Last week R250 000 was raised at Strauss & Co’s Cape Town auction to benefit three animal charities, namely The Cape of Good Hope SPCA, The Johannesburg SPCA and the Animal Rescue Organisation of the Western Cape.

South Africa is now unequivocally a part of the booming global online art auction market with the opening of Strauss Onlines second online auction this week.

Stanley Pinker’s ‘Camping in the Kouebokkeveld’ (R2 000 000 – 3 000 000), an extraordinary painting that celebrates the ancient and modern artists who have drawn their inspiration from this area, is coming up at Strauss & Co’s 30 June auction at the Wanderers Club in Illovo, Johannesburg.

Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens Centenary Year comes to a close in June 2014 and its second century is set to start on a glittering note. A cocktail function followed by an auction of jewellery made especially for the occasion will take place on Tuesday 17 June 2014 at the Old Mutual Conference Centre, Kirstenbosch. The auction will be conducted by Ariella Kuper with the assistance of Strauss & Co.

This week, I was quoted in a Times Live article on the subject of the current murder trial of photographer, Zwelethu Mthethwa.

The Acacia tree, fundamental in Jacob Pierneef’s oeuvre, was drawn and painted extensively within his long and prolific career.

‘Artist’s Models’ is a striking example of Robert Hodgins’s distinctive ability to capture individual personalities through an abstract and imprecise vernacular.

Marion Arnold has noted how objects in still life compositions are assembled with intent and arranged to convey order or informality.(1)

Originally trained as a teacher, Gerard Sekoto soon left that profession to pursue a career in art. He received encouragement and support from Reverend Roger Castle who also provided part-time art classes which Sekoto attended for a while.

My belief is that you enter into a spiritual state through sex……. Don’t you feel that when you are making love you are moving into a situation of cosmic consciousness? Youre not human anymore. That is Satori [enlightenment]. And that is why I draw erotic pictures. I liberate many people this way. I could still be put in jail for it. Walter Battiss. (1)