Events News South Africa

Surfboard sold for R55k in charity auction

One of SA's foremost satirical artists, Brett Murray, received the highest bid of the night at the Wavescape Art Board Charity Auction held in Woodstock, Cape Town recently. Selling for R55 000, it broke record highs for any board sold at the surfing festival auction in the last decade.
Surfboard sold for R55k in charity auction

About 300 people pulled into the Superette in Woodstock for an evening of hilarity and bonhomie, helped along with some craft beer and wine as comedian Rob van Vuuren pushed the crowd to the limits in a bid to get his hands into their pockets and handbags, all in the name of charity.

He did that by squeezing R211 000 out of them in total. After Murray's board, the next highest was a metal work surfboard by Conrad Hicks that went for R30 000. It was a bargain at that price, say punters, saying that his work in an exhibition would fetch R70 000.

And so it was for several happy buyers who came away with amazing deals. The Mikhael Subotzky piece - the main iteration is currently on sale at a Paris exhibition for 20 000 euro (about R284 000) - sold for R11 000.

Human-faced jellyfish

The Roger Ballen, depicting a ghostly face, sold for R17 500, while another big surprise was the Kim Longhurst and Scott Robertson double-sided creation, which went for R7000. Peter van Straten's ethereal human-faced jellyfish fetched R16 000.

Conn Bertish was stoked with the R20 000 that his Zulu Impi shield went for. It was the third-highest board at the auction, proving that concept can sometimes trump creator.

Alan van Gysen's photographic underwater image went for R17 500, while Alice Edy's was sold for R9000. The One Love Studio again produced an outstanding work. Its double-sided creation went for R17 000.

Beneficiaries are the NSRI, Shark Spotters and the Isiqalo Foundation's Waves for Change programme.

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