Gauteng Editor Cara Snyman's 'postcard' on
'Jeff Koons at the Chateau de Versailles' considers the downside of luxury, and suggests that the palace's excess is shown up by the Koons show as a rather kitsch, middle-class idea of splendour. The juxtaposition of art with Versailles, emblematic as this venue is of excess gone wrong and duly punished, puts into sharp relief the excesses of the art market over the last few decades. Is the global art market, which has seen falling prices and inert stock over the last six months, possibly getting its come-uppance?
At the other end of a link recently posted on ArtHeat, I found a story of some relevance to this idea. In it, New York critic Jerry Saltz sums a debate that he, Chuck Close and auctioneer Amy Cappellazzo 'lost' against art dealers Richard Feigen, Michael Hue-Williams and collector Adam Lindemann. The subject of the debate was whether the art market is less ethical than the stock market. Saltz asserts that, although his team (which was arguing that the art market is NOT less ethical than the stock market) was underprepared and weak, semantic treachery and a general audience antipathy for the opacity of the art market combined to undo their arguments.
The exact details of this debate are like a blind alley: public suspicion of the art world's hermetic machinations is nothing new, and certainly not breaking news. Yet some details mentioned in the debate are revelatory to say the least: Saltz's dealer and collector opponents told sordid tales of 'chandelier' or phantom bidding, in which representatives of telephone bidders collude with auction houses to artificially inflate prices; bidding rings, which essentially do the same thing; and the overall absence of regulation of the industry. Don Thompson, quoted in last month's Editorial, chimes in here, stating that 'The art trade is the least transparent and least regulated major commercial activity in the world'. It is impossible not to wonder whether the commercial art industry hasn't dug its own grave with such cloak-and-dagger economics: one also wonders how far the public sympathy with these more cynical aspects of art commerce will extend. Maybe, like the adult film industry in the USA, the art world will be applying for emergency bail-out funding. And, again maybe like the pornographers, the art auctioneers will be laughed out of town.
On a more personal note, ArtThrob announces with sadness the departure from its virtual offices of two key employees. Carol Brown, Durban Editor, has decided to concentrate her energies on the myriad curatorial projects with which she is busy. Carol, ArtThrob thanks you for numerous years of service, and wishes you success with your endeavours.
Paul Edmunds, Chief Copy Editor, all-round go-to-guy and widely-regarded as the most important cog in the ArtThrob machine, is also leaving us, choosing to focus on his burgeoning career as an artist. Paul, who is working towards a solo show at Michael Stevenson later this year, has been an integral part of ArtThrob's survival and growth over the years. His editorial rigour, razor-sharp intellect and mastery of the witty repartee will be sorely missed.
Michael Smith
MANAGING EDITOR
NEXT UPDATE: April 12, 2009
CAPE
Michael Stevenson shows a new collection of lithographs by Claudette Schreuders,
Nontsikelelo Veleko's 'Wonderland' comes to the SANG, and Avant Car Guard present a
new collection of paintings, photographs and prints at Whatiftheworld/Gallery. New
addition SA Print Gallery opens in Woodstock with a debut show entitled 'Printing
Money'.
GAUTENG
Johannesburg abounds with interesting shows. Jeremy Wafer opens at the Goodman
Gallery in March, while Brodie/Stevenson presents its two part exhibition
'Self/Not-self', which concerns the self-portrait and notions of self-representation. Zander Blom presents a new body of work at the Rooke Gallery, and Titus Matiyane's 'Cities of the World' opens at the University of Johannesburg Art Gallery after its travels abroad.
KWAZULU-NATAL
Siemon Allen presents a pair of shows in Durban during March: 'Imaging South Africa: Records' at Bank Gallery, and 'Imaging South Africa': 'Newspapers and Stamps' at Durban Art Gallery. Also of note is Durban scene stalwart Andries Botha's exhibition at the KZNSA Gallery.
INTERNATIONAL
Pieter Hugo exhibits on 'Stigmata' in Geneva, Nicholas Hlobo takes part in the
inaugural exhibition at Haunch of Venison's new space, and Berni Searle, Andrew
Putter, Johannes Phokela, MinnetteVári and Sue Williamson show on the 10th
Havana Biennial.
INTERVIEW
Katharine Jacobs interviews Cape Town-based Zimbabwean artist Dan Halter on the eve
of his departure to Cuba for the Havana Biennale.
CAPE
While Katharine Jacobs raises some concerns about the mounting of her exhibition,
and the inclusion of work by family and others as well as some other artefacts, she
concludes that Noria Mabasa is still 'producing interesting, engaging sculpture,
still acting as a mentor for other aspirant artists... still coming to grips with
her medium in compelling ways.'
GAUTENG
Cara Snyman looks at the first part of the 'Self/Not-self' duo of shows at Brodie/Stevenson, and finds that, while the conceptual division of the shows reinforces conservative notions of self and masking, the works themselves have some powerful moments for vistors. Fresh back from a European excursion, Snyman also gives us a 'postcard' on Jeff Koons recent retrospective at Versailles.
KWAZULU NATAL
Sicelo Ziqubu's works at artSPACE Durban made quite an impression on Peter Machen, who is initially overwhelmed by the sheer mass of work present, but concludes that to show anything less than all would amount to travesty.
INTERNATIONAL REVIEWS
Amy Halliday reviews Nicholas Hlobo's 'Uhambo' at London's Tate Modern. While not
without criticism of the show, she is impressed with the young artist's engagement
with materials and processes, whereby he 'melds the traditional with the modern,
while probing too the evocative sensuality of the in-between'. The gallery's
accompanying publications are very thorough too, she notes. 'From Johannesburg to
New York', a collaborative exhibition by Samson Mnisi and Cannon Hersey at the
Museum of Contemporary African Diaspora Art in Brooklyn, evoked much enthusiasm in
attendees at the opening. However, argues Nina Barnett, on closer inspection, the
collaboration feels unresolved.
STUDENT REVIEWS
Honour's student Tim Leibbrant reviews 'Supermarket' at Muti Gallery, a group show which, he argues, fails to exploit either the artists included on the show or its space on the fringes of the city. Brothers Matthew and James King, both students at Michaelis, play with the format of reviewing, in an appropriately speculative piece of writing about Iziko SANG's 'Intimate Distance'.
Mary Corrigall wins the Thomas Pringle Award, and Oliewenhuis Art Museum appoints a
new curator. Okwui Enwezor receives CCS Bard's Award for Curatorial Excellence. Last
month saw the deployment of ICEPAC solar- and wind-powered mobile IPY art and
science research station in Antartica. Rat Western rounds up all this month's
biennales, triennials and other global regular exhibitions.
Michael Smith profiles curators David Brodie and Brenton Maart
Chad Rossouw trawls the Internet Archive.
Chad Rossouw recounts Scott Kildall and Nathaniel Stern's Wikipedia Art
project.
There is studio space available in Cape Town, and Pigeon Square in Johannesburg
invites proposals. Submissions are invited for a Philip L. Ravenhill Fellowship
A quiet month for feedbackers. Come on, SA, vent your spleens.
Send us your feedback.
Editions this month gives us a glimpse of the news on Guy Tillim, who is currently exhibiting a solo show at the Foundation Henri Cartier-Bresson in Paris until April 19.
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