Valerie Kabov
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The Rise of the New African Galleries

1/5/2017

 
The rise of African contemporary art in the international gaze has been more than well documented. But the enthusiasm, has overshadowed an analysis of how this interest has affected the ecology of the African art sector as a whole. While international interest is powering ahead it does so in the context of art infrastructure and gallery sector on the continent largely under supported and under-developed and local markets only beginning to emerge. As a consequence, the international market interest to date has been largely benefitting individual artists represented by international galleries, with trickle down economics working the same way as they do elsewhere to support the growth and economic sustainability of the local art sectors. We see this at forums such as 1:54 African contemporary art fair, where even in its present 4th edition only 16 out of 40 participating galleries are based on the continent.
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1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair, Victor Ehikhamenor at GAFRA (Gallery for African Art). Photo courtesy of Brendon Bell-Roberts.
However this is starting to change. Despite the challenges, the international market attention has also proved to be a catalyst to formation of new galleries on the continent, who could see a path and a model of sustainability, which did not rely on philanthropic funding as in the past or domestic markets. As a result, the past four years have seen something of a surge in the number of new galleries on the continent, adopting a more internationally focused commercial operating model. Among them Addis Fine Art (Addis Ababa, Ethiopia), 1957 (Accra, Ghana), Circle Art Gallery (Nairobi, Kenya), Art Space (Nairobi, Kenya), Espaco Luanda Art (Luanda, Angola), Al Marhoon Gallery (Algiers, Algeria).

Interestingly most of these new players are developing hybrid models of practice, rather than following the standard international commercial gallery structure, with recognition that their local environment calls for a different approach. They are also deeply conscious of the broader ramifications of their work.

I spoke to several of these new gallerists about their approach to practice and their thoughts on importance of galleries on the continent.

DOMINICK A MAIA-TANNER
Gallery: ELA - Espaço Luanda Arte
Why did you launch ´ELA – Espaço Luanda Arte´?

“Having worked in various art productions (Vidrul Photography, Vidrul Invites, JAANGO, and Container Art, to name a few) over the past almost 8 years, but never in the same venue, it was a personal dream to be able to have an art gallery in Luanda where we could place all theses under one roof. Therefore, ´ELA - Espaço Luanda Arte´ is the realization of this dream. It is located in the heart of old Luanda - the capital city of Angola, where many artists used to have their ateliers (Antonio Ole, Paulo Jazz, Viteix, Kapela Paulo, amongst many others) but have since been displaced to the peripheries and new cities. But more than a commercial gallery, our wish was to be engaged and hold artist residencies, exploring project-based and site-specific shows, with ample spacefor up to five solo private and one large collective residencies at any given moment, an area for round-tables, discussions and artist talks, and a very large exhibition area for solo exhibitions, duets and collective shows. In this respect, we were and remain particularly keen in nurturing Angolan artists not only from Luanda but also the Provinces, and also holding pan-African collaborations so that non-Angolan artists can come and work with their colleagues in Luanda, and Angolan artists can go the other way.



On a third and final level, we are personally motivated to help artists grow by helping them take part in international fairs, as well as setting up protocols so that they can take part in international residencies. Therefore, and without any false modesty, I would say that ´ELA - Espaço Luanda Arte´ is not only a launch pad and a catalyst for many a Angolan artists to grow and develop themselves, but also an artist hub internationally and particularly pan-African wise.”
Why is it important for African galleries to represent African artists?

“In he spirit of Wangari Maathai , I would think that African Contemporary Art ought to be part and take part of a much larger process by which African nationals and non-nationals, but residentson the continent actively discuss what they “owe themselves”, rather than what the outside world owes Africa. So for this reason it is not only important for African galleries to represent African artists, but also for Africans to take a more active part in defining and developing exactly what is African Contemporary Art. For this reason, it is evermore important that intra-continental relationships and collaborations be developed amongst artists, galleries, and cultural institutions on the mainland so that opportunities and trends are created exothermically from Africa to the world, and not brought or ´forced´ endothermically into Africa from an increasing number of European and USA-based galleries who´s views may not necessarily be in the continent´s best interests.”
DANDA JAROLIMEK



Founder of Circle Arts Agency and Circle Art Gallery, Nairobi, Kenya
We started the gallery in Nairobi [in 2015] to provide a pristine ‘white cube’ environment for carefully curated exhibitions. Many of our exhibitions are conceptual group shows as this is still unusual in Nairobi. We also provide an expert advisory service to potential and existing collectors.
Galleries of this level are crucial on the continent, for artists to show their work in a professional space with curatorial advice and for collectors to have somewhere to come to learn about the art scene in their country/region. Access to information on art and what artists to collect is still pretty sparse in East Africa and the process of guiding collectors and providing a bespoke service for each collector is therefore even more important than other places where more information, catalogues etc are available. Often I will spend up to a year talking to people, getting them involved and interested before they acquire their first art work and these relationships are vital to building a dynamic and connected art scene.
WAMBUI COLLYMORE



Founder of The Art Space, Nairobi:
The Art Space was started in October 2015, to provide artists with an alternative to mainstream art galleries in Nairobi. Being such a small industry there are very few key players as far as galleries are concerned and The Art Space is slowly rising up to the challenge to being an additional space where artists can show their work, clients can find inspiring work and the industry can be massaged into further growth. There is no national art gallery in Kenya, so more spaces are definitely needed that bring out the best of Kenya and in our case, the region’s art. We are not at full on hard competition stage yet, we are still in nurturing and discovery stage in Nairobi and that is exciting because of the opportunities it presents for organic growth.
I don’t represent artists, I think our industry is too small to do that. It may be something to consider when the industry grows a bit more and galleries are stronger. Future ambition is to show not just art from the region but from all of Africa and to have strong partnerships with other galleries that are seeking to grow how art is shown, discussed on the African continent.


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1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair 2016. Photos courtesy of Brendon Bell-Roberts.
Why do you think it is important for the gallery sector to develop on the continent?
Art has a way of linking conversations and galleries are those places where art can converge to bring these conversations to the fore. Think of exhibitions like having a Nigerian, a South African and a Kenyan in the same room talking about a particular issue e.g. the migration crisis, definitions of beauty, politics etc. A strong gallery sector means that more people are employed and make a living from art, more people can create without having to worry so much about the marketing of their art. This means that artist’s work can develop because suddenly, time is opened up. In many countries in Africa, the burden is upon the artist to act as creator, curator and marketer. Galleries can carry at least two of these burdens – curator and marketer. A strong gallery sector means a stronger arts sector.

As an observer with a vested interest, Salimata Diop, and independent curator and artistic director of AKAA art fair, Paris, comments on the rise of new galleriest, that “During the development of the AKAA project, Victoria and I have witnessed the emergence of several new galleries on the continent, such as Guns and Rain in Johannesburg, Art Meets Camera in Cape Town, Addis Fine Art in Addis Ababa or Al Marhoon in Algeria. Our vision for AKAA is to create a space where diverse perspectives and stories meet: for this reason, achieving a balance of galleries from Africa as well as galleries from the rest of the world was always crucial. Mission accomplished as out of 30 participating galleries in 2016, no less than 13 are based in African countries.”



She also adds that “As a Curator and as an African, I believe that no country can develop its art market without strong galleries on site. Furthermore, we need to address the missing links in the art world ecosystem by joining forces and creating networks. We need to support the rising of serious, ambitious, cutting-edge galleries in our countries; galleries to promote, showcase and fight for the artists’ work, galleries whose voices have to be heard in the current global discussion and finally galleries that will participate to major international art shows and fairs.”
This belief in the fundamental importance of a strong gallery sector on the continent, the challenges facing new galleries and the value of networks, has been at the heart of the just formed Emerging African Art Galleries Association (EAAGA) (Valerie Kabov, Danda Jarolimek, co-founders). EAAGA is mutually supportive network designed to foster the growth and development of the gallery sector on the continent and to create collaborative resources for members. Thinking laterally about domestic infrastructure challenges facing young galleries, it aims to leverage cooperation and resource sharing to achieve international competitiveness and to establish professional standards.

Local galleries are the only stakeholders in the sector, with a genuine vested interest in developing local markets for local artists, as well as collector education. It is their mandate and their long-term sustainability. Long-term economic future of African contemporary art is in developing domestic, regional and pan- African markets and opportunities for African artists, which can overcome the current economic and power imbalances between Global North and Africa in contemporary art.


Rabia Williams -- Zim.doc/the heart of collaboration

6/15/2016

 
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Rabia Williams is an art world anomaly. Few artists can genuinely achieve, what to Williams appears to come naturally. Not only does she consistently demonstrate a unique and uniquely personal and a distinctly individual point of view, this individuality is entirely consistent with a passion and a rare capacity for genuine collaboration in making work as well as a rare understanding of what socially engaged practice really can and should be. Moreover she has a natural insight into connection between technology and art, which enables her to span and engage diverse technologies as media for her art. Even more remarkably, rather than exploiting her biography through the conventional and convenient avenues of identity politics, which have become so fashionable in art over the past decade, Williams leverages her diverse family heritage to create fertile new conversations across regions and cultures from American to African from European to Middle Eastern.
 
I first encountered Williams in 2009, in Zimbabwe, where she was working on Zim.doc the interactive documentary project, where a Williams coordinated the development of multiple documentary projects by a group of emerging women film-makers.
 
Since that time I have followed her projects, her travels and her ideas, with fascination from Qatar to Israel, from Berlin to Detroit and back to Zimbabwe, she is relentlessly passionate about connecting people through art and technology and being that bridge of connection. Throughout this time, Zim.doc has always been a ceaseless passion – a project, which pushed both her creative boundaries and cultural ones.
 
In Zim.doc Williams immerses herself in history of a country she first discovered through a Bob Marley song and it is Marley’s idealism, which underpins the compassionate and determined approach she has in this intricate and labour intensive project.
 
It is fair to say that few people understand what interactive documentaries actually are. It is equally fair to say that few people understand or know anything about Zimbabwe beyond torrid political headlines and the poverty porn paradigm of Africa.
 
In Zim.doc Williams challenges these and many other presumptions, including the idea of what contemporary women can and should be in plural cultural contexts; complexity of history and the way the future can cast shadows on the present and the past if we let it. Through the project we experience Zimbabwean history through the eyes of the women film makers and through their work, creating a sophisticated yet highly humane matrix of situations, story-telling, symbolism and visualization, which we as the audience are able to engage with voluntarily to create our own journeys through a landscape few have understood before.
 
Unlike many documentary films and filmmakers, Williams avoids simplification and didactics, empowering her subjects in building their stories and giving agency to her audiences to find their space and point of view, when engaging with the work.
 
Zim.doc is a project that has developed a life of its own and is an extraordinary work that will inspire many artists in many different media, as well as audiences in any cultural contexts.
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'Categorically Speaking'

6/13/2016

 
"The terms ‘Africa’ and ‘African diaspora’ appear to sit neatly side by side, certainly when it comes to genre categorisations in contemporary art. Whole institutions are devoted to the very subject, such as MoCADA (Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Art, New York). In the USA, it is the institutions devoted to African American art that have taken the lead in engaging with African contemporary art. This makes sense on many easily apprehended levels: shared (racial) history, similar histories of oppression and the struggle against it. While the relationship is very real and important, it defies the ideas of category merge, in which all segments are presented as part of a catchall," writes Valerie Kabov in this positioning piece for the latest installment of ART AFRICA, 'The North American Issue'.
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Brandon Coley Cox, M-B (G)riot or If Ya'll Really Knew, 2014. Handmade paper, string, glitter, acrylic, mica flakes, brown glittery mesh fabric, flashe, acrylic dispersions and powdered tires on gold-coated black linen, 134.6 x 139.7cm. Image courtesy of the artist.
Given the pressing and important challenges that contemporary art sectors face on the continent, what is more valuable is a robust conversation recognising the richness and diversity, not just between Africa and the diaspora but also within Africa and within the diaspora. Unity founded on the terms dictated by concerns more to do with the art market and channels of money in the art scene is not a strength. Moreover, allowing others to set the terms and the parameters of the conversation defeats the goals of a genuine, flowering contemporary art scene on the continent, one that is guided by self-determination and focused economic and cultural sustainability.

There are possibly as many (and as varied) African diasporas as there are countries and cultures in Africa. However, it is possible to speak about two very broad categories. The first being the historical diaspora, with a centuries-old throwback to experienced existing exclusively in the diaspora. Culture and identities were (and are) forged through this shared experience, which includes a merging with and contribution to the building of identities in countries of the New World such as the USA, Brazil, the Caribbean and so on. Culture, history and identity play crucial roles in forging worldviews and – more importantly – in shaping contemporary art practices. In this context, category merge clouds the importance of different concerns that both African and African-American artists deal with – especially in the wake of important issues such as the race discourse in the USA – while many African art scenes struggle to lobby their governments to support the arts through establishing international-quality art education, collecting institutions and industry infrastructure.


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Leonardo Benzant, installation view of 'Paraphernalia Of The Urban Shaman,' at Aljira, a Center for Contemporary Art (Newark, NJ), 2012-2016. Image courtesy of the artist.
Even a tiny survey of African-American art practitioners reveals that there is no uniform or necessary connection between historical African diasporan art practice and African contemporary art. For curators like Dexter Wimberly (find interview here) engagement with African artists is not based on “ethnic background [but on his interest in] …economics.” He sees that unifying all “black art” under one umbrella is a “categorical generalisation” and a highly problematic one, given the significant differences. For an artist like Leonardo Benzant, whose work is rooted in engaging with and recapturing spirituality and traditions of his forefathers who came to the Caribbean as slaves, Africa is a uniquely rich and historical place that provides an enormous wealth of inspiration, without the need to directly engage with Africa today. For an artist like Brendon Coley Cox, contemporary African art opens up opportunities for learning and inspiration. His view is that African contemporary artists have more freedom of expression, having not been subsumed bythe market infrastructure in which he operates as an American. As he said in a recent interview, “Artists who respond to/ give nods to certain conditions (European structures) may be presented more in the mainstream.” Cox also comments on the strength of cultural identity and spirituality of artists like El Anatsui, characteristics that are not contingent on issues of identity politics. These important and enriching conversation points will be lost if we don’t value and validate the diverse natures of the two art scenes.

The second broad category is the contemporary African diaspora that has emerged post-colonially and includes the large number of artists currently residing in Europe and North America. Intellectually, however, this diaspora – especially in the first generations – has its own unique emotional and traumatic signifiers, which immediately differentiate the work of diasporan artists from those who remain at home. They go from being part of a majority culture to being part of a minority (with all that entails), from feeling at ease within their society and context to struggling to learn, from responding to their environment to being at one with it, to looking at their past through the lens of the present and looking at their new society as an outsider.

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Leonardo Benzant, installation view of 'Paraphernalia Of The Urban Shaman,' at Aljira, a Center for Contemporary Art (Newark, NJ), 2012-2016. Image courtesy of the artist.
In an article titled ‘African Horizons: Why the Armory Show is focusing on Africa,’ The Economist noted that “Only eight of the fourteen artists (sic: galleries) featured in the special exhibition at the Armory, ‘African Perspectives’ are from galleries in Africa. The rest are based in Paris, London, Berlin and Seattle. To Julia Grosse and Yvette Mutumba, the curators of ‘African Perspectives,’ this was a more accurate way of reflecting the world that many contemporary African artists now inhabit. How to classify someone who is born in Lagos, splits their time between there and Brussels, and does residencies in Hong Kong and New York? Everyone lives more globally now; artists are no exception.” 
 
It should be further noted that three out of the ‘African’ eight were from Cape Town. This is absolutely not the paradigm, which represents the vast majority of artists on the continent. Most do not have independent means to travel and their African passports alone make independent travel difficult, if not impossible, as most visa applications require an invitation to specific projects and some form of sponsorship or endorsement. This paradigm, however, does describe the minority of artists with dual citizenship, independent means and international gallery representation – at least for those who are interested in and able to play along with foreign funding.

In particular, this immediately privileges diasporan artists and artists with the means and opportunity to travel and become diasporic. It also suggests to the new generation of African artists that leaving is the best way to advance your career. Currently thousands of artists living on the continent and choosing to remain on the continent are disadvantaged, if they want to pursue practices not attuned to funding concerns, or don’t have the means or the skills for writing grant applications, or ease of access to the internet – none of which hampers someone living in the diaspora.

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Leonardo Benzant, detail of Subterrestrial African Magik, 2016. Oil on canvas, 190.5 x 243.84 cm. Photograph: Chuka Chukuma. Image courtesy of the artist.
In her interview with Studio International, Eva Langret – exhibition manager for Tiwani Contemporary, one of the major Africa-focused galleries in London – made an important point “I think the solution is self-determination in curatorial practices: as more and more exhibitions are produced in Africa, by African curators, the need for the rest of the world to ‘get it right’ will become redundant. But until we get there, there is still work to do.” Ironically she immediately confirmed just how much work there is to be done when, further in the interview, she listed the new generation of African curators who are making the change, all of them resident in the diaspora. 
 
While we celebrate the successes of all Africans everywhere, it is also important to keep sight of the issues that are the major priorities in building up art sectors on the continent, the mandate for achieving which belongs first and foremost to practitioners who live and work there. The push to blend into the international market and art scene creates a blur, in which the available platforms and opportunities serve to amplify diasporan concerns and cultural imperatives over and above those of the entire continent. Once we redress the imbalance, we will have a conversation among peers and a synergy in partnership, which is empowering to all.

Valerie Kabov is an art historian with a focus on cultural policy and cultural economics. Her research, writing and educational practice ranges from interculturality and globalisation, emerging art sectors and sustainability as well as art market analysis. She is the Co-Founder and Director of Education and International Projects at First Floor Gallery Harare, Zimbabwe’s first independent, international, contemporary emerging artist led gallery and educational space.
 
This article was first published in the June 2016 edition of ART AFRICA vol.01, issue.04, 'The North American Issue'.

'Whose South Is It Anyway?'

12/1/2015

 
The December issue of ART AFRICA, titled ‘Whose South is it Anyway?’ grapples with some pertinent questions relating to concepts of the ‘Global South,’ such as: What is considered the ‘Global South’? Who does this definition encompass and what are its effects? And, increasingly, are these definitions and delineations even still relevant?
This particular edition takes its name from this positioning piece by Valerie Kabov, ‘Whose South is it anyway?’ Kabov lends an indispensible voice to this issue, both as the founder and director of First Floor Gallery (Harare) and, we’re pleased to announce, one of our team as an ART AFRICA Editor-at-Large!

This article is available in the December issue of ART AFRICA, now on shelves across South Africa and available via international subscription. You can now also purchase a copy via our convenient electronic payment form! SUBSCRIBE or BUY A COPY today! You can also access this exclusive content in the December digital issue, available for download from the ART AFRICA app, HERE for Apple and HERE for Android.

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Terms like ‘Global North’ and ‘Global South’ are deceptive in their simplicity. The duality creates an illusory perception of parity but in demographic reality, the Global South is home to more than eighty percent of the global population and ninety percent of the global population under twenty- five. It has also become synonymous with ‘emerging markets’ for resources, services and commodities; one of which is contemporary art. In terms of contemporary art, the Global South has materialised as a place of discovery for the fresh, the new and the exciting.
Currently enjoying the limelight, African contemporary art is the latest in a series of ‘discoveries’ which have drawn attention and share of the art market to artists from the BRICs1 to the Middle East. While this attention is deserved and, in fact, overdue it raises a number of questions about the terms of engagement and interaction within the international art community, in which the division between the North and South is often subsumed in the all-encompassing ‘art market.’
Unlike geography and demographics, the bulk of global art market capital resides in the North. To this end, one need only cast an eye at the influential Art Review Power 100 – a list of the most influential stakeholders (collectors, artists, gallerists, curators, organisations) in the international art world. The 2015 ranking includes only eleven Southern members and even among those, at least three (Okwui Enwezor and RoseLee Goldberg, for example) are based in the North.



Consequently, what we call the ‘new attention’ for art of the South is, in fact, recognition and validation by the North. To put it another way, it is the North which by-and-large decides when and what sells, is discovered, collected and exhibited. Reading a recent headline in The New York Times about ‘putting contemporary African art on the map’2 or Valerie Marin La Meslee’s Londre est le capital de l’art contemporaine africaine3is a terse reminder that, when it comes to art, David Livingston is still inventing Victoria Falls in 2015.
In recent years, the positioning art of the South within the Northern art world, while certainly creating some opportunity for Southern artists, has neatly enabled its monetisation. Concurrently, it has also created a new layer of cultural domination and dependency, this time through aesthetic, intellectual and cultural priorities. Many of the key online platforms presenting African contemporary art to the world are generated in the North and designed to be marketable to Northern audiences and funder imperatives.
South America, the Middle East and China have led the way in building up their own substantial markets and institutions for contemporary art, empowering them to support and foster artists without having to shape their work to external parameters. The strength of institutions such as the São Paulo Biennale and the Sharjah Biennale point to progress but most artists living in the South cannot, at present, have the benefit of such leverage or infrastructural support. This lack of leverage and support makes them vulnerable to commercial pressures to alter the way they make their work and why. This vulnerability extends not only to the content of their work, but also to their relationship with their grass-root audiences. It is vital that we remain cognisant of the key roles that artists play within their own cultures and communities, which may not always fit neatly into the Northern paradigm.

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Fredy Alzate, Lugares en Fuga, 2012. Bricks, concrete and metal, Diameter 115cm. From ‘Pangaea I.’ © Fredy Alzate. Courtesy of the Saatchi Gallery, London.
While the injection of capital into emerging markets can and does help build up infrastructure for domestic art scenes, it is undermined by the fact that the North remains pivotal to art interactions and the setting of art agendas. The easiest paths for engagement and exchange in (and between) any one country in the South are still found along former colonial or neo-colonial lines. In many emerging art scenes, from South America to South East Asia and Africa, local culture-related funding remains sparse and the resultant dependency on Northern funding is prominent.
Whether German, Portuguese, Spanish, English or Swedish, this funding prioritises links with the home country rather than interaction between the regions comprising the ROW4. As a result, the interactions between the art scenes of the South are, at present, insufficient to create a meaningful shift in the art economy away from the North or to become genuinely representative of the South.
Another major concern is that the North, in addition to shaping the art of the South through the market, will become the repository of the best examples of art from the South, thereby shaping its future and writing its art history. In this context, Africa is particularly at risk. While we celebrate the record numbers of African artists at the Venice Biennale, it is Venice – not Istanbul or Shanghai or Dakar – that is the world’s most important Biennale. Closer inspection reveals that highly visible artists from the South are almost exclusively represented by galleries in the North, meaning that financially the North is still the primary beneficiary of the increased attention.
Given that talent (similar to population) is not distributed along economic lines, it is safe to assume that most of the world’s present-and-future talent resides in the Global South. What would happen if art scenes in the South forged their own links? How would art and the art market look if these art scenes developed exchanges and collaborations of mutual support, without the North- dependency currently underpinning many art scenes in the South? This scenario could well be the most interesting artistic future, one we can work towards establishing today, and the most representative and culturally equitable one.
These are some of the issues underpinning the current state of the Global South and its relationship with the international art world. The way that we in the South debate and address them will shape the direction of the art market and art history globally. While North-South definitions essentially revolve around economic division, it is important to remember that the world will be a poorer place if artists of the South become yet another pathway for global cultural homogenisation.
FOOTNOTES
  1. BRICS stands for Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Technically, Russia is not part of the Global South, but one can speculate that this is due to diplomatic rather than economic analysis.
  2. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/01/arts/international/curator-putscontemporary-african-art-on-the-map.html?_r=0
  3. Valerie Marin La Meslee: Londres, capitale de l’Afrique de l’art contemporain, 15 October 2015, Le Point, afrique.lepoint.fr/culture/londres-capitale-de-l-afrique-de-l-art-contmporain-15-10-2015-1973866_2256.php
  4. ROW stands for Rest Of the World, another useful acronym for Global South in the pairing with OECD.

Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Global Art Market?

10/1/2015

 
Valerie Kabov investigates the global art market and what this means for the real market concerns in Africa. Kabov also talks to Marc Stanes of Ebony and Johans Borman of Johans Borman Fine Art about working with emerging and established artists from the African continent and the current global preoccupation with ‘youth.’
 
This article appeared in the inaugural September issue of ART AFRICA magazine, which was launched to enormous enthusiasm at the FNB JoburgArtFair 2015. You will also be able to read this exclusive content in the September Digital Issue (FREE app download here for Apple and here for Android).
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Yinka Shonibare, Victorian Philanthropist's Parlour, 1996-7, mixed media. From 'Africa Remix' at Johannesburg Art Gallery, 2007. Image courtesy of Johannesburg Art Gallery.
Presently, the art world finds itself at an interesting juncture. Over the past decade, the market for art – assisted by exponential advances in communications and technology – has become an overwhelming force, actively moving to shape, influence and change the face of contemporary art on a global scale. To many art world stakeholders, this shift signifies the end of the world as we know it – and for some, not in a good way. Interviews, articles and reportages bemoaning the state of the art market have become a staple of art media.
 
Concerns include the commercial nature of art fairs, that artists have been irrevocably corrupted by the new developments, the closure of more traditional galleries, the ‘new world’ of galleries where sales and money are the be-all and end-all and finally, a strong aversion to the new class of upstart collectors, who see art merely as an asset and who have been driving prices astronomically by ‘flipping’ the value of works by emerging artists. While most of these comments are earnest and reflect real concerns, it is useful to locate them in the context of broader art history to identify the real (as opposed to perceived) novelty. In this moment, the market finds synergy with important movements in art history.
 
Among this synergy is the rebalancing of the central and peripheral relationships in the art world – and building recognition for underexplored art scenes. The contemporary art scene in Africa is one such example of this rebalancing. This scene encompasses a particularly unique set of characteristics, and the manner in which it is approached and engaged with will determine whether this is truly a historical moment.

Even the scantiest view to art history will reveal, that the current ‘moment’ is far from novel. The Medicis, who were nouveau riche, consolidated their power and prestige with art and cultural patronage and commanded geniuses like Raphael, da Vinci and Michelangelo to do their bidding and interfere in ways that would seem monstrous today. And yet today we are thrilled to be mining history thanks to these very interventions. Superstar artists like Michelangelo and Leonardo were multi-millionaires in their time, traveling Europe on mega-commissions, wined and dined by the mighty of the world. Rembrandt, a saintly figure in the art canon, authorised his apprentices to paint his ‘self-portrait’ as a form of branding and advertising. In late 19th century Paris, Daniel Kahnweiler, another nouveau riche, began buying work in bulk for resale from artists he figured might have a future – Picasso, Cezanne and Matisse. Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose (‘The more things change, the more they stay the same.’)

 
There is, however, a historically significant shift that many are missing in their self-righteous protestations of ‘too much too-new money ruining art’ – that some of this market power really does come from new money. This is a major paradigm shift, because part of the self-titled ‘old guard’s discomfort is that the new money and new movements in the art world are shifting the centers of the art world beyond Paris, London and New York. That this new money punts and supports artists not from the West attests to lasting change in visual culture and its paradigms. Increasingly, artists and art sectors outside of the West are gaining exposure and recognition. Could it then be posited that they too are the ‘products’ of rampant globalisation, new money and the horror of art fairs?

If the market – by way of being the only mechanism with which to leverage valuable opportunities – is devoid of a moral compass, then it must be the responsibility of the historians, critics, curators and academics in (and interacting with) the sector, to maintain and preserve a sense of morality. The emergence of the contemporary art sector in Africa on the global stage is a case study of and an experiment in the symbiotic relationship between market and academia. As Mark Coetzee asserted in a panel discussion at this year’s Art Basel, “African art is currently in fashion.”1 African curators and academics have been building the foundations for engaging with the international art community for decades, confirming and validating the current opportunity. This groundwork comprises noteworthy exhibitions such as ‘Art from the Commonwealth’ in 1962 to ‘Magiciens de la Terre’ in 1989 and ‘Africa Remix’ in 2004, publications such as Nka Magazine and Revue Noire, initiatives like the Triangle Network, galleries like October Gallery and many other art professionals, curators, writers, historians and gallerists who have worked hard to advance the cause of art and artists on the continent.

 
However, as Coetzee also correctly pointed out, fashions come and go with predictable, and somewhat disappointing, regularity. So for now, while euphoria and optimism rule in African contemporary art, we need to make a sober analysis of what this present moment means and what is required of us to engender vibrant and successful art sectors.
 
This is a complex question with difficult answers as there are a number of crucial factors differentiating the spotlight on Africa from others and which can characterise its aftermath.

One of these factors is that – unlike most other art scenes touched upon by the global largess, such as Brazil, India, China and the Middle East – Africa (with the few exceptions of South Africa, Nigeria and Angola) does not have supportive domestic markets for contemporary art. The new money in the aforementioned foreign art markets comes from within – and is used to support and attract attention to their national art scene. When the prices for the (then) fad of Chinese contemporary art dropped and the temporary art market bubble burst circa 2008, an interesting thing happened – the prices dropped substantially only for those artists favoured by Western collectors. The prices for artists supported by local collectors remained stable, allowing for the rebuilding of the Chinese contemporary market, now a dominant sector in the art world only a few years later.

 
The same cannot be said about Africa. It isn’t an unrealistic assessment that African contemporary art is still largely supported by old money – or to put it another way – not enough of it is supported by new money. This lack of support is exacerbated by inadequate art infrastructure on the continent. These gaps in infrastructure have already created, and continue to contribute to, a talent and resource drain – not to mention that as a result many African contemporary art masterpieces will be lost to local audiences. Another vulnerability is that the global spotlight, with few notable exceptions, has been on emerging or young artists. While this focus on emerging artists is a global phenomenon, in the African context it is uniquely problematic – given the disparities in market and infrastructure outlined above.

Often, young artists move away from Africa in pursuit of educational and career opportunities. This relocation affects generational mentorship and local systems of support, as well as their own practice, which has to be reshaped in relation to a new context and the assumption of a new identity. Back in Africa, foreign galleries who sign African artists inevitably contribute to the drain on local talent and general economy, as the profits and commissions of their sales are circulated abroad. Significantly, without support systems at home or experience of international markets, young artists are more likely to be negatively impacted by market pressures and the related exploitative practices.

 
Concurrently, there are also gifted artists outside of the ‘golden youth’ spectrum who have simply been overshadowed in the market juggernaut. These artists may then feel helpless and hopeless in a way that their peers in countries with stable art economies and a culture of collecting do not. In an effort to build strong cultural identities – without which the emerging generation can only default to foreign learning and achievement – it is crucial that we recognise the broader context in which art develops and emerges. It is more than likely that the global market will, in due course, view mature artists in the West as yet another under-valued opportunity. However, when the global market reaches this realisation, it will have been neatly prepared for it by decades of institutional and academic support, along with substantial bodies of work. The African peers of such artists, who are currently in the shadows and bereft of institutional attention and publishing validation, could be left behind. This problem is not reserved only for the artists or the history of art in Africa.

Rather, it is a collective concern for global art history – the effort to shift the nexus cannot be the responsibility and product of one generation.

 
It is highly unlikely that there will be sufficient time to address these issues with market and infrastructure by the time the fashion moves on to wherever it will (if this year’s Havana Biennale is anything to go on). While Western galleries, who have turned to representing African artists, are able shift focus by taking on artists from whatever scene is next in vogue, galleries and artists on the continent can be left vulnerable.
 
Looking to history as a predictor, we could surmise that the countries on the continent with the strongest markets and infrastructure, who have already taken the lead in building private and public collections, will forge ahead in carving out their own niche in the global scene – leaving the rest to fend for themselves. And yet this is not the paradigm shift that so many have worked tirelessly to achieve. While for now ‘African Contemporary Art’ is a useful marketing term to those of us working in the field, it speaks to a broader vision and ethos of brotherhood on the continent, an ambition that supersedes mere market concerns.

Picture1 Panel Discussion, ‘Building Art Institutions in Africa’ Art Basel 2015.
Valerie Kabov in Conversation with Marc Stanes
Co-founder of Ebony, South Africa
 
Born in London, photographer and curator Marc Stanes now lives in South Africa. Following the success of his initial venture Ebony in Franschhoek, a gallery specialising in fine art and contemporary South African design, Marc was invited to curate and direct the newly formed Museum of Modern Art in Equatorial Guinea (2011). He now acts as Ebony’s main art advisor to their current spaces in Loop Street, Cape Town and Franschhoek.

Valerie Kabov: From the vantage point of a newcomer to South Africa, how do you view the changes taking place in the art market from an international art market perspective? Personally, having lived in Australia for a long time, my early impression of the South African art market (even 6 years ago) was that it was very similar to the Australian scene – established and secure but in many ways insular, protective of its parochial history and not that interested in international engagement. This has changed dramatically over the last few years.
 
Marc Stanes: Over the past ten years, the market in South Africa has evolved at a rapid pace, mirroring the general upswing in collecting internationally. Initially, more traditional or modern works appreciated rapidly due to increased buyer engagement, while the secondary market grew through powerful auction houses. Recently, contemporary works have been the focus, with the rapid expansion of new contemporary galleries into the market and the more established galleries gaining international prominence. Generally, local buyers have driven the market – however, there’s an increasing international presence, with works at Africa-focused auctions and South African galleries participating regularly outside of their own borders.
 
As someone who works with both emerging and established artists from the continent, you’re in a position to comment on the current global preoccupation with ‘youth.’ What particular aspects of this phenomenon do you think are particularly important for artists in Africa?

I think that ‘the time is right’ if you are a young artist currently working on the continent – never before has there been such a spotlight on Africa. However, given the international market’s considerable awareness of young artists, it’s increasingly important that the right advice is given and taken. Young artists have the advantage of offering a fresh and original voice but the associated issues, such as speculation and being taken advantage of can be a hindrance.

 
You have written much about art as an asset class. Have you had to revise your ideas on the concept in light of recent developments and trends in the market, especially in reference to the focus on emerging artists and phenomena such as flipping and speculation – which many say is here to stay? Is this fascination with emerging artists valid, or are collectors missing the opportunity with more established artists who have remained under the radar or underexposed?

I’m not a great fan of speculation or buying art for investment. It detracts from the pleasure, interest and understanding in the artist and their process. It may be (or may prove to be) an increasing asset but there is no certainty. Speculation has always existed in the art market; it’s nothing new but some international artists and galleries have made efforts to combat this by applying artists’ resale rights and restrictions on subsequent sales and contracts. There is no doubt that the increasing appetite for ‘young’ art from the African continent fuels the above, but I do not wholly believe this is entirely detrimental to more established artists going forward. Increased awareness of art from the continent will filter across all segments. From a secondary market perspective, there is real growth from collectors acquiring pieces from the past fifty to hundred years, particularly in Nigeria. Many artists are being rediscovered, but currently there aren’t many outlets to view this work apart from auctions. Too many galleries and dealers are focusing solely on the ‘now’ and are missing out on a rich vein of history that has relevance to and influence on many young artists producing works today. Therefore, this does present an opportunity to the well-informed collector.

 
How do you think that African artists and galleries can best leverage the current ‘moment’ for contemporary art from Africa?
 
In many ways I think this is already being done. The obvious routes of good exhibitions, art fairs and partnerships with museums and other international galleries are important. Being insular is not an option. For the artist, having that original voice – which many artists from the continent already display – seems ‘fresh’ and exciting to the international market.

Given that most of the art sectors on the continent face infrastructural challenges, and that, with a few exceptions, local markets are unable to support artists’ livelihoods, we see more artists represented by galleries outside the continent, with some of the best art from Africa ending up in foreign collections. Do you see this as a problem and if so, what do you think can be done to begin remedying it?

 
I don’t fully agree with this and I don’t see it as much of a problem. Historically, this has been an issue on the continent, but the outcome has not been all bad. Many artists have left to pursue a career beyond their home borders, but some of the most important, influential and successful have stayed. Some have also returned. As economies on the continent improve and local interest in culture burgeons, artists are able to produce and sell to collectors within the continent as well as internationally.
 
Had certain major international collectors and museums not been interested in, exhibited or publicised their collections over the past twenty years, we would be in a different position today. It’s partly because of this initial international interest that artists have more opportunity to support themselves today. I also believe that there will be a growth in the number of institutions and galleries on the continent in the near future, but they may have to look to potential international partners in order to fund themselves properly.
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LEFT TO RIGHT: Aboudia, Untitled, 2013. Acrylic and mixed media on canvas. Image copyright the artists and courtesy of Jack Bell Gallery, London; Edson Chagas, Found Not Taken, Luanda, 2013. Image copyright the artist and courtesy of Stevenson Cape Town/Johannesburg.
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Valerie Kabov in Conversation with Johans Borman
Founder and director
of Johans Borman Fine Art
 
A qualified structural engineer, Johans’ career as a gallerist began in 1989. Over the past thirty years his knowledge and love for modern and contemporary African art has grown exponentially – he metaphorically compares himself to a surfer selling surfboards. Johans managed galleries in Pretoria, Onrus River and Stellenbosch before opening Johans Borman Fine Art in Cape Town, in 1999.

Valerie Kabov: You have worked as a gallerist and art advisor for several decades. In this time, South Africa has undergone historic changes, as has the art market. What would you say have been the three key changes in the South African art market – especially in its relationship with the international art community and market?
 
Johans Borman: During the apartheid era, South Africa was in cultural isolation. From the 1990s, our new democracy made it possible for South African artists to travel and exhibit internationally. This meant that local artists, curators, academics and students had the opportunity to experience international art trends and influences. From the mid-1990s, worldwide Internet access was the next major factor to counter South Africa’s cultural and geographic isolation. South Africa’s newfound democracy and political freedom meant international acceptance, which had a very positive influence on the local art market. It instilled confidence in South Africa’s future and brought new interest from local and international collectors and curators. The local art market expanded rapidly as new galleries opened, and the auction market boomed until 2001, when the 9/11 attacks stalled world markets.
 
So you don’t see the current focus on African contemporary art as a key change?
 
The South African contemporary art industry has experienced tremendous growth since the early 2000s, coinciding with the new international interest and focus on contemporary African art. The choice of the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary African Art to open in Cape Town reflects this sentiment and will potentially establish Cape Town as the future art capital of Africa.

You have written much about art as an asset class. Have you had to revise your ideas on the concept in the light of recent developments and trends in the market, especially in reference to the focus on emerging artists and phenomena such as flipping and speculation – which many say is here to stay? Is this fascination with emerging artists valid or are collectors missing the opportunity with more established artists who have remained under the radar or underexposed?

 
My views on living with and collecting art have not changed. I don’t see art as a typical financial investment instrument, as it’s not created to be that in the first place. We should never forget – art is about life and the art market is about money. Unlike conventional financial investments, art does not pay dividends, interest or rent. The ‘return on investment’ is the result of the interaction with a work of art – it lies in the emotional stimulation and ‘cerebral gymnastics’ experienced during this appreciation process.
 
In my opinion, the concept of ‘investment art’ or art as an asset class distracts from the real purpose of art. The concept is emphasised to motivate non-art lovers to spend more money in the ‘art industry,’ trusting that they will realise a healthy profit. This concept is largely promoted by auction houses and profit-driven dealers who create environments where speculation and flipping thrive. They don’t feel any responsibility towards maintaining a healthy and stable market – their sole objective is to realise a profit. These factors are definitely not beneficial to the careers of contemporary artists, as their livelihoods depend on a stable, long-term market for their work.

Contemporary art and emerging artists enjoy much publicity – particularly because most art fairs and publications focus on the contemporary market and are designed to promote the latest and ‘hottest.’ However, the reality is that the bulk of overall sales (in financial terms) come from the more established artists and works by artists from the Modern era. This confirms that seasoned collectors are still spending much more to own works by established, ‘branded’ artists who have a proven track record (in terms of prices and value.)

 
What about in the context of artists from across Africa coming to South Africa? My personal view is that it is a double-edged sword, in terms of career development and creativity. What is your view of this phenomenon?
 
Historically, artists have migrated to wherever they can establish sustainable careers. If not in their home countries, they will relocate to where they have an audience and buyers or collectors.
 
Art fairs have become the mainstay of the art market – a key channel to market. As a gallerist with an established practice and collector base, do you feel pressure to participate in these events?
 
The success of art fairs lies in the fact that they provide artists and galleries the opportunity to collectively generate public interest for (mostly) contemporary art. Art fairs, along with apps like Artsy, provide a one-stop opportunity to see and engage with the international art buying fraternity.

This one-stop opportunity does, however, come at an enormous cost. To make art fairs feasible, the additional costs of hosting, organising and publicising a fair, along with shipping and traveling costs need to be recouped. The only way this is sustainable is to price works with this recuperation in mind. I do think that the influence that art fairs have on the prices of contemporary art is a very serious issue – prices are inflated to make the business model feasible and are not necessarily based on fair market value. We have to participate in art fairs in order to promote the careers of the artists we represent, however I’m concerned about the real long-term advantages for artists and galleries. In many instances, my observation is that ‘the tail is wagging the dog’.

 
Given the under-developed local art markets across the continent, art fairs have become a crucial source of income for African contemporary art galleries and artists. They are also a platform for education, promotion and market development. Perhaps art fairs can become the better ‘devil you know’?
 
Art fairs are important marketing platforms but are unpredictable when it comes to sales. It’s a very risky business model to rely on the occasional four-day fair to make sales. To establish a sustainable art business that will support artists on a permament basis, a broad-based local and international market is essential. Education, promotion and market development should be a local focus if artists are to stand any chance of working and building their careers in their home countries. A recent problem is that art fair curators are becoming more and more prescriptive in terms of which artists’ works they want exhibited. What will happen then to the other artists represented by a gallery, who cannot show and make sales, at a particular fair?

How do you think that African artists and galleries can best leverage the current ‘moment’ for contemporary art from Africa?

 
My view is that all artists and galleries should have a thirty-year strategy, and not focus on the short-term. Artists’ lives depend on their long-term success – a ‘flash in the pan’ at one exhibition or fair won’t necessarily ensure that. The branding required to make a professional art career possible takes enormous effort, dedication and many years of producing good, authentic work – and of course the good luck of commercial success, which is determined by the buying public.
 
Given the infrastructural challenges, and that, with a few exceptions, local markets are unable to support artists’ livelihoods, we see more artists represented by galleries outside the continent and some of the best art from Africa ending up in foreign collections. Do you see this as a problem and if so, what do you think can be done to begin remedying it?
 
This is an economic and market reality and will only change as more Africans buy and collect African art. Growing local African art markets and supporting Africa’s artists requires the collective effort of all players – galleries, artists, collectors and governments. Education and exposure are key aspects – the abundance of artistic talent will only be appreciated, and artworks will only become desirable to own, if all involved subscribe to an orchestrated and long-term marketing strategy.
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Ben Enwonwu, Purakapukali, 1973. Gouache. Courtesy of the Ben Enwonwu Foundation.

THE RISE OF NEW PAINTING FROM ZIMBABWE

9/11/2015

 
Picture
Wycliffe Mundopa. Mythst of Harare. Mixed media on canvas. 245cm x 178cm. 2014.
Valerie Kabov is director of First Floor Gallery Harare which was invited by curator Eva Barois De Caevel to take part in the first edition of the SWAB Gate programme where she will exhibit the work of artist Wycliffe Mundopa. Here is an excerpt of an article entitled « Committed to the Medium », published on the website of ARTsouthAFRICA on August, 27, 2015 and available in full in the most recent 'Painting's Not Dead!' (13.4) issue of ARTsouthAFRICA. In this article, she considers the rise of new painting from Zimbabwe, analyzing the work of Wycliffe Mundopa, Mavis Tauzeni and Gresham Tapiwa Nyaude.

Link to the article:
http://artsouthafrica.com/220-news-articles-2013/2496-the-painting-s-not-dead-issue-committed-to-the-medium-valerie-kabov.html

At the recent art fairs in Cape Town and Johannesburg this year, there was something almost peculiar in the cornucopia of art offerings from around the continent; the significant presence of Zimbabwean artists on the South African art scene. This presence has extended so much so that Zimbabwean artists Gerald Machona and Kudzanai Chiurai represented South Africa internationally at the recent 56th Venice Biennale. Zimbabwe’s close proximity to South Africa cannot fully explain the prodigious flowering of talent in a country with a population of only fourteen million, whose economic woes have decimated its arts education, resulting in the absence of even a single internationally recognised Fine Art degree programme.

Of particular importance is the emergence of painters from Zimbabwe. Misheck Masamvu has become an established name in South Africa, represented by Blank Projects and presented at art fairs by Goodman Gallery. Artists like Portia Zvavahera, winner of the FNB Joburg Art Fair Prize (2015), and Richard Mudariki have found themselves a permanent home. Given Zimbabwe’s historical art reputation being cemented in stone sculpture practice, the rise of painting is somewhat unusual. While sculpture still delivers some heavy hitters, it is the ‘non–traditional’ and, as some have argued, ‘non-indigenous’ medium of painting that’s creating excitement in local and increasingly international art circles.

The conventional historical view is that the missionaries introduced painting and sculpture in Zimbabwe in the 1930s. Key to this introduction was Canon Paterson, who founded Cyrene Mission School in 1939 in Bulawayo, and Father Groeger, founder of Serima Mission. At both schools, young men were taught painting skills with a view to decorating churches and religious paraphernalia. Canon held the progressive view that given the opportunity African artists could reach the same heights as Europeans. The generation of artists that emerged from the Missions includes painters like Kingsley Sambo, whose works are in the MoMA in New York. In 1957 Frank McEwan, the first Director of the National Gallery of Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) established the studio workshop, sponsored by British American Tobacco, which fostered the stone sculpture practice alongside painting. Still, the medium was not viewed as entirely indigenous.

Zimbabwe’s introduction to contemporary art came after its independence, with Gallery Delta’s Helen Leiros and artists like Berry Bickle and Tapfuma Gutsa seeking and promoting alternative ways of expression. Leiros in particular taught and fostered modern art techniques and mentored artists of the born-free generation, such as Lovemore Kambudzi, Misheck Masamvu, Richard Mudariki, Virginia Chihota and Portia Zvavahera.

While this history is important, it cannot explain the level of talent and quality of art production in Zimbabwe; these are contiguous with and true property of the culture, values and passions of the people and the times they live in. The medium – painting, poetry, sculpture or music – is in many ways a matter of convenience and availability. When conditions change so can the modes of expression. At its core, Zimbabwean culture is characterised by an ability to appraise life philosophically, with a measure of detachment and a big picture view. This culture manifests in many aspects of Zimbabwean tradition, from the immense importance of avoiding conflict and preserving social relationships, to the sophistication and conceptual structuring of Zimbabwean proverbs, monotheistic spirituality and belief in the sacredness of human life. This culture underpins the incredible perseverance and optimism of Zimbabwean people and continues to inform the new generation of painters, arguably even more so than all other artists. It can be said that presently in Harare, the medium of painting reflects the tensions, the complexity and the arduous path of the country better than any other available medium. Painting requires idealism – technical, artistic and personal. While the new generation of sculptors in Zimbabwe has, in many cases, opted for found and discarded objects as a resource, inventing their own medium and the method, the painters in Zimbabwe are required to forge ahead with technical, artistic and personal idealism and sacrifice.

Given the cost and availability issues, it is surprising that anyone takes up painting in Zimbabwe today. When making one painting can cost the same as the artist’s monthly rent, the choice between painting and eating becomes a real one. Capitulating to these economics, art schools such as the National Gallery Visual Art Studio or Harare Polytechnic have resorted to teaching painting with acrylics and in some cases, even poster paints. While some artists opt for print based techniques as an alternative, there is a younger generation of doggedly committed to the medium. Among those leading the charge are three young artists; Wycliffe Mundopa, Mavis Tauzeni and Gresham Tapiwa Nyaude.

Through the works Misheck Masamvu and Portia Zvavahera, audiences have come to associate new Zimbabwean painting with powerful metaphoric figuration and bold gestural statements in preference to finer detail. Although it is hard to speak about a ‘Harare School’ or a movement emerging, this ethos of place also informs the works of their younger colleagues, although each is making their own very distinct thematic imprint.

For Wycliffe Mundopa, the Hegelian dictum that art must be of its time and of its place is a most fitting description. Few artists are more passionately committed to being in Zimbabwe and sharing the pains and the struggles of its people than Mundopa. “This suffering is what makes us,” is his motto and the sentiment pulsates in each of his paintings, which spin like a whirlwind through the underbelly of Harare’s high-density areas and pain-points. His circus-like colours and twisted lines underscore the razor-sharp social commentary on a world where entertainment and poverty are close companions and where everything can be for sale. In his complex compositions, Mundopa displays his depth of historical research and admiration for the Dutch Masters, Rembrandt and Rubens in particular, by making us feel that if they had lived in Harare today, this is exactly what their paintings would look like. Mundopa’s recent show ‘Myths of Harare’ at Commune 1 Gallery (in Cape Town) and the selection of complementary works on paper at Ebony Gallery, (also in Cape Town) was a runaway success, displaying for the first time Mundopa’s prowess in tackling museum-size canvasses. We can only look forward to what happens next for this prodigious talent. (…)

Mavis Tauzeni produces, in many ways, a counter-balance to Mundopa’s frenetic subversive carnivals. Her canvasses are immersed in the unsettling stillness of introspection and waters that run deep. Deeply personal, Tauzeni’s imagery oscillates between the surreal, futuristic and dreamy. It bears some kinship to the world of Wengechi Mutu, who Tauzeni cites as a role model. Yet despite its surface otherworldliness, Tauzeni’s world is no less of a social commentary, speaking implicitly and explicitly to the difficulties of being a woman – and a woman artist – with an independent and individual journey. While she speaks to the realities of her life in Zimbabwe, the tones and sentiments engendered in her work are immediately empathetic, not only to women but to all of us yearning to break out of convention and social expectation. Tauzeni has already attracted attention for her works on paper, having been acquired by the Fondation Blanchere Collection in 2014, but the artist’s true passion is painting. Tauzeni is ready to emerge as a painter of note, with a new exhibition at First Floor Gallery titled ‘Eve’s Diaries’ and comprising major canvasses.

In stark contrast to Tauzeni and Mundopa is Gresham Tapiwa Nyaude. While no less informed by the drama and trauma of daily life in Harare than Mundopa, Nyaude’s practice is the epitome of the tongue-in-cheek street smarts that characterise the ‘ghetto ethos’of his native Mbare. Visually translating slang and vernacular, Nyaude works in waves to create series of obsessive, thematic paintings, exorcising each subject to exhaustion before subjecting a new victim to his keen wit. His past series include ‘The Midnight Shoppers’ based on the invisible and undocumented night-life of the Mbare ghetto; ‘Native Advertising’,’ which confronts us with how the news and media manipulate perceptions of Africans and particularly Zimbabweans, and how the media themselves are manipulated; as well as ‘Dog’s Life,’ in which dozens of gleaming canines stare down from canvasses, their grimaces simultaneously  accusatory, vindictive, victorious and prevocational, the spectral allegory of the ‘ghetto hustle.’ Nyaude has already garnered international interest, with works from ‘Dog’s Life’ having been shown at SMAC Gallery early in 2015 and ‘Native Advertising’ currently on show at F2 Galeria in Madrid, as part of a3bandas gallery festival in the Spanish capital.

Intellectually on point, emotionally powerful and technically adept, this trio of emerging painters is not to be underestimated. Together and individually, they are also role models for their peers to emulate and given what we know about Zimbabwean art and artists, there’s more to come.


First Floor Gallery

Lines in the Art Market Sands for the African Contemporary Art (African Art at Art Dubai 2013)

4/7/2013

 
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Ways to impress at Art Dubai 2013
This year’s edition of Art Dubai was uniquely important for African contemporary art. For the 2013 edition’s focus exhibition Marker, Art Dubai invited the well-known Lagos based curator by Bisi Silva to develop a concept with a spotlight on Africa. Silva, chose to side-step the Africa is a country issue by presenting a tableau of West African contemporary art, bringing to debut Art Dubai five important West African art galleries: Senegal’s Raw Material Company, Cameroon’s Espace Doual’art, Carpe Diem from Mali, Ghana’s Nubuke Foundation and Silva’s own CCA Lagos from Nigeria. Silva’s reputation and irrepressible energy also delivered to Marker and its participants impressive media engagement and a higher than could be expected number of African visitors. In my opinion however, by far the most crucial outcome that Marker delivered was to focus the attention of the African contemporary art community on the issue of engagement with the art market by the African contemporary art galleries and artists on the continent. 

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Soly Cissé at Raw Material Company booth at Art Dubai
Art fairs are proliferating around the world and have become a key vehicle for sales and professional and commercial development and sustainability for artists and galleries. However, African galleries are in a blind spot of this major not to say massive part of the art industry. When First Floor Gallery Harare debuted at Berliner-Liste in 2012, we were the only African gallery in the fair and one of only two African galleries (the other being from South Africa at abc) in the total of four major art fairs taking place during the Berlin art week representing close 800 international galleries. The same sad numbers would be in evidence from Basel to Cologne, New York and Hong Kong.

Due to this paucity of representation of African art galleries, some of us in the African contemporary art community might have expected that this substantive show of force at Art Dubai will “mark” all triumphal arrival of African contemporary art galleries on the art market. If this was the expectation, it was unrealistic. However, what Marker did create was a sense of awareness of the breadth of the art market among many contemporary art organisations operating across Africa, which have been sheltered from the art market by years of philanthropic funding. Sheltered from the risks but equally from the rewards and opportunities. It also raised awareness of the skills and professional engagement that needs to be built up inside the African contemporary art community if we are to become the rightful beneficiaries of the growing awareness and appreciation of African contemporary art internationally instead of following the predictable paradigm of becoming the unvalued developer of talent and net exporter, like all too many other African domestic industries.

Now the art market does not have any special rules when it comes to selling and it is important to recognise that when knowing how to engage. While art as a product is special, when we deal with it as a product, we are in a market place and with people who buy and sell and trade in all sorts of things all the time and reduce things to time, money, value and profit.

As African contemporary art galleries begins to gain a foothold in the international art market, having begun to make a mark in the critical sphere, they need to realise that the learning curve is steep. In this sense, entering the art market at Art Dubai was in many ways, like being thrown head first in the deep end. To some inexperienced observers of the art market the conspicuousness of money, business and wealth in Dubai seems like a guarantee of sales of almost anything, including art. This is definitely not the case. Unlike more established art fairs in Europe like Art Basel or Frieze or Art Cologne in cities and countries, Art Dubai is not based in a city with an established art collecting culture. As a result, Art Dubai has the double uphill task of both establishing itself as an art fair and creating a collector culture in a city where everything is new and has to be done from scratch.

Having taken some time to analyse Art Dubai 2013 from the market perspective and speaking to a number of exhibiting galleries like London’s Bischoff/Weiss, Bolsa de Arte from, Porto Alegre (Brazil) or Sfeir-Semler from Beirut/Hamburg several things became very clear. Most of the exhibitors saw, Art Dubai as part of their long-term marketing strategy. They were, coming to the fair primarily not to sell but to develop new contacts and collectors and deepen engagement, which may in the future yield sales not only in Dubai but also in their home bases. For anyone who visited the Sharjah Biennale running concurrently with Art Dubai in the neighbouring Sharjah Emirate, it also became eminently evident that some of the bigger name galleries like Yvon Lambert or CRG Galleries New York, who were making a debut at Art Dubai, were doing it to leverage the participation in the Biennale of the artists they represent. Moreover, the vast majority of international exhibitors, from Australia’s GAG Projects to Paris/Brussels’ Almine Rech and New York’s Alexander Gray Associates, brought to Art Dubai not Australian or French or US artists but rather Australian/French/American artists of Middle Eastern origin, taking the low risk, slow approach to engaging the Dubai market and with a consciousness of the sensibilities and sensitivities of their might be patrons. These calculations and strategies and interplays of relationships between fairs, biennales and museums are the realities of the art industry today and need to be mastered by newcomers.

For, while most of the African participants in Marker, are highly experienced and established art professionals and institutions in their own fields and countries, they were by and large novices to the art market and this level of engagement with the industry. It is perhaps not surprising that the experience of the fair may not have been the easiest of undertakings, for some as much at odds with their operational as well as curatorial modus operandi.

An international art fair if anything is a place, which forces you to have your feet firmly on the ground, where experience and expertise count for 80% of success. The other 20% of success is having international quality product in a market that has limited interest for niches and ultimate interest in sustained quality and merit that can reach beyond national borders and beyond national prices. It was not a surprise, that Solle Cisse’s works at Raw Materials Company were a hit with international curators and collectors. The work stood out for quality, which was not constrained by its geographic or cultural provenance but rather leveraged by it.

Negative comments about engaging with the art market are much too common among art professionals in the not-for-profit sector, yet it is a blinkered proposition and a self-defeating one, especially in the African context. Taking a look at the interplay between Sharjah Biennale and Art Dubai, should be sufficient evidence to dispel the notion that the for-and-not for profit sectors of the industry do not have a symbiotic relationship.  African artists and galleries do not need to compromise on quality or play up to the market to gain attention or sales, however they do need to be international market ready and to know what being market ready means.

One of the most positive things to be carried away from Bisi Silva’s Marker at Art Dubai is that African galleries, rather than European galleries representing African artists made their presence known in a substantial way. Moreover they stood out as a contingent, with (unintentional) courage to show their local artists and represent their contemporary art rather than accommodating the local market tastes. This is the courage and integrity that we can and should sustain going forward.

Whatever the perceived difficulties that Marker “Africa” had at this year’s Art Dubai, they are minor teething problems and an unavoidable part of growing maturity of our domestic art scenes and galleries. There is no room for discouragement and all the room in the world for thinking soberly and strategically about what it takes and what we need to learn and achieve to become equal partners in the art industry. As in other spheres of human activity political and ideological independence is not possible without economic independence and art world really is no different.

In her review of Marker for Contemporary &, Christine Eyene raised a questions about what lessons are to be learnt from Marker in the lead up to 1:54 the first contemporary African Art Fair in London this year, running as a satellite to Frieze. To my mind the answer is unequivocal. Non-engagement with the art market is not an option if we are to build up our domestic art sectors that are viable and to deliver to African artists on the promise of viable professional careers.

Equally evident to my mind is that African galleries need to be smarter and more strategic leveraging art market opportunities. Unlike many of our international counterparts, we live with realities of higher costs of transport and travel and no capital investment or lines of credit or bank loans to support new gallery businesses and limited to non-existing local markets. The challenges are huge, we cannot pretend they are not, but equally huge are the imperatives to realise the dreams of the talented artists on the continent for genuine recognition and economic independence.

The 1:54 Contemporary art fair will be another opportunity to make a statement of arrival and claim to a rightful place in an art market and a context that is developed, robust and expansive. This opportunity is not an unambiguous one. Participation in 1:54 is open to any gallery exhibiting an African artist. If African galleries don’t step up their place and their opportunities to engage and learn and develop, will be taken by European and American galleries already making a profit from exhibiting African artists.

These are the options and lines in the sand in Dubai or elsewhere. 



It's not about New York...

4/1/2013

 
In the past week, two distress signals emanated from the global art capital (New York) as an alert to the art community at large. The first came out in The Art Newspaper reporting that Nicole Klagsburn is to close her gallery in Chelsea after 30 years in the business (http://www.theartnewspaper.com/articles/Nicole-Klagsbrun-to-close-gallery-after--years-in-the-business/29137). Klagsburn cites the burden and corrupting influence of the market driven art system as the cause:

“structure of the system is overwhelming. A dealer’s job … gets swallowed up by this endless sea of events, fairs and biennials. The pace of it means you don’t have time to reflect or think, or strategise about the right steps for your artists’ careers. The standard of the art goes down, but there are always buyers and, if you don’t take part, you’re not successful.”

Two days later, almost chiming in, Jerry Saltz wrote a “eulogy” for the “gallery show” in the New York Magazine, roughly along the same lines:

“Chelsea galleries used to hum with activity; now they’re often eerily empty. …Fewer ideas are being exchanged, fewer aesthetic arguments initiated. …Instead, the blood sport of taste is playing out in circles of hedge-fund billionaires and professional curators, many of whom claim to be anti-market. There used to be shared story lines of contemporary art: the way artists developed, exchanged ideas, caromed off each other’s work, engaged with their critics. Now no one knows the narrative; the thread has been lost. Shows go up but don’t seem to have consequences, other than sales or no sales.” (http://www.vulture.com/2013/03/saltz-on-the-death-of-art-gallery-shows.html) 

The views of two stalwarts of the contemporary art world are neither to be lauded nor rued, especially by those of us somewhere South-South-East of the global centre geographically and conceptually. Their comments point not to the capitalist, globalisation malaise but to failure of the gallerists and art advocates in understanding the role and the place of the market accurately in the art sector. What both are describing are the capitulation to the market by the “art leaders” especially in the case of gallerists and many art institutions over the past two decades. While they welcomed the market and enjoyed the sales and sponsorships they neglected their duty to be the drivers of quality and allowed themselves to be consumed by “the customer is always right” mindset, which makes them complicit in the lowering of standards being complained about.

Too many art openings, gallery and museum have lost appeal by excluding artists by prioritising the sponsors and the moneyed collectors. Too many gallerists no longer see their jobs as being purveyors of art but being merely purveyors. The results are predictable.

However there are opportunities in the current situation, which are both immense and important if we have courage and vision to act.

The flipside-upside of the marketisation of the art world has created a global infrastructure for dissemination and creation of art. The market has made contemporary art prominent and relevant in a much broader range of countries and cultures than in the past. As much as they are maligned, art fairs have created earning opportunities and enabled the participation in the art scene for a much wider geographical and cultural spectrum of artists. This in and of itself has expanded the sustainability of contemporary art sectors around the world and the very creation of art and art scenes engaged in critical dialogues relevant to their countries in cultures across the planet. If this means that New York is less of an art capital, so be it.

Not to put too fine a point on it, while people may not be flocking to art openings in New York, but the openings in our tiny space in Harare are packed and people are discussing critical issues and exchanging ideas and the same phenomenon can be felt in Bangkok and Lagos and Bogota. The globalisation of the art market has created an infrastructure for democratisation of access and decentralisation of the art world and this is major progress.

What is important and relevant to recognise however is that the contemporary art sector has allowed itself to be market led and that has never led to the making or the propagation of quality art. We can accept that much of the interest in contemporary art and emerging art markets was and is primarily driven by greed, but we don’t need to be passively led by it.

Art dealers and leaders need to leverage the infrastructure and the momentum present in the globalised market to assert the primacy of art over money. This is in fact a survival imperative if contemporary art is to retain any credibility and long-run value (c.f. fad prices). There is no alternative.

Jerry Saltz’s nostalgia for New York of yesteryear is nice but not helpful. We know that art is not going to perish and new forms of presentation, exhibition and representation will emerge and re-emerge as they have done for centuries and millennia. What the art world needs now is leadership, courage and vision of where we are and what the best interests of art and artists require. That vision means recognising that art centres today have shifted and will continue to shift. That today art is made everywhere and arguably the best art no longer comes from established centres of the past century and that is very very ok. Our job is to make sure that quality and talent succeed, wherever they come from. Other than that, plus ça change, plus la même chose.

    Author

    Valerie Kabov is an educator, contrarian, researcher, interculturalist, idealist, cynic and art advocate above all...

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