Spring in Paris and London: Market fever for Contemporary African art
Paris: Strong push by Contemporary African art galleries with a solid presence at contemporary fair Art Paris. At Art Paris African art galleries from Europe and the African continent showed their new works: Artist Billie Zangewa with her beautiful hand sown collage at South African gallery ArtNova. Getting pretty pricey! She has been showing her […]
Emerging art scene in Nairobi, Part II
Gor Soudan and Michael Soi: Two artists politically engaged but at polar opposite in terms of process and aesthetics. Gor Soudan’s approach is essentially conceptual. He greeted me in his new small studio not too far from the Circle Art Agency. He came to art by way of his passion for philosophy. Translating an idea, […]
Interview with South African artist Nandipha Mntambo
Nandipha Mntambo’s hauntingly beautiful sculptures made out of cowhide. Video by Diane Frankel Nandipha Mntambo, born in Swaziland in 1982 and raised in South Africa, is a sculptor who has made cowhide her medium of choice. Her choice is informed on one hand by a childhood dream where she found herself left with a pile […]
Interview with rising star: South African artist Nicholas Hlobo
Interview with Nicholas Hlobo by Diane Frankel Nicholas Hlobo cuts, tears, punctures and resews varied materials such as paper, black inner tube, satin ribbon, leather, textiles that are rich in associations and creates drawings, sculptural installations and performances where he explores issues of personal identity, such as gender, sexuality, ethnicity, origins and colonial history. […]
Artist Nnenna Okore in her studio
Conversation with Nigerian sculptor Nnenna Okore in her studio The first time I saw Nnenna Okore’s work was at the Newark Museum and I found it very poetic and compelling. Hung from the ceiling, transparent strips of shredded burlap dyed with clay like color, felt tactile and earthy yet paradoxically also ethereal and majestic. That […]
Heroic Africans at the Metropolitan Museum
HEROIC AFRICANS REINSTATED by Isabel Stainow Wilcox The exhibition “ Heroic Africans: Legendary Leaders, Iconic Sculptures” at the Metropolitan Museum curated by Dr. Alisa LaGamma, gathers pre-colonial sculpture from eight landmark sculptural traditions from West and Central Africa created between the 12th century and the 20th century. Focused on sculptural forms that commemorate important leaders, […]
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