Art auction swells coffers

Art as reflection: Miranda Moss's mirror sculpture (2011) was one of the artworks that found new homes at the Michaelis 4^th Year Auction on 28 September.

Any auctioneers that manage to sell 91% of their wares are usually happy with their lot.

It would only be fair to admit, though, that the high quality on offer at the recent Michaelis 4^th Year Auction made bidders' decision to buy rather simpler.

UCT's Michaelis School of Fine Art had put some 60 works of art up for auction, with most of the exhibits the fruits of the school's 4^th-year and postgraduate diploma students' ingenuity. A star attraction at the silent auction was a drypoint etching, Sisyphus ZA (2011) by artistic duo Claire Gavronsky and Rose Shakinovsky, and collectively known as Rosenclaire, who donated the piece to the auction.

Some 55 of the 60 artworks found new homes on the night and the profit of R15,870 will contribute to printing the school's 4^th Year Graduate Catalogue and the hosting of the Graduate Show. Any excess will go to Materials Bursaries for fine arts students next year.

"The auction was a great success and the students involved in it were happy with the outcome," reported Roxana Kaczmarek, a fine arts student and one of the event-organisers. "A big thank you to the Centre for African Studies which generously gave us the venue free of charge. And Rosenclaire also deserve a big thank you."