Artist performance self-appraisal: 2014 in Review
'If you are an artist, you are a leader. If you are
a leader, you must make a stand and tell everyone who you are and why they
should listen to you. In this hyper-competitive world, you must be brave and
embrace your genius or your voice will be silenced by those around you who are
not afraid to speak up'
Brainard Carely (2011)
As the year is about to end, l have decided to do a year-end appraisal, a little like how they do it in the business world. I must say, for one to honestly and accurately assess oneself on
the value and quality of what one has done over a given period of time is not
as easy task, but l will give it my best shot. With the relatively few years of
experience I have in creating art, I think I can
reasonably assess where my work fits in to the local visual art world.
I think l have a fair
understanding of the art market l operate
in. It is a comparatively small market and the potential
client base limited. Some art professionals
I have talked to say there are only about 300 serious art collectors in South
Africa, and an estimated 5 500 visual artists in the country, mostly concentrated in the three major cities of
Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban. So you can imagine how highly competitive
it is, and that each artist is working very hard
to keep their boat afloat. However, that being
said, it is still the most mature and robust visual arts economy on the African continent, with
an annual turnover of nearly R2billion.*
My objectives at the
beginning of the year were to steadily create
quality artworks; to effectively use my abilities, time and resources for the advancement of my
career; to be disciplined and focused; and ultimately to succeed
as a professional artist (though that can be
subjective). Below I chronicle some of the highlights
of my year:
Cape Town Art Fair, February 2014
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| Arrested (2013), acrylic on canvas, 100x100cm |
The 2014 Cape Town Art Fair coincided with the prestigious World Design Capital Cape Town 2014 events at the end of February. With its vision of turning Cape Town into a world-class art destination, this edition of the CTAF showcased the best of African
contemporary art with an increased number of leading art galleries participating, in comparison
to its 2013 edition. I showed a number of paintings at
the fair with Johans Borman Fine Art, in an
exhibition that included a selection of South African Masters
such as Gerard
Sekoto, Walter Battiss and
Maggie Laubser, as well as contemporary artists including Marlene Dumas, Hennie
Niemann Jnr, Kyle Weeks and Marlene von Dürckheim, among others.
Open Agenda Solo Exhibition, March 2014
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| The Confessional (2013), acrylic on canvas, 80x60cm |
It has been said that art fairs are about selling
paintings, and a solo exhibition is about
'selling the artist'. ‘Open
Agenda’, my second solo exhibition at Johans
Borman Fine Art in Cape Town, took place at the beginning of March. A solo exhibition is
the most important single event in any artist's calendar – the opportunity to present what he or
she does in the fullest context, and to
make a statement**. The exhibition continued with my comments on the society we
live in, and encouraged discussion on various
issues. The works on this exhibition were
engaging, and allowed the audience to enter into a dialogue on a variety of topics. Thus the exhibition
space became a place where individuals could congregate and debate openly
on the various topics on the agenda, hence the
title, ‘Open Agenda’.
Africa Now Auction, London, May 2014
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| Big fish eats small fish (2013), acrylic on canvas, 70x70cm |
‘Africa Now’, Bonhams’ annual
contemporary African art auction, was held in May, and included works by masters of
African modernism and other talents from the contemporary art scene. According
to Bonhams, fifteen African countries
were represented in the auction, and the top prices were achieved by
Nigerian artists –
not surprising as Nigeria has become Africa’s largest
economy. I
enjoyed the ‘Porsche coffin’ by Paa Joe, and the weapons
chair by Goncalo Mabunda. Other artists represented were Ben Enwonwu, El
Anatsui, Lovemore Kambudzi, Aboudia Abdoulaye Diarra Ssouba, Cheri Cherin,
Malangatana and Michael Soi, among others. 'Big
fish eats small fish', my 2013 painting, was among the lots that sold successfully at the auction.
Dakar Biennale, Senegal, July 2014
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| Connoisseurs of Contemporary African Art (2014), acrylic on canvas, 73.5x89cm |
I
had the opportunity to be in Dakar during the
first week of the 2014
Dakar Biennale. This event has become a unique opportunity for
those who are seriously
interested in contemporary African art to meet.
In its 11th edition, the Biennale featured 61
contemporary artists from Africa and the diaspora in its main exhibition. It
was an influential
showcase with several works endorsing the
renewed energy of practicing African artists and their growing relevance on the
global stage. My painting, ‘Connoisseurs of
Contemporary African Art’
was inspired by this visit, following the discussion on contemporary African art I attended there. Is it a blend of the past with the
present, or a view of the present that at the same time evokes a rich cultural
past?
To read more about my visit, click here
Politics of Life Exhibition, Jo'burg Art Fair, August 2014
 |
| Richard with Illusion of Freedom (2014) oil on canvas, 150.5x150.5cm (Johannesburg) |
Protocollum Art Journal, October 2014
 |
| Page 166 of Protocollum Artists' Journal features four of my paintings |
A
new and innovative 240 page artists' journal by Dickersbach Kunstverlag, a Berlin-based
publisher, featured some of my 2013 paintings alongside those
of 72 artists from 54 countries across Africa,
Eastern Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and Asia. This was its first
issue, and it was
launched and distributed in October, just in time to take advantage of the European art fair season. The publisher points out that the journal has no adverts and no curatorial self-fulfilment, but “only artists'
thoughts, visions and ideas, offering authentic insights into the art scenes
around the world” ***. You can order your copy by clicking here
Zimbabwe Annual Exhibition Award, Harare, December 2014
 | |||
| 8 o'clock News (2014) oil on canvas, 150x150cm (Award Winning Painting) |
The
2014 Zimbabwe Annual Exhibition was held in
December, some twelve years after the last event
was held in 2002. Opened by the Sports, Arts and Culture Minister at the
National Gallery of Zimbabwe in Harare, this was a major event in the visual
arts calendar of Zimbabwe. Back in the 1980s when it was held under the title, Zimbabwe Heritage Exhibition, this major event
received corporate sponsorship from companies
like Baringa, Mobil Zimbabwe, Anglo American and the National Merchant Bank, among others. It was, and is still, seen as
a means of developing, empowering and promoting local Zimbabwean artists who
work in disciplines such as painting, sculpture, mixed media and photography.
Four accolades for the best works on the exhibition were awarded, and I received one of these awards for '8 O'clock News'. I would like to congratulate fellow
award winners, Tawanda Takura, Julius
Mashambadope and Johnson Zuze. '8 O'clock
News' will be on show at the National Gallery of
Zimbabwe until the end of January 2015
_____________________________
There we
go – those were my
major highlights for 2014. Measuring them
against my goals and targets for the year, l
would say l scored fairly well. My assessment was based on talking to my gallery, Johans Borman Fine
Art, chatting with fellow artists, curators and collectors, and obviously doing a count of successful sales.
However, some of the more
astonishing results came in from my online presence.
The numbers that came through for the year in
regards to visitors, and hits to my website
(thanks to Google Analytics), blog and social media sites were impressive! My website has been live for just under three years,
and l was happy to see a huge online audience of 34 223 visitors and 83 053
hits for this year – a huge increase if l
compare that to the 2013 stats of just 4 309
visitors and 24 863 hits.
I would like to thank all
those who have supported me during the year; collectors, colleagues, friends and family.
Best
wishes for the Festive Season, and enjoy a fruitful 2015!
To
view a comprehensive collection of all my paintings from 2011 to date, please
visit my page on Johans
Borman Fine Art’s website.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
Sources:
- * An assessment of the visual arts sector in South Africa and assistance to the department of Arts and Culture in developing a national policy for the visual art (DAC/0006/07/T) Research Report, 2010, The Human Sciences Research Council, African Micro Economic Research Umbrella (AMERU), Univeristy of Witwaterrand, Thompson Research Services, South Africa
- ** Paul Mccaul, 2010, 10 Steps to building a vaible business, www.anartistbusinessguide.com
- *** Protocollum, Dickersbach Kunstverlag, Berlin, Germany
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