Gallery Row

Johannesburg may not have the Museum Mile that New York has on Fifth Avenue, but what it does have is a Gallery Row on Jan Smuts. The so-called Rosebank Arts strip includes galleries such as CIRCA on Jellico, the Everard Read Gallery, the Goodman Gallery, the David Kruts Project and many, many others.

The "Guggenheim of Joburg" has got to be the CIRCA Gallery. Like Frank Lloyd Wright's Guggenheim, Pierre Swanepoel's CIRCA building is a work of art in itself.

Circular and winding, the space is very uplifting. Which was good because its current photography still life exhibit, Roger Ballen's Asylum of the Birds, was anything but.













Interesting, yes. Uplifting, absolutely not. There was a video which accompanied the exhibit showing Ballen's process and where he took his photographs (a closely held secret). The Asylum is a shanty town "house" that actually exists and was not in any way a fabrication by the artist. That fact made it even more disturbing. A hotel for the homeless, it also houses chickens, pigeons, pigs, and all manner of vermin.

And across the street from the CIRCA on Jellico is the Everard Read Gallery. Established in 1913, Everard Read has only been in its present location since 1979. But throughout the 20^th Century, a large proportion of South Africa’s most important paintings and sculpture graced the interior of the gallery when it was situated in central Johannesburg.

Mixed media was king at Everard Read. And by mixed media I do not mean paint and ink. I mean piano keys and plastic toys.

framed piano keys

Flag 1 by Willem Boshoff

close-up of the plastic toys composition

We stopped at just two galleries for this visit, but we'll be back for more during Art Week Joburg which runs from August 16 to the 24th. In addition to the galleries along the Rosebank Arts Strip, Art Week Joburg includes galleries and exhibition spaces in Maboneng, Braamfontein-Newtown, Alexandra and Soweto in its lineup.