FNB Art Fair team prepares to host a brilliant exhibition in Sandton

The annual FNB Joburg Art Fair will be celebrating its 11th annual fair at the Sandton Convention Centre.

The fair will include works from over 45 galleries from countries around the world. It is the largest fair on the continent and has become renowned for the large variety of artworks that it showcases.

This year there will be 15 new exhibitors, adding to the incredible art which will be on display. The fair will take place from 6 to 9 September and will be an all-in-one showcase of fresh perspectives and sought-after content on contemporary African art.

The FNB Art fair also has two new team members including Amy Ellenbogen, the curator for galleries and VIPs, and Kabelo Malatsie as curator for the talks programme.

The two will pool their considerable resources, knowledge, experience and in-depth understanding of contemporary African art to inspire the art community including investors, aspirant collectors, creative aficionados, critics and the public.

The featured artist this year is Malawian-born and Joburg-based Billie Zangewa. Her figurative compositions, depicting a woman going about her everyday domestic life, explore how women are so often disadvantaged by multiple sources of oppression including race, class and gender identity.

“After many years of celebrating great artists who reside elsewhere in the world as featured artists, the FNB Joburg Art Fair team felt it was time to focus on an artist who lives and works in Johannesburg and expresses lives lived here. Billie Zangewa’s quiet work has been included in many prestigious collections and exhibition worldwide, and we are excited to, this year, present a large-scale work to our FNB Joburg Art Fair audience,” said Mandla Sibeko, director of the art fair.

Zangewa primarily uses raw silk offcuts to create intricate hand-stitched collages in a flat, colourful style.

“Zangewa’s vision of Johannesburg exceeds the steel, glass and concrete infrastructure that constitute this hurried, agitated metropolis. What is most striking about her mature work is Zangewa’s consistent focus on the social rituals and verdant abundance obscured by her hometown’s suburban walls,” said Sean O’Toole, respected art critic and writer.

Zangewa said, “I’m thrilled to be selected as this year’s featured artist for the FNB Joburg Art Fair. It is a great honour and I’m proud to be in the company of the other artists chosen before me. Sincere thanks to FNB, Artlogic and my gallery, Blank Projects, for their support.”

Tickets can be purchased here

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