® Baptiste de Ville d’Avray
The Mission
Since its establishment in Johannesburg 2005 by Émilie Demon and Henri Vergon, AFRONOVA GALLERY has been a space for developing and consolidating an innovative gallery model alongside some of the most progressive and influential artists in South Africa and the Southern hemisphere. For twenty years, they have been nurturing relationships with a pan-African and international network of like-minded curators, institutions, critics, private foundations and collectors. AFRONOVA GALLERY aims to actively contribute to the intellectual discourse and the emergence of new vernacular art forms from the most urban and contemporary environment on the continent.
The Vision
After years of literally “running” a gallery space, in 2012, AFRONOVA GALLERY decided to take a leap of faith and closed its public outlet for a more intimate showroom. Not pretending to reinvent the wheel but allowing to focus all energies on each artist.
The intention is about elective affinities and maturity beyond the transactional relationship between artists and dealers. The proximity and complicity with the artists completes Afronova’s legitimacy and its long term vision. Although in perfect sync with the global art market based in Europe and the United States, Vergon and Demon have made a deliberate choice to live together with the artists they represent, side by side, sharing their artistic outcomes and personal development.
International Collaborations
In recent years, AFRONOVA GALLERY showcased artists in prestigious international institutions: Padiglione d’Arte Contemporanea, Milan; Iziko South African National Gallery, Cape Town; The Studio Museum, New York, The Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C.; MASS MoCA, North Adams, Museum of Modern Art, Paris as well as foundations such as Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris; Osservatorio – Fondazione Prada, Milan and Fondation Galeries Lafayette, Paris amongst others.
