By Margaretta wa Gacheru (posted november 15, 2022)
For a lover of fine art, the opportunity to watch an art auction is comparable to the way a football fan must feel when he or she gets to watch their favorite team engage in a much-anticipated football match.
Either way, the occasion is a thrill. At least that is what one art critic felt when she learned she couldn’t attend the 10th Anniversary edition of Circle Art’s Art Auction East Africa in person on November 8th because all the seats at the gallery had been fully booked for weeks in advance.
But she could watch it online if she found the link to apply, and potentially get admitted among all the others who were intent on bidding for this year’s assemblage of East African art.
Having only attended one ‘hybrid’ art auction before, (hybrid meaning witnessing and bidding in person, online or by phone), the critic had previously been in the room, not online while the auction took place.
“The pandemic taught gallerists how effective online activity can be,” Thaddu Tewa, a previous art auction volunteer told BDLife. “Even before COVID, they were accepting bids by phone and what’s app, so the format wasn’t terribly new,” he said.
But this year’s Art Auction East Africa was new in the sense that it was the first time the auction took place inside the gallery itself. Previously, it happened in a five-star hotel. But since so many Circle clients are either out of the country, out of Nairobi, or simply happy to attend the auction online from home, it was also a way to economize for the gallery.
Fortunately, the way Circle had set up their online auction was user-friendly. Once you opened up the live web page with a split screen, you were able to keep track of all the important information as well as, if not better than, a person seated inside the gallery.
On the left-hand side of the screen were the auctioneer, the numbers, including estimated final bid, and the bidding process happening in real time. And on the right were the work of art and the bio of the artist
And just as soon as the auctioneer hit the final hammer of sale on a piece, the next work immediately flipped into place for our consideration. The only problem in the process was technical, something that brought the whole event to a halt for several minutes. But bidders were patient as there was much more to come.
Last Tuesday from 6pm, if one had been vetted and approved, we could watch nearly every relevant detail of all 57 lots or works of art being sold at the auction. The works themselves came from Kenya as well as from Uganda, Tanzania, Eritrea, Seychelles, Rwanda and Mozambique.
The auctioneer, Chilson Wamoja from Antique Auctions deserves praise since he did his job methodically, swiftly, and effectively, stating every bid so that the process continued quickly, efficiently. He wasn’t pushy, but he definitely was intent on moving the numbers forward to ensure each painting or sculpture was bid upon to its maximum potential.
For instance, when it was clear that at least two parties were bidding aggressively for one item or other, he didn’t push either way. He just let the bidding flow freely, enabling works by Peterson Kamwathi, and Beatrice Wanjiku, and E.S. Tingatinga to be bid on and bought for well over a million shillings each.
And while it momentarily felt as if the bidding process had cooled down by the time Chilson reached Lot 50, there was a surprise run on a work by Sane Wadu which ultimately sold for 1.9 million shillings. It was the stunning star sale of the night!
At the same time, there were several works that didn’t initially find buyers either because there was little interest in the work or because the beginning price was too high for bidders to bear. That might have been the case, for instance, when the starting number for bidding on one of the beautiful paintings by Geoffrey Mukasa was 1.2 million shillings.
But just because a piece did not sell up front, a prospective buyer could easily make an offer after the auction. Indeed, Danda Jarolmjek invited anyone interested to meet her after the event.
This year several pieces were sold after the official auction. “Ultimately, it is up to the artist if they wish to sell their work at the offered price,” Danda said.
Ultimately, the auction made Sh30.5 million, making it the most successful edition to date.
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