Investec Cape Town Art Fair:
Artwork Selections 2022

Dada Khanyisa at Stevenson

Cape Town-based artist Dada Khanyisa uses the Zulu word nakanjani to describe their multidisciplinary practice. Roughly translating to 'by whatever means', Khanyisa says the term describes how their use of many materials 'accommodates multiple outcomes.'

Having initially studied animation at the National Electronic Media Institute of South Africa, Khanyisa has gone on to incorporate sculpture and installation into their creative repertoire.

Wall pieces such as this one reflect the artist's feel for colour and texture, with their chosen figures and vernacular elements describing social culture and domestic life.

Richard Mudariki at Barnard Gallery

Born in 1985, Zimbabwean painter Richard Mudariki's satirical paintings originally focused on the social and economic situation in Zimbabwe, before expanding to comment on political matter more broadly—from relationships to school systems.

Titled July unrest (2022), this recent painting refers to the violent period of rioting in South Africa in July 2021—the worst since apartheid—after President Jacob Zuma was sentenced to 15 months in prison on contempt charges.

Embedded in Cape Town's art scene since 2011, Richard Mudariki co-founded artHARARE in 2020—an artist-run project supporting Zimbabwean contemporary art scene.

Tom Anholt at Galerie EIGEN + ART

Constellations of colour and pattern combine with figurative elements to create poetic narrative scenes in the paintings of Tom Anholt.

Influenced by art historical movements including German Expressionism as well as his immediate surroundings, with family members appearing in recent paintings, Anholt has developed a style with its own distinct mood.

Since graduating in 2010 with a BFA from Chelsea College of Art and Design in London, the British Berlin-based artist has had solo exhibitions at galleries and institutions worldwide, including Kunstverein Ulm in Germany in 2018 as well as Hakgojae Cheongdam in Seoul during the art fair Kiaf last year.

In April 2022, the artist will have a solo exhibition at Josh Lilley Gallery in London.

Portia Zvavahera, Take me deeper (2017). Relief print on paper. 28.5 x 42 cm. Courtesy Stevenson.

Portia Zvavahera at Stevenson

In the last few years, Portia Zvavahera has attracted global attention for her otherworldly paintings that deal with spiritual realms and the human condition.

Last year, the artist held her debut solo exhibition in New York, Ndakaoneswa murima with David Zwirner, becoming one of the gallery's youngest artists.

Since her participation in the Zimbabwe Pavilion at the 55th Venice Biennale in 2013, Zvavahera has exhibited worldwide, including Stephen Friedman Gallery and Modern Art in London, and Andrew Kreps Gallery in New York.

Sanaa Gateja at Afriart Gallery

Known as the 'bead king of Uganda', Sanaa Gateja is a self-taught multidisciplinary artist who also works with rural communities at his Kwetu Africa Studio Kilembe in Western Uganda to create beads from recycled paper.

Representing Uganda at the 1970 Osaka International Exhibition in Japan, the artist undertook a jewellery design course in Florence, Italy in the 1980s before becoming a member of the British Crafts Council in London.

Working across soft sculpture, jewellery, tapestry, and installation, Gateja's practice also incorporates materials such as barkcloth, raffia, wood, lava stone, and banana fibre.

Igor Hosnedl at Galerie EIGEN + ART

Resembling mechanical or ornamental parts in alluring gradients of colour, the forms in Igor Hosnedl's canvases come together as portals into strange alternate realities.

Using handmade pigments, glue, and damar varnish, the surfaces of these paintings is glossy, drawing viewers further into subject matter that is both fantastical and foreboding.

The Czech-born Berlin-based artist graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague in 2013, and his work has been gaining international attention since, with gallery and institutional solo shows as well as art fair appearances including Art Taipei and Art Cologne in 2021.

Mashudu Nevhutalu at 99 Loop Gallery

Artist and art teacher Mashudu Nevhutalu sifts through his family archives to render scenes that contain the glow of nostalgia.

Nevhutalu diminishes explicit detail in his paintings to give way to a certain mood, offering a haziness that reflects the unreliability of memory.

First influenced by graffiti and street murals, Nevhutalu pursued a BFA at the Tshwane University of Technology in Pretoria, South Africa, graduating in 2014.