46 finweek 19 March 2020 http://www.fin24.com/finweek

on the money art

By Johan Myburg

Biggest art fair on the

continent attracts thousands

Art buyers and investors who visited the Cape art fair paid firm prices for select works.

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Michelangelo Pistoletto’s Smartphone – Donna seduta e uomo in

piedi, 2018, silkscreen on super mirror polished stainless steel

(150 x 250cm).

Ayanda Mabulu’s Matriarch, 2020, oil on

canvas with gold leaf (200 x 260 x 5cm).

t

he fact that the Investec Cape Town Art

Fair (ICTAF) is the biggest art market

on the African continent, larger than

those in Johannesburg, Lagos and

Marrakesh, contributed considerably to the

recent conclusion reached by a Cape Town art

consultant: Cape Town is Africa’s art capital.

It’s not only the Cape beaches, scenic

beauty and wines that attract tourists, but

also art. “It’s something that the ICTAF team

does across the world,” says Laura Vincenti,

director of the Cape art fair. “We act as

unofficial ambassadors for the city.”

This year the ICTAF attracted an astonishing

22 000 visitors – many of them from foreign

shores – to the Cape Town International

Convention Centre, where this art fair was held

for the 18th time from 13 to 16 February.

This international interest was echoed by

the large number of overseas galleries that

took part in the ICTAF this year. With 93

galleries that represented some 400 artists

from Africa, the UK, Europe, the Middle East

and the US, the ICTAF retained its status

as the sub-Saharan art fair that attracts the

biggest number of international galleries.

Its turnover is estimated at R120m,

although this figure could vary as not all

the participating galleries reveal the precise

amounts paid for works of art.

The strong international representation –

quite a bit of Italian was heard at the fair this

year – is coupled to the Italian company which

owns ICTAF, Fiera Milano’s proactive strategy to

attract especially Italian galleries and collectors.

Thus two Italian galleries, Giorgio Persano

and Galleria Massimo Minini, exhibited works

by Michelangelo Pistoletto, Mario Merz

and Giulio Paolini, leading exponents of the

Arte Povera movement. This movement of

the late 1960s and 1970s focused on the

relationship between artist and subject, and

between the access that the rich and the

poor have to art.

This European representation

was also apparent in the

composition of the galleries in

the main section, the heart of

the art market, with 18 local

galleries, eight from the rest

of Africa and 22 from Europe.

MJ Turpin, co-director of

Kalashnikovv in Braamfontein,

Johannesburg, one of the

galleries which took part in the

main section, confirmed the

international interest. “More than 70% of the

art works we sold were acquired by clients

from Europe. But then, one should remember

that most of these collectors own properties in

Cape Town. The local market therefore largely

benefits from ICTAF.”

But then there are also galleries that

believe that most of their support comes

from South Africans. Joost Bosland,

co-director of Stevenson, for example, says

most of these galleries’ sales were made to

South Africans. “Local support for South

African artists increases year after year. This

is very heartening.”

One of the SA artists whose works were

sold by Kalashnikovv this year is Ayanda

Mabulu’s Matriarch, 2020, oil on canvas with

gold leaf (200 × 260 × 5cm). This piece was

sold for R420 000, a record price for Mabulu.

According to Turpin, ICTAF is one of three

local art fairs that this gallery attends annually,

and it can represent as much as 10% of the

gallery’s annual sales.

Although the World Economic

Forum reckons that six of the ten

fastest-growing economies in the

world are in Africa, it does not

mean that SA is safeguarded

against economic adversity.

Vincenti admits that there are

challenges and that South Africans

are battling. Nevertheless, she

commends the support given to the

local market and adds that absolutely

everything is done to attract more

art collectors from Africa.

As part of this strategy, ICTAF has a high

regard for its role to identify future artists

and to constantly grow the pool of artists.

“Tomorrows/Today” is a section where curator

Tumelo Mosaka focuses on budding artists who

have not as yet earned the recognition they

deserve.

The Zimbabwean artist Troy Makaza was

this year selected as the winner of this category,

for which he received a cash prize as well as

the opportunity to exhibit his works in Zeitz

MOCAA in Cape Town. ■

[email protected]

Laura Vincenti

Director of the Investec

Cape Town Art Fair