19th Century, Modern, Post-War and Contemporary Art
Live Virtual Auction, 28 June 2022
19th Century, Modern, Post-War and Contemporary Art Part I
About the SessionStrauss & Co's latest live virtual sale takes place on Tuesday 28 June 2022 and includes three sessions of fine art, including a session devoted entirely to Abstract Art created in South Africa. The 308 lots available to browse, bid and buy in these curated sessions include prints, works on paper, paintings, sculptures, ceramics and books.
The first session offers Modern, Post-War and Contemporary Art with a focus on Prints and Multiples, Works on Paper, Sculpture and Ceramics (lots 1 - 88).
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About this Item
signed, inscribed with the title and 'For Durant with love' in ink in the margin
Notes
Kendell Geers produced After Love as a lithograph edition in 1993. At the same time he made unsigned Poster Bombs, like the present lot, that he pasted on city walls throughout downtown Johannesburg where real bombs could potentially explode. The letters BOMB make reference to the iconic 60's work LOVE by Robert Indiana because, according to Geers "love was in very short supply in South Africa" at the time.
It was three years after Mandela's release and a year before the first democratic election in South Africa. The extreme right wing wanted to destabilize the nation and they were setting off bombs across the country. As fate would have it, Geers was in the Johannesburg Art Gallery (where he had pasted one of his Poster Bombs) on the 24 April 1994 when a deadly car bomb exploded a block away killing 21 and injuring 100 people.
This Poster Bomb is dedicated to Durant Sihlali who was Geers' close friend and mentor. They shared a studio in Newtown together with other important artists like Ezrom Legae, Pat Mautloa, David Koloane, Joachim Schönfeldt and Sam Nhlengethwa.