2021 has started but the premises seem similar to the past months: really few art fairs, most of them only virtual.
Born in London in 2013 and arrived in Marrakech in 2018, 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair has postponed the 2021 African edition due to COVID-related challenges.
Brexit uncertainties has done the rest.
However London Art Fair has opened its doors in these same days. We will keep you updated about UK regulations development during the next week.

Now let’s return to 1-54.

Therefore this extra european art sector leading appointment has arrived in Paris, with both, a physical and virtual 3 days event (20 – 23 Jan. 2021). The venues are Christie's spaces in Avenue Matignon, instead the virtual experience allowes visitors to encounter all works displayed by participating galleries.
The partnership with the auction house of François Pinault follows the success of a previous collaboration for the 2020 London edition.
1-54 ha been founded by the Moroccan entrepreneur Touria El Glaoui and its name draws reference to the fifty-four countries that constitute the African continent. Its major goal is to promote vibrant and dynamic contemporary art from a diverse set of African perspectives and bring it to new audiences.
In this 2021 special Paris edition 20 international galleries present their best artworks by leading contemporary artists from Africa and its diaspora. Two of them are Italian, GALLERIA CONTINUA and Luce Gallery.
The other participants are: 31 PROJECT (Paris, France); 50 Golborne (London,United Kingdom); Galerie Dominique Fiat (Paris, France); Galerie 127 (Marrakech, Morocco); Galerie Anne de Villepoix (Paris, France); Galerie Cécile Fakhoury (Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire/ Dakar, Senegal); Galerie Eric Dupont (Paris, France); Galerie Lelong & Co. (Paris, France / New York, USA); Galerie Nathalie Obadia (Paris, France / Brussels, Belgium); Gallery 1957 (Accra, Ghana / London, United Kingdom); Loft Art Gallery (Casablanca, Morocco); MAGNIN-A (Paris, France); Nil Gallery (Paris, France); POLARTICS (Lagos, Nigeria); SEPTIEME Gallery (Paris, France); THIS IS NOT A WHITE CUBE (Luanda, Angola); THK Gallery (Cape Town, South Africa); Wilde (Geneva, Switzerland).

Each art gallery has its virtual viewing room, that can be visited through a guided tour or self-operated. E-mail enquiries can be made about every work on artist and gallery pages.
To complete the offert there are also a talks programme curated by LE 18, Marrakech, entitled “Crafting wor[l]ds: for a vernacular economy of art”, and a special project. In the foyer at Christie’s people are welcomed by Aloalo, an installation showcased by the non-profit organisation Azé, in collaboration with André Magnin and Emmanuel Perrotin.

ArtSail team has already done a fair complete virtual tour.

How much are you curious from 1 to ten to read our first impressions and highlights?!
Before reveale them to you, I do a premise: photography seems to be the key. Lot of interesting artworks and artists are on the horizon, especially on the African vibrant art scene.

• 31 PROJECT

Epheas Maposa’s artworks really hit me. He is a self-taught artists from Zimbabwe, born in 1994. The body and the narrative are at the heart on his compositions.

• GALLERIA CONTINUA

Moataz Nasr’s 2019 C-print on Dibond worth an accurate viewing as well as Pascale Marthine Tayou’s crystal totems.

• LOFT ART GALLERY

The Moroccan gallery founded in 2009 present some significant photographies of the Moroccan-Belgian artist Mous Lamrabat. He reinvents fashion photography with irony to denounce consumer society. His goal is also to show Moroccan culture from a new perspective.

• MAGNIN-A

The French art gallery founded by the famous André Magnin, he co-curated the historical exhibition “Magiciens de la terre” in 1989, has decided to propose six artists, among them Chèri Samba and the Beninese Romuald Hazoumè.

• NIL GALLERY

Established four years ago in Le Marais district in Paris, the gallery propose a young Ghanian photographer who defined his work as a “Therapy Through Colours”. His name is Prince Gyasi. Remember it!

• POLARTICS

Fresh news from Lagos, Nigeria, and from Polartics: we spoke about Art X Lagos not so many weeks ago. Djibril Drame is a Senegalese visual artist, filmmaker, curator and his work reflects the many aspects of Africa’s multifaceted history, offering an alternative African narrative.

• SEPTIEME GALLERY

Opened in October 2019 in Paris Septieme present two artists, one of them is Andrew Tshabangu, with more than twenty years practice in black and white photography.

• THK GALLERY

Our highlights finish with Lulama Wolf, presented by this South African dynamic center. She is a painter who works at the intersection of neo-expression and modern art whilst interrogating pre-colonial African experiences through a contemporary vision.



Undoubtely this partnership between an art fair and an auction house is curious and interesting, even if I personally wait that the Marrakech sun will shine again.