The RMB Turbine Art Fair is a unique South African arts festival, now in its 6^th year. The Fair brings together galleries and artists from around the country to present and sell works in the iconic Turbine Hall in Newtown, Johannesburg.

The RMB Turbine Art Fair has firmly established itself as a must-attend event on the annual South African art calendar, taking place from 12 – 15 July 2018. The Fair offers visitors an opportunity to view and buy quality artwork from emerging and established talent in a fun and accessible way, with all pieces for sale priced below R50 000.00.

The RMB Turbine Art Fair will present a series of special projects for visitors to view during this 2018 Fair. These projects include ‘The RMB Private Bank Talks Programme’. Throughout the weekend of the Fair, this daily programme includes walkabouts with celebrities, art professionals and well-known artists and is partnered by RMB Private Bank. These free walkabouts also include age appropriate options aimed at helping children understand art and sharing a vocabulary that equips them to appreciate and describe it.

“Our investment in the ‘RMB Private Bank Talks Programme’ helps to bring art to life and offers both our clients and all Fair attendees the chance to mindfully explore the way in which art molds, builds, and contributes towards our creative economy. Investing in art starts with the investment in the youthful talent that creates the art. Artists as a collective, are some of our greatest assets in building our future design thinkers. The talks and walkabout progamme is titled ‘THINK’ and offers a perspective on various artists’ processes, following through to their end result – often contributing positively towards solutions to worldly problems, that may transform our homes, be viewed in galleries or become proud and public South African landmarks,” says Eric Enslin, CEO RMB Private Bank.

A Fair highlight of 2018 is an exhibition featuring a selection of Irma Stern still lifes from private collections titled “Is there Still Life? The Work of Irma Stern”, proudly presented by Strauss & Co. Not only is Irma Stern the bestselling artist on the secondary market, and specifically at Strauss & Co, but her still lifes serve as inspiration to young contemporary artists as well. A competition among scholars at tertiary art schools in Gauteng has been created for artists to submit a still life in a medium of their choice and a selection of the best works will be exhibited at RMB Turbine Art Fair alongside the Stern showcase.

Turbine Art Fair is proudly sponsoring “This landscape. This landscape! The Quintessential Metaphor For Life” by David Koloane in collaboration with LL Editions and curated by Ruzy Rusik to celebrate 80 years of artist David Koloane. “In all life of South African Art, especially in the Black Community none has ever celebrated our own. Therefore it is time that we celebrate ntate Koloane as he was taught how to paint but expressed himself though the medium of printing,” says Joe Legate, LL Editions.

 Installations have always been an exciting part of the RMB Turbine Art Fair. Curator, Tamzin Lovell-Miller asks the question “Who are we after this “Post-Truth” time has shaped us?” Pulling together artworks that range from the finely crafted to the augmented virtual, and the interactive physical and digital, this year’s installations are experiences set to intrigue and inspire audiences of the Fair, and leave them with some extraordinary new ideas.

The Graduate Exhibition returns for a 4th year and is curated especially for the RMB Turbine Art Fair. This exhibition features some of the best post-graduate paintings and in 2018 the inclusion of photography from university arts departments across South Africa. The 2018 exhibition will be curated by Musa N. Nxumalo.

RMB Talent Unlocked partnered by Rand Merchant Bank has funded a six-month intensive workshop programme for emerging artists, that integrates practical art-making (focusing on process and conceptual development) and professional practice training in collaboration with Assemblage and VANSA. This exciting exhibition of emerging artists will be curated by Fulufhelo Mobadi.

“The RMB Turbine Art Fair has something for everyone: established collectors looking to discover young talent or find a small gem by a well known artist, aspiring and emerging collectors who want to expand their knowledge about collecting in a warm and welcoming environment, as well as finding affordable, good quality contemporary South African art they can trust,” concludes Glynis Hyslop, founder of Turbine Art Fair and MD of The Forum Company.

In your comments, please refrain from using offensive language and unnecessary criticism. If you have to be critical, remember – it must be constructive.