This weekend’s annual art fair is a barometer of South African contemporary art – and it’s getting hotter every year. The FNB Joburg Art Fair has grown since its inception in 2008 and, today, is the largest contemporary African art event of its kind. Artists, curators, collectors, academics and art lovers will congregate at the Sandton Convention Centre (expect lots of air-kissing) to browse the works, which range in price from a few thousand rand to well over six digits. If the thought of more than 200 artists and 33 galleries exhibiting under one roof sounds intimidating, fear not, Nechama Brodie has established what not to miss…
Mocke J Van Veuren and Nelisiwe Xaba
The pair won this year’s FNB Art Prize for their collaborative work Uncles & Angels, a mesmerising 3D video dance work about the controversial Zulu reed dance. It’s serious content – designed to explore and provoke questions around the young women’s chastity and purity, and look at issues of tradition and relationships of power – but it is presented with almost hypnotic grace.
Nandipha Mntambo
The award-winning young artist is producing this year’s Pirelli Special Project, inspired by its Formula 1 line, “Let’s Dance”. In a video series, “…everyone carries a shadow”, Nandipha follows the movement of the Paso Doble, a Spanish dance rooted in bullfighting. The piece continues a narrative she began years ago in which she rehearsed the steps of a bullfighter. Savvy art fair buyers could have snapped up the sold-out works for a song at the time.
Roger Ballen
Photographer Roger Ballen’s staggering body of work (he has been shooting for more than 40 years, and has won numerous awards) might just be eclipsed by his foray into pop culture as the photographer and video collaborator for Die Antwoord. Roger, who is no stranger to exposing the extremities of the human psyche or physique, will be showing a collection of his (often unsettling) images.
David Goldblatt
This year’s fair focuses on photography, and will present a collection of works by the iconic documentary photographer. His exhibition is a collection of images from a series he began in 1961, documenting structures that physically referenced or reflected the forces that shaped South Africa and its society during and after apartheid. David has influenced generations of photographers – including people such as multiple award-winner Jodi Bieber.
Santu Mofokeng
Internationally acclaimed photographer Santu Mofokeng will present photographs of black working- and middle-class families commissioned between 1890 and 1950. Santu has commented that the significance of many images lies not in what they show but in what they do not.
Mohau Modisakeng
Primarily a sculptor, Mohau Modisakeng has taken his mastery into the video art arena. Mohau’s video, Inzilo, will be played as part of an installation that includes stills from his shoot and one of his sculptures. It expertly captures minute detail such as dust particles and incense rising.
Grazia art buyer’s guide
Don’t go to the fair expecting bargains (unless you’re shopping in euros, pounds or dollars – South African art is exceptionally cheap by world standards), but do keep your eye out for more affordable editioned prints (the smaller the edition, the higher the price; the physical size of the work and the reputation of the artist will also influence price). Buy what you love, not what you think is a good “investment”. Art is something you have to live with.
The FNB Joburg Art Fair runs from today to Sunday, 29 September at the Sandton Convention Centre. Day tickets cost R50 on Friday, and R100 each for Saturday and Sunday, or you can purchase a three-day pass for R200. Tickets for the opening night on September 26 are R200. Visit Fnbjoburgartfair.co.za
Words: Nechama Brodie