A total of 48 artworks by 40 new and upcoming Free State artists are now being showcased as part of the 2021 New Breed Art Competition Exhibition at Oliewenhuis Art Museum in Bloemfontein.
Now in its fifth year, the competition is presented by Phatshoane Henney Attorneys in association with Oliewenhuis Art Museum, and its latest two partners who have come on board this year, namely the Art Bank of South Africa and the Free State Art Collective.
At the well-attended exhibition opening on the 5th of October 2021, Lesley Mokgoro, CEO of Phatshoane Henney Attorneys and the new competition spokesperson (having taken over the reins from former competition spokesperson, Sam Moleko) stressed how these two new partnerships strengthen the competition.
As a national programme of the Department of Sports, Arts and Culture, the Art Bank of South Africa is tasked with purchasing art from emerging South African artists. As competition partner, the Art Bank is now also intimately involved in the competition providing the competition artists with valuable opportunity for exposure to this important national programme.
In addition, artists selected for this year’s exhibition, including the final winners, qualify for consideration and possible inclusion in the exclusive Free State Art Collective, founded and headed by Karen Brusch. The Free State Art Collective’s main purpose is to develop and support the careers of member artists and to raise awareness of talent in the Free State and provide a visible national presence and awareness of artists in the collective. The collective further aims to support emerging artists through mentorship and access to art networks and exhibition opportunities.
“I can safely say each entity is influential in its own right and through their linking up with the competition’s vision of discovering new local talent, the benefit for artists in entering, exhibiting, as well as winning the competition, is no doubt multiplied,” Mokgoro said.
He briefly reflected on the fact that the 2020 New Breed Art Competition had to be cancelled due to Covid-19. However, in light hereof what is especially encouraging, is that the amount and quality of entries received this year clearly show that Free State artists have come back hungry and inspired to create bold new works in lieu of the pandemic.
For the first time this year, digital/video artworks were also allowed to be entered for the competition, which also notched up the excitement by a couple degrees.
“What made a strong impression with our judges is the varied and enormously relevant subject matter this year’s 136 entries speak to,” Mokgoro highlighted. “Considering that we find ourselves in a historic time and in unchartered waters, art provides a potent and very necessary platform for commentary and reflection and affords the viewer opportunity to engage uniquely with events and happenings that have dominated our spaces, families and environments over the last two years. As a result, the art you will see here tonight is fresh, provocative and inspiring.”
A broad variety of styles and mediums, including paintings, drawings, photographs, sculptures, and mixed and digital media artworks are on show and for sale till the 14th of November 2021.
An online exhibition is concurrently running to the physical exhibition on the New Breed Art Competition website at www.newbreedart.co.za, showing all the finalists for this year’s competition, as well as the respective artists’ profiles. The public will also play an active part in determining one of the five competition winners. The Public Choice Award will go to the artist who receives the most online votes on the official art competition website and will receive R10 000 in prize money. Voting closes on 1 November.
Of the rest of the R100 000 in prize money, R50 000 will be awarded to the winner, R20 000 to the Runner-up and R10 000 each to two Merit Award winners, as decided by the judges.
The winners will be announced on 4 November 2021.