SF to Get First Pan-African Contemporary Art Gallery

- The gallery, named Art of Contemporary Africa (AOCA), is co-founded by industry veteran Craig Mark and celebrated South African photographer Clint Strydom. It will be located at the Minnesota Street Project in the Dogpatch neighborhood, an arts hub established to provide economically sustainable spaces for galleries and artists. - This new venture is a sister gallery to The Melrose Gallery in Johannesburg, South Africa, also run by Mark, and aims to better serve the large American collector base for Pan-African art. The gallery has already been active in the U.S. art scene by participating in fairs like Expo Chicago and 1-54 New York. - The inaugural exhibition, titled "Afropop," is scheduled to coincide with the gallery's opening on February 12, 2026. It will feature prominent artists such as Dr. Esther Mahlangu, whom the gallery exclusively represents globally, alongside Ayanda Mabulu and Willie Bester. - The opening taps into a rapidly expanding market for contemporary African art, which saw a 46% growth in sales between 2013 and 2023, with a record $101.3 million sold in 2021. Projections estimate the market could reach $1.5 billion in 2025. - The Pan-African art market has shown significant resilience; in 2023, auction sales in this sector dropped by only 8.4%, which is half the average decline seen in the global modern and contemporary art market. - The nonprofit arts and culture sector is a significant economic driver in San Francisco, generating $1.7 billion in annual economic activity and supporting nearly 37,000 jobs pre-COVID. - AOCA's location within the Minnesota Street Project places it in a for-profit, privately funded arts hub designed to counter the displacement of galleries due to rising real estate costs by offering below-market-value rents.