Joburg art fair: Stand-outs and oddities

I don’t like Johannesburg. I do, however, like the people of Johannesburg – their energy and drive. Always on the go.

And such was the weekend, filled with way too many things to do, from musing and mingling at the FNB Art Joburg fair in Sandton to attending Open City book launches and screenings to dancing to the sounds of Boom Shaka, Ready D and more at The Road to Amapiano Festival at Constitutional Hill to finding oneself at a dingy tavern, sitting on a crate, somewhere in Marshalltown. All in one weekend.

However, I’ll limit this write-up to the FNB Art Joburg fair.

This was my third year attending and there was just something a little bit subdued about this year’s fair. Something smaller, quieter and more rigid. I expected way more. Even the curated walkabouts led by Ashraf Jamal felt far too brisk.

Be that as it may, Johannes Phokela really is South Africa’s modern-day renaissance painter, his latest Seven Virtues paintings, presented by Eclectica Contemporary gallery really did stand out. Classic. That’s the word.

Penny Siopis’s artwork has to be my favourite hands down. I’m not sure whether it was its positioning outside the Stevenson booth but its hues of orange on white were just dazzling.

Pity that I missed Friday’s book launch of Your History with Me: The Films of Penny Siopis. I really admire Siopis as an artist and as a person.

And then there was Jake Aikman at the Suburbia Contemporary booth.

One wonders just how many renditions of the sea he can paint because, true to form he has done it again, this time with a submerging oil painting titled Seascape Aggregate. Behold. Much like the sea invites bathers in, so does this one. You want to get into it.

The Everard Read booth stood out, albeit in a hidden corner that made me almost miss Willem Boshoff’s Fat Chance and Brett Murray’s Fiscal Cliff – two hyenas copulating. Murray’s infatuation with coitus is getting out of hand.

“I bought a book of investment and financial terms almost 20 years ago.

Paging through it recently I discovered some of these terms have hilarious double meanings,” once explained Murray while asking us to reimagine terms like “exchange rate” and “cash injection”.

Another oddity was Blank gallery, renowned for its minimalist approach to exhibiting, but this time it had practical work.

I caught photographer and art collector Victor Dlamini in the Blank booth, marvelling at Sabelo Mlangeni’s black-and-white photographs, enquiring about pricing and even selecting his top three from Sabelo’s work – The Joburg Dandies, Problematic Photograph and Arop House.

There’s a Johannesburg nostalgia feel to this series titled Big City. I suspect that is what hooked ‘Bra Vic’ to Sabelo’s work.

“Sabelo captures the beauty of ordinary life, with a deep focus on community and the human experience. His practice involves spending extensive time with his subjects, resulting in intimate and compelling images that reflect the most profound aspects of life,” wrote Mandla Sibeko, managing director of the FNB Art Joburg fair, while listing his top 10 favourites this year.

My favourite space at the fair had to be the gold-painted BKhz booth that featured the works of Zandile Tshabalala, Lukhanyo Mdingi and Athi Patra Ruga, to name a few. The space in itself was just aesthetically pleasing to be in.

Another space I kept going back to was the Under the Aegis booth, featuring the likes of Mongezi Gum and Feni Chulumanco, to name a few. Anelisa Mangcu, the gallery’s curator, had brought along 15 selected artworks.

So what you saw on Wednesday was likely not what you would see on the next day.

Hence I kept going back to see how it looked each day.

I also quite liked what was on display at the University of Pretoria’s Javett Art Centre booth.

Their stand-out piece being Richard Keresemose Baholo’s Impilo engcono kithi sonke (A better life for all) oil painting.

Something that caught me offguard, which I tried to avoid, was a home-affairs seating arrangement that was called “The Department of the People + Process”.

At the helm sat Moyo Oyelola, processing “applications” and taking black-and-white mugshots which were then hung next to him.

I sat in line. Noticed how long the entire process was. Nearly left. But was curious to find out what exactly people were being asked at this booth.

Let’s just say it was intrusively deep personal conversations. Pity I could not go home with my mugshot. Those passport photos never look good.

These ones did. On the social front, I spotted fashion designer David Tlale, futurist Dion Chang, television presenter Maps Maponyane, Trevor Noah’s friend Xolisa Dyeshana, former government spokesperson Mayihlome Tshwete and most of the featured artists such as Sam Nhlengethwa, Zanele Muholi and stalwart Mmakgabo Mmapula Helen Sebidi, to name a few.

* PS: The bubbly and wine selection this year was on point and much, much better than last year’s selection.

Cape Times