Thabo the Tourist making a success of selling South African art to international tourists through organising tours

By Edward Tsumele, CITYLIFE/ARTS Editor

When I first met Thabo ‘The Tourist” Modise at a coffee shop at Art Mille in Rosebank three years ago, he had just shifted gear from general marketing of the country as a tourist destination to specifically taking tourists to art galleries. The galleries he targeted are those concentrated on what has now become a gallery strip in Parkwood, Rosebank, Parktown North and Parkhurst, north of Johannesburg.

In other words, he had streamlined his business from marketing the country in general to specifically marketing South African creative output. I found that ingenuity quite intriguing, especially because herewas a young man, who grew up in the township and had found a niche in tourism, marketing art to mainly international tourists.

At another level, that was quite also interesting in that the art trade for the longest of time in this country, has been the preserve of mainly white dealers, even though the majority of the creators of art works are by now mainly black. I am talking about the generality of visual artists who are prolific in creating art works that tell the socio-political story of South Africa, the human condition, through their paintings, pencil works, multi-media installations and conceptual performance art.

Black artists especially since democracy dawned and opportunities to learn fine art formally at higher institutions of learning, such as Wits, University of Cape Town, Rhodes and University of Johannesburg, among others, were no longer open to white students only. During apartheid, such opportunities were not available for black students with an art inclination, and hence parallel, almost non formal institutions such as FUBA, Artist Proof Studio and Rorkes’ Drift emerged to plug that apartheid created inequality to art education access.

Then a month ago, I met Thabo the Tourist again. And this time at an exhibition opening at David Krut Projects Gallery in Parkwood, where both of us were attending this exhibition. We met by chance, and was not a planned thing. He told me good news about the growth of his company, and that is that he was planning to expand his business. Again, I was intrigued. I then advised that this is a story worth sharing as it is one of those stories that actually lift people’s spirits in a situation in which the country is facing several challenges -unemployment among the youth, economic growth slow and our politics seemingly chaotic and not instilling a sense of confidence among the youth. But here is a young man doing something positive for himself and his family, despite these challenges.

After one missed appointment, we eventually met last week in Rosebank. He was ready to share the good news with the public.

“My company has actually grown. I now have three other people working with me. In the past three years, I have created relationships with more galleries and artists, taking more tourists to galleries as well as artists’ studios to witness the artists at work and offering an opportunity for the tourists to engage in real time with these artists as they worked in their studios around Johannesburg inner City. This has impressed these international tourists.

“I have also collaborated with art fairs such as Latitudes Art Fair, Contra/Open Studios fair,  and FNB Art Joburg as well as the famous Red Bus, a collaboration that sees The Red Bus taking these tourists to these art events,”he told CITYLIFE/ARTS while were having lunch.

Business has not only been good for Thabo the Tourist, but the art galleries, the art fairs and the artists that he has been collaborating with as well. In other words, he brings the market to the art galleries and art fairs, something that everyone in the art eco-system yearns to achieve.

“These activities have been a success, and not only putting my company up there internationally, but South African art. For example, last year alone I have achieved sales of over R500 000. Next year in April, we are expanding to Cape Town where we will collaborate with the Cape Town Investec Art Fair and the Red Bus,” he said while displaying a sense of deserved satisfaction and success.

However, there is one area where his company still needs to work hard on -that is developing a culture of art appreciation and therefore collecting especially among the growing black middle class that is yet to catch up on the wisdom of collecting South African art. He admits that in that area, he is still to crack it.

“We will get there. I am actually working hard to make sure that we reach out to them so that they too start appreciating what our artists are creating. Contemporary African art is increasingly being appreciated internationally after all. We should therefore as Africans start appreciating our own, which other people inEurope, the US and elsewhere are actually doing right now,” he said.

When I concluded the interview, I had a sense that here is a young black South African business man, who has found a niche within the tourism sector, and that is getting tourists to where art is sold and created, and they like that.

Even when I told him that I have since we last met three years ago, met two other people I know very well who are now following his footsteps. Doing what he is doing, he remained unphased, even though they are creating a possible competition for his business in future.

“I am actually happy that I have inspired other people. That is what it should be. The space is big enough for all of us. At the end, South African art will emerge the winner. That is in fact what everyone in the art ecosystem is yearning to see,” he firmly stated.