Having previously explored concepts such as the doppelgänger and the recognition of ones dark double as well as the simultaneous embrace of attraction and repulsion, Mntambo continues the exploration of these concepts that are at the core of her œuvre. This is particularly true of the sculptures wherein the process of cutting, moulding and shaping the hide is clearly visible – creating forms where the void is as dense with meaning as the hide that encompasses it.
Read MoreMntambo's paintings on canvas are in many ways related to the sculptures as layered and translucent colours are used to create organic shapes. They may be understood as a simplification of the human form but are also studies of colour and depth. Likewise, her works on paper using ink and cowhair are distinctive and painterly while referencing the sculptures in their materiality.
Nandipha Mntambo was born 1982 in Swaziland and currently lives and works in Johannesburg. She received her MFA from Michaelis School of Fine Art, University of Cape Town in 2007 and was awarded the prestigious Standard Bank Young Artist Award for Visual Art in 2011. A solo-exhibition of her work inaugurated the Zeitz MoCAA in Cape Town in 2017 and her work has been included in a number of prestigious group-shows and biennales in venues such as The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (2019), University of Michigan Museum of Art (2018), Metropolis Afrique Capitales at La Villette Paris (2017), Tel Aviv Museum of Art (2017), The Brooklyn Museum (2016), The Dakar Biennale (2008, 2010, 2016), The Seattle Art Museum (2015) and The Pavilion of South Africa at the Venice Biennale (2015).
Text courtesy Andréhn-Schiptjenko.
