Michael Obert changes Zuva's profile
by Robyn Sassen
For the past 18 months, Yale University-educated Michael Obert has been growing the Zuva Gallery in Melrose Arch. It's been a challenge that has been more about educating buyers and generating a vibrant sense of area-specific art market, than about operating on the cutting edge of artmaking. Accordingly, Zuva has not been consistently taken seriously in critical circles. Possibly this is because of the overtly upmarket nature of the area, possibly because of the openly commercial nature of the space and its marketing.
The gallery has reached a point in its life where it needs to be redefined and more accurately positioned. 'This is how I have always wanted the gallery to look', Obert commented, glancing at the near sold-out exhibition of drip paintings by Mark Erasmus, when I visited the space. With a focus on ultra-modern contemporary, Obert is changing the gallery's name to 'Obert Contemporary'.
With a core of selected established artists including Henry Symonds, Wendy Anziska and Hannes van Zyl as mentors and anchors of the space, Obert is looking at developing a repertoire for the work of artists in their 20s and 30s who are keen to develop a long term relationship with a gallery.
His methodology in working along these lines has been very focused. Thinking of other galleries in the same price and size brackets, he comments 'I am the only one in this country who has derived an income through gallery work for 11 years.' With a degree that focused on art history in relation to specific aspects of African history, he has a keen understanding of the dynamics that inform the economics of art, without it being either too conceptual for a mainstream audience, or too pop for an art gallery.
The shop front is being tweaked by designers along with the gallery's website. The look is sleeker, more international, more grown up. Plans are currently underway for expanding Obert Contemporary into a 300m? Braamfontein loft, which will represent a further movement in the direction Obert wants to take. Watch this space!
