allAfrica.com: South Africa: Artists Gear Up for Top Dollar Prices (Page 1 of 2)

SOUTH African-born Marlene Dumas, who studied at the University of Cape Town in the 1970s and moved to the Netherlands on a scholarship, is the world's highest-paid living female artist at auction -- her work has fetched $3,34m.

Paintings by locally based artists such as William Kentridge, Willie Bester and Zwelethu Mthethwa are also notching up top dollar prices.

"If you don't exhibit overseas and have an international profile, you're not regarded as successful locally," says internationally acclaimed Cape Town artist Jeannette Unite, who is inspired by African mining imagery and incorporates materials such as minerals, metal oxides and diamondiferous gravels from significant mining sites into her work.

So how does one break into this market, given that an acclaimed artist like Johannesburg-based Kentridge initially walked around New York trying to persuade art galleries to look at his slides, without success? Many artists initially explore the overseas market through their own websites as well as submitting their CVs and images of a few sample works to join an online gallery.

One new upmarket social networking website for artists is myartinfo.com, launched last year by Louise T Blouin MacBain, one of the world's largest art magazine publishers and art information providers. It allows artists from musicians to photographers to communicate, share ideas and promote their artwork worldwide at no cost.

"The website provides an opportunity for artists to gain global exposure, and for people with similar interests to meet and connect," says MacBain. "It is the ultimate platform for promoting artistic talent around the world to bridge cultural differences."

Many local artists have benefited through individual initiatives, such as Ross Douglas's Artlogic, which works with contemporary artists to produce events and installations to leave a lasting impression on their audiences. Companies benefit by branding such events that have been performed in major venues such as Central Park in New York, the Barbican in London and the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne.

Another leading facilitator is David Krut, whose publishing division produces high quality books on contemporary South African art, architecture and design. The David Krut Print Workshop was launched in 2000 to provide professional printmaking facilities in Johannesburg for artists and printmakers to create limited-edition and unique works on paper. Artists are regularly invited to create limited edition intaglio prints and monotypes and collaboration between local artists and their overseas contemporaries is facilitated.

Books and prints are distributed through David Krut Projects in Johannesburg, Cape Town and New York. SA and other international artists' works are frequently promoted through his gallery in New York's Chelsea art district. The recent The New Spell exhibition showed contemporary South African art by Nandipha Mntambo, Michael MacGarry, Maja Maljevic, Themba Shibase, Nina Barnett and Robyn Nesbitt.

"It is all about people and social connections: It's vital to network into the A-B income bracket," Unite says. She recommends not only marketing to potential buyers, but ensuring that existing customers are updated on new work and entertained at studio soirees. "It's important to reassure those who have already bought, that they own the best."

Having initially built up individual overseas sales by word of mouth -- diplomats and embassies in SA were particularly good for sales -- Unite's reach grew six years ago when her work was included with that of Nelson Mandela in a collection of South African works in Zebra Two, a small independent gallery in London's upmarket Hampstead.

It was the first time his work was displayed anywhere in the world (there were six original lithographs) and this attracted a huge turnout.

Through a contact she also sold 40 artworks to the world's largest law firm, Clifford Chance in Brussels. They installed the works on three office floors and also used her images for their international festive season greeting card for three consecutive years.

She followed this up with the SA Today exhibition in Helsinki, Finland, launched by then SA Tourism CEO Cheryl Carolus. Unite presented an animated art video at a New Year concert for 3 500 people, accompanied by a live orchestra playing the Blue Danube waltz. An estimated 10 000 people passed through the Helsinki trade fair centre during the month-long exhibition (there was also an international travel fair and a medical congress) which helped raise her profile and those of other South African artists.

Unfortunately, Unite's large artworks, created over ten months for the show and easily transported from South Africa to London, were packed in a crate too large to fit on the smaller aircraft from London to Helsinki. She was forced to instead show a few panels and other artworks that she was carrying in her luggage as the final consignment for the Clifford Chance sale.

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