Investec Cape Town Art Fair (ICTAF) 2024

In the SOLO section, the gallery will focus on abstract artworks by Iranian artist Kamyar Bineshtarigh, and showcase new figurative paintings by Johannesburg-based artist Terence Maluleke in Generations, where they will be in conversation with historic tapestries and ceramics from the Rorke’s Drift Art and Craft Centre presented by Riaan Bolt Antiques.

In addition, a special project titled ‘Cabinet | Clay’, will feature works by South African ceramicists Madoda Fani and Chuma Maweni, as well as Franco-Beninese artist King Houndekpinkou, who is currently an artist at the GUILD Residency. Curated by the fair, this dedicated section recognises the significance of ceramics as one of civilisation’s most ancient practices.

Over the week of the fair, Southern Guild’s artists are featured in a number of important events, including the Almas Art Foundation Book and Film Launch with Andile Dyalvane in the gallery on Thursday, 15 February, and an ICTAF Talk moderated by Sean O’Toole and Olivia Barrell featuring Andile Dyalvane and Kamyar Bineshtarigh on Saturday, 17 February.

Main Section | Booth D10

Southern Guild’s booth includes work by 10 artists from the African continent and diaspora, many of whom have been artists in residence in the gallery’s GUILD Residency programme. A large, six-panel painting that Katlego Tlabela worked on during his residency will be featured on the booth, as well as a series of figurative paintings completed by Ayotunde Ojo during his recent stay in Cape Town. Navel Seakamela and Oluseye, also previous artists in residence, are represented on the stand, the latter showing photographic works and sculpture from his recent solo, Black Exodus: Summer Departure. Several significant new works were made especially for the fair, including paintings by Manyaku Mashilo following on from her recent solo exhibition, An Order of Being, woven rubber wall hangings by Patrick Bongoy and assemblage sculptures by Usha Seejarim. These will be shown alongside a series of ceramic tablets by Andile Dyalvane, iconic photographs by Zanele Muholi and a carved wooden sculpture by Dominique Zinkpè.

SOLO: Kamyar Bineshtarigh | Booth S1

Selected by Sean O’Toole, curator of the 2024 SOLO section, Kamyar Bineshtarigh will show mixed-media abstract works from key series produced in recent years. Bineshtarigh’s practice speaks to O’Toole’s thematic focus on the boundaries and limitations of contemporary painting – its “processes, materials and iconography but also its history and ontological character as a discrete medium”. The booth will bring together ink on canvas works from his Khat-Khati, Hafez and Gazal series, alongside layered paintings lifted from the walls of his studio. The presentation traces his longstanding interest in language and mark-making, and explores the medium of abstraction as a realm to examine structures of power and oppression.

Generations: Terence Maluleke | Booth G10

Terence Maluleke makes his debut at the fair with a series of paintings inspired by the narrativised landscapes and fantastical allegories in rare examples of work by Rorke’s Drift artists such as Ellna Xaba, Philda Majozi, Dorothy Sibiya, Gordan Mbatha, Ephraim Ziqubu and Elizabeth Mbatha. An accomplished visual developer in the field of animated film, Maluleke adopts a flattened pictorial language and vibrant approach to storytelling that has intriguing synergies with the tapestries and ceramics shown by Riaan Bolt Antiques. This new section of the fair instigates cross-generational conversations among 10 artists at different stages of their careers. According to curators Natasha Becker and Amogelang Maledu: “Generations encourages visitors to engage a relational way of seeing artists’ individual practices vis-à-vis their intersecting dialogues in mediums and material cultures, as well as common conceptual preoccupations.”

Almas Art Foundation Book and Film Launch with Andile Dyalvane

The Almas Art Foundation will launch its latest project, Ubunzululwazi Lwabaphantsi (Ancestral Wisdom), a book and documentary film celebrating the work of ceramic artist Andile Dyalvane. The publication provides a career survey with insightful texts by Olivia Barrell and Alexis Dyalvane. The documentary, filmed in Dyalvane’s Salt River studio, Southern Guild’s gallery and other locations, features interviews with the artist and his close collaborators. Based in London, the Almas Art Foundation celebrates the invaluable contributions made by African and African diaspora artists to modern and contemporary visual arts. Through its programme of publications, exhibitions and films, Almas documents the practices of established and mid-career African and African diaspora artists for a new generation of artists, scholars and the wider international art community.

ICTAF Talk: Themes of Language and Migration Across Media | Saturday, 17 February, 12:30 – 1:30 pm | Vasco da Gama Room, Westin Hotel

Join art critic Sean O’Toole and art historian Olivia Barrell in conversation with ceramic artist Andile Dyalvane and painter Kamyar Bineshtarigh as they explore themes of language and migration across their respective artistic mediums, with an emphasis on clay and painting. The artists have each cultivated unique multi-disciplinary practices that have energised the possibilities of clay and painting. The role of collaboration and community will also be discussed.