Dear Friends of African Art Beats and Art Lovers,
We are thrilled to share our first monthly newsletter. With the latest on African Art Beats and African contemporary art in DC and beyond.
Upcoming Exhibit
New Generation
A Series of Artworks by Gerard Gabayen
Opening November 22, African Art Beats, Washington DC
For over twenty years, Gerard Gabayen has been an activist with his brushes, transferring onto the canvas his memories of nature as he had known it, his concern at seeing it spoiled and the hopes he places in future generations.
In this exhibit, past, present and future mingle in gorgeous compositions, where balanced forms and colors take you on an exhilarating journey.
Gerard Gabayen is a Senegalese artist with a rich multicultural background. He lives in Dakar, where he attended the Ecole Nationale des Beaux-Arts. His work has been exhibited in Abidjan, Brussels, Munich, Paris and Washington, DC. He is represented in the private collection of H.M. Mohamed VI, King of Morocco.
Alongside Gerard Gabayen’s paintings, new works by several other artists from the gallery will be on display for the first time.
In the News: Pascal Konan
Pascal Konan created a 3 x 4 yd mixed media artwork, using electrical components, during a 6-week residency at the Halles de Schaerbeek, Brussels, this fall.
The artwork, entitled in French “Toit et Moi” (literally translated by “Roof and Me”, but which sounds like “You and Me" - a wordplay on the relationship between the place we live in and ourselves), explores the theme of large-scale urbanization and the production of electrical and electronic waste. It invites us to reflect on many of its aspects, such as environmental pollution, recycling, public health issues and political agendas.
Konan has just been offered three other residencies in Casablanca, Marrakech and London.
His work will be exhibited at African Art Beats in May 2020.
Watch Pascal Konan in L'ART NOUS PARLE, RTI, August 28
New Artist Joining African Art Beats: Majed Zalila
This talented Tunisian artist looks at his subjects with humor and affection. He invites the viewer to find endless narratives in his work and does not hesitate to tackle taboos in Tunisian culture.
An established artist, Majid Zalila spent one year at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris and exhibits mainly in Tunisia and France. His work was also exhibited at Dak’Art 2018.
With African Art Beats, his work will be shown for the first time across the Atlantic.
See Majid speak about his art on France 3
African Art in Washington, D.C.
Several gorgeous contemporary African art pieces, such as Toussaint Louverture, by Ousmane Sow, will be part of Heroes: Principles of African Greatness, A new exhibition opening at NMAFA - the National Museum of African Art - on November 16.
Art Fairs
Several contemporary African art galleries will be present at Art Basel in Miami Beach from December 5-8, 2019.
1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair will be in Marrakech at la Mamounia on February 22-23, 2020. More than 18 000 visitors attended the London 7th edition last October.
And a little farther away, from May 28 to June 28, the unique and wonderful Biennale of Contemporary African Art, in its fourteenth edition: Dak'Art 2020