The 10 Best Contemporary Art Galleries In South Africa

Having moved to its new location in Buchanan Square in Cape Town in 2010, the 34 Fine Art Gallery exhibits an array of well-known and unfamiliar South African artists alongside a number of prominent international artists.

As one of the largest commercial exhibition spaces in the Western Cape, the Stellenbosch Modern and Contemporary Art Gallery is widely known for its focus on contemporary art movements in South Africa such as the modernist abstract period and the protest period. The gallery is also committed to building up contacts within the international art community and, in 2009, it sponsored three artists’ entry into the 53rd Venice Biennale.

Established in 2005, Fried Contemporary have become the leading contemporary art gallery in Pretoria. Based in Brooklyn Pretoria , Fried aims to showcase the best the Capital City has to offer, from emerging to more established artists and curators. Focusing mainly on South African artists, Fried Contemporary gallery has three dedicated rooms that exhibits different artists or group shows every month.

With gallery spaces in Cape Town and Johannesburg, the Stevenson Gallery hosts both emerging and established artists and often participates in a number of international art fairs. The gallery also founded the FOREX program, which was founded in 2009, and has brought the works of a number of international artists to South Africa.

One of Cape Town’s most respected galleries, the AVA Gallery opened in 1972. For the last four decades, it has been hosting and nurturing South African artists from a variety of different mediums in four exhibition rooms.

Originally established over a century ago as an informal opportunity for artists to gather and exchange ideas, the KZNSA Gallery is today better known as one of Durban’s leading contemporary art galleries. It exhibits both South African and international artists, while also offering educational classes and a cinema, all housed in a building designed by an award winning architect.

Whilst the Knysna Fine Art gallery focuses on South African artists, the gallery often exhibits the works of international artists, displaying a number of paintings, sculptures, and ceramics. The gallery also works closely with a number of dealers and collectors and has sold works by a number of high-profile South African artists.

By Laurence Gardner