Nelson Mandela Bay
South Africa
GFI Art Gallery
About Us
The Ron Belling Art Gallery was established in 2000 in Port Elizabeth. The focus has gradually shifted over the years with the changing times and the growing interest in the visual arts arena. The Gallery name has since been changed to the Gutsche Family Investment Art Gallery (GFI Art Gallery) and the building has over the years been sensitively adjusted to accommodate its ever changing role.
The Gallery is a landmark building on Park Drive in Port Elizabeth and is one of the finest examples of Art Deco architecture in the city. In 1936, Axel Stockelbach, then managing director of Ford South Africa, commissioned the first woman Architect to qualify in South Africa, Gertruida Brinkman, to design his house, “Ridgewood”.
The house was purchased in 1988 by Port Elizabeth businessman, Philipp Rowland Gutsche Senior. On his death in 2000, leaving behind a legacy of charity and goodwill, it was his wish that the residence be converted into an art gallery.
The purpose at the time was to house the Ron Belling Military Aviation Collection of Oil Paintings which had been acquired by the Gutsche family.
To this day Mr Gutsche’s daughter, Dorothea Moors, chairs the Gallery Board and together with the Board Members and Gallery Staff, Mr Gutsche’s legacy is upheld through the passionate promotion of visual arts in the Eastern Cape and beyond.
Current Exhibition
F R O M T H E W O O D S T O T H E S O I L
By JONATHAN VAN DER WALT
from the Woods to the Soil is a solo exhibition by Jonathan van der Walt, which was first developed and exhibited at the William Humphreys Art Gallery in March 2024 following him being awarded the WHAG Artist-in-Residence.
The body of work offers an introspective journey into the complexities of white African identity and an interrogation of heritage, culture and belonging in a postcolonial South African context. As an English-speaker with an Afrikaans surname, he never related to the Afrikaner identity, nor has any direct familial connection to Europe with many generations before him born and raised in South Africa, as he was. As a result, he has felt culturally unfulfilled within a culturally rich country and struggles to find pride in symbols supposedly reflective of his heritage.
Dates: 24 Oct – 27 Nov 2024 for public viewing
Upcoming Exhibitions
TEXTILE ARTS PORT ELIZABETH (TAPE) & THE KEISKAMMA ART PROJECT: 5 Sep – 16 Oct 2024
JONATHAN VAN DER WALT: 24 Oct – 27 Nov 2024
CREATIVE BLOCK & EASTERN CAPE CERAMICS: 5 Dec – Jan 2025