FINE ART: Chris Roper
THE Absolut Secret exhibition at the Association for Visual Arts in Cape Town is about using the Absolut advertising gimmick to raise money for charity: the proceeds will be used to promote needy and deserving artists. It’s commerce putting the absolution into Absolut, if you will.
It’s not only about that, of course. It’s also about the great joke of watching aficionados and artists, bargain hunters and buyers, all playing the game of spotting which work is by whom. Because that’s the tricky bit to this exhibition. The association, in co-operation with Absolut Vodka, has convinced 81 South African artists to each produce a postcard-sized work, almost half of which make reference to the Absolut bottle shape.
The works are on display, but an Absolut Secret sticker obscures the artist’s name. A list of all the artists’ names curls its way teasingly up a pillar, but it’s up to the viewer to guess which artwork is by a major artist (and is going to be a good investment at the very reasonable R500 standard price) and which is the idle posturing of some lesser luminary. I thought I had found a clue to the Louis Jansen van Vuuren contribution, as only one work needed two stickers to cover the artist’s name. But then I noticed Francine Scialom Greenblatt’s name as well, which scotched that theory. Johann Louw’s distinctive style seemed easy to spot, but I couldn’t be sure. These artists are untrustworthy buggers.
It’s been more than 10 years since Andy Warhol’s painting of an Absolut bottle started the great Absolut Art scam (and I use that phrase in a complimentary sense). You’d think the joke would have worn off by now. The thing is, it’s such a good joke.
The Absolut Secret exhibition adds its own special stamp to the tradition, and all the artists that I spoke to were effusive about the fun aspects. While I was talking to Jonathan Comerford, someone rushed up to him, pointed to a print, and asked ”Is that you?”. Rather than a radical comment on the artist’s identification with his work, it was merely a plea for insider information. Comerford refused to comment, and the would- be buyer left disgruntled.
Judy Woodborne admitted that a number of people had guessed which piece was hers. ”I’m working in this size anyhow, so it spilled over. I can recognise a lot of the works – I think.”
The Absolut Secret exhibition proves, if it needed to be proved, that art can be multi- functional. It’s art with an easily definable purpose, art that straddles advertising as well as aesthetics. This is a trite observation, but one that takes on new resonance when you consider that funds raised go towards helping artists survive in a society that is becoming increasingly more hostile to the idea of art for art’s sake. Kevin Brand’s comment seemed apposite. ”It makes art more high-profile, and not only for the converted. It’s great, they should take art to soccer matches.”
The Absolut Secret show is on at the ASA in Cape Town until November 30