The Cream of the South African Contemporary Art at Rose Korber…
April 13th, 2010 § 2 Comments
Rose Korber Art is a unique gallery in Cape Town run by a husband and wife team, where you’ll find the cream of South African contemporary art.
Visitors and clients come to the gallery in Camps Bay (which is in fact an extension of the Korber home), to view the broad selection of quality paintings, mixed media works, limited-edition original prints, photography, sculpture, ceramics, Rorkesdrift tapestries and African beadwork, all on display in an assortment of rooms.
Rose Korber runs the show, and has quite an impressive background. She’s been a free-lance art writer, critic, consultant and lecturer for many years. These different experiences have provided her with an excellent platform for when she decided to change direction in 1990, and begin her own independent galley.
Over the years, Rose has played an important role in introducing South African artists to a local as well as an international art market and she has become widely known for showcasing innovative, cutting-edge contemporary South African art.
Her gallery is definitely the number one destination for anyone wanting to get a broad overview of the South African art scene.
Little Black Book of Art goes and visits the gallery in Sedgemoor road, and interviews Rose’s husband who is an integral part of her team, to find out more…
RKA: Here at Rose Korber Art, we have a very specific niche. Rose was an art writer, an art critic an art academic, an art everything else, and then decided some years ago by mistake to get into this side of the business, so she’s very serious about what she does.
A lot of people think we’re too serious for the ordinary guy. I had someone come in the other day with a blue colour swatch and ask if could show them any blue paintings. They were very wealthy and intellectual, well, intelligent I mean, and we just told them we didn’t think this was the right place for them. The woman said, “But I want to see your collection!” and we just said, “But we don’t have any blue paintings”…
I had another chap who came in and said, “I want to see some nudes” and we just said, “What? You want to see erotica? We don’t deal in erotica.”
Anyway, that was that. We don’t have time for that kind of thing at this stage of our lives.
LBBOA: South African’s think very differently when buying contemporary art. They’re still into purchasing little twee, traditional paintings and are not too good at investing in art that is more innovative or perhaps conceptual. I think that’s why there are probably only about four, good, cutting-edge, contemporary art galleries here in Cape Town, and Rose Korber Art is one of them. It’s more akin to the kind of gallery you’d find in London for instance…
RKA: Yes, you’re right. Let me tell you about some of the art here…
(The Korbers are in the middle of changing around their space, so there are a variety of pieces scattered all round the place).
You see this particular guy (he points at work by South African artist Matthew Brittan, b.1948, Johannesburg), these paintings are available individually, but he has put them into sets of five, and we have hung them in rows. He would ideally like them to be sold in sets, and you can mix and match as you like, but it’s up to the buyer. We’ve sold some and put new ones up. He is into the Rudolph Steiner (1861-1925) school of thought (an Austrian philosopher, social thinker and architect) and the work here is a selection of paintings from his botanic series using oil paint on Belgian flax. You see, this is not the type of work for people who are looking for decoration, and with Ruth everything is like this.
Installation detail
Matthew Brittan, The Ingathering of Osiris
RKA: This is also an important artist, Richard Smith (b.1947, Scotland).
(He points to a huge charcoal and mixed media portrait on paper).
I don’t know if you have seen any of his art around town, but we sold 4 of his works last week. Even in this crunch time, because people who come here are serious people. We had this guy from New York who had reserved this piece and he took too long to make up his mind, and someone else came along, a German, and bought it straight away. We actually commissioned Richard to do something similar, obviously he won’t copy his works, but he’ll produce something along the same lines.
Richard Smith, Bongi Au Sahara
LBBOA: This is stunning… (I point to an exquisitely crafted, large ceramic vase on a table).
RKA: This is from our personal collection. It’s by a chap called Ian Garrett (b.1971, Eastern Cape). We got it from the Mandela Metropolitan Art Museum in Port Elizabeth – they have a big ceramic collection. It was difficult to get them to sell us this, because he doesn’t make pieces of this size anymore.
LBBOA: Ohh…and these also look interesting. (I point to some beadwork on a coffee table. I am constantly hurrying him along as I don’t know how much time he’ll give me, and there are so many beautiful objects around that I want to ask him about).
RKA: Yes, this is older beadwork. This is not the kind of stuff that you find on street corners. This is part of a very large exhibition they had in Johannesburg and in England, and we got some of the work from it. This is a (Zulu) Shaman’s muti bottle. They put their ‘muti brew’ in here and you swing this strap round you and you drink it in order to make you fertile or whatever. This is a snuff box. You put the dried up tobacco or snuff in here and you wear this round your waist together with a belt. When we do sell the wire sculptures and things like this, it is obviously not the street stuff.
(I feel slightly offended that he could even assume that I would think that, but I keep quiet…)
Beaded belt, muti bottles and snuff box
LBBOA: And tell me about this piece? (I point to a large landscape on the wall created in oil, on paper).
RKA: This is an artist from Johannesburg called (Paul) Blomkamp (b.1949). You won’t see his work down here. You see, Rose knows all these people from the days in which she used to interview them – she has a different relationship with them.
We have an enormous quantity of stock. What you see here today is only a fraction of what is available. If you were a buyer, you would make an appointment, come and see us, take off your shoes, which you did, you have to take your shoes off – that shows you’re serious… You’ll also spend the day here, one-to-one, have a drink with us and we’ll become great friends. We work on that basis. You’ll find something you like, we’ll shake hands and that’ll be a deal. (In fact the only reason why he showed me round unannounced in the first place, he tells me, is because I took my shoes off when I came in!).
Anyway, back to Blomkamp. He was originally a stained-glass window artist, and there aren’t many churches in South Africa with stained glass, so he developed his talent in a different way over the years, and these are his latest landscapes. He draws using oil on paper.
Paul Blomkamp, Highveld Hightveld 2
It’s quite funny, a child of six was looking at one of these, and out of everyone he was the only one who really got the message. He said, “This man is inside the scene mummy”, and he was right. This is what he has done; he’s gone inside the picture. It’s more than just a picture with trees, mountains and sky. If you stand back you can see the elements better… As the child said, he is inside the landscape, that is what landscape does to him. He is painting with the gut. He is a cerebral artist. He is wonderful.
Paul Blomkamp, Highveld Nightveld
“The influence of Blomkamp’s early stained glass windows is still evident in his latest paintings, which appear to transmit rather than reflect light. They have a transparency, clarity and sharpness akin to glass, and often appear to be made of coloured light rather than paint”. Rose Korber
(We stand in silence and admire the work for a while before he drags me to another part of the room and shows me a subtle, grey hued painting.)
RKA: This is another very interesting lady. Gottgens. Kate Gottgens. This is oil, acrylic and ash on canvas. This is very unusual. Again, this is a very serious painter. We’ve sold a lot of these.
LBBOA: I prefer these ones here. (I point to another couple of pictures by her).
RKA: I don’t think she’s Jewish, but she does a lot of paintings inspired by the holocaust. She’s very sensitive.
Kate Gottgens, Found Photos (part of a triptych)
LBBOA: I love this collection. This is the first place I have visited in Cape Town where there is a large body of very interesting work in a whole variety of media. I mean I loved Michael Stevenson, The Goodman Gallery and What if the World Gallery was very, very impressive, but here is very different.
RKA: This is an artist who has shown at the Goodman – (Jabulane) Sam Nhlengethwa (b.1955, Springs). He is a very important black artist. He does hand printed photo-lithographs and collages. This is a wonderful collection. But you must look at his work with your eyes closed because it has got jazz musicians…he fuses jazz with art, and you can actually hear the music in your head when you look at his work.
Sam Nhlengethwa, Jazz Trio I
(In a statement on why he fuses jazz and art, Nhlengethwa said, “Jazz simply inspires me. Of all the subjects that I have dealt with, none has been re-visited like jazz. Jazz is second nature to me. Painting jazz pieces is an avenue or outlet for expressing my love for the music. As I paint, I listen to jazz and visualize the performance.”)
Sam Nhlengethwa, The Pianist
Sam Nhlengethwa, Jazz Series Tacet
LBBOA: So how do all of you cutting-edge galleries make your money? It doesn’t seem like South African’s would ever invest their money in contemporary art.
RKA: Not yet.
LBBOA: In Europe, people have been keen to invest in art instead of property for example, but here…? (He doesn’t respond).
RKA: This is William Kentridge (b.1955, Johannesburg). One of our top artists. He has just opened an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in New York. http://www.moma.org/visit/calendar/exhibitions/964
He doesn’t paint, and says Simon Stone (b.1952, Lady Grey), is in his eyes one of the best painters we have in the country. I just sold one of these little ones.
Simon Stone, Two Men and Nude
RKA: Do you have an art background?
LBBOA: Yes, I studied ceramics at Central Saint Martins in London and then I worked in advertising for a while before going to Chelsea College of Art to study Interior Architecture and Spatial Design…
RKA: My wife travels a lot to England and there are very few English ceramics that touches South Africa.
LBBOA: I agree.
RKA: We have unfortunately given back most of our ceramics that we had here for our last show, so I can’t show you what we had here. This week, we have just lost Barbara Jackson (b. 1961, Cape Town)…
LBBOA: Yes, I know.
RKA: She was a very important ceramic artist. A top ceramicist.
LBBOA: Yes…I have met quite a few local ceramicists here in fact. I’ve loved looking at their work. There seems to be a ceramics revival in London presently. You see a lot more of it around. The people that I find are gifted ceramicists working in London, are in fact Chinese, Japanese or Korean…
RKA: This is a collaborative piece in fact that Barbara did with her partner of 25 years Carrol Boyes, at the time she was a sculptor. This belongs to our own collection.
LBBOA: It’s beautiful…I love it. (I can’t photograph the work – the Korbers like to keep certain things private, and it’s probably worth a fortune now).
RKA: This is also our own…Ardmor. (He shows me a traditionally decorative and vibrant piece of sculptural, ceramic work). They had exhibition in London at Christies…not an auction, but an exhibition. My daughter who lives in London went and spent quite some time looking at all the pieces that were on show, and there was a lady there who said, “Who are you, looking at all this work so closely?” and my daughter replied, “Barbara Korber” and she replied, “Oh, Rose Korber’s daughter?…Darling, don’t waste your time here. I know your mother’s personal collection – Wait till she snuffs it!” (He chuckles)…
(NB: The internationally renowned Ardmore Ceramic Art Studio was established in 1985 by Fee Halsted-Berning in the KwaZulu-Natal midlands. The studio has more than 40 artists, most of whom have had no formal training, but they learn quickly and within a short time develop their own particular styles of sculpting and painting. The shapes and colours of the ceramic work produced, stem directly from the heart and soul of the artists, who capture the light, colour and texture of Africa perfectly.)
RKA: We just sold some of her work. (He shows me an Alexandra Ross). She’s an artist from Johannesburg. Polaroids. She makes large-scale photographs that function like ‘fake’ windows. That’s an old-fashioned train window.
Alexandra Ross, Polaroid 4
RKA: We only have artists from the upper echelons here, but we do take some young artists. We like to introduce a couple of young people to our collection. This is the conceptual work of a young man. Stuart Bird. You need to stand back. Look…He wants to comment on the position in South Africa. You can see the letters R,S,A. The country of South Africa, for sale. Everything in this country is for sale. Corruption is so rife, that the country is for sale. Wonderful conceptual piece.
Stuart Bird, RSA
(In fact, I saw one of his pieces at What if The World Gallery, a few days ago. Stuart Bird is deeply concerned with social injustice, and the way that people with power so frequently abuse it. His work comments on what is happening politically in Africa.)
Stuart Bird, S.O.S
LBBOA: I love pieces like that, makes you think.
RKA: This is by another piece by the same artist. You see, ‘Made in China’ (He points at the work’s title). China is slowly eating its way into South Africa.
LBBOA: Well, the whole of Africa actually…
RKA: Look, even the animals here come from China. Look at the little red ants… the red ants are known as the ‘Chinese Army’. There is actually a little bug, called ‘the red ant’ that eats away at everything and if it gets into your house, it will eat your roof and timbers. So here it’s like eating away at Africa’s soul.
Stuart Bird, Made in China
RKA: This is a very important black artist. Zwelethu Mthethwa, (b.1960, Durban). He’s at the top. This is a pastel that he did some years ago. It comes from our own collection. He did a whole load of these in pastels called, ‘The Wedding Cake Series’. This is an amazing piece that we have decided to sell. We are now introducing works from our own collection for sale.
(Mthethwa is best known for his large-format color photographs, but also works in paint and pastel; he has had over 35 solo exhibitions in galleries around the world.)
Zwelethu Mthethwa, The Wedding Cake
LBBOA: I love these! (I point to a couple of pieces by Babette Ben-Dror. I fall in love with one called ‘African Heart’. Looking at it makes me almost breathless. I can’t stop touching it. Luckily they don’t mind.)
Babette Ben-Dror, Africa Heart
RKA: These are reconstituted marble. It’s not marble.
LBBOA: It’s resin.
RKA: Yes, it is. It’s beautiful.
Babette Ben-Dror, Lullaby
RKA: Look at this. (He now points to a landscape on the wall). It is a hand worked photograph printed on rag paper by a guy called Stephen Inggs (b.1955, Cape Town). The piece is called Anysberg, which is in the Karoo. He is now the head of Michaelis Art School!
Stephen Inggs, Anysberg
RKA: Now stand back to look at this piece.
LBBOA: Hmm…’Pieces of me’…
RKA: This particular lady had anorexia. She’s a South African woman called Pamela Stretton (b.1980) and is now based in London. She’s cured now, but all her work revolves around body image. This is a self-portrait. She makes her own photographs, mostly of herself and her body parts. All the pixels and the bits she makes her pictures up from, come from magazines. It’s a wonderful technique.
(Pamela’s work deals predominantly with the female body, focussing on issues such as beauty ideals and the body’s relationship with popular culture, fashion, health and food. Charles Saatchi is a fan. It’s clever and makes you think, but I don’t much like it).
Pamela Stretton, Pieces of Me (work in six parts)
Pamela Stretton, Detail of Pieces of Me
Pamela Stretton, Consumed
Pamela Stretton, Detail of ‘Consumed’
RKA: This is called ‘The Promised Land – Egoli’ and the piece next to it is called ‘The Promised Land – Packing for Perth’ by Jaco Sieberhagen (b.1961, Victoria West). They should go together but are sold separately. They are made from lazer cut steel. It is a political piece.
Jaco Sieberhagen, The Promised Land – Egoli
RKA: Here you see the white woman on the left is pretty dominant and she’s looking down at the city of Johannesburg. The blacks on the right are walking towards Johannesburg – ‘Egoli, the city of gold’. That is what the blacks call Johannesburg – ‘Egoli’.
The other piece sees all the white South African’s moving abroad to Perth, Australia. They even have a little springbok with them! South Africa’s mascot. You see, now the white female is less dominant.
Jaco Sieberhagen, The Promised Land – Packing For Perth
RKA: You also have these wonderful ‘smoke images’ by Diane Victor. Aren’t they wonderful?…
Diane Victor, Smoke I
RKA: This is Paul Du Toit, (b.1965, Johannesburg).
Paul Du Toit, Related Letters
LBBOA: Yes. Also one of my favorites. I’ve seen his work before. It’s very special.
RKA: This is Deborah Bell (b.1957, Johannesburg). Really important artist who works closely with Kentridge.
Deborah Bell, Map
RKA: This is Robert Hodgins.
Robert Hodgins, Officers and Gents, Series 1
LBBOA: And these silver gelatin toned photographs?
RKA: Yes, they are by Jurgen Schadeberg (b.1931, Berlin). We have quite a lot of his work that we sell in Euros.
Jurgen Schadeberg, Nelson Mandela in his Cell on Robben Island, Revisit 1994
RKA: …and here we have more William Kentridges’. We have hundreds of these.
William Kentridge, Overlap
LBBOA: Wow, you really do have a treasure trove of pieces. I love all the colours that contemporary South African artists use. It just lights up your space. It’s all so rich.
RKA: This is by a young photographer, Robin Reisenberger. (He points to a large photograph printed on cotton paper, of a gritty landscape charged with meaning).
Robin Reisenberger, Ad had always said
LBBOA: OK, so how do you ‘recruit’ as it were young artists? Do artists come to you? I mean how does it work? Do you go and seek them out?
RKA: Rose goes to Michaelis art school and gets them at their graduate exhibition. This guy Rose happened to come across by chance, saw his wonderful photographs in his father’s work place, and we’ve now exhibited him!
LBBOA: What is this one? It has space invader faces on it…it’s like this street artist called Invader (b.1969) who’s work is inspired by the Space Invaders game. His characters are made up of small coloured square tiles that form a mosaic…you often spot his work in Soho and across the East end in London.
RKA: That is Conrad Botes and this lithograph is called ‘Foreign Policy’ (b.1969, Ladysmith).
RKA: She is going to be the next ‘Kentridge’. The Museum of Modern Art have started buying up her work. This is a wonderful work. We have works by Marlene Dumas (b. 1953, Kapstadt), ceramics by Madoda Fani, and these candlestick holders are by Helen Vaughan. That is Peter Clarke (b. 1929 in Simons Town, South Africa).
I sense that I’ve taken up a lot of the Korber’s time, so I make my excuses. My head is filled with wonderful pictures of all the incredible work that I’ve seen. This will definitely be a day to remember and I know where to go if I need any advice on investing in contemporary South African art. I’m so grateful for all the time I’ve been given here, and it has certainly opened my eyes to a whole new range of artists. For more details, visit their website at www.rosekorberart.com
Rose Korber Art
48 Sedgemoor Road, Camps Bay
Cape Town 8005
SOUTH AFRICA
Tel: + 27 (0)21 4389152
Email: roskorb@icon.co.za
Hi,
I am looking for original art or prints of Anton Kannemeyer, Conrad Botes and Diane Victor (also etchings)
Do you have any for sale or would you know where I can find info about any of their works.
Thank you,
Francis
Hi
You are welcome to contact me in connection with works by Diane Victor. I have a number of works available.
Kind regards.