NICHOLAS HLOBO

Hlobo is known for creating hybrid objects, intricately weaving ribbon and leather into crisply primed canvas alongside wood and rubber detritus. Each material holds charged associations with cultural, gendered, sexual and national identity, creating a complex visual narrative that references ideas around postapartheid nationhood and bodily healing.

Using the metaphor of himself as a surgeon, Hlobo treats the canvas like a physical being, ready to be cut open and sewn up at his discretion. For this latest series, Hlobo embraces acrylic paint as a primary material in his toolbox, continuing to sculpt the canvas with multicoloured stitching but alongside bold streaks of paint.

Guided by the subconscious, Hlobo allows the kaleidoscopic gradients of paint to conjure abstract figurative renderings on the canvas. His tactile manipulation of the canvas itself produces protruding structural forms suggestive of topographical models. In between these structures are vibrant, energetic, gestural strokes of paint that contrast with the meticulously woven ribbon.

This approach to making work came about during the pandemic, when the artist spent very long hours alone in the studio. Yongamela Ubumnyama explores the surprising positive feelings that can come from dwelling in darkness–literally and metaphorically. The delicate but taute binding of the canvas with ribbon is combined with a comparatively loose approach to the dragging of paint across the surface–a contrasting approach to materiality that creates a powerful tension within the work. This distinct visual language of clean, white canvas punctuated by ribbon-mending incisions alongside areas of ephemeral dangling material further heightens this contrast. For the artist, the tension in the work speaks to the pain of introspection but also to ways of building anew and finding joy.