Norval Foundation Benefit Auction 2022

Live Virtual Auction, 8 December 2022

Norval Foundation Benefit Auction 2022
About the Session

Strauss & Co is delighted to once again join forces with the Norval Foundation in showcasing an outstanding selection of fully donated artworks, bespoke experiences and fine wine to be sold to benefit Norval Foundation and their Education Programme. We invite patrons of Norval Foundation and Strauss & Co clients to lend their support to this worthy cause.

The money raised by the auction will contribute to the museum’s future education programme and facilities, as well as the ongoing exhibitions programme that focuses primarily on making art available to people of all backgrounds.


Sold for

ZAR 75 108
Lot 33
  • Brett Murray; Until the Second Coming


Lot Estimate
ZAR 50 000 - 70 000
Selling Price
Incl. Buyer's Premium & VAT
ZAR 75 108

About this Item

South African 1961-
Until the Second Coming
2015/20

numbered 15/25 on the reverse

polished bronze
height: 40cm; width: 38cm; depth: 21cm

Notes

Kindly donated by the artist and Everard Read, Cape Town, Franschhoek, Johannesburg, London.

Brett Murray's work often makes use of animals as analogies or metaphors, in a stylised aesthetic which brings to mind children's fables. His most well-known use of the bull is his monumental work, Again Again (2016), in which the repetition of the figures is intended to symbolise the repetition and immovability of corruption. In Until The Second Coming, the reclining bull with its golden, reflective surface, evokes the story of the Golden Calf. Along with the title, the work refers to former president Jacob Zuma's assertion that the ANC would rule until Jesus' return, equating the party leadership to divine rule. In response, the work depicts the organisation and its leader as false idols. This reading is emphasised by the bull's crucifix-like pose, undercut by its overfed potbelly which - along with the polished, gold surface - speaks to what Murray perceives as the government's self-indulgent excesses.

Brett Murray's practice is largely dedicated to political satire. His work acts in conversation with current events and is intended to expose the South African government's corruption. He has exhibited extensively in South Africa and abroad, including the Cuban Biennial (1994), Ludwig Museum of Contemporary Art in Santiago, Chile, Museum of African Art, New York, and Kunsthaus in Basel, Switzerland. 

View all Brett Murray lots for sale in this auction