Art fairs side by side in Joburg
One is the biggest is trying to woo the big galleries and the other is its new upstart sister
● Art was the talk of the City of Gold this week.
And, with a change in ownership and format for Joburg’s biggest art fair, and the arrival of a new upstart, it was a case of out with the old paintbrushes and in with the new.
But do art lovers have money to blow, I wonder as I make my way to Sandton on Thursday night for the opening of both fairs.
First I check in with the new kid on the block, the Latitudes Art Fair, in the middle of Nelson Mandela Square.
Touted as “a new fair for African art in international times”, it’s headed by Lucy MacGarry, former director of the Joburg Art Fair, and someone who has rapidly risen in the art scene, Makgati Molebatsi. How is it going, I ask Makgati. “It feels accomplished so far. It’s there. It is happening. And now the next accomplishment is sales,” she says.
Those checking out pieces from artists like Adejoke Tugbiyele, whose work Dignity is made from umchayelo (grass brooms), wire and black paint, include SAfm’s Michelle Constant, TVproducing couple Duncan and KeeLeen Irvine, and Malawi-born artist Billie Zangewa, who will hold solo exhibitions in Paris and San Francisco in 2020.
Across the road at the Sandton Convention Centre, things are buzzing at FNB Art Joburg, previously called the Joburg Art Fair. The story is that the country’s big galleries like Goodman, Everard Read and Momo lost faith with where the 12-year-old show was heading under owner Artlogic and dropped out. Mandla Sibeko resigned as the fair’s director to take over ownership and woo the galleries back.
The result is a leaner, more curated offering of big players and a more fluid corridor that better shows off larger-thanlife pieces like Igshaan Adams’s dreamy installation Ontdoen and a giant sculpture by Brett Murray.
I spot Lee-Ann Liebenberg and Nicky van der Walt (expect a new restaurant venture from him soon) chatting to follicle guru David Gillson and his wife, Alison.
David has recently expanded his hairdressing empire to London, where is he is coowner of Issy’s Belgravia.
Elsewhere I spot ad guru Peter Vundla, artist Nandipha Mntambo (who is set to open her new studio to the fair’s VIP guests on Saturday) and meet museum consultant Carol Brown, wearing a striking laser-cut leather necklace by Durban-based designer Xavier Clarisse.
A must-see if you do visit the fair, which closes today, is the visceral display by artist and activist Lady Skollie including Cut-Cut, Kill-Kill: A South African Love Story and another work featuring the Post Office logo and the statement “The South African government hates women”.