It becomes an issue when art means more to people than the lives of their fellow countrymen. Art itself is such a bourgeois construct that it holds much more value than that of the fair and just treatment of the people who need it the most.

But enough of that, let’s pay tribute to the artist whose work was burnt by the small group of UCT students on Tuesday. Here’s what Gabriel Brown of The Art Times had to say on the matter:

It’s with great sadness that The Art Times reports the burning of Richard Baholo Painting yesterday.

Richard studied at Michaelis School of Art in the 90’s. I knew that for 6 years he faced great financial hardships battling against alcohol and financial hardships, living away from his home in Limpopo. UCT offered him an apartment for free and went on to buy many of his amazing paintings from him.

In my mind, he was more amazing than Sekoto. His laugh and radiance lit up the room and he was always very profound and kind at the same time. He could have been a great South African Master – but went on to teach art rather than earn a huge amount of money through making art.

The burning of his paintings illustrates the dire lack of sensitivity by the RMF group.

It’s with great sadness that after knowing Richard, his suffering and all that he stood for, his contribution to Black South African art is now burnt.

It sounds like a eulogy to someone who has actually died, has it not? I wonder if anyone would know if Richard himself passed away.

Now, I’m not saying what was done was necessarily the correct way to go about anything, but I do feel that instead of speaking on behalf of the artist, it might be important to ask him what his opinion is on the matter.

After all, he might prefer his real name of Keresemose over Richard. Who knows.

[source: arttimes]