Cape Town – Eleven artists raised a record-breaking R782 000 for ocean charity at the Wavescape Surfboard Art Auction at Jack Black’s Taproom in Diep River.
Last year’s auction raised R772 000, with artist Kirsten Sims’s board having fetched the highest price at R130 000, which is still the auction record for an individual artist’s work.
The auction is part of the 15th annual Wavescape Surf and Oceans Festival, which is showcasing a bumper line-up of ocean-conscious events at some city beaches and venues until Sunday.
Up to 250 surfing and art community patrons attended the auction, where artist Andrew Sutherland’s double-sided board, depicting a night sky, went for R105 000 on Thursday.
The second-highest-priced board was Kirsten Beets's artwork, which went for R102 000 and depicted minutely-detailed people swimming and wading in the ocean.
The third-highest priced board, at R100 000, was Lionel Smit’s sketchy profile of a large female face.
Other artists and their sold artworks include Ruby Swinney (R85 000), who created a bright turquoise board, which showed a shark caught in the tendrils of a jellyfish and a turtle painted in the likeness of Yoshi - a rehabilitated turtle recently released from the Two Oceans Aquarium after 20 years.
After Swinney came Brett Murray (R70 000), 9 Miles Project youths (R70 000), Paul Senyol (R65 000), Sue Williamson and Chris Slabber (both R46 000) and Rwandan refugee and former car-guard Eric Karangwa (R33 000).
Then came Chris Soal (R36 000) and Swain Hoggervorst (R24 000). All proceeds from the auction will benefit ocean organisations.