STEPHAN WELZ & CO.
September Premium Auction
www.swelco.co.za
The Stephan Welz & Co. September Premium auction is fast-approaching, and following the great success of the Cape Town winter sale, we are looking forward to an equally exciting Johannesburg auction. The sale will be launching on our website on the 1st September, with bidding opening from the 15th September, and our specialists are eager to present some highlight pieces going under the hammer. We asked some of our team members to tell us about a few pieces they are particularly excited about and share why these works are so special:
Luke Crossley, Senior Art Specialist, Johannesburg
“I am very excited that we are able to offer a selection of prints and works on paper by South Africa’s premier draughts-person, Diane Victor. Leading this selection is the monumental Baited. This breath-taking work combines accomplished and layered classical printmaking techniques with digital printing to create a haunting image of an apocalyptic horse soaring over a devastated landscape, as an image of the artist lurks within the body of the beast. In Let Sleeping Crocs Lie, the artist again depicts herself within the image, this time lying atop the back of a symbolic crocodile with human hands and bound jaws. This artwork was created at the Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop in New York in April 2012 during the artist’s two-month stay in New York to create a body of work for her successful exhibition, Reap and Sow, at David Krut Projects. Alongside these iconic editioned works I am also pleased to be able to offer Extinguished V: Rhino one of the artist’s ethereal smoke drawings where the very delicacy and impermanence of the medium evokes the plight of the animals in the 21st century”.
Amy Carrington, Junior Art Specialist, Johannesburg
“Our September auction will have works on offer by many South African art heavy-weights, and I am particularly excited about the mix of contemporary and historical pieces on the sale, harmoniously standing together to represent our dynamic art scene. Helen Sebidi is just one of these notable artists, with the available works showcasing her unique stylistic qualities, which are immediately recognisable. Alexzandra Seene Near Johannesburg North (sic) offers a captivating example of the artist’s use of fragmented, juxtaposed colour, as well as the use of characteristic impasto and spirited brushstrokes to create a vibrant surface that represents Sebidi’s connection to her community and the values that endure there. This eye-catching work is complimented by Sharing Spirits Together, a linocut work that offers just as much textural interest, taking on an embossed aesthetic quality. The symbolization of tradition and community is clear in Sebidi’s work, and transcends generations, as contemporary artists, such as Phillemon Hlungwani, translate these concepts through their own visual language. Hlungwani uses his immense control of his medium to present Tatanahorisambilu Ya Wenall; a large-scale charcoal depicting a landscape shared by members of the artist’s community, and by extension, depicting shared experiences. This evocative, vivid work is another personal favourite on the upcoming sale, and I am looking forward to presenting these pieces, among many others, to our keen collectors”.
Alexia Ferreira, Junior Art Specialist, Johannesburg
“We have quite an interesting and diverse selection of art works on our September sale. One of my favourite pieces would be Andy Warhol’s Volcano (Vesuvius). As one of the 20th Century’s most ground-breaking and anti-establishment artists, and, even after his death, Warhol is considered one of the greats within the art world. So it is quite exciting to personally handle this piece.
Volcano (Vesuvius), part of a series of vibrant acrylic on canvas paintings and silkscreens depicting Mount Vesuvius at its sublime moment of eruption, encapsulates Warhol’s renowned Pop vernacular. Vesuvius is illustrated in a manner that it is renowned for, a vicious, erupting volcano, spewing its contents of molten lava and plumes of ash into the air. The entire composition is imbued with the threat of impending catastrophe. The size of the piece paired with a palette of dense blacks, garish crimson layered above golden accents is awe-inducing. It truly is a piece worth seeing in person.”
For more information about the works discussed here, please visit our website at www.swelco.co.za or contact us on 0118803125 or info@swelco.co.za
Andy Warhol, Vesuvius, screenprint on Arches, 79,5 by 99,5cm, R400 000—R600 000.
Mmakgabo Mmapula Mmangankato Helen Sebidi, Sharing Spirits Together, linocut, 39,5 by 34,5cm, R 2 000—R 4 000.
Phillemon Hlungwani, Tatanahorisambilu Ya Wenall, charcoal on paper, 150 by 200cm, R 80 000—R120 000.
Diane Veronique Victor, Let Sleeping Crocs Lie, drypoint, etching and embossing, 80 by 120cm, R 60 000—R 90 000.
Diane Veronique Victor, Extinguished: Rhino V, smoke drawing on paper, 86 by 61cm, R 30 000- R50 000.
Diane Veronique Victor, Baited, etching and digital print, 99 by 194cm, R 90 000—R 120 000.
Mmakgabo Mmapula Mmangankato Helen Sebidi, Alexzandra Seene Near Johannesburg North (sic), oil on board, 50 by 72cm, R 100 000—R 150 000.