June 01, 2019 - June 22, 2019
White River, South Africa
The White River Gallery is proud to present a debut solo exhibition by one of Lowveld’s most promising emerging artists Winston Mojalefa Thekiso.
A regular participant in past group exhibitions at the gallery, Winston has produced a collection of new drawings pursuing his central theme – people's behavior and how this is influenced by the chemistry of societies and their cultural belief systems. According to the Artists’ Press, his work tracks social, political, and moral concerns, utilizing abstract forms and geometric shapes to portray his message. Multi-layered images of portraiture are reflected against elements of nature – in most works a landscape is shown, furthering the concept of interaction of man and environment. Leaves and flowers are intertwined with fragments of facial features allowing the viewer to explore seemingly random shapes and angles. The preferred medium of ballpoint pen on paper is used, although many large-scale works are rendered in charcoal – exploring the notion of burnt wood as a symbol of cleansing.
Alongside the new drawings, a selection of existing works will also be presented.
Born in 1978 and raised in Evaton, Gauteng, Thekiso graduated with a Diploma in Graphic Design from the Technikon Witwatersrand in 2000. He relocated to Mbombela in 2007, where he has held a position as Graphic Designer with The Department of Human Settlements for the past ten years. Although largely a self-taught artist, he has studied under Karin Daymond, and is currently under a mentorship programme with the White River Gallery. Thekiso has produced a series of lithographs through the Artist Press in White River (2016/2018), where he is held in high regard for his professionalism and dedication. In 2018, his significant work “Silence” printed at the Artists Press was used as the front cover of a book of poetry “Failing Maths and my other Crimes” by Thabo Jijana. In 2019, an article on his work written by art journalist Daniel Hewson was published in the prestigious Art Africa magazine in their emerging artist section Bright Young Things. His work is included as one of 4 artists in the collection in the new High Court in Mbombela.
The show will opened by Dr Nathani Luneburg, Senior Lecturer at UNISA. Growing up in White River, Nathani attended Hoerskool Rob Ferreira. At the age of 18 Nathani began her studies at the University of Pretoria – this was the start of a distinctive academic career which has culminated in a Doctorate in Fine Arts in 2018. As an acclaimed artist in her own right Nathani has achieved numerous awards in Visual Arts, attending an Art Residency Programme at Monash University in Melbourne Australia. It is a great honour that Nathani returns to White River to share the opening words with us.