Moveable Feast

Nando’s in Soho, London, Was Recently Transformed Into a Pop- Up Gallery Exhibiting the Works of Some of Southern Africa’s Most Talented Emerging Artists

- Louise MCcann

Those who walked past Nando’s Soho branch in London got their first hint of what was to come when South African artist Henk Serfontein painted a bold abstract interpretation of Maputo, Mozambique, around the restaurant’s doorway. Inside the space, a pop-up gallery team had installed an exhibition titled Feast Your Eyes – A Taste of Southern African Art, featuring the work of seven artists living in southern Africa who are all described as ‘emerging’ either in a South African or international context. In addition, each of the artists had participated in one or more of Nando’s artist career-development programmes administered by the Spier Arts Trust.

Artworks in the group show included Serfontein’s Maputo Abstracts series, which reference the city he visited for the first time last year. Echoed in the pieces’ geometric compositions are Maputo’s Art Deco buildings and ceramics, while the transparent textural effect was inspired by old Mozambican homes that looked like they’d only ever been painted once. The neon aesthetic? That was inspired by a restaurant Serfontein dined at with friends from Nando’s and Spier Arts Trust, that had its name written in neon lights. For this series Serfontein, an award-winning artist who came to prominence with his hyper-real paintings of nightscapes, switched to urban graffiti paints, which