About

Opening on the 4th of April from 12 noon at Nel, Oupa Sibeko’s solo exhibition MOLWANO After spending 8 months at the Akademie Schloss Solitude, a fellowship in Stuttgart, Germany, Sibeko has returned to South Africa with his practice showing great development and fresh new directions which excites us. With a practice rooted in performative art, Sibeko’s art production often finds its manifestation in what he calls ‘Play’ This invariably involves the body and can be of a certain duration. Such constraints are experienced as a matter of course and nobody laments the loss of or lack of the art object. In this new body of work, we find a rich exploration of materiality, of the art object and the use of familiar, even forgotten aspects of the art field, like bubble wrap being employed in ways that reveal metaphor in his ongoing dialogue with memory. Narratives jump from richly filled substrates like mosquito netting, again a use of a material laden with meaning from the outset, it gains further poetic nuance in this artist’s hands. Oupa Sibeko’s latest venture into materiality, the links to his performative work and how he finds links to the social and communal experiences, shows fresh new ways to experience art production, even to those more familiar with art as an object and collectable product. Come let Oupa Sibeko’s curiosity envelop you with its pure exuberance.