While the warmer months typically promise a moment of repose for the art world, there will be no rest for the founders of Southern Guild. Established by husband-and-wife team Trevyn and Julian McGowan in 2008, the Cape Town gallery is dedicated to bringing artists and designers from Africa and its diaspora into Western contexts.
This summer, the gallery will decamp to Aspen, where it will have a booth at the inaugural Aspen Art Fair. “Since opening our gallery in Los Angeles earlier this year, Aspen has come up again and again as a gathering point for many of our longtime and newer clients, artist friends, and fellow gallerists,” Trevyn says of the event, which will be held at the historic Hotel Jerome from July 29 through August 2.
Still, there is a deeper impetus for the decision to show at a fledgling fair. Aspen itself, with its abundance of trees and mountains, offers a new and illuminating context for the artists the McGowans have introduced to the American market. “There’s something powerful about the point of difference we bring," Trevyn says. "It’s deeply meaningful to show work from Africa here, to give a voice to historically marginalized people who have grappled with some of the most pressing issues of our time—environmental degradation, preservation of Indigenous heritage, human migration.”
The gallery will highlight the work of South African artists including Zanele Muholi, who will show a trio of photographs from their black-and-white series “Somnyama Ngonyama (Hail the Dark Lioness),” and Manyaku Mashilo, whose arched painting How About a New Way to Pray depicts a pair of figures springing forth from an abstracted landscape.
Other treasures on view include a totemic bronze sculpture by the South African artist Zizipho Poswa, an abstract painting by the Iranian-South African artist Kamyar Bineshtarigh, and a series of chairs in timber and dyed leather by the Malian designer Cheick Diallo.
The new fair's relaxed spirit promises to be a fitting environment for such a display. “This focus on bringing the art community together in more intimate settings also suits us very well because we tend to present our work in a more experiential, immersive way,” Trevyn notes. “We’re just following the natural connections we make in our outreach from the gallery setting, and building on the opportunities for genuine exchange.”
