Full steam ahead for art fair
INDULGE: AN UNMISSABLE WEEKEND OF ARTISTIC PIECES AND PROGRAMMES FOR ALL AGES
Artworks will range from finely crafted to augmented reality.
It is estimated that there are more than 250 art fairs in the world and a huge slice of art sold to galleries is thanks to these fairs. It makes you think. Is this the heartbeat of art? From the perspective of the RMB Turbine Art Fair, the answer is yes.
Encompassing 380 artists and 48 exhibitors in one fair makes it a well-rounded experience for anyone interested to see what up-and-coming and established artists are producing. Add to that a number of programmes aimed at graduates and new artists, the Turbine Art Fair has established itself as one of the major fairs in the country. This year, the fair is again expanding – and the exciting programme is dazzling.
Throughout the weekend of the fair, the daily programme includes walkabouts with celebrities, art professionals and well-known artists. These free walkabouts also include age-appropriate options aimed at helping children understand art and sharing a vocabulary that equips them to appreciate and describe it.
Turbine Art Fair is sponsoring This landscape. This landscape! The Quintessential Metaphor For Life by David Koloane in collaboration with LL Editions and curated by Ruzy Rusik to celebrate 80 years of artist David Koloane.
Joe Legate from LL Editions said: “In all life of South African art, especially in the black community, none has ever celebrated our own. Therefore it is time that we celebrate Koloane as he was taught how to paint but expressed himself though the medium of printing.”
Installations have always been an exciting part of the fair and this year’s curator, Tamzin Lovell-Miller asked the question: “Who are we after this ‘PostTruth’ time has shaped us?”
The artworks she selected will range from the finely crafted to augmented reality.
The Graduate Exhibition returns for a fourth year and is curated especially for the RMB Turbine Art Fair. This exhibition features some of the best post-graduate paintings and the 2018 inclusion of photography from university arts departments across South Africa. The 2018 exhibition will be curated by Musa Nxumalo and much of the focus is on land – featuring works that address white fears to mining.
is the number of artists taking part in the RMB Turbine Art Fair.
One of the most exciting aspects is Talent Unlocked, a six-month intensive workshop programme for emerging artists that integrates practical art-making (focusing on process and conceptual development) and professional practice training in collaboration with Assemblage and VANSA. This exciting exhibition of emerging artists will be curated by Fulufhelo Mobadi.
Mobadi, a photographer, is an interesting choice as curator. She said: “Coming from a photography background – coming into this, I got to learn about other mediums, how to show them and how to work with them and the artists, and understanding their processes. I know what it’s like to be an artist, so it’s interesting to come as a curator to give advice to artists, to sit them down and say ‘I know where you come from’. My role is to guide them at the fair, where the crowd is different, where the buyers are different.”
What has continuously set the fair apart is that works on sale are between R1000 and R50 000 – creating a stellar platform for new buyers, just starting their collection.