W17 Gallery
An art gallery in a flexible workspace
“We are a disruptive gallery as we redefine traditional gallery models to make art more accessible in multiple ways…”
W17 Gallery brings art into everyday spaces, showcasing local artists across all Workshop17 locations. Through curated exhibitions and partnerships, we create opportunities for both members and the public to engage with art through talks, walkabouts, workshops and art sales.
By integrating art into working environments, we support creativity, productivity, and meaningful connections between artists, collectors, and new audiences. Our approach broadens exposure, creates new investment opportunities, and ensures that art is seen, valued, and appreciated.
Above left: Collen Maswanganyi, Pastor Preaching, silkccreen monotype, 69,5 x 45,3 cm , R18 2464 excl VAT
Centre: William Kentridge, Rebus (Light), linocut, 40 x 29 cm, R54 600 excl VAT
Right: Abe Mathabe, Sabrina, drypoint, 12 x 10 cm, R2136.00 excl VAT
Featured Exhibition
THE SEVENTEEN
A rotating exhibition of 17 artworks by the
W17 Gallery and collaborators
Workshop17 Kloof Street, 32 Kloof Street, Gardens, Cape Town
THE SEVENTEEN launches the first exhibition between the W17 Gallery and its collaborators, opening with Artist Proof Studio. Artist Proof Studio (APS) is an innovative and engaged community printmaking centre of excellence. Their organisation is dedicated to every aspect of professional printmaking, including creation, sales, training, and community engagement. Artist Proof Studio was established in 1991 by Kim Berman and Nhlanhla Xaba as a printmaking center that embodied the spirit of a democratic South Africa. It emerged as a response to the need for unity and inclusivity, using printmaking as a powerful medium for expression.
The 17 artworks in this exhibition have been curated in collaboration with the W17 Gallery and APS as part of a long-standing and ongoing partnership to support local talent. The W17 Gallery exhibits artworks by various artists who have collaborated and printed with APS in Johannesburg. This exhibition is the first to show a selection of artists and their work at Workshop17 in Cape Town.
Urban Abstractions
A group exhibition featuring
Earl Abrahams,Mpho Matheolane, Marcus Neustetter, and Stephen Hobbs
This exhibition of multimedia work focuses on the wider possibilities offered by the marriage of medium and subject presented by thinking through the city. Cities are one of the great global phenomena, but also one of the world's great mysteries. Most of us share our lived experience of city life and urban identities, but it's often impossible to convey visually what it's like to have an urban existence, except to contrast it with rural or natural landscapes.
The artistic approach to the city seeks to create a set of abstract emotional responses to urban or 'macro-urban' phenomena.
Abstraction as a visual response to this cacophony, this proliferation of meaning and images, thus makes much emotional sense.
Each of the artists on show addresses the abstraction of urban reality in different ways.From Earl Abrahams' transfiguration of the city in his cyanotypes; to Mpho Matheolane's film photography prints as he questions the human role in a dehumanising cityscape. Marcus Neustetter shifts perspectives of how we map our own sense of place in his multimedia works; and Stephen Hobbs' artwork endeavours to simultaneously embrace and resist the city grid.
Urban Abstractions is currently on show at Workshop17 The Bank, 24 Cradock Ave, Rosebank
Curated by Koulla Xinisteris and James Sey of Gnosis Art in collaboration with the W17 Gallery
Top Right: Mpho Matheolane, Pedestrians, Crossing 1, Photograph, R12 000 excl VAT
Bottom Right: Stephen Hobbs, Field Tactics, Square Mask, paint on board, R27 000 excl VAT
Meet The Team
W17 Gallery is headed up by Claudia Bentel- Gallery Director- who curates and consults on all things art. Her vision for the gallery is to promote artists and their practice, educate people about art and create impactful spaces, she says: “We are a disruptive gallery in the sense that we are unmaking and remaking many of the traditions of the white cube towards making art more accessible in multiple ways…”
Claudia is joined by Roman Handt- Gallery Manager- whose creative genius reimagines the work space as he rotates art across the Workshop17 locations and promotes exhibitions, artist talks, and walkabouts.
