With the help of Nik Rabinowitz, the auctioneer comedian who cajoled the audience into emptying their wallets, the Wavescape Surfboard Art Auction held in Cape Town last night raised a record-breaking R712 000. The auction proceeds will benefit the NSRI, 9Miles Project, Beach Co-op, Shark Spotters and Ocean Pledge.
Also read: Preserving what we love: Wavescape Surf and Ocean Festival 2023!
The auction at Jack Black’s Taproom in Diep River is part of the Vans-sponsored Wavescape Surf & Ocean Festival, which also includes beach cleanups, film screenings, ocean talks and other ocean events.
Rabinowitz would pause the bidding between his rapid-fire stream-of-consciousness auctioneering to regale the audience with strange stories of no relevance at all, including rather strange interpretations of several artworks.
But there was no need for a funny critique on the board that received the most attention. A mysterious visitor from America purchased the beautifully crafted portrait of environmental legend David Attenborough for R115 000.
The artist, Marty Lund, was overjoyed, especially after the stress of repainting the veteran documentarian’s face after an adverse chemical reaction during the glassing process turned a Donald Trump orange.
Michael Ien Cohen, who had just returned from California to host the festival’s final official event, his film Humanity Stoked, at the Labia Theatre on Saturday, found himself the proud owner of a South African art board.
His film is an experiment on how humanity can move forward, as advocated by iconic skateboarders, activists, scientists and artists united by skateboarding experiences and perspectives.
One art board was even auctioned twice because the buyer returned it to the auction. The first bid for Justin Southey’s work was R45 000, and the second bid was R22 000. Unless you add the two amounts it fetched, this made it the steal of the evening, bringing it to a respectable R67 000.
Brett Murray, the longest-serving artist to contribute to the Wavescape Artboard Project, contributed a board with an apt message for current times: “Where are the adults?” His board was purchased for R80 000.
One shrewd art investor responded well to the acerbic wit and ironic humour of Rabinowitz.
He ended up with three boards by the end of the evening, including the second-highest board, a beautifully crafted tactile painting of flora on both sides produced by Lee-Ann Heath for R110 000, as well as another double-sided work, the aerial beach scenes by Marie-Louise Koen (R80 000), and the organic ocean shapes painted by Liberty Battson (R40 000).
The dreamy moonscape by Amy-Lee Tak went for R65 000, while the culturally resonant sleep scape by Amy Ayanda went for R30 000.
The patterned African portraiture by Fhatuwani Mukheli fetched R80 000, while the moody, shadowy street scene by Dbongz Mahlathi went for R45 000.
The film festival’s final event will be the Blue Oceans Masterclass, which was rescheduled from last Monday due to the national shutdown. This year’s masterclass will concentrate on aerial filming using either manned or unmanned aircraft.
Jean Tresfon, a gyrocopter pilot and marine conservation photographer, will go over some dos and don’ts of filming from the air, focusing on etiquette with equipment and pilot expectations, among other things.
Hloni Coleman, a top action content creator, will walk us through some techniques with DJI drones, and Orms sales guru Jakkie le Roux will show us some of the latest high-end drone gear.
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Picture: Supplied
