthAfrica before moving to theUnited Kingdom, has gone fromobscurity to stardom after winninghe prestigious BP Portrait Awardin London.In what is considered to be themost prestigious portrait competi-ion in the world that showcaseshe best of contemporary portraitpainting, Wylie, 35, walked awaywith top honours for a two-metrehigh oil on canvas study of hisirlfriend, Katherine Raw.In clinching the prize, Wylie beat1,726 other entries and won£25,000 and a commission fromhe National Portrait Gallery inLondon worth a further £4,000.
Fifty-ve of the 1,726 entries were
exhibited at the National PortraitGallery in London prior to the win-ners being announced on June 16,with the exhibition hailed as beingof the highest quality ever. Wylie’spainting was tipped by some as aclear winner even before the prizewas announced.Speaking from London, where hehas a studio in Hackney Wick ineast London, Wylie said the awardwas “excellent” from a personalperspective, although he was stillcoming to grips with what it wouldmean for his career.Since moving to London in the late1990s he has exhibited widely andplaced 3rd in the Young ArtistsAward of the Royal Institute of OilPainters in 2001 and 2nd in thesame award a year later.But the BP award is by far themost prestigious, although havingwon it he points out that he is “notreally a portrait painter”, at leastnot in the sense that he only wantsto do portrait commissions.He sees portraits as a platformthat he felt he could do well onand the BP prize as something “Ialways had a shot at”.With being known a large part of making it in the London art scene,Wylie admits the publicity associ-ated with the prize certainly hasn’tdone his career any harm, but ismodest about the achievement.“Whether I’m up there or not isanother question,” he says.The expression on the face of theportrait which won him the prize,known as K, was described by TheGuardian in the following terms:“I know you’re my boyfriend andI love you very much and I knowI agreed to sit for you and I think
you’ll nd I’m not moving but I’m
really not happy here and, franklyCraig, I’d rather be somewhereelse.” But Wylie, who was bornin 1973 in Masvingo, Zimbabwe,rejects the description, saying hetried to talk the journalist out of it.“It’s quite a complicated paintingand it’s full of quite a few differentmessages. I’m not sure there is alook of boredom and not wanting
to be there. There is denitely a
challenge and I thought it was
Continued on page 2 
Rhodes trained artist clinches BP Portrait Award ‘09
Staff writer Sunday Times reported thatvandals smashed a sculpture thathonours Archbishop EmeritusDesmond Tutu yesterday.The sculpture by Anton Mombergwas erected in front of the city hallin East London as part of the Sun-day Times Heritage Project. Thevandals knocked off Tutu’s head.Buffalo City mayor Zintle Peter ex-pressed outrage over the incident.
“I am both horried and extremely
disappointed that a symbol of aninternationally respected icon of the struggle and of human rightscan be desecrated in this way,”she said.This is the second Sunday Timesmemorial to have been vandalised
in the city, and a total of ve have
been smashed nationwide.In October last year, a sculptureof a black boy sitting on a bencherected at Eastern Beach wasvandalised two days after beinginstalled.The Sunday Times HeritageProject was part of the newspa-per’s 100 th birthday celebrationsin 2006.
Fifth Sunday Times commissioned sculpture vandalised
Craig Wylie holds the prestigious BP Portrait Award 2008, with his winning entry “
K” 
(a portrait of his girlfriend). This is the second year running that aSouth African trained artist has won the award. Last year Paul Emsley won the internationally sought after award.
Photo credit: Katherine Tyrell 
An icon of peace destroyed: the head of Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu lies in state. Photo: Gary Horlor 
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Page 2South African Art Times. July 2008
The South African
 
Art Times
July 2008www.arttimes.co.za
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Craig Wyliecontinued from page 1
about vulnerability,” he says.In a statement on K issued after the award he explained that: “On aformal level this work is about con-tradiction. I wanted to use a strictlyclassical composition, formal, evenstiff, and then try to subvert thestillness these tenets imply. Thisinternal friction between elementsin the painting give it its quietdynamism.”The size of the workwas intentional: “Enlargementcreates for the viewer both a con-
frontational vortex and a sacrice
to scrutiny as the viewer can stepinto the paintings personal spacein a way not possible with smaller works. Gigantism also affects thepsychological edge of the sitter.On one level the viewers intrusioninto the sitters emotional state istacitly accepted, on another it ispositively rebuffed.”It was a case of third-time lucky for Wylie when it came to K, which hehad started on two separate
occasions, the rst in 2006, beforecompleting the nal version.
 After completing the portrait, hesaid he had “not had much timewith it” before it was sent for entryto the competition.It was two and a half monthsbefore the two were reunited.“When I saw it again I was pleas-antly surprised and thought itwasn’t too bad,” he says.Wylie studied at Rhodes Universityin Grahamstown between 1992and 1996, graduating with distinc-tion with a Bachelor of Fine Arts.He initially began studying journal-ism, but from his second year onwards “art took over” in theplace where, like many Rhodesgraduates, he remembers havingan “excellent time”. A move back to Zimbabwe after graduation and a show in his homecountry could not prevent the pullto London.“I just wanted to come and seewhat was going on and I thoughtas far as art is concerned it’s theplace to be,” he says.He doesn’t have plans to return toZimbabwe or South Africa ona permanent basis, but does notrule out spending more time on thecontinent “especially during thewinter”.The move to London was not easy. Although he had money from ashow in Zimbabwe, when that dis-appeared “it was a bit awkward”.
“To nd representation is quite dif 
-
cult. There are a lot of galleries,
but there is so much competition.”He did odd jobs for a short periodof time but quickly realised that hewould never be able to paint if hedid “crappy jobs” and so he livedclandestinely in his rented studiospace and “cracked on with it”.Other than painting portraits, hesays he “just wants to get on withmy thing”, which involves a varietyof projects that include workingfrom live models and combiningthem with objects like fridges,broken chairs or suit cases.He is also working with imagestaken from the internet and blownup in size, one of which is takenfrom a news report on Zimbabweand shows a man lying on his backwith an oxygen mask over his face – a clear commentary on the stateof his home country.His mother and some friends arestill in Zimbabwe and the last timehe visited was in October.“It’s just dreadful and it’s really acrying shame,” he says about thesituation under Mugabe, “All I cando really from here is make a small
contribution in terms of nances.
It’s sad.”For artists planning the move toLondon, Wylie points out that it’s atough and expensive city, but does
have its benets.
“I guess you just have to stickto a level of belief and see your projects through as well as youcan and then keep pushing, trying
to nd the openings and chasing
them down and ploughing throughthe opportunities that are avail-able. It’s a question of persever-ance I guess,” he says.
Dear Editor 
In response to the June edition of Art Times,pg 4, “Droopy moustaches over Stellenboschart gallery”, I want to add my voice to thosewho had a bad experience with Barnard, thegallery owner, because I am afraid he is thetype of person who would regard the reportas advertisement for himself and his doings athis gallery. He claimed there were only threeunhappy artists. I felt obliged to write when Iread that he said “Artists are emotional” after being confronted with the response of artistswho have been treated badly by him. I thinkmost of us just do not take the trouble to tellsuch a guy what we think of him, one simplymoves on – life is short. You could just as wellsay that artists are sensitive and trusting andsharks abuse those qualities.I have erased all of his details and only keptone of his emails as a reminder of a badexperience which I would like to avoid infuture. Barnard originally phoned me; sayinghe had seen some of my work on www.southafrican artists.com and told me that hewould like to have three of my sculptures for anart event. He also made promises of buyingsome of the work if we could negotiate aboutthe cost. I met him in Stellenbosch and left 3sculptures with him for the art event. He wasvery talkative. After I got home it botheredme that he never mentioned buying thework and I felt uneasy about having been tootrusting. I replaced my work at his gallery withcheaper variations as soon as was possibleand decided to give it a 6 month trial period. After 6 months I turned up unannounced andretrieved my work, all but two small terracottafigures which he told me he was buying. Hehad my bank details, I was in a hurry and hadto leave it at that. After a month I called himwanting to know when the payment would bemade. He had some or other excuse. After a month or two I again turned up unannouncedat his gallery only to find a Zim artist who wasseemingly being had in a bigger way thanme. This artist told me that he was working for Barnard in return for being helped to forwardhis career in South Africa. I liked his work andasked him whether he had sold some. He re-plied that Barnard only sells his own paintings,but not much of anyone else’s and he askedme for advice. I referred him to Greatmorestudios. I made enquiries about my workand described it to him. He told me that itwas still there and brought both sculpturesforward. Not only were they broken, but theywere broken off their mountings as well. I washorrified and angry, took the pieces and left. Ireceived no apology or explanatory phone callfrom him and am just glad that I do not haveanything further to do with him.Desireé Brand
(Left)
K, 2008.
Oil on Canvas 210 x 165 cm. (Above)
Naked Woman on chair 
, Oil on canvas 110 x 110 cm.From District Mail 11 July 08
Len touched the livesof young artists
Len Thomas, Kleinmond business-man, artist and local philanthropist(and former mayor) died on July 5after a brief illness.Born in Johannesburg in 1936,Len spent his early years buildinga career in the photographic indus-try while simultaneously starting afamily with his wife, Hazel.They had a daughter, Pamela, anda son, Gary.Len soon found himself posted toDurban where he lived for eightyears.During that time he pursued hislove o fpainting through an involve-ment in local art groups. He alsotook part in a number of groupexhibitions. Listening to his heart,he walked away from corporate lifein 1976 and moved to SomersetWest where he started the LenThomas School of Art based atSouthey’s Vines.His six-year stay in SomersetWest was active and productiveas he not only taught many of 
his students the ner points of 
oil and watercolour painting, butalso took part in numerous groupand one-man exhibitions. He wasalso active in the Somerset West Art Group, which he chaired for anumber of years.Feeling that he wanted to re-focushis energy on his own painting, heclosed his art school in the early‘80s and moved to Kleinmond.He served as a councillor on thethen Kleinmond Town Council andsubsequently became mayor for four years during which time heworked relentlessly to improvethe lot of the local population and
improve the nancial position of 
the town.Painting continued to be hisprimary passion in life, but hisentrepreneurial spirit soon cameto the fore and he opened Zellen Art Products, a family businesswhich has grown into a maturemanufacturer of artist paints andassociated products.Len enjoyed exploring the world of art, cooking, and classical guitar inhis spare time.
OBITUARY: Len Thomas, Artist and co-founder of Zellen Art Products
Len Thomas, artist and co-founder of Zellen ArtProducts, locally made, quality artist’s paintsand materials
 
South African Art Times. July 2008 Page 3
KUNSGALERY
CAPE TOWN
JOHANS BORMAN
FINE ART GALLERY
A showcase for the best of South African Masters,as well as some leadingcontemporary artists.
Telephone: 021 423 6075www.johansborman.co.zaMon-Fri: 10h00 - 18h00Sat: 09h00 - 14h00or by appointmentIn Fin Art BuildingUpper Buitengracht Street, Cape Town 8001Cell: 082 566 4631E-mail: art@johansborman.co.za
Gerard Sekoto:
Three Men Walking
(Above and left) works currently onshow at The Michael StevensonGallery by leading photographer Guy Tillim entitled
 Avenue PatriceLumumba.
Guy Tillim embarked on this project
as the recipient of the rst Robert
Gardner Fellowship in Photographygranted by the Peabody Museum atHarvard University. Avenue PatriceLumumba will be shown in 2009 atthe Fondation Henri Cartier-Bres-son in Paris, France; Foam Pho-tography Museum in Amsterdam,The Netherlands; and the SerralvesMuseum in Porto, Portugal. A bookwill be published by Prestel.(Above):
Court records, Lubum-bashi, DR Congo, 2007.
(Left)
City Hall, Lubumbashi, DR Congo, 2007 
see www.michaelstevenson.comfor more of Guy’s work
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