Ending 26th Apr, 2022 19:13

SHADES: Autumn 22

 
Lot 147
 
Lot 147 - Anton Kannemeyer (South Africa 1967-)

147

Anton Kannemeyer (South Africa 1967-)
B is for Black; W is for White (from the Alphabet of Democracy series), diptych

colour lithographs

Artwork date: 2008
Signature details: both signed, dated, numbered 2/35 in pencil in the margin and embossed with the Artists' Press chop mark bottom right
Edition: 2 from an edition of 35 + 3 Printer's proofs
Exhibited: Jack Shainman Gallery, New York, The Haunt of Fears (solo show), 17 April to 17 May 2008, another example from this edition exhibited; Michael Stevenson, Cape Town, Anton Kannemeyer: Fear of a Black Planet (solo show), 16 October to 22 November 2008, another example from this edition exhibited; Johannes Stegmann Gallery, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, Representations of Otherness and Resistance, 21 May to 19 June 2015, another example from this edition exhibited.
Literature: Botes, C. and Kannemeyer, A. (2008). Bitterkomix 15, Johannesburg: Jacana Media, another example from this edition illustrated in colour on p.52; De Jesus, J. ed. (2015). Representations of Otherness and Resistance. Bloemfontein: Johannes Stegmann Art Gallery, University of the Free State, another example from this edition illustrated in colour, unpaginated; Perryer, S. ed. (2008). Anton Kannemeyer: Fear of a Black Planet. Catalogue. Cape Town: Michael Stevenson, another example from this edition illustrated on pp.18-19; Tyson, J. (2012). Anton Kannemeyer’s Tactics of Translation as Critical Lens. Synthesis. Summer (4):121-148, another example from this edition are illustrated in colour on p.126.
Location: Cape Town

Sold for R14,070
Estimated at R30,000 - R50,000


Condition Report

The overall condition is excellent.

Each work is floated to backing mount, not laid down.

Not examined out of frame.

Please note, we are not qualified conservators and these reports give our opinion as to the general condition of the works. We advise that bidders view the lots in person to satisfy themselves with the condition of prospective purchases.

 

colour lithographs

Artwork date: 2008
Signature details: both signed, dated, numbered 2/35 in pencil in the margin and embossed with the Artists' Press chop mark bottom right
Edition: 2 from an edition of 35 + 3 Printer's proofs
Exhibited: Jack Shainman Gallery, New York, The Haunt of Fears (solo show), 17 April to 17 May 2008, another example from this edition exhibited; Michael Stevenson, Cape Town, Anton Kannemeyer: Fear of a Black Planet (solo show), 16 October to 22 November 2008, another example from this edition exhibited; Johannes Stegmann Gallery, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, Representations of Otherness and Resistance, 21 May to 19 June 2015, another example from this edition exhibited.
Literature: Botes, C. and Kannemeyer, A. (2008). Bitterkomix 15, Johannesburg: Jacana Media, another example from this edition illustrated in colour on p.52; De Jesus, J. ed. (2015). Representations of Otherness and Resistance. Bloemfontein: Johannes Stegmann Art Gallery, University of the Free State, another example from this edition illustrated in colour, unpaginated; Perryer, S. ed. (2008). Anton Kannemeyer: Fear of a Black Planet. Catalogue. Cape Town: Michael Stevenson, another example from this edition illustrated on pp.18-19; Tyson, J. (2012). Anton Kannemeyer’s Tactics of Translation as Critical Lens. Synthesis. Summer (4):121-148, another example from this edition are illustrated in colour on p.126.
Location: Cape Town

(2)

image size: 49.5 x 37 cm; sheet size: 57 x 45.5 cm; framed size: 72 x 59.5 x 4.5 cm each

Provenance:

Private collection, Cape Town.

Aspire Art, Cape Town, 27 March 2017, lot 79.

Notes:

From his series Alphabet of Democracy, the lithographs devoted to the letters B is for Black and W is for White illustrate the unhappy division of South Africa along colour lines. But there is more, because the satire does not merely draw on the result of apartheid brainwashing, but on the mindset that put it there in the first place.

As cofounder and artist of the hugely successful Bitterkomix, started in 1992, Kannemeyer is a chief protagonist when it comes to stoking the fires of derision. But in these works, the question is, who and what exactly is being derided?

Is it the legacy of neo-colonial dictionary making that has reinforced the virtue of whiteness over blackness? Is it the apartheid schooling system that Kannemeyer obviously grew up under, that is under satirical attack?

Although the work is intended to raise our chagrin it also refers back to a romanticised era in the production of European comics when Hergé’s Tintin ruled supreme over the bedrooms of little white boys.

Kannemeyer’s work, it has always been claimed, is autobiographical. So perhaps this is his apology for being born into a discipline with heavy baggage. In the series, the Black man monumentalizes all those who were painted as “opposite” in the popular art of the colonial era.

In his introduction to the book Alphabet of Democracy, comic artist Andy Mason tells us, “In a context where the notion of ‘objectivity’ seems increasingly flawed and impossibly compromised, autobiographical truth-telling becomes a bulwark against the failure of History as an objective discipline (2010:5).”

Although he may be indebted to it, it is likely that this is Kannemeyer’s growl to comic book history.

Matthew Krouse

Sources:

Kannemeyer, E. (2010) Alphabet of Democracy. Cape Town and New York. Jacana, Michael Stevenson, Jack Shainman Gallery.

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Auction: SHADES: Autumn 22, ending 26th Apr, 2022

 

Welcoming the change of colours of the new season, Aspire Art presents a strong selection of exceptional and innovative works by local art world favourites for easy collecting.

With nearly 200 lots, the collection spotlights prevalent topics artists, and audiences, engage in. Most notably, the stylistic influences of abstraction (lots 1-28). Other highlighted categories include the exploration of places and people (lots 29-142), the meaning of words (lots 143-168) found in text-based pieces, the objects (lots 169-175) of sculptural works and the things (176-188) chosen for still life studies. Also included is a range of signed William Kentridge posters (189-195) for those interested in special art memorabilia.

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