As

the

Global

Art

Market

Flounders,

Bananas

and

African

Art

Market

Soars

The year concluded with a viral art story on the resale of a duct-taped banana for over $6 million (almost R12 million) - Maurizio Cattalan’s 2019 installation fittingly titled Comedian. Ironically, given the sombre news circulating in the art world, it has presented some light relief or a positive sign. Certainly, this is in stark contrast to the art story that kept making headlines throughout the year, which focused on the diminished revenues at the major global art auction houses. Reports that Sotheby's core earnings were down by 88 % - were particularly chilling, albeit the auction house asserted that this figure had not been properly contextualised.

From this perspective, the inflated figure Cattalan’s ‘banana’ attracted at auction would instil confidence that buyers with deep pockets for art that was not risk averse were still in existence. Of course, such collectors might be tied to the rise and fall of the crypto-currency market - the buyer of Comedian also happened to be the founder of the crypto-currency platform Tron (was this a marketing ploy to direct attention to Tron?). Justin Sun, also happened to be Chinese, affirming that the road to riches in the art market leads to China, aligning with the findings in reports such as The Art Basel UBS Art Market Report 2024 showing that China now claims the second (after the US) largest share of the global art market – pushing the UK to third place.

Yet, most South African-based galleries are still concentrating on pursuing collectors in the UK,Europe and the US, which has become an important market. This is based on the findings in the latest report funded by Artlib, produced by Corrigall & Co, titled Art Ecosystems 2024: Joburg, Cape Town, Casablanca, Marrakech, Lagos, Abuja. Only a small group of galleries, such as Goodman, SMAC and Guns & Rain have dipped their toes in the Asian market.

Nevertheless, the findings in the aforementioned report depict a more positive narrative of the art market in Africa. The art ecosystems in all three countries are growing, not slowing down – as is the recurring story coming out of the US and the UK, with reports of numerous galleries closing in the past year. More galleries in these African cities are opening than closing. Whether and how this growth can be sustained is the subject of the next report in the making.

The growth on the African continent is in the commercial gallery segment and is “largely due to opportunities that COVID-19 presented - particularly for new, emerging dealers who had access to local and global art markets without being burdened with the heavy overheads that bricks- and-mortar galleries would entail.” This is among many other reasons and contributing conditions in each country and city. Cape Town is leading in terms of the growth of galleries, with Lagos following up closely in front Joburg.