A quick guide to Art Week Joburg 2019

This weekend Sandton and its surrounds will be the epicentre of inland arts.

If the Cape Town Art Fair that took place earlier this year is anything to go by, the 2019 edition of FNB Art Joburg will be a confluence of everything conceptual and interesting.

While the Cape Town Art Fair focused on introducing more contemporary African art, Art Joburg aligns itself with creating art events. This becomes patently obvious when you look at the exhibitions running side-by-side with the event at the Sandton Convention Centre.

Here’s what you need to know:

FNB Art Joburg

Untitled VII by Talia Ramkilawan.

From tomorrow to Sunday the Sandton Convention Centre will feature top galleries and some of the world’s leading artists. Exhibitions will be similar to those at Joburg Art Fair (relaunched as Art Joburg this year).

Although news releases from the organisers have been sparse this year leading up to the event, galleries involved are top notch. The list includes African artists in their prime. You only need to look at the website to whet your appetite.

Neighbours: Some African Modernists

Crowd of Beasts by Malangatana Ngwenya.

Ever been to Maputo and swooned because of a Pancho Guedes abode in Mozambique’s capital?

Running alongside Art Joburg, Strauss & Co is hosting a pop-up exhibition, Neighbours: Some African Modernists, featuring a selection of 20th-century modernist art from southern Africa. It will feature artworks from various private collections across southern Africa.

A private collection in Maputo has loaned works by acclaimed Mozambican painter Malangatana Ngwenya and his compatriot, Pancho Guedes. John Muafangejo will feature alongside fellow Namibians Adolph Jentsch and Fritz Krampe, both born in Germany.

The exhibition will also feature works from a private South African collection of abstract paintings produced in Zimbabwe in the 1980s. The exhibition will be on view at 89 Central Street, Houghton, from 9am to 4.30pm until September 19.

Latitudes

Selfie by Cristiano Mangovo.

Bringing together a curated selection of galleries, independent platforms, studios and artists from the African continent, Latitudes Art Fair is the new kid on the block.

The 2019 programme of special, curated projects includes a variety of sections, with distinct focus.

Essay is geared towards rarely seen work by artists beginning their careers and overlooked masters, Spotlight is a curated selection of artists from Africa and the diaspora whose work is unknown or underrepresented outside of the regional contexts in which they or their galleries operate, while Independent by the South African Mint is a curated exhibition of early career artists with no gallery representation.

SA Mint has had a stake in Joburg Art Fair in previous years, so it’s exciting to see what they will do with an event running on the side. For the programme visit Latitudes Art Fair.

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