Notes

In 2008, Brett Murray presented a solo exhibition in Cape Town titled Crocodile Tears, followed in 2009 by an exhibition of the same name in Johannesburg. These lots derive from those two exhibitions. They bear testimony to his meticulous craftsmanship, a talent nurtured as a student by sculptor Bruce Arnott. Named for the idiom connoting superficial sympathy and the insincere display of emotion, Murray’s works in Crocodile Tears satirically explored political manners in the ruling party during the twilight of Thabo Mbeki’s presidency of the ANC and South Africa. The lots 100, 101 and 102 exemplify Murray’s longstanding interest in providing social commentary through figurative sculpture, in particular by anthropomorphising human vanities and foibles using animals. The works from this period are also noteworthy for Murray’s rhetorical use of Late Baroque design motifs. An important motivator for this merging of African and European histories was Mbeki’s interest and popularisation of the African Renaissance philosophy developed by Senegalese intellectual Cheikh Anta Diop in Paris, liberation theory that by 2008 had become party political dogma in South Africa. “With this group of artworks,” Murray said, “I have synthesised an optimistic vision of an African Renaissance with images of pomp and ceremony from 16th and 17th century European High Renaissance, mocking our new elites’ indulgences and their shameful indifferences. I have attempted to expose political cant and sycophancy.”¹ Critics favourably reviewed both exhibitions.

^1. Brett Murray (2013) Brett Murray. Johannesburg: Jacana Media, page 183.

Provenance

Goodman Gallery, Cape Town, 15 October 2013.

The Oliver Powell and Timely Investments Trust Collection.

Exhibited

Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg, Crocodile Tears II, 2009.

Literature

Brett Murray (2009) Crocodile Tears, Johannesburg: Goodman Gallery Editions, illustrated in colour on page 37.

Brett Murray (2013) Brett Murray, Johannesburg: Jacana Media, illustrated in colour on page 198.

Brett Murray Website, http://www.brettmurray.co.za/work/crocodile-tears/, accessed 23 July 2022, illustrated in colour.

Sean O'Toole Distinguishing the bull from the bullshit, http://www.brettmurray.co.za/essays-and-texts/sean-o-tooles-crocodile-tears-catalogue-essay/, accessed 23 July 2022, a similar example illustrated in colour on the webpage.