Visual artists across the globe, and specifically in Africa, have over the years reimagined their African identity, creating narratives that include all facets of life. Historically, sexuality, queerness, and gender expression were seen as 'un-African'. While it is still illegal to be LGBTQ+ in many African countries, there is a growing visibility of LGBTQ+ identities in the creative arts, pushing conversations that in the past were seen as taboo, but for self-taught jewellery designer and sculptor Githan Coopoo, he describes his art as obnoxious, queer and necessary.

Read the full article here: https://www.bizcommunity.com/Article/196/484/235446.html 

Summer holidays present lazy days by the pool. South African artists have been depicting this scene and others that offer an escape from reality. 

Read the full article here: https://editorial.latitudes.online/blog/posts/the-great-escape-can-art-offer-a-respite-from-reality/ 

ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE 2022 STANDARD BANK YOUNG ARTIST AWARD WINNERS

Receiving a Standard Bank Young Artist Award is a pinnacle point: this is one of the most prestigious prizes offered to South African artists under the age of 35. This year’s winners join the ranks of a stellar collective that have become household names over the last four decades. Standard Bank Young Artist Award winners are cherished as national treasures, and many have gone on to find new audiences on the African continent and achieve international acclaim.

Art from the private collection of late Microsoft co-founder Paul G. Allen fetched over $1.6 billion this week to become the largest single-owner sale in auction history.

Works by Georges Seurat, Paul Cézanne, Vincent van Gogh, Paul Gauguin and Gustav Klimt all sold for over $100 million across a record-shattering two nights at Christie's in New York.

Spanning 500 years of art history, art from Allen's collection was offered on Wednesday and Thursday, with all proceeds going to philanthropic causes, the auction house said. Christie's had initially estimated that the 150-plus works would sell for a combined $1 billion, but the landmark sum was exceeded even before the conclusion of day one.

Read the full article here: https://edition.cnn.com/style/article/paul-allen-collection-christies-auction-record/index.html 

Everard Read regrets to announce the passing of the eminent South African artist, Harold Voigt, born 1 May 1939 in Johannesburg.

Over a long and productive career, Voigt became one of the finest painters of this era. His searingly insightful renderings of the South African landscape and quiet interiors of his home and studio were collected internationally.
 
Everard Read was privileged to represent this thoughtful, elegant man from the mid-1970s. Many successful exhibitions attested to Voigt’s rise to the front rank of figurative painting in South Africa. “There simply hasn’t been a better painter wielding a brush during my era as a dealer,” says Mark Read. “Voigt’s painstaking accumulation of oil paint and glazes on canvas is technically on a par with the best of the old masters.”
 
Never a man to court fashion in contemporary art commentary, Voigt was nonetheless avidly sought after by collectors and institutions globally. He shall be profoundly missed. 
 
An exhibition celebrating this exceptional South African painter’s life will be presented in the coming months.

Celebrating female artists has become commonplace, yet the reality most women face remains difficult. How are artists dealing with disparity and violence against their gender?

Read the full article here: https://editorial.latitudes.online/blog/posts/can-and-should-female-artists-tackle-the-burden-of-inequality/ 

Teresa Kutala Firmino’s fantasy worlds are animated by a decidedly campy materiality. The fulsomely textured surfaces of her collages currently on view at Everard Read’s CIRCA Gallery in Johannesburg are brimming with buttons, stickers, glitter, feathers. Set against brightly polychromed backgrounds, masked female figures are resplendently clothed in fabrics drawn from digital prints—floral dresses, polka dotted bikinis, and geometric skirts. Others wear nothing but their frank nudity, sometimes accentuated by a glittery sheen. At first glance, these painting-collages strike us as Eden-like playgrounds of colorful femininity. But discreetly, they are also somewhat surreptitious elegies for the dead. 

Read the full article here: Teresa Kutala Firmino: The Owners of the Earth (Vissaquelo) – The Brooklyn Rail

Sue de Groot talks to one of SA’s most prolific and interesting artists, who is currently bowling over the English aristocracy with his dreamlike paintings and surreal sculptures

Read the full article here: https://www.timeslive.co.za/sunday-times/lifestyle/2022-05-15-lighting-the-knights-baileys-breeze-of-change-blows-north/ 

We are delighted to share with you the Dylan Lewis sculpture garden, as seen in the Telegraph Luxury magazine earlier this month.

The fashion story was photographed by South African Michael Love, and includes fashion by Chanel, Dior and Louis Vuitton, all modeled by Faith Johnson and Shubby Stanton.

View the full article and images here: https://dylanlewis.com/garden/publications/telegraph-luxury-magazine