Posts Tagged Art
Soaring Prices in Europeâs Contemporary Fine Art Market – Prompts Top Prices for South African Artists Work
Posted by in Uncategorized on January 19, 2010
The South African fine art community of collectors and investors may be a distant hemisphere away from the elite of Europeâs summer worldwide tour that began in Venice Biennale this year. However, analysts predict that the steady upward curve in the world’s fine art market that began in 2002 will continue to push prices through the roof. One of Europe most elite social scenes began their quest from Venice, where fleets of private jets took collectors to the Basel Art exhibitions, following onto Documenta in Kassel and finishing their pursuit by raiding Sothebys in London.
Sale of contemporary art works reached unprecedented heights at auction. The event saw Francis Bacon’s self portrait sell for a record $40m, twice its reserve price. Later Claude Monetâs Nympheas went for a staggering $37m and one of the artist’s Waterloo Bridge paintings which was expected to sale at auction for $14m fetched an astounding $34m.
Upward market trends in the southern hemisphere?
The intensifying upward trend in the world’s fine art market has also been felt in the now not so distant southern hemisphere. Australiaâs contemporary art market which is considered comparable with South Africaâs has also seen record sales at public exhibitions and auction events. Fine art works by modern Australian artists are snapped up for around $3.5m, whereas the highest price fetched by a South African Artist is around $1m. That was for JH Pierneefâs Dar es Salaam that changed hands at Bernardiâs sale in Pretoria. However experts predict that there is no reason why South African Artists canât sell their fine artwork for comparable prices.
South Africaâs Masters have topped records in domestic SA auctions
Some of South Africaâs Masters have topped records in domestic SA auctions. An oil by Maggie Laubser, Sailing Boat on Lake Guarda, signed and dated 1921, sold for R220,000 (USD31,000), topping values for her works of that period. The highest price at the Fine Arts Auction was paid for a Sekoto, Home Coming, signed and dated 1974, which was knocked down for R820,000 (USD117,000). This was followed by the R680,000 (USD97,000) paid for an oil by Laubser, The Slopes of Table Mountain verso Portrait of a Hiker. An oil by George Pemba, Musicians, signed and dated 1990, sold for R200,000 (USD28,000), and an oil by JEA Volschenk, The Giants of the Zwaartberg Range, signed and dated 1920, attained a hammer price of R125,000 (USD18,000). More was paid for oil by Adriaan Boshoff, Cattle and Herdboy, which fetched R300,000 (USD43,000).
A director of the auction house says âArt market trends tend to follow the property market which is currently very buoyant. The public have the resources and more wealth, and hence more money is available for investment in art, which has shown better returns than the stock exchange in the past three yearsâ
Contemporary South African Fine Artworks Gain International Respect
South Africans’ cultural heritage and art has gained international respect recently because of recognition received by artists like Zwelethu Mthethwa, William Kentridge, Marlene Dumas. Galleries and museums have developed a distinct, strongly-growing market locally and around the world. Northern Europeans often are surprised when they find out that the bright colour abstract paintings were created by an African artist. In general art collectors and gallery owners still associate African art with wooden statues and masks. Few people appreciate that African artists finish art school and have a growing impact and are represented throughout the international art circuit. An interesting observation is that prices for Aboriginal art are rising steeply, as is the case for works by black artists in South Africa.
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Art of Quesstioning
Posted by in Uncategorized on November 29, 2009
A question may be either a linguistic expression used to make a request for information, or else the request itself made by such an expression. This information is provided with an answer. The most important word in this definition is the “information”. Human have always tendency to seek information and this curiosity to gain the information was the main cause of human evolution. Evolution was not accident, human was destined to evolve. The most powerful thing that distinguish human from another creatures is the ‘consciousness”, or the ability to evaluate or ability to analyze or more subtle we say human’s ability to ask questions. From million years millions of humane have been asking millions of questions. Questions arise when people reflect on their lives and their world. Questions are part of almost all civilizations.
What is the art of questioning?
Questions are not only asked for information exchange, questions are asked also for introspection. The main purpose of questioning is learning and application of learning for improvement. We can call it way of learning and subsequently way of improvement. Thinking provides the conceptual tools for understanding how the mind functions in its pursuit of meaning; art of questioning employs those tools in framing questions essential to the pursuit of meaning. The main question comes here that why questioning is important in learning? Compare the mind with a huge library that contains millions of book shelfs and book shelf contains books. When we ask the question, mind creates a blank book shelf in the library and then we start to fill that book shelf with books since mind doesn’t like the blank book shelf. Again consider the mind as a big library; a right question will give you right information. Art of questioning is a technique to asked series of question in a structured way for improvement. Art of questioning contains different type of questioning techniques like open and close ended questioning, probing questioning, leading questioning, and rhetorical questioning that are used in different situations.
Art of questioning in literatures
If we see the all ancient great literatures we will come across that all contains the style of questing. These all literatures start with a question and ends with an answer. The very earliest religious writings in ancient India, the Vedas, which date from around 1500 BC, in a formal sense, are hymns to the gods, but as many scholars pointed out That style is dialectic, authors asks lot of questions and gratify them with the answer. One of the greatest intellectual heritages in Indian literature is “Upanishads’. Vedas are in ambiguous style but the intellectual knowledge of Vedas reaches at its extreme in’ Upanishads’. Upanishads were also written in question-answer style.
“This world is seen by eyes but who gives the power to eyes to see?” a one of the classic questions, asked in Upanishads or a way to teach about the absolute ?
Bhagawad Gita is considered the most intellectual literature in contemporized world. The style of Gita is also question-answer based. Arjun asks the question to Krishna and Krishna replies him but one of the most significant question that was underestimated by many scholars was the question asked by Dhritrasthra to Sanjay. Gita starts with a question, when Dhritrastra asks to Sanjay “What my son and Pandav’s sons are doing in the battleground”. If somebody reads Mahabharata thoroughly then he will find that this is the only instance when Dhrirrashtra makes distinction between his sons and Pandu’s sons apart from this he always use “my sons’ expression for Pandavs, here author wanted to convey that a seed of “Moh (attachment)” had formed in the mind of Dhritrashtra and at the end Arjun says my moh has been vanished. Again, a classic way to express through questioning how author used art of questing to express the message. Gita is not exceptional almost all great literatures used art of questing to express the message weather it was the tales of Vikram-Betal or The works of al-Farabi, Avicenna, al-Ghazali and other Muslim logicians, or budhist philosophy or the work of Chinese philosophers Confucius, Mozi, “Master Mo”, that was credited with founding the Mohist school, whose canons dealt with issues relating to valid and invalid. The works of Greece writer Homer, written in the eighth century BC, contain mythic stories that use gods to explain the formation of the world by questioning-answering. When we thrash out the role of philosophers to develop the art of questioning the greatest name comes in mind the Greek philosopher Socrates.
Socrates Questioning
Socratic Questioning is disciplined questioning that can be used to pursue thought in many directions and for many purposes, including: to explore complex ideas, to get to the truth of things, to open up issues and problems, to uncover assumptions, to analyze concepts, to distinguish what we know from what we don’t know, and to follow out logical implications of thought. The key to distinguishing Socratic questioning from other questioning is that Socratic questioning is systematic, disciplined, and deep, and usually focuses on foundational concepts, principles, theories, issues, or problems. Socratic Questioning is often referred to in teaching, and has gained currency in as a concept in education particularly in the past two decades.
Socratic questioning illuminates the importance of questioning in learning (indeed Socrates himself thought that questioning was the only defensible form of teaching). It illuminates the difference between systematic and fragmented thinking. It teaches us to dig beneath the surface of our ideas. It teaches us the value of developing questioning minds in cultivating deep learning.
The art of Socratic questioning is intimately connected with critical thinking because the art of questioning is important to excellence of thought. What the word “Socratic” adds to the art of questioning is systematicity, depth, and an abiding interest in assessing the truth or plausibility of things.
Art of questioning in Management
Manufacturing
A prominent author in the area of manufacturing improvement advocates the use of Socratic questioning in resolving apparent contradictory requirements of a process. Eliyahu M. Goldratt and his series of books “The Goal” give a particular focus on how to use this method to avoid compromises that satisfy neither side in a situation of apparently contradictory needs. This use of the method is a key element in his Theory of Constraints. This book focus on a plant manager who is continuously passing through the anguish of under performance of plant and the he meets to a person and then that person teaches him how to run manufacturing plant efficiently but the most interesting part of that learning was that he never teach any lesson to plant manager he just ask questions on questions and force that plant manager to identify the constraints and then to remove that constraints
Process Improvement
Various quality tools were formed on the basis of questioning, Checklist, 5W1H, Why-Why analysis are some name to few, infect why-why analysis sheets has become the part of quality culture of many world class companies. The theame behind the why-why analysis is the any problem can be solved if we can find the root cause of that problem and we can find the root cause if we ask five times “Why” to that problem. Although the 5-Why problem solving technique has been popularized by the Japanese, this common-sense concept has been around for quite some time:.
Business Strategy
Peter Drucker is considerd the most prominent management thinker of the modern management world and his most important contribution to the management is his five classic questions. The five questions posed below come from Peter Drucker, one of Management’s top scholars and a prolific writer who when he died in 2005 at the age of 95, was still writing. Drucker maintained there are five questions you must answer before constructing a mission statement; they show up often in the business literature in different order and with different terms, but essentially he’s saying that you have to know who your customer is and how your business is going to meet their needs. These five questions are-
1. What is our business?
2. Who is our customer?
3. What is of value to customer?
4. What will our business be?
5. What shouls our business be?
Sales management
The questioning technique becomes two ways when it comes to sales management while in the other areas of management the purpose for questioning is introspection while in the sales it is used for information acquisition and negotiations. At the time of pursuing MBA, I learnt 10 skills of effective salesperson from my teacher and out of them first one was “Salesperson listen more and talk less and ask many questions”. Most people trying to sell talk too much. “They’re good talkers – they must be salespeople” or “all you need to be a salesperson is the gift of the gab” are often heard misnomers. If you are talking you are not listening! If you do not listen you will never find out enough information about the prospect.
THE FUNNEL TECHNIQUEThis is a questioning technique used by salespersons to keep “on track” as they guide the prospect towards service or product offering once they have uncovered the needs.The technique relies on you using the prospects own words back to them and you must take notes. You will need to remember what the prospect says both now and possibly well into the future so do not rely on your memorySTEPS OF THE FUNNEL TECHNIQUEThere are four steps to the technique but that does not necessarily mean that it will always be only four questions:1. Motivate – Reason for asking the questions2. Open neutral questions – to get non-specific, un-biased information3. Open leading questions – to get specific, biased information4. Summary and/or get commitment with closed questionsQuestioning using the funnel technique is one of the most powerful selling tools available today. The key to its success is to practice using it.
Dissolving Stereotypes Concerning Contemporary African Art
Posted by in Uncategorized on October 30, 2009
One positive facet of globalisation is the fusion of creative elements from various cultures of the world. The essence of this global shift has drastically changed the contemporary African art market, rendering post modern representations of this great continent, its people and creatures in new and enlightening contexts. Modern African artists work to explore new concepts by interpreting them within their indigenous traditions or by reflecting their authentic African situation or experience in their art work.
However, maybe it is less the content or style of the works than the origin, location or structure of the artist that exhibit them. If you talk about the contemporary art world today you are really referring to a world of art. Modern art cites from Sao Paolo to London, from Kassel to Cape Town all embrace an array of artists and cultures from the four corners of the globe, many of whom were born in Africa. Who are these global artists? And when they make art, do they make African Art? Or do they make modern African art? Contemporary Art from Africa or Postmodern African Art? Are these descriptions only applicable for artists that are from Africa? Or who live in Africa?Postmodern African Artists Endure a Mixed Blessing
Defining the contemporary artists’ identity based on cultural or geographical boundaries has always been applied, especially in the African case. Unfortunately for many postmodern African artists this is a mixed blessing. Possessing African roots can be seen as a source of pride, an irrelevant fact, or a perpetual curse. Western stereotypes are steadfast and hard to eliminate. Western cultural presuppositions have negatively affected the presentation and interpretation of contemporary African art. In the Washington Post the Tanzanian artist Kiure Msangi quoted the reaction of a journalist: “Do you use acrylic paint? But that is not African!” Kiure Msangi proceeded: “If I would have used in some canvases acrylic paint with cow dung, I am sure the critics would have loved it”.Can the World’s Contemporary Art Culture Benefit from the African Experience?
Although the stereotypes still exist, there is a growing upward trend in the sale and exhibition of contemporary “African Art”. Both collectors and the general public are investing in exciting vibrant paintings, sculptures, installations and digital art. These contemporary art collections bring delight and financial reward, while enriching many homes with modern form and colour.
The 21st century has been with us for some time and “African Art” is beginning to solidify the respect it has gained in recent years. This contemporary art should not be discarded as a strange sub-category, but be recognised for its sophistication and quality. These modern works of art are being produced by a professional and ethnically diverse art community that spans the globe.
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South African Art â Politics and Progress for the Masters?
Posted by in Uncategorized on October 27, 2009
South African Art, Its Masters And The Politics Of Social Change
South African art, its masters, world renowned paintings and grass roots artists alike have all been shaped to some extent by the politics of social change over the past century. Artistic practice in much of South Africa has been affected by official policies of racial segregation, wars, economic and political migration, and an infinite number of marginal influences that combine to form the creative identity of the artist and their choice of subject. In the early years of British colonial rule great masters such as Jacob Hendrik Pierneef (1886 -1957) were exiled in Holland due to the Anglo-Boer Wars. Undoubtedly artists such as him evolved their creative genius through painting and education abroad. These skills and influences were then adopted by other South African painters when these old masters returned from their exile.
The exchange of ideas between European colonial artists and their native black counterparts was not just a one-way process. Although missionaries, patrons and educators exposed African artists to western artistic practices, so too did many white South African modernists adopt African aesthetic elements and collaborate with like minded black South African artists. Walter Battiss (1906 -1982), Alexis Preller (1911-1975), and many other South African artists united to form The New Group. These artists explored an unconventional modern art whose foundation was centred about the integration of African and European aesthetics. They also organised exhibitions celebrating the paintings of black South African artists such as Gerard Sekoto (1913 – 1993). This social trend continued throughout the early 1900s, until the Era of apartheid that began in 1948.
During apartheid, artistic practice and the subject matter of paintings in South Africa took a radical shift. African art in general could be considered as activist art, always provoking reactionary attitudes in those that view it. Much of the artwork produced in this era is anything but passive in its visual impact or political message, its purpose was social change! Although artists played a prominent role in the resistance movement, politically minded artists such as Michael Maapola (1964 – present) were persecuted, and black artists work was rarely exhibited. Much township art was destroyed by security forces, leaving a significant gap in the nation’s cultural legacy. Louis Khela Maqhubela (1939 – present) whose paintings are a combination of abstract figures, symbolism, and genre scenes of everyday life, continued to exhibit his work during apartheid. Artistic protest took the global stage at the height of sanctions and the cultural boycott. A French based association called Artists of the World against Apartheid launched a global appeal for artists to contribute to a collection of anti-apartheid paintings. This significant fusion of works is perhaps South Africa’s single most valuable international art collection once estimated at over 13 Million Rand. The end of apartheid in 1990 saw the home-coming of the collection, and the full integration of South African artists into international artistic community following elimination of the United Nations cultural boycott.
South African Paintings Achieve Records For Established Art Masters
Apartheid undoubtedly inspired a lot of influential art in South Africa. The liberating voices of artists did much to capture the attitudes and opinions of people during this time. The cultural value of these works is indisputably priceless, however what of the monetary value? Has South African art seen a progressive increase in value since the end of apartheid? Can South African Masters set records at auction like their European counterparts have been doing in recent years?
The South African art market would indeed seem to be following world trends, South African paintings have been realising fabulous prices. The art market is booming on a global level and South Africa is no exception. In 2007, Bonhams of London established their first-ever auction solely devoted to South African art. It saw over $2,000,000 worth of art being auctioned, the sale included works by major South African masters. It is a valuable indication therefore about the position of modern South African art internationally, and that these paintings are no longer of interest only to the domestic art market.
Irma Stern’s The Tomato Picker was knocked down for $310,000 against the catalogue pre-sale estimate of $160,000-$240,000. Sekoto’s Wash Day achieved a hammer price of $140,000, and Alexis Preller’s Portrait of a Girl fetched $64,000, more than double the upper pre-sale estimate of $30,000. Walter Battiss’ portrait of his wife, artist Grace Anderson, was bid at four times the higher estimate, fetching $20,000. Jentsch also sold well with a top hammer price of $64,000 for The Namib Desert.
Gerard Sekoto’s works seem to be at the crest of the wave that has propelled contemporary South African art into the leading edge of the global art market, seeing a 300% rise in recent years. Sekoto’s self portrait shattered previous world auction records for the artist and fetched an amazing $246,900. Given this current trend 2008 should be an exciting year for contemporary South African art. Private buyers, collectors and museum and gallery curators from the USA, Europe and beyond have all registered serious interest in Bonhams’ forthcoming sales in 2008.
The Evolution – Nurturing The New South African Art Masters
Who will be the masters of tomorrow?
It is evident that artistic practice in South Africa has been affected by racial segregation, wars, and political migration, but what of the artists themselves? Apart from rendering future influences in creative style and expression through their paintings, what else have they done to nurture the next promising generations of South African masters?
Gerard Sekoto has been described as: “South Africa’s pioneer of urban black art and social realism”. Following his death in 1993, The Gerard Sekoto Foundation was formed. It was Sekoto’s expressed wish that his Estate should be used to uplift art education for young South African children. He knew that formal art education was not offered in schools during the apartheid era, and The Foundation goes some way to rectify the wrongs of the past. South Africa will someday celebrate its new masters, due to the efforts of institutions such as The Foundation, The National Arts Council and workshops run by Thupelo. However let’s not just dream of the future, what of the present day?
Contemporary art emerging from South Africa is exciting in its breadth and expression. Any creative works to come from a nation with such a unique and varied history deserves unrestrained attention. One should not just think in terms of safari and wildlife paintings. Although a commercially popular genre this does not come close to characterising the depth and variety of works currently been created by educated and professional artists in South Africa. Browse through our galleries and you may just stumble upon the next South African Master!
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Contemporary Art For Your Home And Where To Find It
Posted by in Uncategorized on October 22, 2009
Contemporary art has gained a significant importance in modern households. It has become very popular in contemporary households and is recognized in every aspect of human life. Contemporary art has been omnipresent; it is recognized as a tool for interpersonal communication and has had far reaching effects. The increased attendance in art exhibitions and unprecedented sales of various art forms signifies the importance contemporary art has been receiving. It is an indicator about the awareness of art amongst the general public.
The major reason of success of contemporary art is that it is easily understood and appreciated by the masses. The accessibility has become easy for the masses as it is released in numerous copies and forms like disks and books etc. Such mass production of art has made art more popular, while preserving its unique values. Original paintings which were a distant dream for common people at one time are now accessible through galleries. It has further increased the number of admirers for the art.
However there is an argument raised by the contemporary art critics about reservation of some art form for certain group of people. Their argument is that the true appreciation of some art form can come only from some people who can understand them. In other words an artist can only understand the value of an art. This might be true in some cases but not in all, as a creator would like to get appreciated from as many people as possible. Modern art works today are created by many people, and are made for many people. There are various examples of successful groups who present art together and to as many people as possible. Thus, it can be easily concluded that contemporary art forms will continue to express publicly understood ideas so as to be appreciated by as many as possible.
A play, a novel, a music composition, film, or a painting can be successful irrespective of the views of artists or critics. It solely depends how it has been able to touch your emotions and has expressed itself to the general public.
There are various ways of acquiring modern art today . Online auctions are one of the ways where by abstract arts, oil-based painting, and impression arts can be purchased. Before buying any art form it is necessary to do some homework on what art you would like to collect and what appreciation you are looking for in that art. One can do any amount of extensive search on the internet for the categories of art forms to be collected. There are some other ways also like libraries, magazines etc which can give you more information about your favorite category.
One has to be really careful while purchasing art as there are lots of fakes circulating for a popular art. However one way to find about the genuineness of the art is to appoint an appraiser for the art you would like to purchase. Big auction houses like Sotheby uses the same technique for all the art forms before putting it up for sale. Online auctions like eBay are the tricky ones, and in this case you should directly communicate with the art seller to find out more about the art. Online art auctions usually keep a track record of the art seller’s sales history and can help you to determine whether the seller is a reputable person.