W17 Gallery
An art gallery in a flexible workspace
“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…”
The W17 Gallery exhibits artworks by local artists across all Workshop17 locations. The gallery is an activation that showcases collaborations between galleries, curators and artists and offers members the opportunity to engage with art through art talks, sales, walkabouts and workshops.
What started as a passion project for showcasing creative and cultural interactions in everyday spaces, has now come to life, culminating in a range of diverse artwork that bring our Workshop17 location spaces to life, activating conversations and allowing accessibility, exposure, education, investment and affordability to both art collectors and the artist.
Above left: Mpho Matheolane, Pedestrians Crossing 4, photograph, 45 x 45cm. R12 000 excl VAT.
Centre: Stephen Hobbs, Field Tactics- Square Mask, paint on board, 81 x 63cm. R27 000 excl VAT
Right: Marcus Neustetter, Somewhere Sumbandila Satelite Perspective 10, digital print, 50 x 50cm. R7500 excl VAT
Current Exhibition
Urban Abstractions
A group exhibition featuring Earl Abrahams, Mpho Matheolane, Marcus Neustetter, and Stephen Hobbs
Workshop17 The Bank, 24 Cradock Ave, Rosebank, Johannesburg
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.
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
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.
