The World Cup has come and gone and Fifa’s officially endorsed exhibition, the 2010 Legacy collection, is on display at Melrose Arch until the end of the month when bidding for the art pieces closes.
This exhibition of football-inspired art includes work by five artists from every country participating in the World Cup, as well as a few from other African countries that didn’t qualify. Could this be Fifa trying to make Africans feel they have ownership of the tournament?
There are notable works by South African artists, including Ndebele paintings by Esther Mahlangu, optical illusions by Gavin Rain and Clint Strydom’s photographs of children playing football. Other notable works come from Ghanaian and Dutch artists.
But, be warned, Legacy contains some really bad photographs. The North Korean entries are particularly dreadful, as are most of the works by the Aussies and Kiwis.
But it was interesting to see what artists from other countries made of South Africa. The auctioneer, Graham Britz, correctly points out that there are no wrong or right ways when it comes to art, yet there are too many clichéd images of lions, elephants and pictures of the map of Africa for my liking. Fifa’s taste in art is hit-and-miss and still steeped in the Africa of fierce jungles teeming with the Big Five.
Yet not all of the works show this fascination with a pristine Africa, as is shown in the series of beautiful photos of the World Cup stadiums by Zimbabwean artist Dennis Guichard. They are prohibitively priced at half a million for the whole set of 30 photographs — and you would need a huge house to house them. Britz helpfully suggests that they will be of interest to mostly corporate clients.
Other noteworthy items are a series of 11 bronzes by South African Keith Calder, which depict footballers in different poses, like taking a throw-in or kicking the ball. These figurines are technically accomplished and cost from R100 000 for a 60cm sculpture to R2,4-million for a 3m-tall bronze — and they all have the Fifa 2010 logo sandblasted into the base.
Art of this nature thrives on the glow that emits from celebrities. Pele has put his name to a number of prints he helped design. Nelson Mandela was involved in the Africa Salutes You series. This is made up of prints of all the flags of the different countries in the World Cup, with the same basic design made by children from the Eastern Cape on each one. They are not great, it must be said, but the works were signed by Mandela and, true to form, Fifa has bought the entire set for its Zurich HQ, as has the South African Football Association.
It is almost impossible to answer the million-dollar question when it comes to art, whether it is worth buying as an investment.
Who knows if there’s a Van Gogh living in Uruguay or South Korea? If there is, I don’t think he was in the show. At least the view of Jo’burg from the fifth floor of Melrose Arch is stunning and worth the visit. Go and judge for yourself.