by Shawn Banks

After spending several hours on the floors of the Sandton Convention Center, I’ve had the pleasure, and dismay, of seeing what the South African art world has evolved to at this point in the game. I was greatly pleased to see as many people as I did enjoying the exhibits and I was even more delighted when I saw as many red dots on placards as I did. There were many highlights in the Art Fair and I will spotlight a few of them, but there were a few underlying themes that I perceived that troubled me the most.
Having participated in as many art fairs, conventions, exhibitions, openings, Biennials, etc. as I have I understand how chaotic and disorganized it can be. I’d like to applaud the participants and organizers for the overwhelming success in keeping things in rhythm and having structure for the exhibitors as well as the press. Secondly, I’d like to acknowledge something that is vastly different from most Western art conventions: there was a purism that the show exemplified that made me really appreciate the art and the exhibits with an untainted perception because the advertising was tastefully done. THANK YOU! It’s become an industry norm to pervert booths and publications into corporate sponsorship opportunities and to promote everything from what kind of snacks I should be eating and where I should be banking. I was also thrilled that upon entry I was not given 10 kilos of S.W.A.G (Stuff We All Get) to lug around the whole show, I don’t need any more pens, key chains, or thermoses! So thanks, Joburg Art Fair, for keeping it real and to the point.
Overall, there wasn’t a single booth that was not attractively done with great precision and attention to detail and the people working the booths were professional and pleasant to interact with. Some of the artists that I most admired were Jane Eppel being represented by the Bell-Roberts Contemporary Gallery out of Cape Town. Her selections of oil on canvas were quiet glimpses into the personal space of a talented South African artist. I felt like I was on the road with an untamed spirit showing me beauty and depth in unexpected places. The color and hue development of her backgrounds for her oil on canvas pieces are truly gifted and I will surely be looking for her next choice of medium.
Next, I particularly enjoyed the energy of the KZNSA booth. I had the pleasure to speak with artist Cameron Platter and from conversations with other South African art enthusiasts, he is another artist to keep an eye on and I expect will play a part in South Africa’s movement to the international scene. One of my favorite pieces in the whole fair was Julien Sinzogan’s “Reincarnation I” hosted by October Gallery out of London. An artist out of the Republic of Benin, Sinzogan commentates on the slave trade from Benin to the New World. The ship imagery that he created is aesthetically pleasing to the eye with its detailed contrast of monochromatic foundation and carefully selected color forms. His work boasts great skill and a developed point of view with intentional markings and the sparse use of color pulls your eye into the visual center of the piece, which really conveys the artist’s talent and the piece’s illustrated content.
I’d also like to mention another noteworthy booth, The Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos. I felt the curator, Bisi Silva, of this booth was spot on with an array of mediums, themes, and content but still making them all and aesthetically stimulating and seamless. The Centre is based out of Lagos, Nigeria and has blossomed into a great catalyst for other African artists and I look forward to seeing what they next reveal.
As for things that I noticed but was distraught over, there weren’t too many; however, an overwhelming theme and content selection was portraiture and depictions of struggle and class issues of a socio-economic nature. Of course, these are major themes of life in South Africa and I would never advocate displaying anything that does not reflect one’s cultural identity, but is that it? There has to be more to make art over in this nation, how do I know this? Because every South African I have met has more to them than meets the eye. I’m certain that after time South African aesthetic themes will be as diversified as the people, this is an obstacle that I believe any development will face, artists and nations alike.
On a closing note, I hope all of the participants have gained as much from this Art Fair as I have and I’m excited to see what will come next in the South African art scene. I now have validated hope for African Art to be more to the world than tribal trinkets and decorative measures. I’m so glad to have come to this Art Fair and seen what has been done and what is to come and I eagerly await the next step South Africa will take on the international market.