Daily Archives: 04/03/2016

Why is African art at the Armory Show so friendly and welcoming? | Conceptual Fine Arts | Stefano Pirovano

“There isn’t much infrastructure yet, but the local art community is vibrant and the base of collector is rapidly growing” told Cfa Danda Jaroljmek, director and founder of Circle Art Agency, a Nairobi-based contemporary art gallery that represents artists from across the region – Uganda, Etiopia, Sudan and Tanzania. “Every year we organize an auction – she continues -, it helps to build up the local market and to create our own audience”. Among the main African contemporary art collectors she mentions Sindika Dokolo, but her gallery can count on supportive foreigner collectors too. “They are generally people with business interests in the area” says Jaroljmek.

Meet the Dealers: Circle Art Agency Connects Nairobi to New York and Dubai With Cutting-Edge Video Art | Artspace | Karen Rosenberg

It’s a brave move for a dealer making her New York fair debut, in the Armory Showno less, to fill her booth with video art. After all, video demands more time from the already distracted collectors at this mega-fair and is generally a tougher sell. But Nairobi’s Circle Art Agency, in the Armory “Focus” section of galleries from Africa, has a confidence that comes from founder Danda Jaroljmek’s two decades in the world of African art—first with nonprofit organizations such as the Nairobi artists’ studio network Kuona Trust and then as an impresario of pop-up shows and auctions.