15th Mar, 2023 18:00

20th Century & Contemporary Art

 
Lot 48
 
Lot 48 - Georgina Gratrix (South Africa 1982-)

48

Georgina Gratrix (South Africa 1982-)
Mr Nice to Meet You

oil on canvas

Artwork date: 2011
Signature details: signed , dated and printed with the artist's name, the date, title, medium and dimensions on a SMAC Gallery label on the reverse
Exhibited: The Plot Gallery, Online, 'This Stays Between Me and You', 9 December 2021 to 13 February 2022.; SMAC Gallery, Cape Town, 'My Show', 29 March to 24 May 2012.; FNB Joburg Art Fair, Johannesburg, SMAC Gallery, 23 to 25 September 2011
Literature: Van Zyl, M. (ed). (2016). GEORGINA GRATRIX. Stellenbosch: SMAC Art Publishing, illustrated in colour on p.179.; 'My Show'. (2012). [Exhibition Catalogue]. SMAC Gallery: Cape Town. 29 March to 24 May 2012.

Sold for R364,160
Estimated at R300,000 - R500,000


 

oil on canvas

Artwork date: 2011
Signature details: signed , dated and printed with the artist's name, the date, title, medium and dimensions on a SMAC Gallery label on the reverse
Exhibited: The Plot Gallery, Online, 'This Stays Between Me and You', 9 December 2021 to 13 February 2022.; SMAC Gallery, Cape Town, 'My Show', 29 March to 24 May 2012.; FNB Joburg Art Fair, Johannesburg, SMAC Gallery, 23 to 25 September 2011
Literature: Van Zyl, M. (ed). (2016). GEORGINA GRATRIX. Stellenbosch: SMAC Art Publishing, illustrated in colour on p.179.; 'My Show'. (2012). [Exhibition Catalogue]. SMAC Gallery: Cape Town. 29 March to 24 May 2012.

(1)

120 x 100 cm; framed size: 123.5 x 103 x 6.5 cm

Provenance:

Private collection, Cape Town.

SMAC Gallery, Stellenbosch..

ABOUT THE ARTWORK:

“In our 21st century rabbit hole, Georgina Gratrix has been carefully cultivating a system of painterly hieroglyphics that incorporates the uncanny, grotesque humour and blithe tropical aesthetics”[1] writes art historian Emily Friedman, referencing the ‘peculiar’ visual language rendered in the artist’s thickly layered paintings.

Portraiture remains a favoured genre for Gratrix with subjects drawn from her personal and social world, as well as contemporary pop and celebrity culture. Painted in 2011, as part of a large body of work for her debut solo exhibition My Show in 2012, the formidable Mr Nice Guy presents an early introduction to the particular witticisms of Gratrix. A seemingly charismatic dandy, portrayed in cool colours, loose tie and open collar, with his face obscured by another layering of facial features – one sees a double set of eyes and a crown of blonde hair – in thick impasto strokes. This mysterious man, often speculated to be a former romantic interest of the artist, coveys some sort of an illogical ideal. “Like the wandering flâneur of existential literary tradition, he demonstrates multiplicity and anonymity of the self. He is every-man and no-man”.[2] Gratrix’s Mr Nice Guy is “about the ‘idea’ of a type of person or personality”[3] – a kaleidoscope that echoes a piquant sense of (visual) humour, which is communicated through fragmentation and formal simplicity.

Friedman notes that “while varied in execution, each of Gratrix’s portraits has an underlying aesthetic in common, which is at once familiar and alien, humorous and unsettling, visually pleasing and yet slightly disturbed. The result is a sardonic style that subverts the historical painterly language”.[4]

Text by Marelize van Zyl

COLLECTOR'S NOTE:

In 2022, Georgina Gratrix presented a solo exhibition; The Cult of Ugliness at The Irma Stern Museum in Cape Town, and in 2021, the Norval Foundation in Cape Town hosted a major solo exhibition and released a publication titled Georgina Gratrix: The Reunion.

Notable recent group exhibitions include; Would you still love me if I painted parrots all day? at Dirimart in Istanbul, Turkey; Inner Landscapes at Bloom Galerie in Geneva, Switzerland and Fifty Sounds at Galerie Kiche in Seoul, Korea.

[1] Friedman, E. (2016). Clowning Wisely. The Portrait Paintings of Georgina Gratrix, in Van Zyl, M (ed.) Van Zyl, M. (ed). (2016). GEORGINA GRATRIX. Stellenbosch: SMAC Art Publishing, p.19.

[2] Ibid. p.20.

[3] Ibid. p.20.

[4] Ibid. p.21.

COLLECTIONS:

The artist is represented in numerous local and international collections, notably, Collection Leridon, Paris; the Iziko South African National Gallery, Cape Town; the Missoni Collection, Milan; the Ellerman House Collection, Cape Town and the Spier Art Collection, Stellenbosch.

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Auction: 20th Century & Contemporary Art, 15th Mar, 2023

 

Kickstarting the 2023 program Aspire Art are delighted to present their first Live sale, 20th Century & Contemporary Art in March. The sale has become a highly anticipated event in the Cape Town auction calendar, showcasing and recognising works by truly exceptional artists from Southern Africa.

Contemporary highlights include seminal works by William Kentridge, Robert Hodgins, Sue Williamson, Johannes Phokela, Zander Blom, Athi-Patra Ruga, Dan Halter and Georgina Gratrix amongst others. International superstars include Pascale Marthine Tayou and Francisco Vidal.  Photographic works feature prominently as a special section and include limited editioned prints by celebrated documentary photographers Alf Kumalo and David Goldblatt alongside incredible photographic works by artists like Mary Sibande, Ayana Jackson, Candice Breitz and the award-winning Mikhael Subotzky.

Leading the sale is a group of important and rare works by South African modern masters, most significantly a selection of expressive drawings by Dumile Feni and paintings by social realist George Pemba. The modern collection is complimented by a landscape painted by J.H. Pierneef and a beautifully rendered gouache by Irma Stern from 1951.

 

Preview: 10 to15 March

Mon-Fri: 8.30-4.30, Saturday: 10-2 or by appointment

 

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IMPORTANT NOTICE:


 

Logistics

While we endeavour to assist our Clients as much as possible, we require artwork(s) to be delivered and/or collected from our premises by the Client. In instances where a Client is unable to deliver or collect artwork(s), Aspire staff is available to assist in this process by outsourcing the services to one of our preferred Service Providers. The cost for this will be for the Client’s account, with an additional Handling Fee of 15% charged on top of the Service Provider’s invoice.

Aspire Art provides inter-company transfer services for its Clients between Johannesburg and Cape Town branches. These are based on the size of the artwork(s), and charged as follows:

Small (≤60x90x10 cm): R480

Medium (≤90x120x15 cm): R960

Large (≤120x150x20 cm): R1,440

Over-size: Special quote

 

Should artwork(s) be collected or delivered to/from Clients by Aspire Art directly, the following charges will apply:

Collection/delivery ≤20km: R400

Collection/delivery 20km>R800≤50km

Collection/delivery >50km: Special quote

 

Packaging

A flat fee of R100 will be added to the invoice for packaging of unframed works on paper.

 


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For buyers from outside South Africa, we will keep the artworks you have purchased in storage during the year and then ship all the works you have acquired during the year together, so the shipping costs are reduced. At the end of the annual period, we will source various quotes to get you the best price, and ship all your artworks to your desired address at once.

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