INVESTEC CAPE TOWN ART FAIR

As a passionate champion of contemporary artists, Christopher Moller Gallery is thrilled to be one of the key exhibitors at the Investec Cape Town Art Fair 2022. Certainly, one of the most well regarded and respected contemporary art fairs on African soil, this year’s Investec Art Fair is the ninth since its inception – and we are excited to both showcase some of the enormous talents we represent and to immerse ourselves in the multitude of offerings at this iconic event.

2021 was a year of enormous growth for both the Gallery and our artists, and the fair will be an opportunity to showcase a multifaceted body of work from some notable talents in the contemporary art world. We have worked closely with our artists and feel confident that our collectors and the art-loving public will be equally enthused by this diversity in art and cultural discourse. Borders are not a barrier for us, we have artists from all over the African continent within our carefully nurtured stable of established stalwarts, mavericks and newer discoveries, all of whom revel in stretching the status quo of contemporary art. Some of our artists recently exhibited at Art Miami 2021 two months ago and we are delighted to be sharing their work here in Cape Town.

The Investec Cape Town Art Fair2022 organisers have highlighted their focus on collaboration – providing aspace where artists, gallery owners and collectors alike can gather to connect,converse and contemplate with contemporary art. This notion of art sparkingconversation is very much in line with the Christopher Moller Gallery and theartists we represent and indeed the art we share. In our opinion, the nine artists who will be showcased atthis year’s Art Fair are certainly some of the most collectable and relevantcontemporary art talents currently in the global market.

Tosin Kalejaye

Nigerian talent TosinKalejaye has recently returned from a successfulsolo launch with the gallery at Art Miami 2021. Kalejaye’s deeply saturated portraits areboth a challenge to figurative norms and socio-cultural expectations andreflect his determination to tell the story of his contemporaries in ameaningful way. Frans Smit Portraitist Frans Smit’smeticulously rendered hybrid artworks compel you to discard previousunderstandings of portraiture and oils by the old masters and to appreciatethat Smit has indeed created his own visual language. A solo show with thegallery later in 2022 will be a further exploration of this collectableartist’s enormous capacity for expression.

Olamide Ogunade Olisco

Internationally regarded as a contemporary artist to know (and collect), Olisco has built a loyal fanbase through thegallery thanks to his beautifully rendered acrylic and charcoal portraits. Hishyperrealism style is punctuated by his trademark pop art bubble elements, withhis vibrant subjects taking centre stage and demanding your attention. Michael Gah We are very happy to welcome Ghanaian artist Michael Gah to the Christopher Moller Gallery. Gah is inspiredby the female perspective and experience within the African context. Hecreates his hyper coloured figurative works using strips of endemic fabrics, sorepresentative of women in Africa in a thoroughly modern and thought-provokingmanner.

Hamid NiiNortey

The might and majesty of women and the changing landscape around their roles and expectations in Ghanaian society,are the centre point of Hamid Hii Nortey’s exquisitely rendered and colouredacrylic portraits. After a successful showing in 2021, Norteywill return to the Gallery later this year with a new body of work thataddresses migration and the social impact it has on our psyches andlives.

Juan Stockenstroom

Critically acclaimed portraitist Juan Stockenstroom is a force to reckon with in thecontemporary art world and his recent duo show at the gallery was very wellreceived. Stockenstroom experiences chromesthesia, where heassociates sound with specific colours and his latest body of work is anexciting deep dive into vibrant colour, movement and emotions experienced whileimmersing himself in the joy of High Life music.

Azuka Muoh

The Gallery is delighted to be welcoming contemporary talent and newcomerAzuka Muoh to our stable. Her powerful explorations of gender-based issues are hardhitting and make no excuses for their overtness. Muoh’s digitally rendered, multiple compositionportraits are surrealist in nature and are hyperbolized reflections of personalexperience and indeed societal constraints, especially in the context of beinga woman in 21st century Nigeria. We are veryexcited to welcome this new talent, who is breaking barriers with her impactfulpieces.

Jean-Baptiste Djéka

New to the Christopher Moller stable, Côte d’Ivoire painter and sculptor Jean-Baptiste DjékaKouadio,is greatly influenced by West African Akan culture. Djéka’swork is an intense and tangible expression of how the matrilineal tradition hasshaped his life and indeed his view of the world. The body of work representsand speaks about the mutation of cultures basing it on the origin which is thequest of all human beings - leaning on the African esoteric inheritance,ancestors, symbols, and masks to express himself.

This year’s Investec Cape Town ArtFair 2022 is exciting for so many reasons – it will not only be a chance for usto meet with our collectors and enthusiasts in person but is also anopportunity to celebrate what we believe is a superb showcase of some powerfulartists, each with their own agenda and view of their world. The current moodin contemporary art is one of breaking barriers and changing conversations andwe are enormously proud to play a small part in acting as a potentiallypowerful mouthpiece.