Sam Nhlengethwa

Sam Nhlengethwa (b. 1955) is a leading figure among late 20th-century South African artists. His art reflects both the sociopolitical landscape and everyday experiences of his country. Primarily working in figurative styles, Nhlengethwa focuses on personal themes such as jazz, human relationships, and modern African spaces. Through prints and paintings, he combines collage, drawing, painting, and photography techniques, all enhanced by his keen sense of color and composition that adds abstract qualities to his pieces. He frequently uses printed material from posters and magazines and blends these with memories of township life in his artwork.

Sam Nhlengethwa (b. 1955) part of a pioneering generation of late 20th century South African artists whose work reflects the sociopolitical history and everyday life of their country. His work is largely figurative, and he explores themes that are close to his heart such as jazz, human interactions and the physical space of contemporary Africa. In his prints and paintings, Sam Nhlengethwa uses overlays of techniques such as collage painting, drawing and photography. His fine sense of colour and form lend an abstract quality to his work. He works with found printed images from posters and magazines, incorporating his recollections of township life in his imagery. Nhlengethwa was born in the Black township community of Payneville near Springs (a satellite mining town east of Johannesburg), in 1955 and grew up in Ratanda location in nearby Heidelberg. In the 1980s, he moved to Johannesburg where he honed his practice at the renowned Johannesburg Art Foundation under its founder Bill Ainslie. Nhlengethwa is one of the founders of the legendary Bag Factory, in Newtown, in the heart of the Johannesburg CBD, where he used to share studio space with fellow greats of this pioneering generation of South African artists, such as David Koloane and Pat Mautloa. In 2014, a major survey exhibition, titled ‘Life, Jazz and Lots of Other Things,’ was hosted by SCAD Museum of Art in Savannah, Georgia, which was then co-hosted in Atlanta by SCAD and the Carter Center. Sam Nhlengethwa was a longtime collaborator, regularly working with Master Printer Jillian Ross and her team at David Krut Workshop (DKW). Over the years he sought out DKW in order to help him produce works for his solo exhibitions, as done in 2010 and 2012, when he did monotypes during the former and etchings during the latter. The resulting prints were also part of group exhibitions at David Krut Projects (DKP) Johannesburg and Cape Town.

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