Andile Dyalvane’s Leather Canvases

PHOTOS Nkuthazo Dyalvane WORDS Malibongwe Tyilo

Imiso Ceramics founder Andile Dyalvane headed to Art Santa Fe to showcase his latest project – textured illustrations on leather canvases.

Andile, best known as the creative force behind Imiso Ceramics, recently jetted to New Mexico in the US to exhibit a new series of leather canvases at Art Santa Fe, a biennial contemporary art fair.

Anyone familiar with his work, which we’ve celebrated on the pages of VISI many times, might think of him strictly as a ceramicist. However, Andile has been experimenting with leather for more than four years, ever since a yacht builder walked into his studio and fell in love with one of his ceramic vessels. Unfortunately, he couldn’t buy it because it would have been too fragile to keep at sea.

“At the time, my wife and I were working on leather accessories, experimenting with belts and bags, so I was getting an introduction to leather. Everyone has done canvas and paper, and I always try and do something different, so it came to my mind that I should try and illustrate on the leather. Considering the kind of techniques I use on ceramics – texture, moulding and scarification – the leather also revealed itself as the perfect surface to replicate those elements on a flat surface,” Andile says.

Fast-forward to four years later, and after much experimenting with new techniques, he has managed to translate the elements that make his ceramics so popular onto a flat leather surface. The effect is that the ubiquitous skins are translated into works of art just as stunning as any of his ceramic vessels.

See pictures from Andile’s Santa Fe trip here.