“There is incredible diversity in African art”

2023-10-28 23:39:39

Passionate about marketing and communication, Sister Acosta worked for 14 years in the organization of art fairs in her native Brussels (Art Brussels), until one day she and her husband decided to move to Barcelona in search of better weather and starting from scratch with a new business: a art gallery dedicated to promoting African artists.

“My husband and I share a huge passion for Africa. We traveled there once or twice a year, and I became passionate about all those contemporary African artists without the possibility of exhibiting in Europe”, remembers Sorella from the offices of his gallery, in the center of Sitges. Inaugurated in June 2013, OOA Gallery (Out of Africa Gallery) was conceived as a “promotional platform” for African artists, emerging and established, “to express their respective narratives, values ​​and experiences through their artistic prowess, and to support them to explore, grow and prosper in their practice.”

The ancient city of Suakin MISKA MOHAMMED

More expat clients than Catalans

“Brussels would have possibly been a better location than Sitges, but we wanted to live in Spain, where at that time there were hardly any galleries dedicated to African art, so this exclusivity was not bad. We are lucky that people from various European countries come to Sitges, people who have a second residence here… In fact, we have more clients expats what Catalans”says Sorella, who this weekend opens the last exhibition of the year, dedicated to the young Sudanese artist Mika Mohammed (1995).

“The most interesting thing about Miska is its acrylic landscapeslandscapes of Sudanmemories of her country,” explains the Belgian gallery owner.

Autumn forests

MISKA MOHMMED

Connection with nature

His canvases, born from the fusion of material experimentation and profound connection with nature, represent broad horizontal lines that echo the terrain from which they are inspired. “Each stroke is impregnated with the essence of sudancapturing the very soul of the land in a vibrant tapestry of nuances,” Sorella writes in the press release.

In its beginnings, the gallery began working mainly with West African, French-speaking artists (Ivory Coast, Benin, Togo, Burkina Faso, Senegal…); Later they expanded the range to English-speaking countries, such as Kenya, South Africa y Nigeria, where a powerful community of contemporary artists has been consolidated. “Every year we go to the Art Lagos fair“, Add. Other fairs in which they participate are Time (Basel, New York), Art Madrid y 1-54 (London, Marrakech, New York), dedicated to African art.

Internet, a window to the world

“The key to the success of a gallery today is a mix between physical spaceassistance to international fairs (you have to go to at least two fairs per semester) and the presence in the online portalsas Artsy y Artnet”explains Sorella. In fact, a good part of their clients come through the internet, especially Americans, and also Asians. “In the US there is a very powerful Afro-descendant community that is interested in these African artists,” she says.

In Spain, according to Sorella, “the idea still predominates that contemporary African art is paintings of small villages with women with a vase of water on their heads, and it goes far beyond naive art. There are abstract, surreal, figurative artists. “There is incredible diversity in African art!” she exclaims.

The collector’s profile

He collector who are interested in African art, generally “have an emotional relationship with Africa,” says Sorella, but there are also those who have good knowledge of the sector, who are looking for “different, more refreshing art,” and with excellent value for money. The average value of the works of a contemporary African artist ranges between 5,000 euros and 15,000 euros, according to the gallerist. “Then there are those that have established themselves on the international circuit, like the British-Nigerian Yinka Shonibare or African Americans Wangechi Mutu y Kehinde Wileyauthor of the famous portrait of Barack Obama. “These no longer live in Africa, and are usually represented by large galleries in the US,” says Sorella.

In the last six years, OOA’s collector base has expanded exponentially, and the project has been joined by the opening last summer of an artistic residency in the municipality of olive treenear Sitges, where the artists who exhibit at OOA stay.

Sunset Dunes MISKA MOHMMED

Mederic Turay

“It is an inspiring place in a natural and green environment with complete accommodation and high quality materials in order to promote creation and intercultural exchanges”, can be read on the web. The last one to stay was the artist Mederic Turay (Ivory Coast, 1979).

Named Best Young Artist in West Africa in 1999, Turay grew up immersed in North American urban culture, since his father, a military man by profession, was transferred to Washington in 1984. During his stay in the United States, Mederic lived through the golden age of hip-hop, adopting dance as body expression, rap and graffiti art, all part of a cultural explosion that significantly influenced the natural evolution of his work. In 1995, her family returned to the Ivory Coast, and Mederic began her studies in Fine Arts, where she found the roots of her culture, which have been manifesting through her art. “Their colorful canvas prints combine the influence of North American urban cultureespecially in the hip-hopwith the african heritage (collage, masks, small statues…), causing a very interesting contrast,” concludes Sorella.