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By the end of last year, especially before the fourth wave of the pandemic struck, there was already a sense in the art world that things were settling into a "new normal", if not returning to the way they were before. The way the chips fell as live exhibitions and auctions resumed seemed to provide the first indication of what the future might look like.
As Stevenson gallery partner Joost Bosland put it late last year when he spoke from Art Basel Miami Beach, the return to international fairs was proving to be "a way to test all these conversations we’ve been having for the past year and to see what the real-world implications are".
With that in mind, the FM asked nine insiders, including auctioneers, gallerists and art fair representatives, to take the temperature of the art world. What emerged is an anecdotal, composite picture of the present and what art-going experiences are likely to be in 2022.
Art fairs, exhibitions and the online marketplace
Almost everyone the FM spoke to said something along the lines of Aspire Art Auctions MD Ruarc Peffers’s comment that "humans are naturally gregarious". The art world is a community, he says, and that has always been part of its appeal.
As Laura Vincenti, COO of the Investec Cape Town Art Fair puts it, the opportunity to connect and meet people and exchange ideas at art fairs is fundamental to what these fairs offer. Most interviewees agreed, nevertheless, that art collectors now expect an online dimension to all events. If they can’t get to a fair, for example, they still want to be able to browse and buy online.
Online fatigue, however, has changed what is likely to be offered in the digital realm. Vincenti points out that it has become clear how limited people’s attention spans are when it comes to online viewing rooms.
Mandla Sibeko, founder of FNB Art Joburg, agrees. "Online is not enough," he says. "It is merely a bridge but cannot replace physicality."
Robin Scher, former head of communications at Goodman Gallery, says galleries have realised that being able to provide a seamless, user-friendly online buying experience is more significant than translating the art-viewing experience online.
Mark Read, chair of Everard Read, SA’s oldest commercial gallery, says that while he’s certainly noticed a "cooling" towards the digital realm, online sales are "definitely, most profoundly, here to stay". He estimates that half the gallery’s sales now take place online.
Bosland points out, however, that the aspects of online exhibitions that persist in future will more likely function to "supplement and support real-world presentations" than replace them. He adds that the online dimension of art fairs has affected the works that galleries choose to show at international fairs (not large sculptures, for example), because it helps them cut shipping costs (and reduce their carbon footprints).
Bosland hazards a prediction that art fairs might become more like trade events in future. A crucial aspect of the fairs he’s been to in Europe and the US has involved reconnecting with colleagues, and he wonders if that won’t become one of their primary functions.
Roberta Coci is co-founder of Latitudes, which was launched as an art fair in 2019 and swiftly developed into a new kind of entity, calling itself an online "marketplace". She says that while Latitudes is tentatively planning live events for 2022 (as are the other local fairs), these will intentionally be smaller affairs. The volume of visitors at art fairs is not likely to persist as a measure of success.
Vincenti says art fairs will probably rather concentrate on helping collectors learn more about artists and the cities they’re from, and show them how to understand their work in context than gather a wide range of artworks under one roof. She says that even before the pandemic she realised that collectors who had bought an artwork at a booth at the art fair and subsequently asked to visit the artist would often swap the work they’d found for another. She foresees more studio visits and regional explorations.
The commercial gallery experience, meanwhile, is likely to play out as something bit more like a lingering museum-type experience. It will perhaps include taking in a meal and some shopping.
Scher says Goodman Gallery’s new premises in Cape Town feature an Italian café and restaurant, and the Joburg gallery also has a café. It plans to expand to include a bigger eatery.
It is interesting to note the number of alternative galleries and exhibition spaces that have popped up, many of them run by artists. They include Banele Khoza’s BKhz in Rosebank, Nelson Makamo’s Botho Project Space in the Joburg CBD and Rodan Kane Hart’s THEFOURTH in Cape Town, which, like Restudio in Parktown North and pop-up galleries like 1004 in Hillbrow, also cross over into residential spaces, perhaps as a result of traditional gallery spaces having been shut during the lockdowns of the past two years.
And the art itself?
There seems to be a bit of tempering of the hype surrounding the "rise and rise" of contemporary African art. Bosland advises perspective, saying that the much-vaunted "explosion" actually played out in the media more than in reality.
Scher concurs. "It remains a small fraction of the [global] market," he says, though he notes that this is a lot more than could be said just a few years ago.
Still, international institutions have invested in important artworks and what might have begun as a faddish interest has certainly matured.
Read says that it’s undeniable that the world is done with "scratching at the surface of Africa" and has developed a more in-depth, sustained interest in contemporary art from the continent.
Besides, he adds, there are some "really magnificent" artists. "What would you like to do? Spend time investigating the contemporary art of Texas or Canada or Australia, or would you like to know what’s happening in Africa?" he asks. "I would certainly say that Africa has got more to say."
Bosland adds, however, that international demand is still for "art that looks like art that is already commercially successful", and that there are still certain expectations imposed on African artists.
Trevyn McGowan, co-founder of Southern Guild, whose booth at Design Miami in December drew "unprecedented levels of interest" and won the best gallery award, notes "a steady rise in interest in ceramics, which has always been a strong category in SA, but now is even more so".
She says: "Our decision to focus on ceramics almost exclusively for our presentation at Design Miami … affirmed this sentiment for us.
"It felt like a milestone moment for SA ceramics, with some of the world’s top collectors buying multiple works."
From an auctioneer’s perspective, Alastair Meredith, head of Strauss & Co’s Joburg art department, points out that since the onset of the pandemic and the speedy migration of auctions online (plus the fact that hybrid auctions appear to have set in for good) the company has experienced a hugely significant rise in the number of international buyers — and not just expats.
Meredith notes increasing interest in 20th-century black modernist artists. "More and more, collectors who have an interest in contemporary African art are looking to the generation prior," he says.
He mentions 20th-century Namibian artist John Muafangejo, who shone at a dedicated Strauss & Co auction last year.
Peffers adds that he’s noticed increased demand for the likes of George Pemba in Aspire’s recent auctions.
He speculates that Pemba’s status will become comparable to Gerard Sekoto’s.
He points out that as public institutions continue to try to fill historical gaps in their collections, this trend will influence corporate and private collections.
Nonfungible tokens (NFTs)
Coci points out that technological innovation remains important for Latitudes. One of its more recent innovations has been introducing NFTs to its clients.
Often compared to cryptocurrencies, and like them, using blockchain technology, NFTs exploded into the public consciousness with the sale last year of a purely digital collage (a JPEG, in other words) by US artist Beeple on a Christie’s sale for $69m.
NFTs authenticate or establish a unique identity (and value) for otherwise easily replicable digital art forms.
Coci believes there is a significant future for NFTs in the "real" art world, particularly when it comes to authenticating and tracking artworks and establishing provenance. Latitudes issued NFTs to the first 25 buyers of a series of limited-edition scarves it produced in collaboration with various artists. "It was really important for our first experiment with NFTs to be with a physical product," she says. It helps demystify the idea and introduce it in a more accessible manner. NFTs also make it possible for artists and their estates to receive royalties when artworks are sold and resold on the secondary market. "It’s going to revolutionise the industry," Coci says.
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Collaboration and character
Read says he detects a changed attitude in the art world at the moment. "Dare I say humility?" he asks. There are signs that there might be less antagonism among galleries, and indeed between different sectors of the art market.
Peffers concurs. Aspire has moved its Joburg premises closer to the city’s "art world" in the Rosebank area. "As a community, I think we’re stronger than any one of us in isolation," he says.
Coci says that while some players remain rule bound, in general Latitudes has freely sought out collaborations with all nature of art world players — and even those beyond, such as fashion designers. "I think everyone has seen the power of collaboration and of bringing your audiences together, and of [the value] of all working together to achieve one goal," she says.
Sibeko has recognised the importance of "growing a cohort of under 40s" among art collectors and investors. "We noticed that … we needed to invest in young people who are at the cusp of leadership [and create opportunities for them] to start to learn through a variety of experiences and educational platforms," he says.
Art Joburg launched the BMW Young Collectors Co in 2020 to educate and enthuse a new generation of art patrons.
Meredith notes that a large portion of Strauss & Co’s clientele over the past year has been first-time buyers. "We’ve noticed that the average age of our collectors continues to drop," he says, adding that the new generation of collectors under 40 will have "a major impact on the market".
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