Aren't we lucky, here in the art world, to have as qualified a moral barometer as Lulama "Lulu" Xingwana, (minister of arts and culture, formerly of agriculture and land affairs) to let us know when we have become bad people. Even more valuably, and ...
I'm just back from a month's curating course in South Korea, courtesy of the Gwangju Biennale Foundation. I spent my spare hours in my dingy downtown motel keeping a little diary while I was there and here is entry number two. For the rest, see "Diar...
Until about March, I knew little to nothing about making plants grow. I have killed cacti from too much love and orchids from too little. I accidentally drank fertiliser and had to have my stomach pumped, and since then I have not touched it (fertili...
After a night of merciless schmoozing and boozing at Thursday’s exclusive launch event, The Joburg Art Fair sleepily opened its doors to the public early on Friday morning. The crowds trickled in slowly and consisted predominantly of school-goers, ...
It's time for the 2009 Joburg Art Fair -- it started today at 10am -- and this means, among other things, that I have to resurrect this blog from its long hibernation. For daily coverage of the fair from the Mail & Guardian watch this site.
La...
When I was growing up my family, or one half of the family at least, were the sort of people who would make me endure dinners at Scrooges -- a "family" steakhouse that offered a “one-hour, 1kg steak, one litre of beer” special on week nights. I h...
Once not so long ago, before I had bothered to get a driver's licence, I took a train from Johannesburg to Grahamstown for the National Arts Festival. Four hours into the journey, after my cabin-fellows and I had finally shooed the dysfunctional chil...
Visiting London in the week that the rand hit 19 to the Pound was nerve-wracking. Tuna sandwiches from Marks & Spencer suddenly cost R60, the summer dress I bought on sale for an emergency garden party turned into the sort of fashion splurge I e...
As promised, here is Richardt Strydom's comment on the recent "debate" that has been raging around his winning image in the 2008 Sasol New Signatures competition:
With regard to the public debate surrounding Familieportret No. 2, the following r...
At the end of August Sasol begrudgingly handed over R60 000 to Richardt Strydom (whose name nobody seems to be able to spell correctly) for his winning artwork in the Sasol New Signatures competition, Familieportret No 2. The photograph, which you ca...
Anthea Buys is an independent journalist who writes about visual art for the Mail & Guardian. However, that does not mean that anything she says on this blog is said in her capacity as a contributor to the Mail & Guardian. She gets really annoyed when people think it does. She enjoys swimming in perilous waters, reading about architecture and has a doppelgänger who lives in Cape Town. Two of her great grandfathers - one maternal, one paternal - were world champion boxers. She can't throw a straight punch, but then again, she doesn't need to (not yet).
Anthea's links
ArtThrob A fine monthly webzine on art in South Africa. Quoted by students everywhere (didn't they tell you not to believe everything you read in the press?). I am the new Gauteng editor for this site.
The Guide The Mail & Guardian's daily listings for art, music, theatre and other fun stuff.
