The gallery owner and curator also pointed out that art and culture have not been a priority for Angolans in terms of investment, a view that Africell Luanda Feira de Arte wants to change.
"We want to show that art is a good investment. There are no guarantees of return, but it tends to appreciate. If we do a good job, if it has quality, it will appreciate in the long term", highlighted Maia Tanner, during the press conference at which it was presented the event.
Without providing data on the economic impact of the event, as it is a first edition, he added that the expectation is to be able to reach the level of other art fairs in African countries in the future, pointing to more mature markets such as Nigeria, the Ghana or Zimbabwe.
For Dominick Maia Tanner, it is also important to gain notoriety that Angolan art is more visible, as many of the existing collections belong to institutions such as banks or insurance companies and are unknown to the general public.
He considered that this is also a necessary step to encourage the acquisition of works by national entrepreneurs, adding that, despite the potential, the international projection of national artists is still incipient.
Some artists have already been present at international auctions, but greater participation in fairs and presence in international collections is necessary to develop, above all, the secondary market (i.e. the resale of previously acquired works), commented the promoter of the Africell Luanda Art Fair.
The curator of This is Not a Whte Cube in Luanda, Jamil Osmar, said that the gallery, which is also present in Lisbon, has seen greater interest in the works of the country's artists, but also recalled that the business must be sustainable.
"Investing in fairs is a risk, we could come back empty-handed, but fairs are also a step forward to put artists on the map," he said.
Alexandra Gonçalves, from The Art Affair, the most recent gallery in Luanda, argued that the greater the presence there is in the international market, the greater the interest that African artists arouse, which has been seen in international auctions, particularly in houses such as Sotheby's, which featured Angolan artists in an auction of contemporary African art.
"If we have the opportunity to be at international exhibitions, there is a possibility of climbing in the coming years", she highlighted.
Between the 19th and 21st of April, visitors will be able to find individual exhibitions, live art and lectures at the Palácio de Ferro on topics such as the challenges facing galleries in Angola or the importance of formalizing the work of visual artists for the national economy.
For the first edition of this art fair, the most recent on the African continent, nine galleries operating in Luanda were invited, of which five will be present – The Art Affair, ELA-Espaço Luanda Arte, Sky Gallery Espaço d'Arte, Tamar Golan and This is Not a Whte Cube – according to Dominick Maia Tanner.
