Step into the virtual world of this year’s Investec Cape Town Art Fair
What makes an art fair? Is it the glittery opening night and the chance to be up close to your favourite artists? Is it the networking and the stop-and-stare moment as you browse through the offering? Is it the opportunity to share in a community just as engaged in creativity as you are? It is all of those things, but mostly it’s about good art for eager audiences - and this year, that’s what the Investec Cape Town Fair 2021 (ICTAF) offers.
Like most art events across the globe, this major annual fair has had to adapt and evolve to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic. Usually held at the Cape Town International Convention Centre in February, this year it invites viewers to a three-day digital programme featuring over 900 artworks from 53 exhibitors across the globe. It’s an ambitious project, one which seeks to present the full scope of artistic talent and enthusiasm on the continent, but one which also aims to present the virtual experience as equally dynamic and engaging as it’s ‘IRL’ counterpart. This edition also sees ICTAF partner with sister fair miart in Milan with sales powered by Artshell. Here, we profile three exhibiting artists who show the breadth of the work on show. Start here, and then let the platform lead you.
George Masarira at MMArthouse
George Masarira is a Zimbabwean artist best known for his use of acrylic paint to create rich, textural tableaus. Like a world within a world, Masariria’s work feels ethereal and spiritual, and his approach to the paint makes for bold work which seems never to shout or boast. Traditionally, Masarira has leant on his surroundings, his community and everyday life as his source of inspiration and action but admits that his practice has had to change because of the pandemic’s limitation on seeing other people and engaging with the outside world.
“There is a new normal of online shows and the digitalization of art is now more mainstream. These past two years I have tried to work from home, which was difficult. It’s not a professional space, that shift slowed down my productivity,” explains Masarira. Nevertheless, he has been able to align his work with this new normal, arguing that the online show platform presents an opportunity to do things differently. As an artist interested in social change and community, this new direction is as much an opportunity to expand as it has been a source of restriction.
Leila Fanner, Lucky Star, 2021, courtesy Deepest Darkest (1)
Leila Fanner at Deepest Darkest
Drawings of deep, stark contrast and fine detail, Leila Fanner’s work has a delicious, moody texture. As a South African artist, many of Fanner’s depictions are of dark-skinned black people, the community which surrounds and influences her. Some of her work leans into the country’s strong relationship to nostalgia, where she includes iconography of quintessential local brands and imagery that is recognisable to any South African at home and abroad. And this is no surprise considering that like many artists, Fanner has had to continue the work of the South African artistic story abroad, carrying her heritage and her heart for Africa all the way to the Band of Vices Gallery in Los Angeles. She’s also recently caught the eye of American-Guyanese actor CCH Pounder, a notable collector, whose foundation acquired seven pieces and continues to support black artists like Fanner working on the continent and across the diaspora.
For Fanner, the world of the digital does not distort or change her artistic process. Instead, she is embracing the opportunity to present her work virtually, despite the limitations on audience engagement. Rather, she takes a practical, online/offline approach. “Part of my process at the beginning stages of painting is digital, my work is also sent digitally to collectors and dealers internationally, so I'm always considering how my work looks across various digital platforms and formats,” she says.
Gianni Pettena at Gallery Giovanni Bonnelli
Gianni Pettena is no stranger to the ways in which the world’s changes can affect the artist. A beloved Italian architect, art critic and artist, the octogenarian continues to make impactful work despite changing circumstances. Pettena is in some circles best known for his work to advance the radical architecture movement which blossomed in the 1960s and 1970s - blurring and remoulding the lines between the form and function of architecture vs art.
As a sculptor and installation maestro, the digital realm presents a new space to present his work but changes little about his own practice, which he has been honing and refining for over half a century. As an older artist, the ‘get out of the gates’ post-pandemic reality that many artists have been hoping for, has not applied to him. “Well considering that I'm over 80, the point was to stay home and wait for the worst to pass away. I'm slowly finishing my archive and that year gives me a lot of time dedicated to this,” he says.
Investec Cape Town Art Fair is on view until 19 September 2021.