Limpopo's Art Farm

Gallerist Menno Venter and artist Jaco Roux’s fruit and nut farm in rural Limpopo is the unexpected home of artworks by some of the country’s most iconic artists

- Garreth Van Niekerk

As far as farmhouses go, there surely can’t be many that boast two art galleries among their basic amenities. But in the Limpopo home of Jaco Roux and Menno Venter – an artist and a gallerist – these spaces are, quite simply, essential.

Practically, the pair have amassed one of the country’s largest collections of contemporary African art, and their house has gradually evolved to display more and more of these works. But more indulgently, Jaco says, ‘When you have space, and no kids, why not build an art gallery just for the two of you?’

Located at the end of a dirt road winding through 500 hectares of banana plantations on one side, and macadamia and pecan trees on the other, the unassuming homestead welcomes you to its door with one of Deborah Bell’s towering bronze sentinels. The extraordinary work from the artist’s most recent exhibition at Everard Read Gallery in Johannesburg looks out over a sculpture garden of other familiar pieces.

Furthest from its imposing form stands an Edoardo Villa totem, its topmost bauble peeking out from behind a mass of scarlet bromeliads in which its plinth is mounted. There is Brett Murray’s evocative ‘The Party vs The People’ sculpture, featuring two mating gorillas, and just a few steps away from that is the couple’s newest acquisition, ‘and obsession,’ Menno says – Murray’s ‘Portrait’ piece from his Hide show, also held recently at Everard Read gallery.