Featured Artist
LOYISO MKIZE - #EXDS
(Eclectica Contemporary - February 2019) eclecticaontemporary.co.za
T
hose who have met Loyiso describe him as charismatic, intelligent and enigmatic. I have had the opportunity to interview him, just before his second solo exhibition at Eclectica Contemporary, with the hope of discovering what makes him one of the most loved South African artists and illustrators – and to glimpse at what drives his inspiration and creative output given his blatant talent. Loyiso’s current exhibition at Eclectica Contemporary has come at a time in the artist’s life when his own mortality has been mirrored and etched by very close personal experiences. This has automatically created a deep impulse to reflect philosophically and spiritually on the nature of reality, and more profoundly, his flux between emotional challenges and his attempt at rationalizing what it may mean. Within Loyiso’s work, there are always layers of interpretation and references, drawing lines between contexts and subjects. This exhibition shows that the artist is not just thinking in binaries or compartmentalized identities, rather he speaks of a “universal exodus”. A process of release, of breathing out and opening. #EXDS serves as a platform where he moves beyond templates and attempts to unravel and unveil reality, to pierce his and our notions of what we perceive as real. Shamiela Tyer in conversation with Loyiso Mkize ST: You are one of our most popular artists, who constantly finds ways to innovate and make waves. Can you tell us a bit about yourself? LM: I first fell in love with comic books and then much later painting. Ironically I find my comic book career colliding with my fine art career. The two have coexisted fairly well throughout the years, perhaps now it’s time to fuse them into a single voice.
34
