Art classics at the click of a mouse
You don't even have to get out of your pyjamas
Image: Supplied
''Accessibility" has become the holy grail of the art world. After centuries of being thought of as a highbrow pursuit for the well-heeled, everyone appears bent on making art "accessible".
In the context of art the term has had various definitions. Art events, like art fairs, that take place outside of sterile white-cube settings are pegged as accessible because the public doesn't have to step into these supposedly austere settings.
You wouldn't think a large convention centre, the setting for the Joburg and Cape Town art fairs, is more inviting than a small, street-fronted gallery. Nor would you think paying to browse art would make it more accessible.
How accessible do you want to make art, anyway, when its inaccessibility is perhaps one of its attractions?
The Turbine Art Fair is set in a much more friendly and inviting location - the regenerated Turbine Hall in the inner city. The interpretation of accessibility the organisers have been touting has to do with the price of works.
When it started out five years ago they imposed a cap on the cost of the art - no works could sell for over R20,000. That limit shifted to R40,000 and this year they announced R50,000 was the cut-off price. The cost of art is going up with the cost of living.
What sort of art can you buy for under R50,000? One-off paintings by hot artists are probably out of reach, but those by rising talents remain "accessible". However, new names are risky if you are out of the loop of art trends.
Yet you can snap up a surprising amount of collectible names for under R50,000. Strauss & Co's online auction, which runs until July 17, offers an array of works by well-known artists. A selection will be on view at its stand at the Turbine Art Fair.
Even William Kentridge, the most recognised contemporary artist, is within reach. You can pick up a signed poster for around R6,000 or a lithograph (titled Diabetes) for R24,000.
Joachim Schonfeldt's oil on paper, Curious and Authentic Works of Art: Pioneer of the Materialist View of Art, is a very attractive buy at R8,000.
Collectible historical works are also accessible. Three works by Christo Coetzee are available. Homage to Golden Shift, a pen and oil on paper of a deconstructed or reassembled drawing, isn't a bad choice for R40,000, given how well this late artist's work is doing at bigger live auctions.
A 1979 wood engraving by Cecil Skotnes, Conversation, is within reach at R6,000.
"Online auctions are the ideal place for people to start collecting," says Strauss & Co's Bina Genovese.
Buying art online has paved the way to overcome some of the barriers surrounding buying art, particularly at auction.
"Nobody can see you bidding on a work; you do it in peace and quiet and nobody judges you," says Genovese.
Buying art in your pyjamas is perhaps the apotheosis of accessibility. Now perhaps all we need to work on is facilitating people to connect to the substance of the art, accessing its meaning.
• Turbine Art Fair runs from July 14 to 16 at the Turbine Hall in Johannesburg. Visit Strauss & Co's stand at the fair or peruse their online auction, which ends on July 17.
• This article was originally published in The Times.