The Tamesis
Artist Gabrielle Goliath has been dumped by her South African representative, the Goodman Gallery, ahead of the cancellation of her proposed Venice Biennale pavilion, Cape Town newspapers report. Everyday maverick Starting on Tuesday. She appears to be one of a dozen artists who have exited the gallery since last fall.
In that article, Goliath said the gallery severed ties with her on December 18, the day before her solo show at the New York gallery ended. She has worked in the gallery for more than ten years. The artist will continue to be represented by Galleria Raffaella Cortese in Milan.
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The artist said that by that time last month, she had been selected to represent South Africa at the Venice Biennale, where she planned to perform a show on topics ranging from the killing of women and queer people in South Africa to the German-led genocide in Namibia in the early 20th century and Israel’s war in Gaza. It contains verses from Palestinian poet Hiba Abu Nada, who was killed along with her son in an Israeli airstrike in October 2023.
After Goliath’s representation with Goodman ended, South Africa’s Culture Minister Guyton Mackenzie canceled her pavilion, which she later called censorship. He has denied the accusation, claiming his decision was made amid what he called unnamed foreign interference. Israeli media reports network news This week claimed the country was Qatar, and its culture ministry has yet to respond to this article.
Towards Everyday maverickGoliath said she was “surprised” by Goodman Gallery’s decision, saying, “I am still grappling with the disruption of our relationship at a time when I am facing cancellation and reprimand.”
in a statement Everyday maverickThe gallery attributed the end of its relationship with Goliath to the gallery’s “structural business review” and “significant difficulties.” In addition to these shifts, the gallery has also shrunk its roster.
“Given the depressed market conditions at international art fairs, we made the decision last quarter to reduce our artist roster from 50 to 40 artists, reduce the number of art fairs we participate in, and reduce the number of gallery exhibitions in response to the broader international art market contraction,” the gallery said.
A comparison between an archived version of the gallery’s website from October and the current roster page confirms that this is largely accurate. Goliath, along with Ruby onyinyechi Amanze, Lisa Brice, Yto Barrada, Wang Bing, Jabulani Dhlamini, Robert Hodgins, Kiluanji Kia Henda, Mateo López, Paul Maheke, Thabiso Sekgala and Jeremy Wafer were all listed on the gallery’s artist page in October but are no longer there.
art news Goodman Gallery and Goliath have been contacted for comment.
this Everyday maverick The report comes as the cancellation of Goliath continues to rock the South African arts community. The controversy has also reverberated across the political spectrum, with the country’s second-largest party, the Democratic Alliance, filing a complaint against McKenzie.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has yet to officially comment on the matter, but The Art Newspaperhis spokesman did appear to echo McKenzie’s statement that he would not “use the Department in a manner contrary to the position of the country,” despite McKenzie’s previous statements in support of Israel.
Ramaphosa’s spokesman said: “South Africa maintains that the State of Israel is committing genocide in Gaza and has presented a very strong case to the court, supported by evidence to this effect.”
