July ART
Timed Online Auction, 28 June - 8 July 2024
A Tapestry of Eastern Cape Landscapes
About the SessionA Tapestry of Eastern Cape Landscapes celebrates the Eastern Cape’s rich artistic heritage that includes exceptional pieces by influential artists, Hylton Nel and Athi-Patra Ruga, globally renowned artists shaped by the Eastern Cape and recently celebrated by luxury brand Dior.
The Grahamstown Group, initiated by Brian Bradshaw, created a pictorial identity for the Rhodes University Art School, typified by a vibrant palette and monumental compositions. Notable artists from this art school that make up the first half of the session: Brain Bradshaw, Robert Brooks, Noel Hodnett, Hilary Graham, Joss Nel, and Estelle Marais, among others. The sale commemorates Robert Brooks, head of the art school at Rhodes University from 1981 until 1997, who recently passed.
Furthermore, the session showcases two notable paintings by Frederick Timpson I'Ons, portraying early residents of Grahamstown and cattle at Kariega River. These artworks provide a valuable glimpse into the Eastern Cape landscape during the 1800s, serving as significant historical documents. Featured alongside are works by Nigel Mullins, Ben Coutouvidis, Hermann Niebuhr, Helen Timm, interior scenes by Cathy Layzell and Anne Collins, compelling photographs by Obie Oberholzer, striking felt Aloe sculptures from the Keiskamma Art Project. Notably, the session also includes a rare oil painting by Betsy Fordyce portraying the Durban harbour.
About this Item
accompanied by a WHATIFTHEWORLD Gallery certificate of authenticity, signed, dated 12/06/2015, inscribed with the artist's name, dated 2012, the title and medium
Notes
Image Courtesy of Ruth Simbao and Athi Patra Ruga
Photographer: Ruth Simbao
The present lot derives from a collaborative work between Athi-Patra Ruga and Mikhael Subotzky, curated and photographed by Ruth Simbao in 2012, titled Performance Obscura. It was a compelling and thought-provoking performance that encapsulated the artist's exploration of identity, gender, and post-colonial narratives. In this site-situational performance, Ruga confronted the potential furtive gaze associated with the 19th-century camera obscura, subverting its historical function as a tool of surveillance.
In a 2014 analysis of the performance, Ruth Simbao highlights the dynamic interplay between expectation and reality in live art. The paying audience, anticipating a privileged view of Ruga's character through the camera obscura, found themselves redirected on a standard tour of Grahamstown. While Ruga, defiantly parading the streets in his elaborate balloon attire, reclaimed agency by engaging with casual bystanders who captured the performance on their cellphones.¹
The artwork is a part of Ruga's larger body of work that delves into the complexities of South Africa's history and the intricate interplay between race, culture, and personal identity. Azania, an alternate name for South Africa, becomes a symbolic landscape in Ruga's narrative – a realm where the artist reimagines and deconstructs preconceived notions of the continent and its people.
1. Ruth Simbao (2014) Site-Situational Performances in Cosmolocal Places: Athi-Patra Ruga and Anthea Moys, paper presented at the Art Council of the African Studies Association conference, Brooklyn Museum of Fine Art.
Exhibited
Yerba Buena Centre for the Arts and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, Public Intimacy: Art and Other Ordinary Acts in South Africa, 14 February to 8 June 2014, another example from the edition exhibited.
Literature
Glen Helfand (2014) Photograph Mag, Public Intimacy: Art and Other Ordinary Acts in South Africa, online, https://photographmag.com/reviews/publicintimacy-art-and-other-ordinary-acts-insouth-africa/, accessed 24 November 2023.
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