New Orleans aka The Big Easy is the perfect backdrop for If You Can Look Hard Enough, You Can See Our Future, an exhibition showcasing Southern African artworks from the Nando’s Art Collection. Dick Enthoven, owner of Spier Wine Farm, Nando’s and the Hollard Group, lovingly built the collection over two decades with the curator for Nando’s Art Collection, Tamlin Blake and Spier Trust CEO Mirna Wessels. The flavoursome mix of 50 significant artworks on display was selected from one of the world’s largest South African art collections by the art patron’s friend and collaborator, American curator Laurie Ann Farrell. YLA’s Petra Mason spoke to the dedicated and globally renowned art curator about her decades-long role as a curator and champion of Southern African art in America.
Petra: I did the math and you and I met in New York 27 years ago! I have followed your career and we have crossed paths all over since. Here we are again. I am fortunate to know some of your remarkable backstory.
It’s too soon to start talking about legacies for a curator of your young age, but your career trajectory started in ‘legacy mode’ with the historic Liberated Voices: Contemporary Art from South Africa exhibition that presented, for the very first time in art history (and in New York art history) a cross-section of contemporary artworks created by South Africans since the end of apartheid. The exhibition was held at the Museum of African Art, which was then on Broadway.
Laurie: Those were simply magical times in New York. I loved the hip group of artists you used to hang with, Petra. And remember Jeff Koons’ studio across the street from the Museum for African Art?
Petra: At the time you were starting out assisting Frank the Director, I believe?
Some of the artists from that exhibition, via exposure in the New York Times article featuring the show, such as Claudette Schreuders, got picked up by big-time galleries like Jack Shainman (a small gallery at the time).
Laurie: Yes, I supported Frank Herreman’s work on ‘Liberated Voices’, first as a summer intern, and then as a museum employee. It was a dream show to work on as I was simultaneously completing my thesis on contemporary South African art and the show gave me great insights into the art history of your country.
Petra: In the early 2000s, I remember trekking to Long Island Queens when the museum moved there and we chatted about your interest in William Kentridge.
Do you have his work in your personal collection?
Laurie: Yes, I have one work that was gifted to me by Goodman Gallery founder, Linda Givon. It’s from the first edition he did for ArtThrob. Speaking of ArtThrob, Sue Williamson invited me to write about South African art in New York City for ArtThrob which I did for a number of years. I am hoping to get to Cape Town to see Sue’s big retrospective: ‘There’s something I must tell you’, now on at Iziko: South African National Gallery.
Petra: Tell me about your Savannah College of Art and Design years.
Laurie: After 10 years at the Museum for African Art in New York I went to be an Executive Director of Exhibitions and Museums for Savannah College of Art and Design. After nearly 10 years at SCAD, I wanted a new challenge. I got burnt out running two museums and galleries on three continents and curating the art for the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.
Petra: As co-founder of SCAD’s annual deFINEART programme, you set the tone for the programming by scheduling and inviting artists to speak and work with students. To this day South African artists are included. This is a testament to you I believe.
Laurie: My co-founder of deFINEART, Matthew Mascotte, is no longer with us. He was a champion of the experimental and avant-garde. I think he would be proud of how the platform is performing.
Petra: While at SCAD, you worked with both famous and fabulous Andrés namely André Leon Talley and André 3000 Benjamin.
Laurie: I worked with fashion icon André Leon Talley for ten years at SCAD. André once said to me: ‘I’m dying for a luxury moment’ (I guess this is mine!)
Petra: I absolutely loved the SCAD + André 3000 Benjamin Miami Art Basel exhibition you were part of.
Laurie: André 3000 had worked with SCAD’s Fashion Department. I think we’ve only seen the tip of the iceberg of André’s talent. He’s also a strong visual artist. He was continually making drawings while we were working.
Petra: Curious about the logistics of selecting from 27 000 works from the Nando’s Art Collection. How did you do it?
Laurie: Dick Enthoven said I was the only person who could do it, so I had to do it right. I was given access to the Spier Arts Trust art database. The Trust is akin to a nonprofit in the US and they oversee the Nando’s Art Collection and provide education and opportunities to emerging artists all over South Africa. I went through the database during the COVID lockdown. I was inspired by the range of the collection. They have a nice range of emerging, mid-career and established artists. I hired my former Detroit Institute of Arts assistant to help create a checklist from screengrabs. I then went to South Africa and the UK with Mirna Wessels, Spier Trust CEO, and Tamlin Blake, Curator for Nando’s Art Collection, to see works in person.
There are a number of emerging artists on See Our Future that are going to break through like many of the artists did on Liberated Voices and the Season South Africa events I worked on with Dick and Spier in New York (2004).
Camouflager
2018
Sapped II
2019
I really believe Anastasia Pather, Vivien Kohler, and Patrick Bongoy are artists of note. I also loved showing Sanell Aggenbach’s sculpture and placing Sam Nhlengethwa’s massive tile mosaic near Kagiso Pat Mautloa’s painting. It was a dream project to have during COVID as I had lost my job. I focused on the strengths of the collection in portraiture, abstraction and place. And I got to spend a lot of time learning about new artists.
We even did a Creative Block pop-up sale in Dallas! People felt empowered to buy original artwork while simultaneously supporting emerging artists. How great is that?
Petra: Where does it travel after New Orleans or does it go back on the walls at Nando’s worldwide?
Laurie: The show started at the African American Museum in Dallas, went to the African Diaspora Museum in Atlanta and the Newcomb Art Museum at Tulane University in New Orleans is the last stop on the tour before going back to their respective Nando’s restaurants, offices and other Spier locations.
Petra: How did you decide on the exhibition title?
Laurie: The title of the show was inspired by South African artist Stephen Hobbs’ print in the Nando’s Art Collection, which reads: ‘If you look hard enough, you can see your future.’ I really want to implicate the viewers and say ‘our future’. The future isn’t just yours or mine, we’re in it together. I’m hoping that people will get a sense of the shared humanity.
