Contemporary Art in Focus

Contemporary African art occupies an increasingly assured position within the global art conversation, a shift made particularly visible in the wake of this year’s Investec Cape Town Art Fair. Where work from the continent was once framed through a separate or exoticising lens, positioned as something to be ‘discovered’, it is now understood as part of the same dynamic field that shapes contemporary practice worldwide. Artists working across Africa and its diaspora are actively contributing to global dialogues around materiality, identity, urban life, memory and technology, engaging in the same critical conversations that animate contemporary art internationally. Increasingly, these artists are represented by major international galleries, included in significant museum collections and exhibited in global biennales, reflecting a growing recognition of the conceptual and aesthetic contributions emerging from the continent.

LEFT: Wallen Mapondera solo booth at Investec Cape Town Art Fair, image courtesy of SMAC Gallery

RIGHT: Lot 34, Wallen Mapondera, Musha Waparara

This momentum is echoed in Aspire’s current auction, which brings together a compelling group of contemporary voices whose practices reflect the breadth and vitality of the field today. Notably, two artists who presented solo booths at this year’s fair, Wallen Mapondera and Manyaku Mashilo, feature in the sale. Mapondera is widely recognised for his sculptural works constructed from woven cardboard and repurposed materials, often layered into dense, map-like forms that speak to migration, consumption and the movement of people and goods. Mashilo’s practice, meanwhile, explores themes of memory, domestic life and identity through vibrant compositions that weave together painting, textile and collage.

LEFT: Manyaku Moshilo, Here I Saw My Ancestors First, solo booth at Investec Cape Town Art Fair, image courtesy of Southern Guild

RIGHT: Lot 84, Manyaku Moshilo, Kgoro ya mathomo

Alongside these artists, the auction includes works by a number of influential contemporary figures from across the continent. Kenyan artist Cyrus Kabiru has built an internationally recognised practice around his C-Stunners; the intricate sculptural spectacles fashioned from salvaged metal, wires, and technological debris. Macho Nne The Royal Family, is a rare offering including a unique photographic portrait accompanied by the sculptural C-Stunner. The Kabiru offering is further complemented by the sculptural work Blue Mamba, from the 2017 SMAC Gallery exhibition Pandashuka. Congolese artist Patrick Bongoy similarly works with found materials, transforming rubber, inner tubes and industrial remnants into sculptural forms that reflect on cycles of decay, repair and resilience. Bongoy has also recently been selected to participate in the first Pavilion of the DRC at the 61^st  Venice Biennale of Contemporary Art in Salone Verde.

Lot 46, Cyrus Kabiru, Macho Nne The Royal Family, 2017

LEFT: Lot 35, Patrick Bongoy, The Way of Ancestors

RIGHT: Lot 47, Cyrus Kabiru, The Blue Mamba

The selection also features works by Ghanaian painter Ablade Glover, whose richly textured canvases, often depicting bustling market scenes and urban gatherings, have long been celebrated for their expressive colour and layered surfaces. Zimbabwean artist Option Dzikamai Nyahunzvi brings a sharply observant and often satirical lens to contemporary life, producing detailed figurative works that examine social dynamics, aspiration and economic realities. Also included is South African artist Kimathi Mafafo, whose vibrant, intricately patterned paintings centre on female figures in moments of quiet introspection, rest and everyday leisure. The sale further includes a work by Zimbabwean artist Gareth Nyandoro, whose practice is widely recognised for his distinctive kucheka cheka technique, a process of cutting, layering and incising paper to create richly textured surfaces. In Sadza 1–100, Nyandoro draws on everyday urban experiences and vernacular culture, translating familiar scenes of daily life into intricate, tactile compositions. Together, these works form just a small selection drawn from a broader, multifaceted group of contemporary African artists represented in the sale.

LEFT: Lot 24, Ablade Glover, Market Queens

RIGHT: Lot 75, Option Dzikamai Nyahunzvi, Zebra Figure

The growing presence of artists such as these within the global art market reflects a broader transformation in the visibility and valuation of contemporary African art. Over the past two decades, the field has been shaped by a steady expansion of institutional exhibitions, international gallery representation and major museum acquisitions. Auction data reflects this shift: sales of works by African-born artists have more than doubled since the mid-2010s, now exceeding roughly $70 million annually, while the ultra-contemporary segment has shown particularly strong growth as younger collectors enter the market. At its peak in 2021, global auction sales of contemporary African art surpassed $100 million, a figure that would have been almost unimaginable a generation ago. At the same time, a network of influential art fairs, biennales and institutions – from Dakar and Lagos to London and New York – has created new platforms through which artists from the continent engage directly with international audiences and collectors.

LEFT: Lot 50, Pebofatso Mokoena, Strategic Reform

RIGHT: Lot 54, Chulumanco Feni, Unyana II

Within this expanding landscape, Aspire’s selection offers more than a regional overview. Instead, it presents a focused cross-section of practices that reflect the conceptual range and material experimentation currently shaping contemporary African art. Working across painting, photography and mixed media, these artists engage with questions of history, urban life, identity and visual culture while remaining deeply attentive to the formal possibilities of their chosen mediums. Seen together, the works point to a field that is increasingly defined not by geography alone, but by the ideas, aesthetic strategies and critical conversations its artists contribute to the wider discourse of contemporary art.

Auction:

Modern & Contemporary Art 

18 March 2026 at 7pm

Viewing:

10 - 18 March 2026
Monday – Friday: 8:30 am – 4:30pm
Saturday: 9 am – 3 pm

SALE ENQUIRIES 
Cape Town: ct@aspireart.net | +27 21 418 0765

SPECIALISTS
Sarah Sinisi
sarah@aspireart.net

Amy Carrington
amy@aspireart.net

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