Ian Fife and

Its investors are aiming at over R200m in revenue from the sale of commissioned originals and about 50000 “fine art investment prints” to soccer fans and art collectors.

But the SA art establishment is getting sniffy about the company’s use of the term ‘fine art’ and says the works are not investments.

Rob Spaull, general manager of 2010 Fine Art, is assembling two main collections, a 2010 International Fine Art Collection and a 2010 African Fine Art Collection. The international collection is made up of five artists from each of the 32 countries that qualify for the 2010 soccer World Cup; 14 countries have already been contracted. Each work will be reproduced 210 times and sold as originally signed and numbered limited edition prints, totalling 33600 units.

The 2010 African collection includes a range of works from African and SA artists who have been invited to participate. Works are already being exhibited and sold at venues around SA, continuing until the end of the World Cup. It showcases African sculptures, photographs, etchings, ceramics, woodcuts, paintings and numbered reproductions.

“This is a high-risk venture as it is pioneering new markets with this collaboration of football and fine art,” says Spaull.

The promoters believe the works will grow in value. But how much of an investment will they actually be?

Stephan Welz in association with Sotheby’s head of fine art, Imre Lamprecht, and director Mark Kretchmer, believe the works can hardly be looked upon as art investment. “The commercial line of the venture detracts from the purity of it being fine art; it’s memorabilia,” says Lamprecht.

“It is fine art,” says Graham Britz of Graham’s Fine Art, one of a score of partner art galleries globally that will be selling the works. “Numbered prints are a highly collectable medium in fine art. Internationally acclaimed artists such as William Kentridge and Dumile Feni have heightened success with their limited edition prints. Print-making is part and parcel of the fine art world and represents a significant area of interest for international and local artists.”

Britz is putting between R500000 and R1m into promotions around Gauteng targeted at international soccer visitors.

David Krut of David Krut Fine Art does not believe it is fine art. “This is not about art but exploiting the business possibilities around the World Cup.” He says if the limited editions aren’t original prints but reproductions, they are in effect posters and most likely are to be reproduced digitally. He adds they will never be regarded as fine art by professional or intelligent art collectors.

But Spaull says he is partnering art galleries in each country to choose artists whose previous numbered prints in signed limited editions have sold for not less than US500. “We believe the association with the 2010 Fifa World Cup brand will add further value to the intrinsic value of these works,” he says.

The prints will be sold in SA and through the partner galleries in the participating countries. At, say, $600 a piece they would raise R168m. The 160 original works from which the prints are reproduced will be auctioned at the World Cup next June.

Does it matter whether it’s fine art?

Gabrielle de St Clair