Art Prospects for 2009

The Christmas decorations have long been packed away. My more experienced readers keep a matching carton for storing too-challenging New Year’s resolutions. However, this is my first column for 2009 and optimism is important. Realism will come soon enough.

Tall and tanned…

On Ipanema beach this season, the lads are wearing straight-cut board shorts to the knee. A significant improvement on our local baggies or, worse, those half-mast pants which cling so precariously to youthful male buttocks. The girls are wearing nothing at all – or so it seems. On closer inspection they do in fact have bikinis but these are truly miniscule. The Brazilians refers to them as being made of dental floss. Fortunately the bodies are well-nigh perfect and deserve exposure, which is done with naturalness, confidence and pride.

The Naked Truth

In case you are wondering where this is all leading, let me tell you at once that Bellini is opening on Friday 13^th with an exhibition of nudes which they have entitled “The Naked Truth.” Participating artists are Tanya Swiegers, Shannon Phillips, Vernon Swart, Shelley Adams, Gill Smulders Charlene Langguth , Annette Barnard, Maeve Dewar, Louis Ströh van der Walt, Marinus Potgieter, Anna Barth, Edward Bredenkamp, Alison Riordan and Karel Beenen.

The nude in art has always been considered a suitable subject; from Greek and Roman days when nudity was the standard for statuary and for the Ancient Games. In Victorian times, classical allegories gave the artist the chance to bypass the prudery of the times and intrigue viewers with a great deal of unclothed flesh. Well before them, Peter Paul Rubens painted so many voluptuous women that his name became synonymous with large ladies. Mind you, Lucien Freud, with his work “Sleeping Benefits Supervisor”, better known as “Big Sue,” last year broke auction records and took things to a new level.

So we shall see what our local artists make in this freer and more relaxed climate. Perhaps they should bear in mind the Tulbagh Scale (which calibrates the degree of disturbance caused by nudity in art). Full nudity can also be more acceptable than partial undress – Richard Strydom’s photographic Familieportret 2 won the Sasol New Signatures competition last year but the sponsors promptly distanced themselves from the work. The SA Art Times, which provides excellent free coverage of our national art scene, says the work “features a penis, a hint of panties and a bit of bosom.” Sasol, for their part, are quoted as saying “ they recognize that some members of the Sasol staff as well as some members of the public may be challenged or even offended by the piece.” My feeling is that it was more the poor-white, degraded aspect that might have offended, rather than the parts on display.

Realism

2009 shows every sign of being a tough year for art as for other endeavours. While the investments of the average South African have not totally disappeared (unless you were in sub-prime, in Iceland or, heaven forbid, advised by Bernie Madoff), the feeling of affluence which encourages art purchases has gone. Those involved in making and marketing art may have to trim margins, temporarily cut prices of new works at least, and be innovative with ways of getting the public to buy art.

ArtsPage will continue to support and build Greater Hermanus as the art destination of the Western Cape. Your contribution is also essential; let me know of professional artists whom you would like to see profiled in my “Sketches”; tell me in good time of special exhibitions and newsworthy events; don’t give up on advertising as this paper will also need your continued participation.

My aim has always been to get readers to visit the galleries and see for themselves what is on offer. If everyone here acknowledges that we are an art destination, the message will spread nationally and internationally. We start the year with twenty-six art spaces. Let’s work together with enthusiasm, high ethics and expanding expertise to ensure that the art cake grows and that there is enough to feed us all. Keep your news and views coming to me at niblos@telkomsa.net.

SKETCH - Lola Dunston

You’ve heard of Renaissance Man – that glorious expression to describe someone who can handle just about any aspect of the creative process. Well, local artist Lola Di Paolo Dunston is our Renaissance Woman. Painter, poet, composer, author, she certainly does not believe in hiding her light under a bushel. She is an example to every aspiring painter who seeks to get his or her work shown. ArtsPage a bit tardy in featuring her? No sweat, she takes a space herself and tells the world. The SA Art Times regularly features her advertisements. She has done her bit, and more, for the local Association of Arts in Pretoria where she lived for many years. They gave her a retrospective exhibition in 2002. She works in oils, pastels and graphics, sometimes on a grand scale, sometimes minimalistic. She has written an enchanting memoir, self-publishing it as well as a DVD of her “Save the World” series of environmental paintings with a soundtrack of her own composition.

Lola runs an informal “Culture Club” at her home on the first Tuesday of the month. The mornings are by invitation and some 15-20 friends will gather to listen to classical music, share a critique of their artworks or discuss a local art exhibition or other cultural event. The hostess provides tea and cake to enhance a pleasant session, much valued by the participants.

You can see some examples of her work at Walker Bay Art Gallery. Look also at the website www.southafricanartists.com. I was privileged to see her home studio in Voelklip where she is still regularly at her easel. The infectious cheerfulness, energy and winning smile that have assisted the recognition of her talents over eight decades are still very much in evidence. My picture shows the artist at her last exhibition at Walker Bay, with some of her works in the background. Thank you, Lola, for inviting me to stand next to you for the photograph.