Strauss & co - 15 February 2020, Cape Town

right Lot 44  Kudzanai Chiurai  Revelations VII (detail) Lectures and Walkabouts Sunday 9 February at 11 am Fluid Horizons, Extremities and the Vanishing Point conducted by Prof Karel Nel Venue: The Norval Foundation Atrium, 4 Steenberg Road, Steenberg Estate, Tokai Admission: Free with museum admission (free for Norval Foundation members) Renowned artist, curator, collector and intrepid traveller Prof Karel Nel will in this lecture share a glimpse of his practice, life and expeditions. Nel has travelled extensively across Micronesia and he has made his way to the remote island of Hiva Oa in the Marquesas, where Gauguin spent the last years of his life and died. Strauss & Co is privileged to offer in the current Contemporary Art auction Nel’s work , The Place of Manao Tupapau, Gauguin’s Grave Hiva Oa 1995 , inscribed ‘The Spirit of the Dead Watches, Atuona 1995. Nel has travelled across the early migratory paths of the Pacific, toward the extremity of Easter Island and up into the Hawaiian group of islands and along the early trade routes of the African east coast and to the islands of the Indian Ocean. In the past ten years Nel has worked annually with an international team of astronomers on the ambitious COSMOS project mapping a two square degree field of the universe. Nel’s work is held in private collections world- wide: in the majority of South African museum-, public- and corporate collections; the British Museum, London; the Metropolitan Museum, New York; and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art, Washington DC. Thursday 13 February at 10.30 am Contemporary Art: A New Collecting Practice conducted by Matthew Partridge, Contemporary Art Specialist, Strauss & Co Venue: Strauss & Co – Quay 7, 11 East Pier Road, V&A Waterfront Admission: Free Beginning with the Property of a Collector, Matthew Partridge discusses how the diverse range of media on this sale reveals the impact of new practices of collecting Contemporary Art. Examining the intersections and shared histories between artists and their respective medium, this lecture takes into account the rise in popularity of photography; considering the poles of documentary and performance. Turning the audiences attention to painting, it then examines the lineage (and resurrection) of the medium as an enduring contemporary style. Finally, it considers the impact of sculpture from moments of intimacy to monumentality. Followed by a walkabout of the preview at 11.30 am conducted by Strauss & Co specialists. Friday 14 February at 10.30 am Contemporary African Art conducted by Wilhelm van Rensburg, Senior Art Specialist, Strauss & Co Venue: Strauss & Co – Quay 7, 11 East Pier Road, V&A Waterfront Admission: Free Responding to a growing demand for information about contemporary art from the continent, this talk analyses the term Contemporary African Art and reflects on the notion that it shares properties with other global contemporary art practices and similarly feeds into and is shaped by the global art world and its art markets. But in addition, it highlights those particularities specific to African aesthetics, and covers the unique subject matter of Contemporary African Art, from the quest for an African Identity, to interrogating colonial legacies and foregrounding current social issues. Contemporary African Art, it is argued, now has a unique identity in the global art world, affirmed by an expansive network of artists, curators, researchers, art galleries, museums, private art institutions and auction houses, as well as through mega-exhibitions, biennales, art fairs, art prizes, books, journals, independent research projects, residencies, and data bases. Followed by a walkabout of the preview at 11.30 am conducted by Strauss & Co specialists. 10