Goodman Gallery opens a new art gallery in London

The Goodman Gallery has just announced the opening of a brand new space in London, which should officially launch this fall. Goodman Gallery will be the first permanent gallery to activate the Cork Street redevelopment in W1S. The historic street which brought exhibitions by Francis Bacon and Joan Miró to London for the first time, will be enlivened by the gallery’s cutting-edge programme.

“It is time for a gallery from the African continent to play more of a front-line role in shaping international arts discourse,” says owner and director Liza Essers. “In this global moment of heightened nationalist sentiment propelled by populist politics, it is more important than ever to reach across borders.”

Goodman Gallery holds the reputation as a pre-eminent art gallery on the African continent, platforming art that confronts entrenched power structures and champions social change.

The gallery, located for many years in Johannesburg and Cape Town, has been pivotal in shaping contemporary South African art, bringing David Goldblatt, William Kentridge, David Koloane, Sam Nhlengethwa and Sue Williamson to the world’s attention for the first time during the apartheid era.

Liza Essers

Liza Essers has brought more than 30 international artists to the gallery roster since she became owner and director in 2008. Goodman Gallery has a global programme working with established artists from South Africa, the next generation of significant voices from the continent, as well as prominent international artists engaged in a dialogue with the African context. Some of these artists include Kapwani Kiwanga, Grada Kilomba, Yinka Shonibare CBE, Lisa Brice, Candice Breitz, Mikhael Subotzky, Hank Willis Thomas, El Anatsui, Ernesto Neto, Alfredo Jaar, Shirin Neshat and Ghada Amer.

Critical to this programme has been the introduction by Essers of two ongoing curatorial initiatives: In Context, which explores tensions of place and belonging; and South-South, which considers connections between artists from the ‘global south’. Goodman Gallery’s expansion to London furthers this mission to confront dominant historical narratives and to contribute to contemporary art discourse and social repair.

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