Artists We Love: Mongezi Ncaphayi

INTERVIEWED BY Malibongwe Tyilo

From 9am to 4pm on Saturday 25 June 2016, Opening the Drawers, a pop-up art shop in collaboration with David Krut Projects will be hosted at Parktown High School For Girls in Parkview.

With over 40 artists participating, attendees will be able to select from a range of works by established and emerging artists from the David Krut Workshop, with prices for pieces starting as low as R1 800. One of the artists who caught our eye from the selection was Mongezi Ncaphayi.

An award-winning artist, Mongezi was born in 1983 in Johannesburg’s East Rand. He graduated with a Diploma in Art and Design, as well as a certificate from Artist Proof Studio and another in Advanced Studies from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, USA. His work combines painting and printmaking techniques, resulting in intricate art characterised by line, pattern and abstraction. We caught up with him, while he completes an artist residency in Amsterdam, to find out more about his work.

Migration has been quite a present theme in your work. Can you please share with us your attraction to that subject matter?

My attraction to the theme of migration stems from my interest in the socio-political history of South Africa. However, it all started when I was researching my family history and that of the first black people’s urban settlements.

Your work also features a lot of line and pattern, seemingly carefully arranged, and then there are moments that suggest abstraction. What is your attraction to line and pattern?

I’m interested in line as an element of art and how in its simplest form(s), it can transcend into something visually dynamic, which I believe is vital to any piece of art. I also use line to convey movement and emotion. Abstraction offers the possibility for profound, transcendental expression. I’m interested in art that communicates a universal sense of spirituality. I also view music as the most transcendent form of non-objective art, since it can evoke images in listeners’ minds with sound.  Thus I strive to produce similarly object-free, spiritually rich prints, and paintings that allude to sound and emotion through the unity of sensation.

What are you working on at the moment?

I’m doing research and preparing a new body of work for my upcoming exhibition with No Man’s Art Gallery (Amsterdam) in July.

What has been the highlight of your career thus far?

The honour of being awarded the Thami Mnyele Foundation Award; comprising of a 3-month residency in Amsterdam, which I’m currently undertaking.

Please share with us two emerging artists you are excited about and two of your favourite established artists.

Emerging: photographer Lindokuhle Sobekwa and printmaker Zwelethu Machepa. Established: Robin Rhode and Nicholas Hlobo.

The contemporary art scene is quite abuzz at the moment. How do you set yourself apart?

My goal is to excel in my aesthetic development; and in a both local and universal sense, to make a contribution to culture.

Find out more about Mongezi and his work at davidkrutprojects.com.