ARTISTS

#Artists ToFollow

THESE ARE THE UP-AND-COMING ARTISTS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT RIGHT NOW…

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by Renate Engelbrecht Images: Supplied, Renate Engelbrecht Henry Ward Beecher said: “Every artist dips his brush in his soul and paints his own nature into his paintings.” This can be said of various South African artists too, who not only dip their brushes in their souls, but often also in their heritage, and bravely paint a picture – whether it’s with acrylics or by camera – of what they experience deep inside.

Here are some artists we thought you might want to keep tabs on:

AJ BURNS This new artist literally blows life into his paintings. While he was discouraged by his family and teachers to take art in school, he only recently picked up his brushes again after 35 years and found himself “playing with acrylics” in a neighbour’s garage.

He was intrigued by how the paint moves, but his neighbour’s garage had no electricity, so he had to replace a hair dryer or heat gun with something else and that’s how it all started. He blew the paint with his mouth to see what would happen and loved the way the colours moved through each other. A year later, AJ is making the most beautiful abstract artworks by laying down one paint colour, then dropping a second on top of it and finally blowing the second colour through the first. unpredictability of it,” he says. “The paint seems to come to life – it keeps moving even when I’ve finished. And, the colours change during the drying process.” In winter, his works can often take up to a week to dry, as it can be up to 4mm thick. “It’s always exciting to go back the next day to see what’s happened to the painting.”

He initially promoted his work under the pseudonym, BurningViews, but he has now registered a website with his name attached to it and will be taking his art wider to international audiences. “Who knew life could be like this,” he says, encouraging young artists to have faith in their own instinct. “Don’t change to fit what others are expecting. Then find the courage to go and show your work to gallery owners. It’s hard to put your soul out there, but it’s the most important step,” he says. 1 www.ajburns.co.za Q @burningviews WINIFRID LUENA While he is not from South Africa, Winifrid Luena’s works depict a lot of his experiences in South Africa. This follows his temporary relocation to the country from Tanzania to pursue his studies at the Market Photo Workshop.

Luena is a Tanzanian visual artist and the 2019 Absa L’Atelier Ambassador, who recently hosted his very first solo exhibition, Parsing The Juncture: 110 Billion Praxis at the Absa Gallery in Johannesburg. He creates works that allow him to communicate through conceptual art, photojournalism, and documentary work, but he has also been journeying on a path, gaining the fluidity of existence through merging past and present experiences as he begins to engage with the South African culture, society and communities.

His recent exhibition was mainly a self-reflection on his continued shifting of states, perceptions and ideas of living, in response to adapting to changes in culture, reality and self-identity after moving to South Africa, and left many in awe.

“I immersed myself in telling the stories of my own country and what was happening there – particularly during Covid-19. I had to find a way to reconcile the new reality I experienced while living in Johannesburg with the effect Covid-19 had on every aspect of life back home,” he says.

He works across various mediums, including photography, video art, digital design and illustration and he is very interested in psychological and sociological application of art. For him, it’s a way to explore different themes related to individuality, identity and history. 1 www.winifridluena.com Q @lu_iswondering

MONDLI AUGUSTINE MBHELE The Durban-based visual artist, Mondli Augustine Mbhele was announced the winner of this year’s Sasol New Signatures competition, held at the Pretoria Art Museum in August. In 2016, he was the runner up in the KZNSA Annual Members’ Award.

His artwork that got him R100 000 this year, as well as the opportunity of a solo exhibition at the Pretoria Art Museum during next year’s Sasol New Signatures Art Competition exhibition, is called Iphasi nesiphesheli. It is a fabric collage on a 163cm x 121cm canvas and forms part of a series titled Umlando uyaziphinda - a isiZulu phrase that means ‘history repeats itself.’

His winning artwork is a brightly coloured collage that depicts a snapshot of an ominous moment in a protest wherein a person is lying lifeless on the ground, yet no one seems alarmed. In the piece, Mondli explores the dynamics of protests in a contemporary South Africa. It is a commentary on the current challenges faced by millions of young South Africans, who are forgotten and disregarded, and concerned for their compromised futures. 1 www.sasolsignatures.co.za Q @mbhele_mondli

Whether you’re looking to invest in an art piece with meaning, or whether you merely just enjoy and appreciate art in all its different forms, these three artists are certainly worth keeping an eye on. H