10 reasons to attend the 2020 Investec Cape Town Art Fair

The Investec Cape Town Art Fair 2020 is set to welcome the foremost galleries from South Africa, the African continent and abroad. What can the public expect? 10 must-see experiences centred on the artists, galleries and exhibitions taking place at the Investec Cape Town Art Fair.

Tomorrows/Today

Tomorrows/Today will be a curated section about the socio-political dynamics of the present day. The guest co-curators for 2020 – Nkule Mabaso (Curator at Michaelis Galleries, Cape Town) and Luigi Fassi (Artistic Director of MAN Contemporary Art Museum in Nuoro, Italy) – have curated a cross-section of the most exciting, emerging and artists from Africa and the Diaspora.

Artists who will be showcased in the section are Danica Lundy (USA) of Gallery C+N Canepaneri in Italy, Amanda Mushate (Zimbabwe) of First Floor Gallery in Zimbabwe, François-Xavier Gbré (France) of Gallery Cécile Fakhoury in Ivory Coast, Senegal and Paris, Andy Robert (USA) of Hannah Hoffman in Los Angeles, Fathi Hassan (Egypt) of Gallery Lawrie Shabibi in Dubai, Ernesto Shikhani (Mozambique) of Perve Galeria in Portugal, Nnenna Okore (Australia) of Gallery Sakhile&Me in Germany, Gregory Olympio (Togo) of Septieme Gallery in Paris, Bonolo Kavula (South Africa) of Suburbia Contemporary in Spain and Isabelle Grobler (South Africa) of Sulger-Buel Gallery in London.

Amanda Mushate

Solo

The third iteration of the Solo section will examine the issue of space: its politicisation through issues of geopolitics, migration, spatial practice and theory, diasporic studies and borders, national and abstract. In anticipation of the exhibition, art fair director Laura Vincenti says that the theme has been selected to communicate how artists speak and relate to Space in their works and beyond

The following artists have been selected for the SOLO section of the 2020 Investec Cape Art Fair: Kirsten Beets (South Africa) of Salon Ninety-One in South Africa; Teresa Kutala Firmino (South Africa) of Everard Read Gallery in South Africa; Nina Holmes (South Africa) of Eclectica Contemporary in South Africa; Alexandra Karakashian (South Africa) of SMAC Gallery in South Africa; Mawande Ka Zenzile (South Africa) of Stevenson in South Africa; Riley Holloway (USA) of Lars Kristian Bode in Germany and Sungi Mlengeya (Tanzania) of Afriart Gallery in Uganda.

Teresa Kutala Firmino

Worldwide art showcase

The Investec Cape Town Art Fair 2020 will happen on what can be described as a veritable world stage, showcasing talent, dialogue and curated display.

Expect to find the works of veteran Egyptian Fathi Hassan care of Lawrie Shabibi Gallery in Dubai; Shirin Neshat care of Goodman Gallery in Johannesburg, Ghanaian painter Gideon Appiah care of Afikaris Gallery of Paris, Onyis Martin care of Circle Art Gallery in Nairobi, Luc Ming Yan care of Apalazzo Gallery in Brescia, Brazilian Beto Shwafaty care of Prometeo Gallery in Milan and local performer and sculptor Athi-Patra Ruga care of WHATIFTHEWORLD in Cape Town.

Athi-Patra Ruga

Arte Povera

Local visitors to the Investec Cape Town Art Fair will be introduced to the wonderful art movement Arte Povera when one of its major founders is exhibited this year.

Giorgio Persano of Torino, in Italy, opened in the ‘70s and was home for conceptual art, Arte Povera and minimal art in Europe. Giorgio Persano is one of the galleries representing the masters of the Arte Povera movement: the gallery will be showcasing two representatives of the movement; Mario Merz and Michelangelo Pistoletto.

Michelangelo Pistoletto

Another gallery set to be showcasing this Italian art movement is Galleria Massimo Minini – Francesca Minini, representing artist Giulio Paolini. Arte Povera is the radical Italian art movement from the late 1960s to 1970s whose artists explore the relationship between artist and object, and between the cultural access of the wealthy and that of people born into poverty.

American art perspective

Due to be featured at the Investec Cape Town Art Fair 2020, is Haitian artist Andy Robert, represented by Los Angeles-based gallery Hannah Hoffman. Robert is based in Brooklyn, New York, and his large-scale, experimental paintings pick apart our visual reality so that we may examine the minutiae of life. The Investec Cape Town Art Fair will again host the American gallery Hannah Hoffman, forging a path for intersectional dialogue down South.

New York-born artist Amelia Etlinger, represented by Osart Gallery in Milan, was an artist associated with the Fluxus movement, visual poetry and the Italian Poesie Vivisa community. Etlinger moved with her family to Clifton Park, New York in the late 1960s. Etlinger regarded herself as a poet; after reading ee cummings, she started to create visual poetry that evolved into elaborate and collaborative works of natural material collected in the woods behind her house as well as fabric, thread, beads, costume jewellery, Japanese papers, and other found material.

Amelia Etlinger

At the same time, Los Angeles-born artist Riley Holloway will appear on the Solo platform of the Investec Art Fair 2020. Represented by German gallery Lars Kristen Bode, Holloway is a prestigious Hunting Prize finalist. A figurative painter, he works out of Dallas but was born in Los Angeles. In his paintings he examines Black masculinity and asks us to imagine a world where dignity is not a privilege but a right.

Reuse, reduce, recycle

Portuguese artist Joana Vasconcelos, represented at the Investec Cape Town Art Fair by gallery Mimmo Scognamiglio in Milan, Italy. In her work she re-contextualises and de-contextualises existing objects; and is known for making a chandelier out of tampons.

Congolese artist Patrick Bongoy (represented by EBONY/CURATED of Cape Town) who will exhibit his creatures created from rubber and hessian. The Cape Town-based artist’s work is a response to the global reality of literal and figurative environmental pollution.

Patrick Bongoy

Nigerian artist Nnenna Okore, represented by German gallery, Sakihle&Me, has received international acclaim for her richly textured abstract sculptures and installations. Her highly tactile sculptures respond to the rhythms and contours of everyday life, combining reductive methods of shredding, fraying, twisting and teasing with constructive processes of tying, weaving, stitching and dyeing.

Cultural platforms and the talks programme 

Tumelo Mosaka will return to Investec Cape Town Art Fair in the capacity of guest curator for cultural platforms and the talks programme.

Hot topics in 2020 include Philanthropy in Africa, an artists’ discussion titled Constructing Landscapes of Possibilities with Thenjiwe Niki Nkosi and Malebona Maphutse, moderated by Sharlene Khan; discussion between artists Kemang we Lehulere and François-Xavier Gbré of France; Museums in the 21st Century with Adriana Rispoli, an Independent Curator from Italy with Koyo Kouoh, Director of Zeitz MOCAA, and Sonia Lawson, Director of the Palais de Lomé in Togo. Other topics include Investing in Culture and the Quest for Sustainable Art Platforms.

Gallery Night 

The Gallery Night will take visitors to explore the culture of Cape Town evenings. The Friday night event allows visitors to hop on a bus and tour the city galleries. Visitors from beyond the Cape, who’ve identified artists and galleries from the city, at the fair, will gain a greater understanding of Cape Town and its diverse offerings.

Film fans are also in for a treat as art meets cinema at the Investec Cape Town Art Fair 2020. Don’t miss out on a curated art documentaries sundowns at the Labia Theatre, Cape Town’s renowned oldest cinema. The programme ART.DOC is the most recent edition of the fair’s programme; and is part of an initiative to educate those who are interested in art locally and internationally.

Past/Modern

Expect a foundation course in South African art pioneers at the Past/Modern section of this year’s Fair, which will showcase work by photographers David Goldblatt, Peter Magubane and Paul Weinberg, a solo presentation by Dr Esther Mahlangu, as well as a selection of works by the increasingly sought after Amadlozi group, Cecil Skotnes, Edoardo Villa, Sydney Kumalo and Ezrom Legae.

David Goldblatt

Curated by Cape Town veteran gallerist Joāo Ferreira, visitors can expect a panorama of works from coveted areas of historical South African art movements.

Cultural Platform 

The ongoing Cultural Platform section presents the work of cultural institutions and non-profit organisations who nurture and support artistic production in the region, through exhibitions and artist residencies.

Fair visitors will be struck by the appearance of artwork by the late, great Gerard Sekoto presented by The Gerard Sekoto Foundation, under the aegis of The Norval Foundation.

The NJE Collective of Namibia, an artist-run collective initiated for artists from Southern Africa in general, will present three artists: Rudolf Seibeb (Namibia), Chuma Somdaka (South Africa) and Jo Rogge (South Africa/Namibia).

The organisation Eh!Woza will screen youth-made films examining the local HIV and TB co-epidemic. And, from KwaZulu-Natal, the KZNSA, the force behind Durban’s leading contemporary gallery, will exhibit the renowned Derrick Nxumalo and Andile Maphumulo, in a celebration of the township and urban life through the expressionistic use of colour and wild geometric lines.

For the full list of exhibitors click here. For more information, visit www.investeccapetownartfair.co.za.