After a fire devastated much of Joao Ferreira’s collection at his Loop Street gallery a few years ago, it is with much credit that his love for art continues. I met the art dealer and was happy to see some fine pieces on display. It is testimony to the fact that art can survive turmoil and out of the ashes, new sparks of light can ascend. In this respect, the collection is in itself an achievement.
Ferreira explains that there are three kinds of collectors: the “token” collector who buys the “big name”; the “horizontal” collector who buys into a particular artist and their work, to the exclusion of others; and “as they go” collectors, who might buy certain kinds of works or in vogue themes.
While I have always found the notion of collecting art suspect, one cannot ignore the fact that art does add to the profile of individuals and, perhaps more relevant, the perceived wealth of businesses.
These issues aside, I was glad to see a large Kevin Atkinson painting titled Sunday, one of seven of his Days of the Week series. It is an enigmatic work: areas of subtle nuances of black with a large red circle defining that area, and then Oriental-like writing on the side.
Compare that to the more psychologically intense, figurative work of Robert Hodgin’s Watching the Execution. Here, the curious purples and browns against a simple background appear to describe an unfolding drama, one that may be torturous and of great struggle. His colours are jarring and the distortion adds to the dramatic appeal.
I also liked Mawande Ka Zenzile’s abstract painting with cow dung and oil on canvas, a work shown at this year’s South African Antique, Art and Design Association. Although the artist does not usually work in the so-called abstract, this is a highly accomplished work.
Bonolo Kavula’s mesmerising linear use in the medium of dry point etching is interesting. It seems to create a pattern that goes somewhere and yet nowhere, as if one is to “read” it left to right and yet process it as an image with no particular order, but that which is to be absorbed as a whole.
These are some of the highlights on offer. As Ka Zenzile’s work described is titled in Xhosa, and means that one sees in the artwork of one’s gaze different to what another might see, so I have merely brought a few images to attention that happened to catch my eye.
There are other works that may draw you in, or the works described may be interpreted in a way that offer other hermeneutic possibilities.