About us

Christopher Møller has been involved in the art world from an early age. He is the grandson of South African landscape artist John Churchill Simpson. He has fond memories sitting in his grandfather's studio, watching him transforming his watercolours. Through his grandfather he was exposed to the inside workings of the life of an artist.

He was schooled in Kwa-Zulu Natal and later completed an IMM, the internationally recognised Marketing and Management qualification.

In June 2001, Christopher was employed at the Everard Read Gallery in Cape Town, an experience which proved invaluable to him. While working at this prestigious gallery he developed an eye for contemporary South African art and the intricacies of it. Through this he developed and learnt the art of sustaining and developing relationships with artists and local and international clients.

In January 2007, Christopher was approached by Sotheby's Cape Town, South Africa, to run their paintings division. He worked on the Kahn auction where record sales of 38 million rand was reached, including the sale of Irma Stern's work entitled "The Indian Woman" for R6.6 million. During his time with Sotheby's, Christopher furthered his skills in art valuation and diversified his knowledge by working with South African masters.

Christopher's passion and knowledge of South African artists, both contemporary and masters, has resulted in him opening up his own art gallery. The gallery is based in town, on the corner of Church and Loop St, in an old Victorian building built in the 1890's. He offers a wide selection of South Africa's premium artists to his clientele. His approach is to source masters and contemporary art based on the needs of his clients and he prizes himself at the quality and standard of the work he specialises in. 

Opening talk for Cape Town South African Society of Artists  at Kirstenbosch Gardens, (2007)

 Art market boom in South Africa 

Never before in South Africa, have we benefited so much from the art boom, that we are experiencing in our country.  In the past 5 years, galleries have sprung up all over Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban. We are currently achieving record prices for our South African masters, on auction.  In February this year, in Cape Town, a record price of R7.2 million rand was fetched for an Irma Stern entitled: "Indian Woman", at the Stephan Welz & Sotheby's auction.  Overseas auction houses are also moving into our market. The auction house, Bonhams of London were here recently sourcing art, they fetched an amount of R14 million on sale.

  I don't know if any of you noticed the life-size bronze sculpture, close to the entrance, before you walked in.  This piece was created by the South African sculptor, Dylan Lewis. Christie's  recently hosted an auction of the final edition's of Dylan's work. This was the first time ever in its history to host a solo auction, only by one artist. The sale was a complete success with an amount of R32million rand being raised. This shows that South African art is very much in demand, and this rapid increase in its price is largely due to the fact that we have some very exciting talent in our country, combined with our prices playing 'catch up', to the rest of the world.

  So what Makes good art?

So what makes good art?  If we are fetching all these high prices for South African artwork, our artists must be doing something right.  But how do we  determine what good art is?  We could ask an expert, who would tell us to look at details such as the rhythm of line, grouping of shapes, space, light and shade, colour and texture.  One also needs to take into account the subject matter and medium, these are all the building blocks that make a good painting.  But what if you know nothing about art. Are you allowed to determine if a painting is good or not.  I believe you can.  Art is personal, we all have different interpretations.  It does not matter if you are the most highly qualified expert or a common street sweeper.  At the end of the day, good art will engage your interest and invoke an emotional response.  

 Branding:

So if you are a good artist, what is the next step in the ladder?  So many talented artists do not receive the attention they deserve.  They go by unnoticed, and usually, only after they die, do they get recognised, as was the case with Vincent Van Gogh.  Being an artist is a lonely profession; It involves just you and the canvas. It is hard sometimes to be subjective about one's own work, let alone having to place monetary value on it, and market it.  It is therefore important to stand back from one's own work.  Artists need to get the necessary representation, either by being part of a gallery or being part of a body of professional artists.  "Branding" is crucial to the promotion & development of an artist.  This is achieved by having exhibitions, printing catalogues, having a long-term strategic plan.  Artists are identified through the genre in which they paint.  It is important that an artist creates an "identity" or "brand". To have the ability to paint in a different genre and medium, may be a disadvantage. A great artist, is where the viewer will look at the artists work and immediately identify the artist's style. Take for example, the likes of Irma Stern, Maggie Laubser or Walter Batiss, they all had very unique trademarks that made their work very distinctive.  Having used the marketing term "branding", I feel that it is also very difficult for an artist to both paint and market themselves. You are either good at one or the other, not both. 

Buyer:

What about the buyer?  When it comes to buying art, people buy art for different reasons. Some people buy art for an investment, while others buy art because they like the work.  There are times when you walk into a gallery, or an artist's studio, and see that there is nothing you like. Other times you will walk in, and suddenly a painting will 'jump out at you'. This is how we should purchase art. It should evoke a strong reaction within us. Just as producing an artwork is personal to the artist, the interpretation, understanding and appreciation of it, is the same to the viewer.  

Conclusion:

I would like to conclude with these words from J. Bronowski's book entitled "The Visionary Eye".  "No work of art has been created with such finality that you need to contribute nothing to it. You must recreate the work for yourself&.You cannot look at a picture and find it beautiful by merely a passive act of seeing.  The eternal relations that make it beautiful to you have to be discovered and in some way have to be put in it by you.  The artist provides a skeleton, he provides guiding lines, he provides enough to engage your interest and to touch you emotionally.  But there is no picture&.unless you yourself enter it and fill it out."