As many of you know, Priest is a proud supporter of South African art (and yes, we consider commercials a form of art). When we opened up Priest Espressobar over a year ago, we didn’t expect how readily and easily we would be accepted into the Joburg art scene. Frequent guests at our espresso bar are musicians, sculptures, journalists, writers, painters and of course, filmmakers. That is not to mention our clients; agencies, creative directors, directors and editors. So we have a good mutual relationship with the art world.
Our love affair with the artier side of Joburg started when Cal commissioned Peter Mammes to do our (now popular) mural on an interior wall in the Espressobar. Since then, we have become good friends with Peter and he has introduced us to a part of Joburgers we have never seen before. Obviously. Being from Cape Town and all.
One artist in particular he introduced us to is Niel Nieuwoudt, who we liked immediately because of his curating and artist background. Niel and Peter approached us to jump on board as a sponsor for their group Dead Bunny Society, a group of artists working together to create professional exhibitions locally and internationally, to appear at the Turbine Art Fair (TAF). The Johannesburg-based creative group is made up of nine artists and illustrators, whose share a thread of dark humour in their work. Works by Bevan de Wet, Stephan Erasmus, Peter Mammes, Dirk Bahmann, Frederick Clarke, Neil Nieuwoudt, Laetitia Lups and Ronel de Jager will be for sale at the Turbine Art Fair. This also forms as an official introduction of our space on Jan Smuts Avenue as an espressobar, edit and production suite and gallery space.
This is our first experience of the Turbine Art Fair. We have only heard fantastic things about it and the platform it offers to up-and-coming South African artists. We are also super excited to check out the iconic Turbine Hall.
*Update: We had a very successful TAF. In total, 28 pieces of artwork were sold which made for very happy artists.
