Lot 157: Brett Murray SOUTH AFRICAN 1961- - Africa Maquette

Brett Murray
SOUTH AFRICAN 1961-
Africa Maquette
signed and numbered 10/15
bronze and paint
height: 28cm

LITERATURE:
Brett Murray (2013) Brett Murray , Johannesburg: Jacana Media. Page 274, and illustrated in a photograph of the artist's Cape Town studio, page 35.
cf. Sophie Perryer (ed.) (2004) 10 Years, 100 Artists: Art in a Democratic South Africa, Cape Town: Bell-Roberts in association with Struik. Africa
illustrated on page 265.
This is an artist’s model of Brett Murray’s painted bronze sculpture, commissioned by the Cape Town Urban Arts Foundation and JK Gross
Trust, and installed on St George’s Mall in Cape Town. Murray’s self-described ‘stoic, mock-monumental African presence’ is composed of an
outsized Nigerian ritual ancestor figure bedecked with yellow Bart Simpson heads. Murray conceived the work as a satirical comment on
‘converging cultural paradigms’ in post-apartheid South Africa. City officials initially vetoed the work’s installation, but later capitulated when
the artist submitted an expert testimonial by Nigerian critic and intellectual Kole Omotoso. Murray subsequently won further public
commissions, notably at the Cape Town International Convention Centre in 2002. ‘The great attraction of producing public artworks is that it
gives artists an opportunity to reach a broader audience. A less obvious attraction is the chance it provides artists to work closely with highly
skilled artisans, welders, moulders, bronze casters, fettlers, riggers and engineers.'
Sean O’Toole 1. Brett Murray (2013) Brett Murray , Johannesburg: Jacana Media. Pages 273 and 274.

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