African contemporary art: a growing phenomenon

That ofcontemporary African art is a dynamic phenomenon that has been fully consolidated over the past few years, enjoying tremendous success. 2020 saw the market show lively interest in African and African American artists, while museums and private institutions organized more retrospectives about them, and this trend is expected to continue through 2021. Galleries, on the other hand, are becoming more open to investing in new currents from the continent.

Fairs are also playing their part. In particular, the 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair, founded by Touria El Glaoui, is the first fair dedicated to contemporary African art that boasts editions in London, New York, and Marrakech and will land in Paris for the first time from January 20-23, 2021. The event, organized in collaboration with Christie’s, will take place in compliance with the rules adopted for the containment of the pandemic by Covid-19. A sign of openness toward a universe, that of fairs, which it is hoped will soon return to animate the cultural life of cities.

Central to the research of many African artists is identity and the investigation of their own origins. An analysis that takes the form of a highly expressive figurative language with powerful colors and on canvases, usually, of medium to large size.

Reflecting on the African Diaspora has recently been Ghanaian artist Amoako Boafo. Originally from Ghana, but transplanted to Vienna, Boafo has created the Black Diaspora series, a series of profound portraits celebrating the relationship with one’s roots, highlighted by his subjects’ flamboyant outfits reminiscent of the sunshine and atmosphere of their homeland. A clamor also found in the marketplace. At Christie’s auction in Hong Kong last Dec. 2, 2020, Boafo was one of the artists of record, touching the million euro mark with his work Baba Diop.

An entirely different stylistic trait is that of Ethiopian-born artist Julie Mehretu, who was featured in a monumental retrospective at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) in 2020. Her art embraces reflections on war, capitalism, and history through an informal painting style in which she composes floating architectures that convey a sense of tension and movement.

Amoako Boafo

Julie Mehretu. Ph. Credit Heather Sten

Zanele Muholi at the 2019 Venice Biennale.

Running until May 31, 2021, London’s Tate Modern is offering Zanele Muholi’s exhibition, temporarily suspended due to the lockdown. The photographs by the South African artist, a “visual activist” as she prefers to be called, investigate the concept of identity in its many facets, especially the sexual one, with an analysis, extremely delicate, aimed at the role of the body.

Also looking ahead to 2021, another established artist on the contemporary art scene is Yinka Shonibare who was recently awarded the Art Icon 2021 prize, sponsored by London’s Whitechapel Gallery and the Swarovski Foundation. Shonibare, originally from Nigeria, has always, through his work, questioned themes of colonialism and post-colonialism in the age of globalization.

An eagerly awaited appointment is the one with African American artist Kara Walker, who will be the protagonist of an immense retrospective entitled A black hole is everything a star longs to be at the Kunstmuseum Basel (Basel) starting next June 5, an occasion in which a group of works never shown before will be exposed to the public.

Turning our gaze to next year’s edition of the 59th Venice Biennale, postponed to the spring of 2022, the United States will be represented for the first time by a woman of Jamaican descent-Simone Leigh. The artist’s sculptures focus on the stories of African American women through a path aimed at reading history with more awareness, in order to arrive at a deeper understanding of contemporaneity.

Some galleries in Italy also promote the poetics of contemporary African and African American art. The Luce gallery in Turin, the Primo Marella gallery in Milan and the Akka Project gallery in Venice are among the main spaces dealing with this.

Running until Jan. 31 at Primo Marella Gallery is Africa Universe - Part II, an exhibition featuring the works of a large group of contemporary African artists, currently available online due to restrictions imposed to contain the pandemic.

Luce Gallery, on the other hand, recently concluded an exhibition by Afro-Portorican artist Amaryllis DeJesus Moleski.

Yinka Shonibare

Kara Walker

Simone Leigh

Warning: the translation into English of the original Italian article was created using automatic tools. We undertake to review all articles, but we do not guarantee the total absence of inaccuracies in the translation due to the program. You can find the original by clicking on the ITA button. If you find any mistake,please contact us.