Top local Urban Artists to “make their mark” at Artjamming, Wembley Square in Cape Town in aid of “Write on Africa”.

Write on Africa, in association with Artjamming and Word of Art, are offering an opportunity to invest in rare works of art by some of the biggest names in Urban Art and raise money to “change the face” of underprivileged communities.

Original works of six top local artists (of whom some are internationally known); rasty, faith47, mak1one, senyol and love and hate (a team of two artists; 351073 and black koki), will go under the hammer from Saturday, 4 April. On this day these artists will spray and paint on canvases and work with different mediums to create a variety of works of art for auction.

The event will be open to the public and take place between 12h00 – 19h00, at the Artjamming studio at the trendy Wembley Square Life Style Shopping Centre in Cape Town. The money raised will be donated to the Write On Africa Mural Fund, an initiative created by Word Of Art, a management agency for emerging creatives in various art disciplines. The aim is to create inspiration in the form of murals for the youth within underprivileged communities. “Artjamming loves to get involved with projects that are different and innovative. When we were approached to partner up with this venture, we saw it not only as a worthy social upliftment project, but also as a way of having fun at the same time with some top local talent,” says Leora Israel co-owner of Artjamming in South Africa.

The artists involved are donating their time and fees, and Wembley Square and Artjamming are sponsoring the venue and artists’ materials. To celebrate the first day of the school holidays, Artjamming will also provide 30 smaller canvasses for kids and parents to create their own works of art and release the budding artists inside. Other sponsors include Red Bull and The Artist Friend.

34 Long Fine Art and Onauction will act as the auction house. There will also be a web site, www.writeonafrica.com, created to expose the project to a bigger audience and be a medium to make a bid on these works of art. The web site will also feature a catalogue with these and other pieces by the same artists, which will be on auction. The gallery section will give a display of how Write on Africa puts this money to use; documenting their travels and paintings in the townships. The art works created on the day will also be on exhibit at Artjamming for a further two weeks giving people who were unable to attend the live event the opportunity to view and own one of these incredible donated art pieces. 

“Urban Art” is often considered to be a glorified term for “graffiti”, a rapidly evolving art form whose value and understanding, is highly disputed. Any way you look at it though, it’s a powerful platform for reaching the public. “People need to be made aware of the difference between vandalism and true and relevant art movements like "street art" and “urban art”.

Overseas the distinction has been made and this art form is appreciated and sort after.

We are hoping that through initiatives like these ones we will be able to showcase the potential out there and get support for “urban art” to become a recognised fine art,” says Ricky Lee Gordon, director of Write On Africa and World Of Art.
“We are happy to be associated with this event to show our support for freedom of expression.  We hope that through this event, we can put Cape Town on the map with cities like Paris, Sao Polo and Madrid where it has become a legal art form which brings art lovers from around the world to admire the work by these artists,” says Andries Loots Director of Onauction.

Write on Africa believes in art in public space and using this as a tool to help rejuvenate and uplift poorer communities. “Our aim is to create a sustainable way to do this and at the same time expose another side of this art form. Through our projects we hope to enlighten and educate the public on the positives of this art form. The idea is to uplift youth and entire communities through creative inspiration and bring about massive social change through art,” says Gordon.

World-wide “urban art” has been embraced as a very popular and contemporary promotional medium. Similar initiatives as this one have also taken place in London, Australia, New York and Brazil. Local companies who have worked with Word of Art and have seen the value of using this medium, include Adidas, Red Bull, Nike, Nedbank, Sappi, SABC1 and the National Blood Bank.

Once a sum of money is raised through the auctions they will challenge the corporate sector to donate goods and/or make donations to provide additional funding to Write on Africa.