THE SOUTH AFRICAN

ART TIMES
November 2009
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Art Life: Cathy Layzell captures the dreamy lyrical of the Cape

CAPE has 6 months to Emma Bedford joins Strauss & Co. The new Art Life newspaper

pay former director

as Paintings Specialist
Johannesburg and Cape Town.
According to Stephan Welz,
Managing Director of Strauss &
ART LIFE lanched inside
Steve Kretzmann fail pay him, or try avoid paying Co, it is not often that someone South African visual arts needs
him, he would not hesitate to start of Bedford’s calibre becomes more titles in order to cover the
Cape Africa Platform (CAPE) has liquidation proceedings. available. Highly regarded both great diversity of its contemporary
six months to come up with the ap- locally and internationally, Bedford art. To date there have been few
proximately R250 000 they owe to Jantjies’s claim stemmed from played an unequalled role as magazines that come and go that
former arts director Gavin Jantjies CAPE’s ill-fated attempt to host a Curator at The South African all like to claim to be the sole or
their inaugural biennial, TRANS National Gallery and as Director of premier authority of Art. Art Life
This follows CAPE conceding CAPE, in 2006. Goodman Gallery Cape. She is an seeks to actively promote fine artist’s
judgement to Jantjies’s claim in the acknowledged expert in modern who seek excerlence in all media,
Cape High Courtin October. According to Asmal-Dik, Norway- and contemporary art with par- especially painting and age- old
Ms. Emma Bedford proven and enjoyed mediums. In
CAPE, which organises one of based Jantjies was contracted to ticular reference to South African
the largest arts biennales in South curate the ambitious 2006 event art, has extensive experience in addition Art Life’s content is focused
Africa, don’t have the money at and developed an exhibition which Emma Bedford has joined Strauss curating exhibitions and collections on writing by artists, for artist’s. We
the moment, said CEO Mirjam would have cost R11 million, a & Co as Paintings Specialist management, has written and are deibrate in printing more images
Asmal-Dik, but would hopefully be third of which involved paying for starting from 1 November 2009. edited many publications and is a than normal as this contributes to
able to pay Jantjies out in about the transportation and insurance of Although she will be based in popular public speaker. In our first issue: Tea & charcoal creating a greater showcase of SA
May next year. international artist’s work. the Cape Town office, she will with Irma. Lisa Grobler talks to us visual art. Our website at:
liaise on a regular basis between See: Business Art for more on her 1 day residecies at the www.artlife will be launched soon.
Jantjies intimated that should they Read more on Page 3 Irma Stern Museum Enjoy. Gabriel Clark-Brown, Editor

LI T
UA Y
LEN Q

PRODU

C T ZEL

,
PROFESSIONAL

Published monthly by Global Art Information Editor: Gabriel Clark-Brown [email protected] News: [email protected] Newspaper rights: The newspaper reserves the right to reject any material that could be found offensive by its readers.
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 You are invited to our 17 & 18 November 2009 Johannesburg Auction of

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Furniture, Ceramics, Silver, Books & Jewellery

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South African Art Times. November 2009 Page 3

Gavin Jantjes &

CAPE given six months to pay former arts director
Norway she received a summons
the fate of CAPE Africa
for the money. Follow up from CAPE given six months to pay former arts director
Asmal-Dik said she admitted
CAPE, and the board of direc-
tors, made a number of mistakes ‘I never pulled out of Cape’
in dealing with Jantjies, but had
always acted in good faith.
says Gavin Jantjes, speaking after proposal (Transcape) couldn’t be
The result was that they had a the court judgement which has done of the R2.8 million budget
weak legal case and their attempts given his legal team the power to available. Hence Cape ’07, minus
to defend Jantjies’s claim of a exercise liquidation proceedings Jantjes, who stayed on in an
breach of contract crumbled on if Cape Africa Platform fails to advisory capacity.
Wednesday when Judge Lee pay him the sum of R255 000 by
Bozalek refused their application March of 2010. Of the court case, Jantjes says
Gavin Jantjies Photo: MP for a postponement, leading them that it was brought about in 2006,
to concede to judgement. This has arisen from the fact when Cape failed to honour their
Continued from page 1 Commenting on Friday, Jantjies that Cape failed to honour their contract, purely a ‘safety measure’
disputed Asmal-Dik’s assertion contract with Jantjes in 2006 to taken due to the funding woes they
“We couldn’t get that money… that they had offered to settle with produce Transcape. Jantjes says were experiencing.
there was no chance,” said Asmal- him when CAPE received the that his contract stipulated that he
Dik. outstanding Lotto funding in late would produce an international Managing director of Cape Mirjam
2007. exhibition to the value of R14 mil- Asmal-Dik says that Cape offered
Instead, she said Jantjies was He said he had left after the 2006 lion, of which Cape had R4 million Jantjes two settlements that were
asked to work within a R2 – R3 TRANS CAPE fiasco on friendly hard cash and the rest ‘approved’ ‘refused’ due to the fact that he
million budget, which he refused to terms, and had issued a sum- by various funders. wanted interest that had incurred
do. “We should have told him then mons for the money owed to him during the time elapsed. Jantjes
that it (his refusal) was a breach of because he was advised not to Upon realising that Cape would said that upon Cape failing to pay
contract,” she said, which would return to Norway before ensuring not be able to raise the funds, him when the Lotto came through
have forestalled Jantjies’s claim, the matter could be followed up via Jantjes says that he compromised a year later with their pledge, he
or at least given them a much litigation if necessary. to scale down to R11 million as had no choice but to begin court
stronger legal case. However, he said he made it “very well as postponing the event. At proceedings.
Jantjies said he refused to work clear” that a settlement could be this stage Jantjes says Cape had
with the much reduced budget as it reached and the case would be six months to raise R7 million, with This he said was unfortunate as he
would have forced him to produce withdrawn when he got paid. himself personally raising funds for felt South Africa needed more art
sub-standard work and compro- His resolve to press through with the catalogue. institutions and boiled down to a
mise his professionalism. litigation hardened, he said, when case of bad management.
TRANS CAPE was subsequently he was still not paid after discover- But when Cape failed to raise the
postponed and eventually can- ing CAPE had received their funds, because applications that At this stage Asmal-Dik says
celled. outstanding Lotto funding. were thought to be previously that she is awaiting word from
When the dust settled, Jantjies approved weren’t and amid added the board as to whether to grant
apparently still owed CAPE 25 “I would have dropped the claim, woes from the lottery who failed Jantjes’ legal team access to
days of work and he was owed even dropped the legal fees,” he to deliver on time only to come Cape’s accounts. Approached for
R155 000 out of an agreed upon said. through a year later, Jantjes says comment Jantjes’ said that the
fee of R622 000, an amount CAPE “Now of course they have to face that Cape had failed to meet their matter was now out of his hands
agreed to settle in full as soon as the music.” end of the contract. and up to his lawyers. He further
outstanding Lotto funding amount- noted that should Cape fail to
ing to R2,85 million, came through. Regarding the possibility of forcing Herein lies the source of the honour the conditions stipulated he
CAPE to liquidate in order to pay dispute and the resultant court would have no problem in ‘closing
Asmal-Dik said despite waiving a him, he said if he discovered they case. When Cape failed to stand them down’.
counter-claim for the 25 work days continued to avoid paying him, up to their end of the contract
owed, and reaching an agreement, he would “liquidate them in two Jantjes was unwilling to compro-
a week after Jantjies returned to seconds flat”. mise further saying that his original
Page 4 South African Art Times. November 2009

Loss of Durban’s
NIVEA defiant
Start Art persistence
Award a Arttimes spoke to galleries in Durban to take the tone
of the local art scene and to understand why events

blow to like the Spring Art Tour don’t venture to warmer shores.

KZN Art
Despite the relative anonymity of both ways’, in many ways contrib-
Durban in the national art scene, uting to a relative brain drain.
as seen most prominently with the
Spring Art Tour only going to Cape Nathi Gumede of the Kizo Gallery
Town and Jo’burg, the feeling of said he finds it unfortunate that
local gallerists is that, despite the Durban is compared to other
Bheki Khambule, detail of self portrait lack of commercial infrastructure, centres saying that it presents
the audiences are there. different challenges. He also
Bheki Khambule , 2008’s START Nivea Art Award winner, with no formal
added that many profiled figures
art training, Khambule’s progression has been impressive, the Nivea solo
For many it is a problem of in the South African art world have
show rocketed him even further....
sustainable infrastructure. There their roots in KZN, with names like
Beiersdorf was ironically a promi- is simply not a larger enough eco- Jeremy Wafer, Andries Botha and
“After much discussion…we have nent sponsor at this year’s 53rd nomic base for galleries to function Walter Oltman being some that
decided to bring our South African Venice Biennale, adding to KZNSA effectively. Yet despite this there spring immediately to mind.
Corporate Social Responsibil- curator Brenton Maart’s confusion are initiatives taking place that
ity Initiative more in line with the over their decision to withdraw indicate a large receptive audi- Karen Bradtke of ArtSpace says
International Beiersdorf Donation their funding. ence. The art bus, started last year that one of the problems lies with
Guidelines” CEO of the KZNSA, Trevor Moore as a part of the Celebrate Durban the artists. As a huge province
also expressed dismay at this festival, runs every weekend with the infrastructure cannot support
–Mitja Zupancic, Managing direc- development saying that, as a bookings having to be done well those in rural areas and those in
tor of Beiersdorf SA, explaining non-profit institution, the KZNSA in advance. Recently the Durban the developed centres also are
NIVEA’s decision to pull its support is committed to art outreach, Art Gallery revived Red Eye, an not applying for funding, simply
from the KZNSA’s annual art education and development at event that sees the party spill from for the reason that they are simply
competition. grass roots level, with previous the gallery to the streets of Durban not aware that it exists. Despite
Beiersdorf, holding company of winners of the awards coming central. this, ArtSpace runs successfully as
skin care brand NIVEA has pulled from underprivileged communities a commercial venture and has a
all it’s funding from the KZNSA gal- who have benefitted from NIVEA’s Printmaker and academic Vuli flagship project in Berlin.
lery, bringing an end to Kwa-Zulu involvement. Nyoni, based at the Centre for
Natal’s biggest art competition, the Visual Arts at the University of A major blow to the art community
NIVEA Art Awards. He further added concern over Kwa-Zulu Natal in Pieterma- is the loss of the NIVEA Art Awards
the low priority given by corporate ritzburg, suggested that it is held annually at the KZNSA. As
In a shock decision aimed at sponsors to the arts saying that partially an institutional problem one of the provinces nationally rec-
aligning the brand to its interna- ‘there is no other way to keep a that resulted in the province being ognised art events such a develop-
tional Corporate Citizen strategy, culture alive’ without focussed par- overlooked as an art destination. ment does not bode well.
funding will now be focussed on ticipation from corporates. He also
‘improving the future prospects of expressed that finding sponsor- Citing the fact that, as opposed to Yet optimism, if not echoed from
underprivileged children or families ship that aligns itself to the ethos other provinces, which have major the institutions can definitely be
through education or family assist- and concerns of a contemporary institutions teaching art all in a seen in the audiences. As long as
ance’, said managing director Mitja gallery is difficult, added to the fact close radius, KZN only has two. people attend event like the Red
Zupancic in a letter explaining the that provincial government also For this reason Nyoni suggests Eye, art can be sure to continue.
decision. gives low priority to the arts. that ‘the points of access don’t flow

Times November_09.indd 1 2009/10/19 05:52:26 PM

South African Art Times. November 2009 Page 5

Photographer Garth Stead found dead at home

Award winning photographer ties when no one else would. He
Garth Stead was found dead in looked inside people and could
his Woodstock home yesterday see the gems there,” Wessels
by concerned friends when he said.
was unable to be contacted by
telephone. With Karin Retief and Robin
Sprong, Stead founded what
Stead was arguably one of South became Icon Images school of
Africa’s top photojournalists and photography, where they and
was awarded the esteemed Fuji others helped train underprivileged
Press Award. As a former picture people in photography.
editor of Die Burger and photogra- A quality selection of SA old masters
pher for the Cape Times from 1996 “It started over a beer one night and selected contemporary art

www. art wessels.co.za

-1999, Stead was currently work- when Garth said: ‘It’s time to give
ing as Cape Town picture editor back’,” Retief said.
for Foto24, a division of Media24’s
photographic department. They began teaching eight- and
nine-years-olds at a Mfuleni
Die Burger news editor Michele orphanage.
O’Connor said of Stead “He was
someone who not only took pic- One of those children, Mxolisi
tures, but painted with his camera. “Whitey” Madela, is now an adult
I remember him fondly as a person working at the Cape Argus as a
who cared deeply for people, photographer.
especially his children.”
“He taught me a lot of things. He
Friend and fellow photographer was more than a friend, more like
Mark Wessels said yesterday: a father,” Madela said yesterday.
“Garth was a brilliant photogra- Stead was 37 and is survived
pher, who worked at developing by two sons. Arttimes expresses
photography in South Africa, sincerest condolences to the
particular with underprivileged Stead family.
people. He gave people opportuni- IRMA STERN
THE ANNUNCIATION
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DECADE HIGHLIGHTS
from 10 Years of Collecting
for the Sanlam Art Collection

Durban Art Gallery 18 November 2009 – 25 January 2010

Anton Lembede Street Monday – Saturday 08:30 – 16:00
(formerly Smith Street) Sunday 11:00 – 16:00
Durban Closed on Christmas Day
Tel: 031 311 2264/9

For more information call the

Sanlam Art Collection
Tel: 021 947 3359 / 083 457 2699
www.sanlam.co.za
BROUGHT TO YOU BY
 Helmut Starcke
I hope my paintings are understandable for a lot of people. Perhaps that
comes from an advertising background, and maybe I have always been a
teacher at heart, trying to tell people something specific about a situation
… I do not want a closed-circuit art. Ideally I’d like people simply to want
a painting, to love it with that mysterious chemistry that just happens.
- Helmut Starcke, interviewed by Dale Lautenbach, March, 1983.

N ow living and working in

the Southern Cape, Helmut
Starcke continues to produce
natural environment.
His recent Vaalputs Madonna,
based on the Venetian Giovanni
HELMUT STARCKE: THE CONTEMPORARY AND THE ETERNAL

challenging and powerful paintings Bellini’s San Zaccaria Altarpiece

at the age of 73. His creative work (c.1495) exposes the damage and
has bridged advertising, teaching high incidence of leukaemia in the
and the career of a professional local community wrought by Eskom
artist. This supplement attempts and the Nuclear Energy Corpora-
to create a broader awareness of tion of South Africa (NECSA)
his immense contribution to South through their dumping of nuclear
African art. Fundamental to his waste at Vaalputs, near Upington.
achievement is the fact that he is a Christianity’s image of the promise
highly-gifted, inventive and flexible of renewed life, the Madonna and
draughtsman. Initially nurtured in Child, becomes an endorsement
advertising in Germany with no of eternal death at Vaalputs. The
formal art school training, that gift Madonna and Child are framed by
has been extended far beyond the the branches of an abandoned,
ephemerality of consumer ‘art’. unfinished indigenous dwelling;
He has made enduring images the sky seems redolent of clouds,
that remain in the mind’s eye and dust, wind and rain that are in effect
he is represented in many public, radioactive.
corporate and private collections.. Transfiguration on the Pipetrack is
In an age where draughtsmanship another visionary work that raises
and the very idea of hand-eye co- issues of environmental abuse.
ordination has been demoted and One of Table Mountain’s most
dulled by the computer and a re- popular walks, the Pipetrack, with
lentless deluge of photo-generated its plethora of indigenous plants, is
images, he stands as an exemplar slowly being degraded by litter bugs
of just how drawing still stands as and erosion. Using Bellini again
an intellectual discipline and activity. as his touchstone, Starcke creates
Drawing for Starcke is the basis an image of Christ as ‘transfigured
of creation on a two-dimensional nature’, his divine human attributes
surface; it is about the profound replaced by botanical forms of a
freedom to inscribe; it is always transient, blossoming beauty which
about ‘resisting’, as he says, ‘the stand in contrast to the discarded
temptation to do the harmonious rubbish of consumerism thrown at
thing ’. It is about how one handles his feet. As an immigrant to South
and exploits the infinite possi- Africa from Europe, Starcke has
bilities of paint. It is about retaining always been able to retain a degree
independence from the tyranny of of bemused detachment in his
the photograph, which is but one wry observations on this country’s
tool among many at the disposal of schizophrenic dilemmas. Colonial
the artist. Possessed of an unerring and African cultures contest and
eye, Starcke is a professional contrast with each other and this
picture-maker who knows how to is the subtext of many of his best
make images ‘work’. works. His Fateful Encounter,
where the angel of a Flemish Mas-
Starcke’s most recent important ter confronts a shamanistic figure
exhibition was held in Johannes- with the head of a springbok, is the
burg in 2007. Entitled Reflections visualisation of a ‘battle between
and consisting of six large paintings divergent belief systems – between
in acrylic, it opened at the Everard Western-imposed doctrine and
Read Gallery in May, 2007. A no- [indigenous] traditional faith’.
table feature of his mature work of
recent years is his engagement with
the European Old Master tradition,
which indicates the terrain he has
covered since he was first hailed
as South Africa’s pre-eminent
‘Pop’ artist, with the bright colour
and stimulating optical concerns
of his work in the 1960s and 70s.
As a former advertising man he is
concerned with making an art that
engages with a broader, rather than Fateful Encounter acrylic on canvas
an elitist art constituency. As he Homage to Gustave Dore (1999-2007) acrylic on canvas
says of his most recent work: ‘all
of [my] images have multiple entry
points, and this is why I do not want
to push my secret ingredients …
I prefer to regard them as a form
of respectful co-opting from art
history, which is due to my enduring
respect for the Old Masters’.
Giovanni Bellini S. Zaccaria
Starcke’s paintings can often Altarpiece (1505) (detail)
remain long in gestation, always
subject to reconsideration and
amendment. Homage to Gus-
tave Dore, for example, was first
commenced in 1999 but only first
exhibited in 2007. Using Dore’s
19th-century engraving entitled
The Battle of the Angels, which is
transposed into acrylic on canvas
over a vista of the Cape Peninsula,
its theme of the struggle between
good and evil becomes a metaphor
of sorts for our own contemporary
political situation in the Western
Cape. As his earlier works testify,
Starcke remains ever skeptical Bellini The Transfiguration
about man’s relationship to the Transfiguration on the Pipetrack (2007) acrylic on canvas The Vaalputs Madonna (first exhibited in 2007) acrylic on canvas
(1490-95) (oil on panel)
In 1998, hinting at the new directions his work was soon to take in his post-
retirement years, Starcke stated: ‘I shall proceed both in celebration and FLIRTATIONS WITH ‘OP’ AND ‘POP’ CAPRIVI OF MY MIND: A SERIES
in criticism, with a sense of personal encounter in [the] history of art and
the pleasure of “another viewing’ of well-loved images, as well as of things
that lie far outside of the edge of the canvas’. His quest to mine the history
of art to make creative comment on both contemporary and eternal issues
continues.

EARLY YEARS IN GERMANY

Helmut Starcke was born in Offenbach-am-Main, a town in Hesse in the
former West Germany. His father Heinrich Starcke was trained as a mas-
ter-craftsman and made fine leather goods for which Offenbach-am-Main
was renowned. In the seven years prior to Adolf Hitler’s appointment as
German Chancellor in 1933, Heinrich Starcke was unemployed because
of the severe economic depression caused by the crippling reparations
imposed on Germany by France and Britain after the end of World War I
. Hitler’s economic policy led to a quick turn-about in this state of affairs,
which increased his popularity. He also quickly began rearming Germany
in contravention of the 1919 Treaty of Versailles, an action that enabled his
seizure of control over Czechoslovakia and Austria. His invasion of Poland
in 1939 finally ignited the Second World War. Heinrich Starcke, like many Bushveld Light (1968). Acrylic on canvas, Wits University Art Galleries
Caprivi of my Mind #3. Acrylic on canvas, Private collection
other skilled Germans at this time, found employment in the war industry
and was thus able to support his family of two children, which included
a daughter born in 1930, and his son Helmut, born in 1935. The year in
which Helmut was born saw the imposition of the draconian and racist
S tarcke’s series of paintings and prints entitled Caprivi of my Mind was
produced over a period of some years between c.1970 and c.1976.
The title of the series shows a more marked emphasis on ‘African’ subject
Nuremberg Laws which discriminated against German-Jewish people, matter in his work, alluding to the Caprivi Strip, that narrow, 450 km-long
excluding them from many professions. It was the start of a process protrusion of Namibian territory that runs between Angola, Botswana and
that would culminate in industrial-scale genocide at Treblinka, Dachau, Zambia to the north-western tip of Zimbabwe. Caprivi was a nexus of ongo-
Bergen-Belsen and Auschwitz. When war broke out in 1939, Helmut was ing conflict in the 1970s when South Africa governed the then-South West
four years old. When it ended with Germany’s almost total annihilation in Africa, and was involved in wars against SWAPO, the ANC while covertly
1945, he was only ten. Those Germans - mostly women and children - who supporting UNITA in the Angolan civil war. Many languages are spoken in
survived the War, faced terrible hardship in Germany’s devastated cities Caprivi, and in African terms it is the meeting place of many cultures and
and unsympathetic treatment at the hands of the victorious Allies. Helmut ideas. In these years Caprivi represented a distant war that existed only in
continued his education until he was 16. He then left school to seek work the minds of white South Africans, symbolising their fight against the sup-
in order to augment the family income, taking up an apprenticeship at the posed ‘forces of darkness’ in the form of ‘communism’, ‘atheism’ and forces
Werbekunst Publicity Studio in Frankfurt. He later took up an appointment bent on the destruction of ‘western civilisation’. The reality of this faraway
as a graphic designer with the advertising agency J. Walter Thompson, war never impinged on their daily lives, but the lives of young white men
also in Frankfurt. were heedlessly sacrificed in the process.
The Hitch hiker (1968). Acrylic on canvas, Iziko SA National Gallery Some paintings in this series combine disparate images that seem hal-
ENGAGEMENT WITH SOCIAL REALISM lucinatory, their strange junction and conflation appearing redolent of the
heraldic and the emblematic. Caprivi of my Mind #3, with a Zebra kitted in

I
medieval jousting-attire and surmounted by a mysterious, faceless, lynx-
W
n 1958, aged 23, Starcke left hile Starcke’s early social realist work garnered critical attention,
Germany to settle in Cape- like creature wearing antlers seems such an image. Caprivi of my Mind
as his own sternest critic he began to consider other possibilities for
Town, where he initially worked for #1, on the other hand, shows an ostrich pulling a chariot-like cart driven
future directions in his painting. Social realism, he realised, was ‘natural’
P.N. Barrett Advertising, switching by a cut-out human figure reminiscent of those used as targets in training
for him as a new immigrant. But as he admitted, ‘coming from outside,
to Lindsay Smithers Advertising military snipers and marksmen. Caprivi of my Mind #6 shows a winged
from Europe, one always [had] a lot of criticisms; but my paintings posed
in 1962. His burning desire to Zulu warrior with his feet enigmatically
questions and didn’t pretend to offer solutions’. By the later 1960s his work
paint manifested itself in his first entrapped in the earth, at the same
had shifted in directions being explored by many international artists and
solo exhibition at Fabian Fine Art in time bathed in lurid lighting effects so
colour theorists such as Josef Albers (1888-1976) who were exploring
1963. The late Neville Dubow , as to appear like some kind of
simplified forms, bright flat colour, hard edges and spatial ambiguity.
who was writing art criticism inthe African Archangel. Caprivi of my
These features are synonymous with ‘Op Art’, but Starcke did not fully
local press at the time, re called Mind #10, using the space-frame
embrace either its wholly abstract approach or its eye-teasing effects,
meeting Starcke. He recalled him device, fuses two disparate images,
preferring, rather, to retain figurative elements that had been subjected to
as ‘pretty economical with words’ one of aswimming pool and the other
some degree of abstraction. In particular, aspects of the work of the British
because of his initially limited of a crocodile amid the beauty of
painter Bridget Riley (born 1931) and the American Larry Poons (born
ability in English, but that there flowering water plants. The luxury of
1937) were deeply internalised and integrated into his work. Figuration had
was, ‘so to speak, a glint in his eye suburban life in white South Africa is
staged a come-back after the orthodoxy of abstraction in the 1940s and
Government Avenue, Cape Town when he looked at South African simultaneously contrasted with death Caprivi of my Mind #6.
50s, reappearing in the initially surprising phenomenon of Pop Art.
(1961). Acrylic on canvas. society in the locust years of lurking beneath an alluring guise. Acrylic on canvas, Private collection
Iziko SA National Gallery apartheid.’ Pop’s use of mass-media images and processes no doubt appealed to
It was ‘this glint’, noted Dubow, that ‘sparked off some of the earliest exam- an artist already well-steeped in the devices of advertising. Starcke began
ples of socially-satirical art that began to surface in the early 1960s.’ At this to use the ‘cool’, photo-derived techniques of illustrative advertising as a
time Starcke was a great admirer of the work of Ben Shahn (1898-1969), new basis in his work and this replaced the expressive tendencies of his
the American social realist painter and photographer. His acerbic eye set social realist work. Bushveld Light (1968) sets the simplified image of a
a precedent for Starcke, whose own sardonic eye was, in turn, levelled at hunter and his dead trophy in a bleached landscape against flat areas of
the strange society which now surrounded him. Jesus Lives (1962) seems colour overlaid with a grid of coloured dots. It is an attempt to render the
well within Shahn’s sphere of influence, but in Government Avenue, Cape retina-scorching glare and contrasting deep shadow of African light in a
Town (1961) Starcke paints a then-familiar annual Cape Town sight with contemporary idiom. Starcke’s use of repetitive colour dots is often said to
biting and cynical caricature. This work, since acquired by the SA National have been derived from the ‘Ben-Day’ dots used in screened commercial
Gallery, shows phalanxes of grim and porcine-faced ministers of the photographic processes, in much the same way as in the work of Pop artist
Dutch Reformed Church walking down Government Avenue, traditionally Roy Lichtenstein (1923-1997) used them in his paintings. Starcke however
dressed in white shirts and white ties with black suits and hats. The orange denies this, pointing out that his use of repetitive colour ‘discs’ has more
background with the blue trees and shadows allude to the oranje-blanje- to do with generating optical effects than with ‘Ben Day’ dots derived from
blou of the old South African flag under the National Party government of enlarging an image which is ultimately derived from a printed source.
the day. It is an unforgettable image of repressive Calvinist rectitude; of the In Hitch hiker (1968), simplified image-fragments of a highway, a human
virtual theocracy that underpinned and justified the philosophy of apartheid. face, a windscreen and a vehicle are composed into an abstract whole,
Government Avenue, Cape Town has now become a historical image; the distilling space and time. Images from inside and outside the vehicle
nearby the Synodal Hall has been converted into a hotel, apartheid is now are presented simultaneously. Hitch hiker also initiates Starcke’s use of
buried, and the ‘penguins’, as Capetonians called them, no longer make the ‘space frame’. This is the device of an image-within-an-image which
their seasonal appearances. As Dubow observed, ‘nobody else in the local presents two aspects, or two related images, simultaneously. It can create
ambiguous effects of a smaller image inserted within a larger one; of dif- Caprivi of my Mind #1. Acrylic on canvas, Private collection
context had come up with an image of this kind … here, it seemed, was an
artist with a hand and an eye capable of making us look at ourselves’. ferent or related pictorial realities presented at the same time. The quest
for flatcolour effects in acrylic on canvas also led Starcke to the employ-
In addition to his acerbic images of people, Starcke also made a number ment of serigraph (silkscreen) printing techniques. In a series of prints
of works dealing with older buildings in Cape Town. In works like The Blue commissioned for the Elizabeth Hotel in Port Elizabeth in 1971, where
Shop (1961), the collage of signs and advertisements attached to the build- he worked jointly with Neville Dubow and Kevin Atkinson, he produced a
ing were familiar territory to a painter already so steeped in advertising. series of symmetrical, iconic images (all serially Untitled, 1971) which are
His works in this vein prefigured the photo-realist paintings of vernacular redolent of the Rorschach ink-blot test. Neither fully ‘Op’ nor ‘Pop’, they are
buildings in South Africa’s rural dorps made in the later 1970s and 80s by perhaps the closest approximation of the spirit of both in his work. To define
younger artists such as John Kramer (born 1946). Starcke’s work as ‘Pop” in these years is simplistic, but there is no doubt
that his responses to these movements and his training can easily lead
viewers to this assumption. ‘I’ve
never regarded myself as a Pop
artist’, he once stated. ‘If one is
receptive to a general atmosphere,
similar things are bound to happen.
And with my advertising background
in consumer art, the connection was
Jesus Lives (1962) The Blue Shop (1961) inevitable’. Caprivi of my Mind #10 (1976). Acrylic on canvas.
Acrylic on canvas. Acrylic on canvas. Untitled (1971). Serigraph on paper Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Art Museum, Port Elizabeth
 STARCKE’S NOT-SO-STILL LIFES THE ‘SUBLIME’ IN NATURE ICONS FOR THE INTERREGNUM

The Burning Bush (Strelitzias) (1983) Acrylic on canvas, Sasol Art Collection

Still Life with Bananas and Mangoes (1990) Acrylic on canvas

N ature and nature’s forms are a major interest in many of Starcke’s
canvases. In 1989 he once stated: ‘The more I learn about man’s
tireless abuse of nature, the less I am interested in “the human condition”
Hollow Triumph (1985) Lithograph

T
as subject matter’. The device of the ‘space frame’ was used with greater he trauma of South Africa moving towards political transformation in

I n the period 1988 to 1990, Starcke produced a series of still-life paint-

ings that explored the grid as a compositional and structural device.
With still-life as his focus, he defined his project as ‘imposing a “superior”
subtlety on one hand (and even greater emphasis on the other) in some
of his paintings of the late 1970s and early 1980s where nature is the sole
subject. Commenting further he said: ‘for some time I have felt more and
the late 1980s and early 1990s was visualized by Starcke in the form
of an ominous clutter of detritus, charred, burnt and smouldering wooden
elements, skulls and traditional ‘cultural weapons’ which were the subject
order on symbolic subject matter in illusionistic space’. A series of grids in- more compelled to create images celebrating the life force, as well as order of a series of lithographic prints published in 1995. Using the expressive
visibly laid over each other operates in these paintings. Starcke regards the in nature, speaking of such things as fresh air, clear water, cool grass and potential of black and reflective gold ink on white paper, they seemed a
grid as an ‘emblem of modernity’, that was consciously used by the Cubists white clouds etc, but also of the mystery as well as the logic – all of which sombre shift when compared to his earlier works which show an interest in
and the Futurists in ways that generated both a sense of stasis – in Cubism we perceive as beauty’. bright, flat colour. These prints were exhibited together with a series of re-
- as well as dynamic diagonals – in Futurism. As Starcke has stated: ‘ the lated paintings that also used a new form of gold acrylic paint and textured
grid also provides a formal structure, adequate to convey the content (lack These sentiments and intentions are clearly evident in his For Cherylle surfaces at the SA Association of Arts. . Critic Benita Munitz commented
of confidence in man, looking for hope in nature) of my recent work, replac- series. In For Cherylle No. 3 (1977), for example, a centralised square that ‘this was a show of illuminating
ing pictorial ‘gravity’ with a strong but disturbing order, contradicting the har- image of rushing water and stones echoes the proportions and edges of paradoxes ... surfaces gleam with
mony established by the familiarity of the subject matter and, surprisingly the canvas format while suspended against a cloudy sky. Symmetry and gold – and smoulder with dying
and paradoxically for an ordering device, creating acute instability’. an underlying geometry create a sense of a ‘divine order’ in nature by embers; flowers bloom amid a
employing a structure or a repetitive motif that is established either by an carnage suggested by multiple
A high degree of stasis was achieved by the use of grids in Piet Mondrian’s underlying grid or by a superimposed one. This is clearly seen in North skulls; elements of the secular and
abstract art. Starcke pays homage to Mondrian in his Time for Myself Coast no. 1 (1982), where an invisible grid dictates the placing of repeated the spiritual combine in disaster
(1990), taking the artist’s well-known painting Broadway Boogie-Woogie flower motifs. A sense of sublime and architectonic symmetry underpins scenarios gilded like religious icons’.
(1942-43) and tilting it on its side. He unsettles the stasis of Mondrian’s the fluid and random forms of water and rocks seen in Prayer No. 3 (1983), Paintings such as By the Waterfall
composition by tilting the painting diagonally. The Mondrian within Starcke’s where, again, an array of prismatic light forms is held in place by another (1994) also introduced ‘living’
painting becomes yet another object among other objects in a invisible, structural grid. elements into these gravity-free
world where gravity has been suspended. Objects adhere to established, visions of nature morte. Legend
yet invisible planes in illusionistic space. In Still Life with Bananas and Man- Dispensing with the grid entirely, Starcke is also able to evoke the spiritual (1995) is a triptych using the image
goes (1990), the objects are suspended in front of, rather than resting on, in nature simply by according his image an iconic centrality on a square for- of the Zulu King Cetshwayo’s
an exotic carpet. Such carpets were often present in 17th-century Dutch mat, as in his Burning Bush (Strelitzias) (1983). In art historical precedent, carved wooden throne, which is By the Waterfall (1994)
still life paintings. The mangoes are arranged on a vertical invisible plane in painted light effects or sources of light often allude to the spiritual and the shown in different stages of creation,
space. They suggest an underlying grid-pattern that is perhaps divine, to the awesome sense of God-in-nature, which we call ‘the sublime’. destruction and rebirth. The rebirth panel shows the charred throne with a
incomplete; still engaged in a process of becoming. A well-known literary image is that of the ‘burning bush’ in the book of budding flower as a sign of renewed life amid the destruction.
Exodus, where God appeared to Moses as a ‘mystery’, taking the form of a
There is no repose in Starcke’s still-lifes, and their underlying energy and fire that burned but which did not consume. According to Starcke, his own
layered dynamism holds in suspense a diversity of objects that speak of painting, Burning Bush (Strelitzias), ‘takes an almost nostalgic backward
different and contesting cultural identities as well as the tensions between look ... at what we have lost’. The work, he says, ‘might even look forwards
them. Neville Dubow has commented that these images seem to represent to a time after man ... in this frame of mind the emotive biblical symbol
‘new claimants closing in on an embattled laager of eurocentrism … a became inevitable, and with the strelizia “flames” in “superior order”, [they
mix of cultural liquors in the cocktail shaker of realpolitik’. This is evidently become] an image of mystery, [of] supernature triumphant.’
the case in Still Life with Lilies, porcelain and hardwood (1988), where a
totemic African sculpture of a female fetish seems to have won the contest
for prime position in the foreground over a Rococo-style porcelain maiden. Legend (1995) Acrylic on canvas Iziko SA National Gallery
In such works Starcke has energized and revitalized the still-life genre,
making it speak volubly to the cultural issues and conflicts confronting us
at present. THE MUSE OF HISTORY

I n 2004, the Old Town House, the home of Cape Town’s well-known
Michaelis Collection of 17th-century Dutch and Flemish Old Masters,
became the perfect site for Starcke’s exhibition of canvases entitled The
Muse of History. The interiors provided an ideal setting for contextualising
a series of nine works which, shown alongside 17th-century originals,
reflected deeply on the Golden Age of Netherlandish art. In these paintings
Starcke meditated and speculated, in a celebratory as well as a critical
spirit, on well-loved images from this period. The history of the Dutch
colonisation of Cape in 1652 was also brought to bear upon these images
in surprising ways. A Dutch still life, for example, was recreated and
reinvented on a large, square canvas as a charred version of the original.
Entitled In the Beginning (1999), with the date 1652 emblazoned across
the top, it is a wry comment on the ravages of colonialism. The Muse of
History (2000), a reworking of Vermeer’s masterly allegorical work entitled
Still Life with Lilies, porcelain Time for Myself (1990) The Art of Painting (1666) was the centrepiece of the exhibition and, like
and hardwood (1988) Acrylic on canvas Private Collection the Vermeer original in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, it was
Acrylic on canvas Private Collection displayed on an artist’s easel. In the original painting, Vermeer portrayed
For Cherylle #3 (1983) Acrylic on canvas, Iziko SA National Gallery
an artist at work in a sumptuous
studio. This mysterious figure -
Still Life with Poppies and objets possibly Vermeer himself - is
d’Art (1988) shown from behind, painting from
Acrylic on canvas, Private Collection his model. The model is a young
woman illuminated by a hidden light
source and costumed with the
attributes of Clio, the classical
Muse of History. While art
historians have long speculated on
the meaning of this highly-complex
picture, Starcke used it as the basis In the Beginning (1999),
North Coast no 1 (1982) Prayer # 3 (1983) for his own speculations on the Acrylic on canvas
Acrylic on canvas Acrylic on canvas
 unwritten histories and experiences 1973: A SIGNIFICANT YEAR IN THE
of the Dutch colonial ‘adventure’
here at the southern tip of Africa LIFE OF THE ARTIST
.In Starcke’s rendition, the
opulence and literary associations
of Vermeer’s masterwork are
S tarcke, who has now retired from UCT’s Michaelis School of Fine Art to
continue painting, recalls 1973 as being the most significant year for him in
his career. His rationale for selecting this year over any other says much about
contrasted, by inference, with the his humility as an artist and his determination to continue expanding his creative
sparsity of the Dutch visual record explorations. 1973 was the year in which Professor Neville Dubow offered him a
of the original inhabitants of their permanent lectureship at UCT after his having served there on a part-time basis for
colony at the Cape. His surreal some years. It completely transformed his career. No longer having to rely heavily
replacement of Clio with an image on advertising work to earn an income, he was able to teach and yet have the
of a //Kau//en woman and child, luxury of a private studio close to his Graphic Design students. Not having had the
The Muse of History (2000) privilege of art school training in Germany, he was, as a lecturer, able to access
based on a black and white pho
Acrylic on canvas, Iziko the University’s art library, which he regarded as an intellectual, artistic and visual
tograph taken by Alfred Duggan-
SA National Gallery gold-mine. The Michaelis School of Fine Art at that time was also an exceptional
Cronin in 1936, raises issues that centre of avantgarde experiment and debate. Starcke recalls: ‘not having been to
were seen in his paintings before, but never with such resonance. These art school, and not having been taught, I remain in a state of epiphany … I made
reflect his concerns with the interactions and reactions that took place and still make my own discoveries … there is excitement all of the time’. At the age
- and continue to take place - at the interface of the African and Western of 73, the voyage of discovery of this remarkable and accomplished autodidact
European cultural traditions. Dreams and Nightmares of M. de la Q. #4 continues, regardless of official retirement.
(2003), one of a series of speculative works using the name of Jan van Rie-
beeck’s wife, is a superb example of this. Starcke articulated his rationale
behind this series as follows: ‘I have to say that I could not have produced
BIOGRAPHY: HELMUT STARCKE
these works anywhere else but at the Cape. I also believe that part of that 1935: Born in Offenbach-am-Main, West Germany.
vivid art history, which I used to see as my European heritage, also belongs 1950: Apprenticed at the Werbekunst Publicity Studio, Frankfurt.
to the Cape. This realisation has charged me with a sense of retribution and 1955: Joined J. Walter Thompson, Frankfurt, as a graphic designer,
redemption, a taking but also a giving back of the rightful share, a claiming becoming Art Director.
of part of that same vividness for the Cape. Somewhere between the glory 1958: Moved to Cape Town and worked with P.N. Barrett advertising
Dreams and Nightmares of M. de la Q. #4 (2001), of the art and the shame of the reality lies my justification for what I have 1962: Joined Lindsay Smithers Advertising, Cape Town
Acrylic on canvas, Standard Bank Collection been doing’. 1963: First solo exhibition of paintings held in Cape Town.
1964: Joined Marketing Promotions Inc; Selected for inclusion on the Venice
Biennale ‘64; Second solo exhibition at the Lidchi Gallery, Johannesburg
A MASTER PAINTER IN ACRYLIC the idea of working in oils, but acrylic seems to have been his first choice. 1965: ‘Contrasts ‘ exhibition of drawings opposite paintings by Stanley Pinker in
In his initial training as a graphic designer, the use of water-based design- Cape Town; founder member of the Artists’ Gallery, Cape Town
er gouache colours allowed the immediate articulation of advertising ideas 1966: Selected for the Venice Biennale ’66; featured on SA Breweries Exhibition,
in a fast-drying medium that tended to dry flat and matt. Something of this winning bronze medal for a painting entitled Social Page; third solo exhibition
quality is approximated in acrylics, which he first used in 1962. Acrylics at Lidchi Gallery, Johannesburg
1967: Fourth solo exhibition at the Artist’s Gallery, Cape Town; collaboration with
are water-based paints that first appeared commercially in the 1950s as Kevin Atkinson and Richard Wake on an environmental project.
an alternative to traditional oil paint. Oil paint consists of pigment ground 1968: Started his own Graphic Design studio; second SA Breweries Exhibition;
in linseed or poppy oil as a binder, while with acrylics the pigment is awarded silver medal for his painting entitled Firebird; participated in metal
ground in a synthetic medium that has high water content. Oil colour dries sculpture exhibition, Greenmarket Square, Cape Town
and forms a tough film through the oxidation of the linseed oil binder when 1969: Selected for the Sao Paulo Biennale, Brazil; invited to teach Graphic Design
it is exposed to the air. Acrylics dry through evaporation. In the acrylic at the Michaelis School of Fine Art, UCT.
medium the molecules are kept separate from each other by molecules of 1973: Appointed a full-time staff member at the Michaelis School of Fine Art.
water. When the water molecules evaporate, the acrylic molecules bond 1976: Published a portfolio of 5 screenprints entitled Haystacks
1989: Promoted to a Senior Lectureship at UCT.
permanently to form a tough plastic film. Once bonded, they cannot be 2000: Retired from teaching at UCT.
separated and the paint remains insoluble. Acrylics dry much faster than 2005: Moved to live and work on the Cape South Coast.
oils and they demand deft and accurate application. A closer study of
Starcke’s work reveals that he uses the possibilities of acrylic paint to the
Helmut Starcke at work in his studio at UCT, c. 1979 full, ranging from thin, translucent watercolour effects to thickly-applied 1973 IN HISTORY
and opaque textural effects. Acrylic can also, when applied correctly, give
1 Jan.: Britain becomes a fully-fledged member of the

S tarcke has worked with acrylic almost exclusively through his paint- flat texture-free colour effects that conceal any expressive brushwork. For European Economic Community.
ing career, although in his early Ben Shahn-inspired works he used this reason it was used by many Hard Edge abstractionists, as well the 15 Jan.: US President Richard Nixon orders a halt to American bombing in North
ready-prepared tempera that came in tubes. He has always been open to Op and Pop artists of the 1960s whom Starcke admires. Vietnam following peace talks in Paris.
21 Feb.: Israeli fighter aircraft shoot down a Libyan Airlines jet over the
Sinai Desert killing 108.
INFLUENCES 24 March: Rock band Pink Floyd releases Dark Side of the Moon, which will go on to
become one of the most influential and successful record albums ever.
3 April: Dr Martin Cooper of the Systems Division of Motorola invents the first
cellular telephone and makes the first-ever call using one that weighs over
ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987) BEN SHAHN (1898-1969) two pounds.
The screenprints on canvas and In his first years of working in 4 April: New York’s World Trade Centre, the highest building in the world, is
paper by this iconic figure of Pop South African, Starcke exhibited officially opened and dedicated.
Art, according to Starcke, ‘opened a number of socio-critical paintings, 8 April: Pablo Picasso dies of a heart attack in his chateau near Cannes.
many doors’ for him in terms of such as Government Avenue (Iziko 25 May: Mike Oldfield releases Tubular Bells.
his own work. Warhol’s creative Sang Collection) that were 4 June: The patent for the ATM (Auto Teller Machine) is granted to Don Wetzel,
use of the colour-separations of heavily influenced by the American Tom Barnes and George Chastain.
commercial printing processes, so social-realist painter and 26 Sept.: The Concorde makes its first non-stop crossing of the Atlantic from
Washington to Paris in record-breaking time.
easily achieved nowadays with photographer Ben Shahn. Shahn
6 Oct.: War erupts between Israel and the surrounding Arab states.
computers, separated out various resisted the dominant trend 17 Oct.: Arab members of OPEC announce they will restrict flow of crude oil to
Andy Warhol: Skull (1976) , aspects of an image. It also towards abstraction in American countries supporting Israel, causing the price of oil to increase by 200%,
Acrylic and silkscreen ink on canvas opened up the option of apparent art and insisted that ‘known forms’ causing an economic recession in the West.
arbitrariness of colour usage in allow the artist “to discover 21 Oct.: The Sting, starring Robert Redford and Paul Newman, wins seven
photo-based imagery. Such images could be altered, adapted, trans- new truths about man and to reaf Academy Awards, including Best Picture.
formed or combined with other effects, such as abstract interventions of a firm that his life is significant.” One 28 Dec.: Alexander Solzhenitsyn publishes The Gulag Archipelago.
hard-edged or painterly nature. of Shahn’s best-known series of
paintings were those that
Ben Shahn: The Passion of commemorated the infamous case
BIBLIOGRAPHY
LARRY POONS (born 1937)
Sacco and Vanzetti (1932) of Sacco and Vanzetti, two Italian Lucy Alexander and Evelyn Cohen. 1989. 150 South African Paintings, Past and Present.
Gouache on paper immigrants to the US who were Peter Struik: Cape Town.
sent to the electric chair as scape- Esmé Berman. 1983. Art and Artists of South Africa. A.A. Balkema: Cape Town and Amsterdam.
goats in a murder case that had more to do with American xenophobia Esmé Berman. 1993. Painting in South Africa. Southern Book Publishers: Halfway House.
P. 251; pp. 286-7.
than real justice. Neville Dubow. (not dated, unpublished) ‘Helmut Starcke: A Memoir’.
Hazel Friedman. 2007. ‘Helmut Starcke: Wrestling with Angels’ in Reflections: an exhibition of new
THE DUTCH MASTERS OF THE 17TH CENTURY work by Helmut Starcke. Everard Read Gallery: Johannesburg.
Stephen Inggs. 1994-5. ‘A Collaborative Printmaking Project: Icons for the Interregnum by Helmut
Starcke has been fascinated in Starcke’, in Artworks in Progress: The yearbook of the staff of the Michaelis School of Fine Art, UCT,
more recent years by the optical Vol. 4, pp. 20-23.
Pat Kaplan. 1980. ‘Helmut Starcke’, in SA Arts Calendar, vol.5, no. 2 and 3, p. 13 – 16.
devices and levels of reality
SA Association of Arts: Pretoria.
that occur in Dutch Old Master Dale Lautenbach.1984. ‘Cerebral invitations’. Argus Tonight section, March 13, p. 6.
paintings, which despite their Dale Lautenbach. 1988. ‘Sensual and cerebral appeal from Starcke’, Tonight section,
Larry Poons: Han- San Cadence (1963), Acrylic and fabric dye on canvas deceptive naturalism are actually Cape Argus, September 20.
Benita Munitz. 1995. ‘Show of illuminating paradoxes’. Cape Times, March 20, p. 15.
complex, artificial pictorial
Leoni Schmidt. 1989. ‘The Sasol Collection’ in Lantern, May, p. 43.
constructs. This is a fundamental Helmut Starcke. 1992-93. ‘Homage to the Unswept Floor’, in Artworks in Progress:
Starcke has always been captivated by the underlying organisation of the idea underlying much of Starcke’s The yearbook of the staff of the Michaelis School of Fine Art, UCT, Vol. 3, pp. 48-49.
abstract colour-field paintings of the Japanese-born American artist Larry own work in recent times. Revisit Helmut Starcke. 1989. ‘An investigation of the grid as structural device in pictorial space: a series of
Poons. In Poons’s work optical effects are created by repetitive, elliptical ing some of the most cherished paintings’. Artworks in Progress: The yearbook of the staff of the Michaelis School of Fine Art, UCT, Vol.
1, pp. 20-21.
discs suspended against a dominant colour field. Like Poons, Starcke images of the Dutch Golden Age, Helmut Starcke. 1998. ‘ Speculations’ in Artworks in Progress: The yearbook of the staff of the
often uses an underlying grid as an organisational and compositional such as Vermeer’s The Art of Michaelis School of Fine Art, UCT, Vol. 5, pp. 36-37.
device, even in his figurative paintings, especially those where an image Painting (1666), Starcke never
is repeated. As in the case of Poons’s work, these grids can also be su- loses sight of his position as
perimposed in layers to add complexity. These grids are devices of pure an artist working in Africa,
design and colour that, according to Starcke, ‘lie within the geometric Johannes Vermeer: reinterpreting this tradition in terms
tradition of picture-making’ and ‘ give you depth and the potential to cre- Researched and written by Hayden Proud
The Art of Painting, that have relevance to our own
ate surprises and unexpected juxtapositions’. Oil on canvas (1666) South African post-colonial
condition.
 WOMAN
photographs by chris jansen
5 – 30 NOVEMBER 2009

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UITSTALLING / EXHIBITION • OPSLAG

‘n solo-uitstalling van skilderye en tekeninge / a solo exhibition of paintings and drawings

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openingspreker / opening address: Saartjie Botha, dramaturg / playwright
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Left: Uit Die Blou Van Onse Hemel, oil on canvas, 138 x 178.5 cm (Collection of Oliewenhuis Art Museum)

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 South African Art Times. November 2009 Page 5

Corporate award to benifit creativity

ists from diverse cultural and na The highest price fetched for one
of his works was the Trojan Horse, artists and the committee assess
which was bought by a private col- who should be in the studios for
lector in London for R550 000. the following year. Applications
come from a wide range of artists
“Much of my work is overseas. including new graduates from
A lot of people came to see what the different local institutions and
was happening during Apartheid, established artists.
and collectors bought art to see a
part of our history. Work from that One of the studios will now
period is uncomfortable to look at, become the ‘Willie Bester Studio’
especially for South Africans.” and it will provide residency for a
selected artist for 2 years.
When not at work in his studio,
Bester’s unique art expression can Kate Tarratt Cross, a director of
be seen in his house in Kuilsriver Greatmore Studios says influential
outside Cape Town which is self- artists such as Willie Bester have
decorated unique blue-and-purple been an asset to their organiza-
building featuring a colourful tion.
windmill in Ndebele design and
Artist Willie Bester a welded sculpture of an armed “Artists like him and generous
canon. donations like this have allowed
SA artist, Willie Bester, whose tional backgrounds to encourage Greatmore Studios to function as
controversial works of art from new ideas, stimulate professional- Greatmore Studios, which was a platform to aid in the develop-
recycled scrap have made him one ism, creativity and productivity. established nearly 10 years ago ment of Art in South Africa. It is
of SA’s most prominent contempo- in response to a critical need for very encouraging and exciting for
rary creative forces, has donated Nominated in the Arts Category studio space and art-making facili- ourselves and the many artists
his R100 000 ‘People’s Choice’ of the Johnnie Walker Celebrat- ties by a cross-section of the city’s we work with to benefit from the
prize in the Johnnie Walker ing Strides Awards 2009, the artists, will benefit fully from his ‘Celebrating Strides’ initiative set
Celebrating Strides Awards 2009 52-year-old artist who was born in R100 000 prize. up by Johnnie Walker.”
into a mentorship bursary at a the Cape winelands at Montagu, is It currently houses 12 artists each
Woodstock Art Studio. mostly self-taught.

Bester was honored earlier this His work – which has appeared in
year after garnering the most many exhibitions and fetched top
public votes for his most inspiring prices in international art circles
story of success. - portrays objects seen in the
everyday lives of township dwell-
The other five winners are FIFA ers. Many of his pieces are made
2010 Local Organising Committee from industrial waste and recycled
chairman Danny Jordaan, novelist scrap cut and welded together.
Zakes Mda, industrial designer
Gregor Jenkin, private equity During a career spanning 20
entrepreneur Ndaba Ntsele and years, Bester said his proudest
environmental activist and teacher, moment was when he sold his first
Lindela Mjenxane. All the winners’ piece to the illustrious Rembrandt
prizes will be used to help others Collection in 1991. “It was a col-
achieve their dreams through lage piece called Cross Roads,
scholarships and endowments in featuring a broken truck which
the winners’ names. served as a mobile shop. This Catch Bester’s work at: WATER – Solo exhibition by Willie Bester.
Bester’s mentorship bursary is at piece won me the Cape Town Tri- 34Long Gallery, Cape Town 15 December 2009 – 16 January 2010.
Greatmore Studios in Woodstock, ennial art prize and was a catalyst 34 Long Street, Cape Town T. 021 426 4594 www.34long.com
a project which brings together art- for my career.”
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E-mail: [email protected] • web www.infinart.co.za

Cape Town’s largest contemporary art gallery

exhibiting works by leading South African artists

Exclusive

Carmel Art distributors of

Pieter
66 Vineyard Road, Claremont van der Westhuizen
Ph: 021 671 6601
etchings
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.carmelart.co.za full selection on website
 MAGGIE LAUBSER, BIRDS AND BOATS, OIL, 44.5 X 55, ESTIMATE: R 650 000—R 900 000

AUCTION
28 NOVEMBER 2009 AT 10AM
HERMANUS, WESTERN CAPE
www.whalerockauctioneers.co.za
We specialize in South African Old Masters and Antiques, Collectibles

Viewing Date: 23 to 27 November 2009 at 10am—6pm & 28 November 2009 at 9—10am

Venue: Whalerock Auctioneers, Unit 4,5,6, Adam Street, Hermanus Business Park
(Behind CTM)
Irma Stern, Magnolias in an Earthenware Pot, Sold R7 241 000
A world record for a still life by the artist

Forthcoming Auctions 2010

Cape Town, Monday 15 March
Entries close on 15 December 2009

Johannesburg, Monday 24 May

Entries close on 26 March 2010

We are currently inviting consignments for 2010

Emma Bedford Vanessa Phillips Ann Palmer Stephan Welz Mary-Jane Darroll Bina Genovese Mica Curitz
JOHANNESBURG CAPE TOWN
Tel: +27 (0) 11 728 8246 Fax: +27 (0) 11 728 8247 Tel: +27 (0) 87 806 8780 Mobile : +27 (0) 78 044 8185
[email protected] www.straussart.co.za Fax: +27 (0) 21 683 6085 [email protected]
89 Central Street, Houghton, Johannesburg, 2198 The Oval, 1st Floor Colinton House, 1 Oakdale Rd, Newlands, 7700