(The
memory of De la Rey being disappeared by the chant of Zulu maidens (Studio
View) 2017. Oil on Canvas by Themba Shibase)
The SMAC Gallery in Johannesburg is
currently presenting Give-and-Take,
Push-and-Pull, an exhibition of new paintings by Durban-based painter,
Themba Shibase.
While Shibase’s concepts – rooted in the
interrogation of current socio-political issues within a pan-African context – are
conceived over an extended period of time and are ongoing, the paintings
included in Give-and-Take, Push-and-Pull
were all produced during the course of this year. This body of work has
provided the prolific painter an opportunity to reflect on the themes and ideas
explored through the physicality of painting, subsequently wrestling with the
idea of giving and taking, as manifested in various ways.
Drawing influence from Cornel West’s
seminal text, A Matter of Life and Death (1992),
Shibase articulates the intricacies of desire, the life-death dichotomy and –
ultimately – how the poetic dynamic between giving and taking, adding and
removing, revealing and withholding informs painting as a narrative.
Themba Shibase was born in Port Shepstone
in 1980 and currently lives and works in Durban. He completed his Master of
Fine Arts degree at the Durban University of Technology (DUT) where he
presently lectures in painting, drawing and art theory, whilst pursuing his
PhD.
Since 2005, he has presented several solo
exhibitions in Durban, Johannesburg, Cape Town and New York. He was nominated
as one of the finalists for the MTN New Contemporaries Award in 2008 as well as
the Spier Contemporary Award in 2007.
Recent group exhibitions include Harbouring Histories at Durban Art
Gallery, Us at Johannesburg Art
Gallery (JAG) and New Spell at David
Krut in New York. In 2014, Shibase featured in After 20 Years, 20 Artists at the KZNSA Gallery, and he also took
part in Dialogues with Masters: Visual
Perspectives on Two Decades of Democracy, curated by Thembinkosi Goniwe as
a special project for the FNB Joburg Art Fair. In July 2015 his solo exhibition
Slightly Off Centre was presented at
the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown and the second instalment of the
exhibition continued to SMAC Gallery in Stellenbosch in October and November
2015. Recently Shibase exhibited in The
Circus & The Zoo at the Michaelis Galleries, University of Cape Town,
South Africa.
Shibase is a member of various
organisations, including the African Arts Centre and the Arts for Human Rights
Trust. He is also an online editor for the Art of Humanity organisation. His work
is characterised by depth in meaning and introspection. His willingness to
challenge head-on is courageous and emblematic of an emerging critical class of
African artists who are intent on breaking down taboos, prejudices and obstacles
which threaten their generation and the potential of a brighter future.
Give-and-Take,
Push-and-Pull will be showing at SMAC Gallery in
Johannesburg until May 27, 2017. For further information, contact info@smacgallery.com or visit www.smacgallery.com
Posts
