FNB Joburg & Frieze Sculpture 2024 Returns; The Acquisition of Arthur Timothy’s works; Spotlighting Falida Nkomo
Gresham Tapiwa Nyaude Wins the 2024 FNB Art Prize
Zimbabwean artist Gresham Tapiwa Nyaude has been announced as the prize winner of this year’s FNB Art Prize. Working in the medium of painting, Nyaude’s images oscillate between figuration, abstraction, and hallucination. Defying characterization, his renders capture a generation’s absurdly relentless drive to attain and maintain dignity and a quality of life that sometimes appears beyond reach.
The jury for the 2024 FNB Art Prize remarked, “There is a compelling balance between hope and political resistance in Gresham’s work. His adept use of satire allows him to navigate and illuminate complex, often contentious, topics with a nuanced approach that invites viewers to engage critically. Additionally, his commitment to the medium is evident in his technique and his sophisticated use of color. This control over brushwork not only showcases his technical skills but also enhances the expressive power of his work.”
Marking the 14th edition of the art prize, Gresham Tapiwa Nyaude joins previous winners Lindokuhle Sobekwa, Dada Khanyisa, Wycliffe Mundopa, Lady Skollie, Bronwyn Katz, Haroon Gunn-Salie, and Peju Alatise, amongst others.
FNB Joburg Art Fair Commences in September
Known as the leading and longest-running African art fair on the continent, FNB Art Joburg will return to Sandton Convention Centre for its 17th edition. From September 6 to September 8, 2024, the seven specially curated sections (gallery HUB, MAX, GIF, gallery LAB, AUX, ETC, and ORG) will showcase works from internationally renowned galleries like BKhz, blank, Eclectica Contemporary, Goodman Gallery, Stevenson; and emerging galleries and hybrid art spaces like AMG Projects, Amasaka Gallery, 16/16, Untitled, amongst others.
Arthur Timothy’s works acquired by the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Tia Collection
British-Ghanaian/Sierra Leonean artist Arthur Timothy has been acquired by the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA, USA, and the Tia Collection, Santa Fe, NM, USA.
The Philadelphia Museum of Art has acquired ‘And the Clamour Became a Voice (E Il Clamore è Divenuto Voce)’, 2023, and ‘Alle Porte Coi Sassi (At the Doors with Stones)’, 2023 for their permanent collection. The two works were originally shown in ‘In and Out of Time’, a group exhibition curated by Ekow Eshun at Gallery 1957 in September 2023. Part of a series reflecting on the underrepresented fragments of Black history in the Italian context, both paintings invoke the Black history of Florence and poignantly depict themes of imminent change necessitated by radical imagination.
'And the Clamour Became a Voice (E Il Clamore è Divenuto Voce)' derives its title from words spoken by Léopold Sédar Senghor, Senegal’s first president, poet and cultural theoretician of the Négritude movement.
The Tia Collection also acquired ‘Evelyn Dove - New York or Paris, Between Midnight and The Milkman’ 2024, and 'Frans Dove’ 2024. The two works demonstrate Arthur Timothy's approach to portraiture which celebrates his family members from times past, as is the case in the compelling painting of his maternal aunt, Evelyn Dove - New York or Paris, Between Midnight and The Milkman and 'Frans Dove', which is the artist's maternal grandfather.
Frieze Sculpture Returns to London’s Regent Park
Frieze Sculpture returns to London’s Regent’s Park for its 12th edition, with works from 22 renowned and contemporary artists from five continents, including Zizipho Poswa, Zanele Muholi, Theresa Chromati, and Frances Goodman. From 18th September to 27th October 2024, the works from these artists will be sited throughout the park’s historic English Gardens.
Curated by Fatoş Üstek, this year’s programme embraces an expanded notion of sculpture, featuring 18 new works and highlighting artists who explore the medium’s possibilities by engaging with sound, light, performance, painting, video, and augmented reality. There will also be an extensive public programme of live activations and curator-led tours.
Artist Spotlight: Falida Nkomo
Falida Nkomo is a Malawian-South African artist making sense of self and identity through her practice. Migration is a starting point within her work. A second-generation immigrant born and raised in South Africa, her work is rooted in the concept of belonging in the sense of fitting in through identity, which is closely linked to an individual experience.
Her printmaking technique utilizes layered monotypes and historical imagery, weaving a visual tapestry that explores themes of belonging, and the struggles of navigating foreign borders. Using her mother’s memory as a channel to engage with her Malawian heritage, her work expresses how this sense of hybridity through culture, influences the idea of shared identities and what it means to belong within the ideas of what home is. Nkomo’s expressions seek to become a language of how one traverses through borders despite their foreignness.
On view:
Figures in Webs and Ripples of Space: Gallery 1957 presents “Constellations Part 2,” the second part of the sister-city exhibition between Gallery 1957 in Accra and London. (August 1 - October 10, 2024).
Communal Bond: Affinity Gallery brings five contemporary artists, Hamed Maiye, Joseph Ijoyemi, Mofoluso Eludire, Nana Danso Awuah-Asante, and Nduka Ikechukwu, together in a group show in Lagos. (August 10 - September 15, 2024).
Irapuru: Goodman Gallery, London presents a group show highlighting practices that articulate beauty from within contexts of sociopolitical complexity and struggle with works from El Anatsui, David Goldblatt, William Kentridge, Kapwani Kiwanga, Atta Kwami, Laura Lima, Misheck Masamvu, Carrie Mae Weems, Yinka Shonibare and Clive van den Berg. (August 28 - September 21, 2024).
