Cape Town has long been a hot spot for the creative arts and over the last decade, the city has transformed into a top-tier art destination.
The established museum, Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (Zeitz MOCAA) built in 2017 placed Cape Town on the world art map and enhance the city’s status as an art hub that is worthy of international acclaim.
The Zeitz MOCAA has been referred to as the ‘eighth wonder of the world’ as an architectural masterpiece and the largest contemporary museum in Africa. The museum has increased the city’s standing as a home to innovators pushing the limits of groundbreaking art.
The South Africa 2018 Wealth Report cites African art as accounting for 1-billion USD worth (about R12-billion) of the total global top-end art marked valued at an overall sum of 75-billion USD, with a total of 450-million USD (R5,5-billion) worth of African art being held in South Africa.
Estimates show that African local fine art prices have risen 28% over the past 10 years in dollars, while global fine art rose by only 12%.
Top selling South African artists are Irma Stern costing R30-million per painting and Maggie Laubser costing R5-million per painting.
The growing interest in art tourism has made Cape Town galleries an excellent viewing point to experience exceptional local art at the source.
Some of the local galleries that form the backbone of the city’s fine art route include three of the V&A Waterfront exhibition spaces being the Zeitz MOCAA, Everard Read (the oldest commercial gallery) and the Southern Guild.
Inner city galleries include Iziko Museums of South Africa, Association for Visual Arts, Gallery MOMO, Cape Gallery, Eclectica Contemporary, boutique Salon Ninety One including Sandy De Bruin’s elegant No.5 on Hudson located in the trendy De Waterkant.
The Woodstock eclectic African art scene moves towards the contemporary at the Goodman Gallery Cape, Stevenson Gallery, 34 Fine Art Gallery, Art It Is and Whatiftheworld, while perimeter galleries such as Rust-en-Vrede offer a clay museum exhibition. Artvark has a keen eye for folk art and custom-made steelworks.
The Irma Stern Museum houses a permanent collection and the Norval Foundation features one of the biggest private art collections in the country and is the custodian of the Gerard Sekoto Foundation.
With Cape Town’s myriad of galleries showcasing diverse artwork from across the continent, the city’s robust art scene continues to grow and flourish – making it a ‘world design capital’ and the perfect space to produce cutting edge and provocative artwork.
Picture: Unsplash