The Art of Selling Art | South Africa
Source: Mail & Guardian South Africa | http://www.chico.mweb.co.za/art/2008/2008mar/080307-artfair.html Image: The Jo’burg Art Fair’s Ross Douglas. (Photo: Lisa Skinner) The Art of Selling Art Anthea Buys speaks to Ross Douglas about the commercial possibilities of the country’s first art fair It is not uncommon to find contemporary South African artists and critics who are still suspicious of the infiltration of money into the local art scene. Perhaps this is why it has taken the initiative of entrepreneur Ross Douglas, who lacks purist artistic commitments, to realise an event such as the Jo'burg Art Fair, a local art-buying initiative at the Sandton Convention Centre for three days next week. Douglas is the producer of the first-ever Jo'burg Art Fair, which also claims the accolade of being the first entirely privately funded art-buying fair on the African continent. The fair will take place from March 14 to 16, but will be cushioned by a programme of non-commercial even...