ANTWERP.- Duende Art Projects is presenting Sibusiso Ngwazi’s first solo exhibition in Europe: “Blindside”. Born in KwaZulu-Natal in 1999, Ngwazi is a self-taught South-African artist renowned for his nonfigurative paintings.
His practice reflects his desire to break free from the constraints of traditional representational art and explores the limitless possibilities of abstraction. Ngwazi’s work is characterized by bold, vibrant colors and fluid lines that create a sense of movement and energy. His sweeping brushstrokes and the use of non-representational shapes are layered to create complex, multi- dimensional compositions. A master of texture, his variety of techniques and paints results in rich and tactile surfaces. Notwithstanding the complexity of his works, Ngwazi always imbues them with harmony and balance.
Revealing his devotion to intuition and strongly influenced by his spiritual beliefs, Ngwazi often starts a painting with his eyes covered. As a fresh take on action-painting, hand and brush, undirected by the eye, freely roam the canvas.
“I cover my eyes, do the strokes, and then, in the middle of the painting, I remove the mask”. For Ngwazi, this blindness is integral to his creation process. Like the Spanish surrealist Joan Miró (1893-1983), his painting style can be described as “automatic” or “spontaneous”. As Miro, the artist believes in the importance of intuition and the subconscious; his works reflecting the free- flowing nature of the human mind.
Expressing a deep spirituality, Ngwazi’s paintings evoke a sense of transcendence. In the artist’s vision colors and forms have inherent spiritual properties and can be employed to entice an emotional response in the viewer, without relying on traditional representational imagery. Ngwazi considers himself as a vessel for a greater force – as observed in the confidence of his strokes and the energy that radiates from his abstract works.
Experiencing Ngwazi’s paintings is utmost subjective, each work inviting the viewer to explore their own subconscious and emotional landscapes. In his captivating canvases we discover ourselves.
One of South-Africa’s foremost emerging artists, Sibusiso Ngwazi has already gained strong recognition for his talent, showcasing his work in galleries and exhibitions across South Africa. After moving to Cape Town in 2013, he has participated in several group exhibitions. In 2017, Ngwazi held his first solo exhibition which was well-received by both critics and art enthusiasts. In early 2021, Sibu started hosting open studio exhibitions at his home in Little Mowbray. His work has caught the attention of key figures in the South African art world, such as the art critic Ashraf Jamal, who writes about him in his upcoming book ‘Abstraction and Figure’. Ngwazi has attended several art residencies: in late 2021 at South-Africa’s Nirox Foundation, in 2022 at Joseph Awuah-Darko’s Noldor Residency in Accra, Ghana, and at the Asisebenze residency in Johannesburg. With his first solo show in Europe, Ngwazi is poised to make a major impact on the international art scene.
