By Aphiwe Ngowapi
After 15 years of serving the Makhanda community, Red Café on High Street will close its doors at the end of October 2024. Known for its resilience, including surviving the challenges of COVID-19, the beloved local spot is transforming into the Red Café Online Art Gallery. This evolution aims to preserve the café’s ethos of community and creativity, while shifting focus from food to art.
To mark this transition, Red Café will host the “Red Rebirth” Art and Memory Auction on Friday evening, October 25, 2024. Initially planned for last month, the auction was postponed as owners Lou Boy and Chirag Patel chose to launch an online gallery that extends beyond the event. The online platform will feature not only Red Café’s decor pieces but also works from local artists, inviting the world to appreciate Makhanda’s artistic talent.
Committed to maintaining a sense of community, Red Café will auction charity pieces donated for Amasango, including works by Nigel Mullins, Daniel Novela, and Lindi Lombard. There are about 102 other pieces on the gallery and interested buyers can make their bids online. Other artists include Lou Boy, Graeme Germond, Dan Wylie, Greg Wilmot, Mark Pradervand, Aman Bloom, Mariss Stevens, Dez Weeks, Joan Heim, Kelvin Masawi, and Kirsty Leverment.
Although the café will no longer operate as a restaurant (in High Street), the new gallery will host live auctions every six months and encourage local businesses to display art for sale.
“If we could make enough money through the online sales, it would be nice to eventually give back to Carinus Art School for the outreach projects that they do, at local high schools like Ntsika, Nombulelo, and Nyaluza,” said Boy.
Visit www.redcafegallery.co.za to participate in the auction and explore the artworks online.
