Planning on adorning your space with works by local artists? We’ve rounded up a few of our favourite pieces from Aspire Art’s Current & Curated: The Art Gazette Collection online auction to help you get started.

In a local industry first, Aspire Art has partnered with Art Gazette to present one of the most exciting online art auctions of 2022. Current & Curated: The Art Gazette Collection, which runs from 15-23 June, will feature a host of fresh and cutting-edge contemporary art.

Representing 85 established and emerging artists from South Africa, Africa and abroad, the Current & Curated: The Art Gazette Collection features over 180 works of art, offering a unique opportunity for new and seasoned collectors to view and acquire original and innovative works in a wide variety of styles and various mediums ranging from painting, drawing, photographic and editioned works. 

Here are a few artworks on auction that caught our eye:

After Ingres de Broglie by Colijn Strydom

2021

Pencil and acrylic ink on paper

58 × 42 cm

A2

Bid Now

Come into my Life by Sizwe Sibisi

2020

Hand-sewn fabric on cotton

78 × 96 cm

A1+

Bid Now

Field Lines 6 by Unathi Mkonto

2020

Pastel on canson

65 × 50 cm

A2

Bid Now

Flowers Stolen Back by Mia Chaplin

2019

Acrylic on Munken paper

42 × 29.5 cm

A3

Bid Now

Sorry Baby by Boemo Diale

2022

Mixed media on paper

42 × 59 cm

A2

Bid Now

The Idleist Study I by Claire Johnson

2019

Lithograph on Munken Lynx paper

240gsm

84.1 × 59.4 cm

A1

Bid Now

Untitled (Hafez Series) by Kamyar Bineshtarigh

2020

Drawing ink on Fabriano paper

200gsm

100 × 70 cm

A1+

Bid Now

Vanitas 8 by Andrew Kayser

2021

Charcoal on Fabriano paper

58.5 × 50 cm

A2

Bid Now

The Current & Curated: The Art Gazette Collection online auction opens for online bidding on Wednesday, 15 June and closes on Thursday, 23 June at 6pm. A percentage of the sale proceeds will be paid directly to the artists. 

To view the auction and register to bid visit aspireart.net.

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Bidders from several continents vied for the best of South Africa modernist and contemporary art, breaking international records.

Strong results were achieved for the work of blue-chip artists, such as JH Pierneef’s A View Across Fisherman’s Cove, Seychelles, which fetched R4 547 200 and his Vrystaat Reën at R2 046 240; Edoardo Villa’s Vertical Composition at R1 818 880; and two of William Kentridge’s early drawings,Grande Jeté at R2 273 600 and Room Service at R2 046 240. 

In long-awaited and well-received recognition of exiled South African artists, too frequently under-rated and under-represented, politically motivated works like Louis Maqhubela’s early conté crayon drawings of the mid-1960s, Exiled King, sold for R341 040 – more than three times his previous record. As a young student in Soweto, Maqhubela joined Durant Sihlali’s artist group and enrolled in classes at the Polly Street Art Centre. However, in 1959, the year he matriculated, the apartheid government disallowed black students from “white” universities. Having enjoyed critical and commercial success despite the challenges of the time, Maqhubela eventually settled in the UK, primarily for political reasons, furthering his studies at Goldsmiths College in 1984–5, and the Slade School of Art between 1985 and 1988.

Albert Adams’s Untitled (Four Figures with Pitchforks), his first appearance at auction, sold for R136 416 at three times the low estimate. This important work features in the upcoming exhibition to honour the artist at the Rupert Museum, curated by Marilyn Martin, the former Director of the Iziko South African National Gallery. Martin notes that the drawing “ …reveals the instinctive expressionism, charged with deep social awareness and commitment, which would characterise his work throughout his life”. Denied access to Michaelis School of Fine Art, University of Cape Town, on the basis of race, Adams received scholarships and grants that enabled him to study at top universities in London, Munich and Salzburg. He returned to Cape Town where he exhibited widely and to critical acclaim, and represented South Africa internationally, but in 1960 he settled in London.

Emma Bedford, current Director and Senior Specialist at Aspire Art Auctions and for many years Senior Curator at the South African National Gallery, met both Maqhubela and Adams in London in the 1990s, amongst several other artists in exile, with a view to curating an exhibition on the subject. So it was particularly heartwarming to receive Maqhubela’s response to the sale and the news that he would benefit from Aspire’s initiation of Artist’s Resale Rights: “your e-mail was like a whisper from the ‘Old Ones’ – a grand affirmation of ethical market practice, goodwill and generosity that really made my day”.

As the first auction house in South African history to pay living, South African artists royalties on the resale of their works of art, an impressive 40 living artists in the Inaugural Cape Auction are eligible for payments – a substantial increase from the 16 living artists who benefitted from Aspire’s Inaugural Auction, held in Johannesburg in October 2016.

Young contemporary artists set to receive Artist’s Resale Rights payments include Mohau Modisakeng, who will represent South Africa at the Venice Biennale 2017; Modisakeng’s Ditaola XV achieved a record of R204 624. Another major contemporary artist, Moshekwa Langa, doubled his previous record when his mixed media composition, she thought of him often, sold for R102 312.

Athi-Patra Ruga, who became the toast of New York when he staged Over the Rainbow at Performa in 2016 and who stole the show at the recent Woordfees in Stellenbosch, didn’t disappoint when his tapestry, Castrato as [the] Revolution sold for a sensational R261 464.

For further queries, or for gratis and obligation-free valuations, please contact Ruarc Peffers at ruarc@aspireart.net or on 084 444 8004. Aspire Art’s upcoming Winter Auction will be held on 17 July 2017 at The Park on 7, Hyde Park Corner, Johannesburg. Consignments close on 19 May 2017. For more information, visit aspireart.net.

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