SIGNED: Nicholas Hlobo

Nicholas Hlobo. Image via rolexmentorprotege.com.

South African Artist is Coming to America

From Lehmann Maupin e-blast (March 9, 2015):

Nicholas Hlobo, one of South Africa’s leading contemporary artists, has joined Lehmann Maupin. Known for his intricate installations, Hlobo investigates issues of identity, sexuality, gender, and class in the context of his South African heritage.

Materials play a significant role in Hlobo’s multi-disciplinary practice, which includes painting, drawing, sculpture, performance, works on paper, and video installation. He prefers tactile items such as ribbon, leather, wood, and rubber, exploring the symbolic power of these raw materials and their potential for transformation.

As part of the Xhosa people, Hlobo makes work that is anchored in his South African background. The linguistic flexibility of the Xhosa language, with its poetic idioms, proverbs, and double entendres, allows the artist to discuss the various facets of his own personal identity alongside a wider cultural history.

“Nicholas Hlobo is a fantastic artist with incredible international recognition,” said Rachel Lehmann. “Like a poet, he is exploring the in between places that are difficult to define - such as the area between male and female, between white, gray, and black. The themes he addresses of nationality, race, gender, sexuality, and identity are all strongly engaged with Lehmann Maupin’s programing and have ties to the work of Kader Attia, Robin Rhode, Mickalene Thomas, and Adriana Varejão.”

The artist’s first show with Lehmann Maupin is scheduled for 2016 in New York.

About the artist

Nicholas Hlobo (b. 1975, Cape Town, South Africa) received a Fine Art degree from Johannesburg’s Technikon Witwatersrand in 2002. Hlobo’s exhibition history includes solo exhibitions at Locust Projects, Miami, Florida (2013); National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, Oslo, Norway (2011); Savannah College of Art and Design, Lacoste, France (2010); Tate Modern, London (2008); the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, Massachusetts (2008); and SCAD Museum of Art, Savannah, Georgia (2007). He has participated in several international biennials and notable group exhibitions including The Divine Comedy at the Museum fur Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt (2014); the 18th Biennale of Sydney, Australia (2012); the 54th Venice Biennale (2011); La Triennale at the Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2012); the Liverpool Biennial (2010); the Guangzhou Triennial, China (2008); and Flow at the Studio Museum in Harlem, New York (2008). In November 2015, Hlobo will participate in Performa, the biennial dedicated to performance art in New York. Hlobo’s work is included in numerous collections including the South African National Art Gallery, Cape Town; Savannah College of Art and Design, Georgia; Tate Modern, London; and the Pompidou Centre, Paris. The artist lives and works in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Nicholas Hlobo, Installation of Iimpundulu Zonke Ziyandilandela (All the Lightning Birds Are After Me), 2011, ILLUMInations, 54th Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy. Photo: Mario Todeschini.

Nicholas Hlobo Lehmann Maupin Artist Page