2019 Nando’s Creative Exchange is an annual group art exhibition first established in 2011 to recognise emerging, South African fine artists who demonstrate exceptional ability. This year the selected artists are Adolf Tega, Robyn Pretorius, Thembalethu Manqunyana, Wonder Marthinus. READ MORE HERE

Jessica Michelle Le Roux, (born 1989, Nylstroom, South Africa). Le Roux is intrigued by the visual dialogue and influence of art within society which naturally directed her studies. Le Roux obtained my BA in Fine & Applied Arts from the Tshwane University of Technology in 2011, majoring in the printed image. READ MORE HERE

Maurice Mbikayi (b. 1974, DRC) interrogates the proliferation of technological commerce in our geopolitical system. Technology’s reliance on mining for resources, for instance, has made African countries and their people vulnerable to resource extraction and low-wage labour abuse. READ MORE HERE

A Duet by Two Hands" showcases both drawings, paintings and "installative sculptures"  by Shneider and jewellery pieces and tableware by Cassar. READ MORE HERE

JILL TRAPPLER , REVERBERATION

Jill Trappler sees her work like water. Fluid, yet caught between earth and sky - it flows as narrative - finding its way into vision and image. In creating this exhibition, Trappler was confronted by a deep central thread of echoes and reflections - an ongoing interplay of effect and resonance running through her past and current work. READ MORE HERE

Boitumelo Diseko's evocative artworks deal with themes surrounding the female body and how these memories can be encoded onto the land space. READ MORE HERE

Music, it is said, is the most abstract of the arts. It does not attempt to imitate reality, rather it creates its own new reality. So too does an abstract painting. Holding this synergy in mind Jeff Dooley created his "Abstraction & Improvisation" which studies how music could be transposed onto canvas. READ MORE HERE

Imagine a building made of bricks. Now imagine each brick to be a pixel. We could vary the colour, we could vary the texture, we could vary the spacing, or how far from the surface of the wall each brick protrudes or recedes. Imagined this way the wall becomes a surface full of possibilities. READ MORE

Working with a wide range of materials from paper to perspex, argon to clay, Karin Lijnes’s latest exhibition continues her examination into formation and representation of female identity within a rampant consumer culture.   Read more here

This retrospective of fine art prints by Jonathan Comerford & Hard Ground Printmakers in collaboration with the associated artists is a celebration of 30 years of collaborative printmaking from 1989 till 2019. Read more here

Michele Rolstone's work focuses on the relationship between our inner an outer worlds, and the way in which we simultaneously exist in both. READ MORE

PORTRAIT 100: The Sanlam Portrait Awards 2019

24.08.2019 -
19.09.2019

AVA is excited to be hosting 60 of the top 100 entries of this years Sanlam Portrait Awards. Launched in 2013 the Sanlam Portrait Award is a biennial competition that aims to increase public awareness and appreciation for the art of portraiture.

AVA Installation Crew Training Programme Open Call

Are you interested in learning the skills required to professionally install an art exhibition?

After a successful pilot programme run in 2018-2019, AVA is looking for motivated, enthusiastic individuals with a keen interest in arts and culture to apply for the first official run of the Installation Crew Training Programme 2019-2020. Read more here

AVA Annual General Meeting

Wednesday 18 September 2019, 6pm, Main Gallery

Public address: Introducing the AVA 50 Celebrations with Mary Corrigall, Kim Gurney and Heeten Bhagat

Our Annual General Meeting will take place on 18 September 2019. Most importantly, this year, we will conduct a public election of a maximum of three new board members and the possible re-election of current board members. Anyone is welcome to sit in on AGM proceedings, and all paid-up AVA members may nominate and vote. Nomination forms and details of the process will be can be found here.

AFDA Experimental Films

04.07.2019 -
15.08.2019

We are excited to host the top six experimental films created this year by AFDA students.

UTOPIA HAS BEEN CANCELLED by Alexander Knox

04.07.2019 -
15.08.2019

Aexander Knox’s latest exhibition depicts a bleak dystopian future leaving the viewer to wonder what terrible fate has befallen the world.

FEMFLEKTA719 by Kilmany-Jo Liversage

04.07.2019 -
15.08.2019

Operating within the framework of ‘urban contemporary’, Liversage has incorporated aspects of street art into her practice – considerable scale, a predilection for working outside and, most significantly, the custom of tagging.

PPC Imaginarium Pop Up Exhibition
Join us at the opening reception on 06 March at 6pm to view work made with cement by Western Cape Finalists into South Africa’s most supportive awards programme for emerging creatives, the PPC Imaginarium Awards.

The Ocean of Limitlessness - Abdus Salaam

Abdus Salaam is a self-taught, multi-medium artist who works primarily with experimental and progressive classical forms of darkroom photography and oil paint on unconventional materials.

Salaam's latest body of photography work is made entirely in the dark, with light forming a collection of abstract darkroom “light paintings". Using light, chemicals, photo paper and spontaneous, intuitive and instinctual gestures, each of Salaam's paintings are based on a unique intention as in “The Ocean of Limitlessness”, the poem that he places central in his exhibition. 

Baggage, A Metaphoric Mnemonic - Michael Chitter

Working with a combination of natural materials such as clay, charcoal and shellac, and combining these with synthetic substances, painter Michael Chitter creates richly layered, textured canvases. Throughout his extensive career Chitter has delved deeply into both his own family history and the history of land displacement in South Africa, to create landscapes that evoke a strong emotional response from the viewer. 

Bacchus and Boda Boda - Richard Ketley

Inspired by his travels to various Africa cities Richard Ketley’s latest body of work is a continued response to the vibrant and salubrious life of these cities. Ketley's works are abstract responses rendered in oil and charcoal on translucent mediums, which allow the drawing to remain within the painting.

Open Call for Submissions for 2020

Applications are now open for AVA Gallery's 2020 exhibition programme as well as applications for ArtReach support. Click on the banner to read more!

Three - St. John Fuller, Gardi Coetser, Stefan Louw

Three, a title used for its simplicity. A straightforward heading giving space to each photographer to bring forth a subject that has captured their imagination. 

St.John Fuller’s Oracles-series explores the notion of who is an activist and what do they do? Often these people are everyday people that find themselves compelled to act. Stefan Louw’s The Bushman and the Praying Mantis-series brings forth an insight into an understanding of the world that is just on our doorsteps, but which is quickly being lost.  Finally, Gardi Coetser’s Kameeldoringboom-collection offers a quiet contemplation on the wonders of a tree that seems to stand in defiance of a harsh environment.