Browsing: Africa’s art scene

• A steadily rising demand for works from African artists is drawing global audiences at major expos, auctions, and fairs.
• According to the 2023 Africa Wealth Report, the continent’s fine art market was valued at just over $1.8 billion as of December 2022.
• Beyond making sales, tech platforms are helping African artists get discovered by global collectors keen on African art.

Africa’s art market has been steadily carving out a niche for itself in the international art scene. The rising prominence of Africa’s art was visibly displayed during the 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair in New York which ran from May 18^th to 21^st.

The landmark event has been hailed as the largest iteration since the fair debuted in the art capital in 2015. This was after the historic display of artworks from all corners of the continent. The even also served to connect artists from Africa with …

The African art market has been on an exponential upward growth trajectory prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, but most recently is teetering on the brink of a precipice, thrusting many artists in a conundrum; the status quo, only to be likened to painting a hollow canvas. According to the Clare McAndrew’s report, ‘The Art Market 2020’,90% of art dealers had projected an increase in sales, heading into 2020, but the global pandemic has been diminishing this optimism and momentum. The latest Art Basel and UBS Global Art Market Report, indicates that global art sales achieved a total of $64.1 billion in 2019, 5% decrease from the 67.4 billion of 2018.  

The African art scene has long remained unseen, but the last five years have been profoundly fundamental in the growth of this budding industry. It has brought about a renaissance; crossing over a …