50 years - another reason to celebrate Sasol New Signatures:

1967 was a momentous year in history with the first human heart transplant being performed by Dr Christian Barnard in South Africa, the beginning of the Six-day war between Israel and the neighbouring Arab states of Egypt, Jordan and Syria and the release of the Beatles top selling album "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band". This was the background for the launch of South Africa’s longest running art competition, Sasol New Signatures, which was started by the Association of Arts Pretoria back in the same year. Throw the spotlight on 2017 and you find Sasol New Signatures in its 28th year, Donald Trump in office and Ed Sheeran at the top of the charts. This contemporary landscape still offers emerging artists the opportunity to break into the local and international art scene.

The objective of this competition has always been to discover South African artistic talent and promote them to the art appreciating public. Wrenelle Stander, Senior Vice President Corporate Affairs at Sasol said: “We are pleased with our partnership with the Association of Arts Pretoria, through which we have played a pivotal role in unearthing hidden local talent and providing it with a platform from which it can flourish”.

We caught up with Anton Karstel, overall winner from 1998 and asked him how being a winner in the competition had helped in building his career as an artist and what advice he would offer artists starting their career. “As a young, emerging artist the competition helped to expose my work to a wider public, and my advice to young artists is be as authentic as possible in the face of market pressures and the prevailing art world consensus”, he said.

The Director of the Association of Arts Pretoria, Pieter Van Heerden characterised the competition by adding: “The competition has been alive and running for half a century, not only becoming South Africa’s oldest and most prestigious art competition, but also developing criteria to judge the merits of art works, namely the artistic concept, the use of materials, the quality of craft and demonstrated skills’.

Dr.Pieter Binsbergen reflected: “It was evident from the public turnout at the National Information Sessions that 2017 would produce a record number of entries and I commend all artists who entered this competition. Without you, our country would not be able to take its rightful place on the global platform earmarked for the visual arts and  I would like to commend Sasol and the New Signatures team. Their passion and dedication for the visual arts continues to raise standards and showcase spectacular innovative artworks’.

50 years is an important milestone and a great opportunity to celebrate not just this competition but also the journeys of all entrants and winners over the past five decades.  In the words of former Sasol Chairman Johann Stegmann : “What touches the spirit of man more than art?”.