NHLENGETHWA

Once seen as one of South Africa’s leading resistance artists, Nhlengethwa has grown from this and adjusted the style and content of his works to explore other themes such as music, specifically jazz and the mechanics of everyday living. He works with found printed images from posters and magazines, including his recollections of township life in his imagery. Nhlengethwa is intrigued by people and their spaces "Throughout the years, all my pieces have dealt with the movement of people. I enjoy paying homage to people and places through my art". In the tributes prints, he pays tribute to some of his visual art contemporaries and others who have paved the way for South African art. He salutes and honours Cecil Skotnes, Helen Sebidi, Zwelethu Mthethwa, Deborah Bell, Dumile Feni, William Kentridge, Judith Mason, Marlene Dumas, Peter Clark, David Koloane, George Pemba, Dumisani Mabaso, Esta Mahlangu, Robert Hodgins and Gerard Sekoto. Nhlengethwa was born in the mining community of Payneville Springs in 1955 and grew up in Ratanda location in Heidelberg, east of Johannesburg. He completed a two-year Fine Art Diploma at the Rorkes Drift Art Centre in the late 1970s. After graduating he taught part-time at the Federative Union of Black Artists (FUBA) in Johannesburg.  While he exhibited extensively both locally and abroad during the 1980s and ’90s, Nhlengethwa’s travelling solo show South Africa, Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow in 1993 established him at the vanguard of critical consciousness in South Africa and he went on to win the Standard Bank Young Artist Award in 1994. His work has been included in key exhibitions such as Seven Stories About Modern Art in Africa at the Whitechapel Gallery in London and major publications such as Phaidon’s The 20th Century Art Book. He has had several solo shows in South Africa and abroad and has recently exhibited in the 12th International Cairo Biennale (2010) and in (Re)constructions: Contemporary Art from South Africa at Museu de Arte Contemporanea de Niteroi (2011) in Brazil. He has been a resident of the Bag Factory Artists’ Studios in Newtown, Johannesburg since the 1990s.  Nhlengethwa has received various prestigious awards throughout his career and has attended workshops in New York, Senegal and Cuba. AVAILABLE WORKS

White Hat, Lithograph, 550mm x 435mm

Red Chair, Lithograph, 550mm x 435mm

Orbit, Lithograph , 570mm x 450mm

Coltrane On Break, Lithograph , 380mm x 450mm

Green Chair, Lithograph , 550mm x 435mm

Afro II, Lithograph , 550mm x 435mm

Tribute to Esther Mahlangu , Lithograph, 570mm x 765mm

One More Shot, Lithograph - 650mm x 505mm

Where Are We II , 3 colour chine colle,  608mm x 471mm

Where Are We , 3 colour chine colle,  608mm x 471mm

Winter Grass I , 3 colour chine colle,  608mm x 471mm

Winter Grass II , 3 colour chine colle,  608mm x 471mm

Lost , 3 colour chine colle,  608mm x 471mm

No Grass I , 3 colour chine colle,  608mm x 471mm

No Grass II , 3 colour chine colle,  608mm x 471mm

Summer Grass III , 3 colour chine colle,  608mm x 471mm

Appointment at Spaza Sho - Lithograph - 500mm x 648mm

Where are those Kids - Lithograph - 500mm x 648mm

ARCHIVED WORKS

Ode to Miriam Makeba , 3 colour chine colle,  608mm x 471mm

Heavy Load , Lithograph,  390mm x 330mm

The Boss , 3 colour chine colle,  608mm x 471mm

Try Me , 3 colour chine colle,  608mm x 471mm

Waiting for an Answe r - Lithograph - 500mm x 648mm

Tribute to Henri Matisse, Lithograph  765mm x 570mm

Tribute to Romare Bearden, Lithograph  765mm x 570mm

Tribute to Goldblattt, Lithograph  765mm x 570mm

Tribute to Helen Sebidi, Lithograph  765mm x 570mm

Tribute to Michel Basquait, Lithograph  765mm x 570mm

Tribute to Ephraim Ngate, Lithograph  765mm x 570mm

AVAILABLE WORKS