Untitled Art 2023

Southern Guild returns to Untitled Art in 2023 – for its second year – with a focus on work by three young artists: South African painters Jozua Gerrard and Katlego Tlabela, and Zimbabwean ceramic artist Xanthe Somers. Diverse in style and conceptual interests, these emergent voices engage with political, social and cultural contexts in different ways. They share a pop-infused formal approach that harnesses elements of fantasy and play, undergirded by a sense of dissonance.

Gerrard’s enamel-on-glass paintings explore his personal experience of contemporary youth culture, their lone figures hinting at a listless malaise and disconnection. Tlabela’s multi-panelled, self-referential tableaux delve into desire, aspiration and belonging from the perspective of his post-Apartheid generation who inherited the promises of liberation and Black economic freedom. In contrast, Somers’ sculptural ceramic vessels fuse political commentary and hyper-ornamentation to draw attention to Western overconsumption, cheap labour and the impact of eco-racist practices on the Global South.

During the fair, Southern Guild’s director Jana Terblanche will be part of a podcast panel discussion titled ‘Curating in the Digital Age’, focusing on the evolution of curatorial practice amidst ever-expanding technological progress.