29/06/2022 General News, Live Auctions, Announcements
Since its inception in 2016, Aspire Art has taken the lead in actively developing value in new and emerging art market segments locally and abroad. Continuously forward-looking and dynamic, we are not afraid to take risks at auction, while pushing the boundaries in the contemporary art market.
Our recent live catalogue sale The Present Future: A Private Collection of African & International Contemporary Art took place on Wednesday, 22 June in Johannesburg. This impressively curated single-owner collection comprised striking and conceptually significant works – many fresh to the market – by emerging and established artists from Southern Africa in particular.
The auction delivered compelling results, with 65% of the works that sold achieving prices within estimate range and 25% above the high estimate. While 10% of the artists represented in the collection were introduced to auction for the first time, the sale set an impressive 10 new auction records.
With this auction, we are also proud to reintroduce our Artist Resale Rights (ARR) policy, which entitles artists to a share of the sale proceeds when their artworks are resold on the secondary art market. Aspire is the only African auction house to institute such a policy.
Athi-Patra Ruga, Imini Yomjojo (Judgement Day), 2016 | SOLD FOR ZAR 569 000
Wim Botha, Untitled (Witness series 21), 2014 | SOLD FOR ZAR 318 640
Serge Alain Nitegeka, Obstacle 1; Studio study III, 2012 | SOLD FOR ZAR 341 400. WORLD AUCTION RECORD
Kate Gottgens, Bromide Beach, 2016 | SOLD FOR ZAR 295 880. WORLD AUCTION RECORD
Zimbabwean painter and winner of the 2021 FNB Art Prize Wycliffe Mundopa’s expressive work Myths of Harare (Drowning in Air) sold for a South African record at R136,560. Also, taking the second position, was his November Carnival Series No 5 which achieved R113,800.
Emerging artist Morné Visage’s abstract work Fragment II (Derek Jarman, 1994) realised R102,420 setting a benchmark for the artist’s work at auction.
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Wycliffe Mundopa, Myths of Harare (Drowning in Air), 2014 | SOLD FOR ZAR 136 560. SOUTH AFRICAN AUCTION RECORD
Morné Visagie, Fragment II (Derek Jarman, 1994), 2015 | SOLD FOR ZAR 102 420. WORLD AUCTION RECORD
A showstopper was Matthew Hindley’s painting Kill the Lights which sold above its high estimate for an impressive R193,460. Pierre Fouche’s delicate fabric installation titled Your Young Voice – a Portrait of Ivan Katzen realised R91,040.
Matthew Hindley, Kill the Lights, 2008 | SOLD FOR ZAR 193 460. WORLD AUCTION RECORD
Sculptural works also performed well. Three sculptural maquettes by Wim Botha sold for a combined R233,290. Cameron Platter’s bronze sculpture, Gold Prince Barrack Husseinachieved R91,040 and young artist Stephané E. Conradie made her mark at auction with her mixed media construction titled Oorvloed selling for R91,040.
LEFT: Pierre Fouché, Your Young Voice – a Portrait of Ivan Katzen, 2012 | SOLD FOR ZAR 91 040
RIGHT: Wim Botha, Maquette for Wings II, 2015 | SOLD FOR ZAR 79 660
LEFT: Cameron Platter, Gold Prince Barrack Hussein, 2010 | SOLD FOR ZAR 91 040
RIGHT: Stephané E. Conradie, Oorvloed, 2019 | SOLD FOR ZAR 91 040
Although it is not legislated in South Africa as it is elsewhere in the world, Aspire Art supports and promotes Artist Resale Rights (ARR) seeing that the sustainability of artists is the foundation on which the entire art ecosystem rests. ARR grants artists a share of the sale earnings when their artworks are resold at auction.