ART@AFRICA CELEBRATES THE DIVERSITY OF CONTEMPORARY SOUTH AFRICAN ART

Art@Africa creates meaningful art experiences to trigger powerful emotions. In displaying entirely South African artists, the gallery in the Silo District of the Cape’s V&A Waterfront and sculpture garden, across the road from the Huguenot Monument in picturesque Franschhoek, (in collaboration with Perfume Privé Workshop) provide a platform on which the extraordinary South African talent can be recognised on an international level. Art@Africa uses its unique settings to celebrate the diversity of Contemporary South African art.

Having worked alongside artists in large projects such as Epcot, Universal Studios, Sea World and edutainment centres, museums and aquariums around the world, Art@Africa founder and Impresario Dirk Durnez has the talent to recognise good art and the ability to find and nurture promising emerging artists. Art@Africa offers these artists a platform and works closely together with both established and new artists to create a cross-pollination of South African talent.

Art@Africa brings 38 years of international experience in edutainment, themed construction, and architectural storytelling to the table. They not only assist clients, architects, developers and interior designers to select the correct artworks but also assist with architectural and Imagineering advice. When it comes to Monumental Creations, they offer expert engineering.

Prof. Mike Bruton writes in his book Curious Notions: “Art@Africa seeks to create a significant positive experience and to address the issues that face modern African society through its art. They recognize that artists are often the first to oppose dull binary prejudices and rather see an opportunity to portray the kaleidoscopic continuum between extremes. They also believe that there is an increasingly strong interface between art and science, especially environmental science, and that art can convey messages and articulate emotions that we are not able to express easily in words. Art therefore transcends cultures, languages and disciplines and provides a means whereby millions of people who choose not to listen to the scientific message can be informed about the environmental crisis. Art helps us to realize that we are an integral part of natural processes and that our role is to understand and work in harmony with Nature, not to conquer it. “

During the Covid pandemic, Dirk and his wife Kat transformed a section of their house into a Studio for Art Residencies, called Kunye (Together). “ Kunye gives me the opportunity to transfer my experience and know-how to young, emerging artists. “, says Dirk.

Dirk’s wife and co-founder Kat continues: “For an artist, canvas and paint are easily accessible but for sculptors the bar is much higher. Many sculptors have no access to expensive materials and equipment needed to create their art. That’s why we assist young and promising sculptors to create a career for themselves by offering them a stocked and equipped studio and of course also Dirk’s assistance, know-how and ideas. “

“We celebrate one of the most diverse countries in the world, and Kunye, our multicoloured and gender-less icon stands for how Art unites us”, says Dirk.

Art@Africa believes that talent does not lie across the ocean but right in our backyard. Tied into this we do not believe in the white cube gallery space that is only digestible for a select few but rather that art should be experienced and enjoyed by all.