Established in 1966, Goodman Gallery emerged as the pre-eminent contemporary art gallery in South Africa, exhibiting many of the nation’s significant artists—among them David Koloane, Sam Nhlengethwa, Sue Williamson and David Goldblatt—and introducing them to the international art world during the apartheid era. Now with spaces in Johannesburg, Cape Town, and London, the gallery continues to present challenging artworks that disrupt the status quo and advocate for social change.
Read MoreGoodman Gallery represents a diverse range of artists from around the globe. Established and emerging South African artists on the gallery’s roster include William Kentridge, whose powerful charcoal drawings, animated films, and sculptures interrogate life in post-apartheid South Africa; Gabrielle Goliath who uses multimedia installations to address contexts marked by the traces, disparities and as-of-yet un-reconciled traumas of colonialism and apartheid, as well as socially entrenched structures of patriarchal power and rape-culture; and Candice Breitz, whose video installations explore the complexities of humanity in the context of contemporary media and popular culture.
International artists in the Goodman Gallery roster include El Anatsui, known for his use of humble materials and recycled metal pieces (like bottle tops) to create often massive assemblages; Hank Willis Thomas, a conceptual artist working primarily with themes related to perspective, identity, commodity, media, and popular culture; and Carrie Mae Weems, one of the most influential contemporary American artists who investigates family relationships, cultural identity, sexism, class, political systems, and the consequences of power.
Other concerns shared by Goodman Gallery artists include the legacy of colonialism, identity, authenticity, and the relationship between the individual and the collective. These can be found in the works of Yinka Shonibare CBE, whose mannequins dressed in lavish West African fabrics, which are Indonesia-inspired and Dutch in origin, prompt renegotiations of cultural or national identity; Shirin Neshat, whose photographs, videos, and performances chart the experiences of Muslim women; and Alfredo Jaar, who interrogates socio-political issues such as migration and discrimination through film, photography, print, and neon work.
Among Goodman Gallery’s extensive programme of exhibitions, public talks, and events are two ongoing curatorial initiatives that bring together the work of international and South African artists: In Context, which was initiated in 2010, engages with the contemporary understandings of place and belonging in art; while South-South was launched in 2015 and aims to facilitate a art-based dialogue on the geopolitical south.
Each year Goodman Gallery participates in a number of international art fairs, including Art Basel; Frieze London; Investec Cape Town Art Fair; and FNB Art Joburg, Johannesburg.
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Related Press Museum of Fine Arts, Houston Announces 7 Site-Specific Installations 5 December 2019, The New York Times The artists are El Anatsui, Byung Hoon Choi, Carlos Cruz-Diez, Olafur Eliasson, Trenton Doyle Hancock, Cristina Iglesias and Ai Weiwei, and they were commissioned to create a mix of sculptures, light installations and suspended artworks for the 14-acre premises, known as the Susan and Fayez S. Sarofim Campus.
Related Press Hank Willis Thomas Opens Up Space for Interpretation, Which Is Sometimes Risky 26 November 2019, Hyperallergic PORTLAND, Ore. — The night I went to see Hank Willis Thomas: All Things Being Equal... I found the Portland Art Museum flooded with people museums often hope to draw in: a visibly diverse, casually fashionable set of 20- and 30-somethings — a group I rarely encountered at PAM on past visits from Seattle.
Related Press Beyond Frieze – what’s in store in London this week 1 October 2019, Apollo Frieze Week has long been the busiest spell in the London art calendar, with Frieze London and Frieze Masters (3–6 October) joined by a host of major gallery exhibitions across the city.
Related Press Kapwani Kiwanga according to Sarah Rifky 30 September 2019, Fonsation D'Entreprise Ricard I cannot remember what time of day it was that I was standing outside of Bétonsalon, a center for art and research in Paris. As I write this my memory is straining, trying to reconcile the two cities, Cairo and Paris, that I moved between that summer four years ago. What I do remember was being pensive, standing outside the art space. I was there...
Related Video & Audio El Anatsui: ‘The golden rule is, there are no rules’ 7 June 2019, Art Basel El Anatsui has carved a name for himself with his monumental hanging sculptures made with recycled metal scraps. As imposing and spectacular as they are fragile and portable, these works have been exhibited in some of the world's most prestigious institutions, most recently at Munich's Haus der Kunst and in the Venice Biennale's first Ghana...
Related Video & Audio Shirin Neshat: the power behind the veil 11 May 2016, Louisiana Channel, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art In many middle eastern cultures men are totally restrained from any expression of emotion, says Iranian artist Shirin Neshat (b. 1957) in this interview: "All my photographs are about controlled emotions. They are always a juxtaposition of the dark side of life and the good side of life. Of light and darkness. Pain and joy. Violence and...
Related Video & Audio El Anatsui: Language & Symbols 1 April 2016, ART21 In this video, Ghana's best-known contemporary artist, El Anatsui, speaks about the role that language and symbols play in his work. He describes how the abstract nature of West African "adinkra" symbols and the flexibility of meaning in the words of his native language of Ewe resonate with the concept of non-fixity and indeterminateness...
Related Video & Audio Alfredo Jaar: Images are Not Innocent 7 February 2013, Louisiana Channel Alfredo Jaar was interviewed by Christian Lund at Malmö Konsthall, February 2013.
