I was recently in the city, Joburg, for work visited a cute little gallery in Sandton Square called Artyli.
The first piece as you enter was a Thokozani Mthiyane piece with a black strong circle outline, it had a lot of patterns of stars, triangles, zig zags , small counting lines , shimmers of blue and red. Very abstract in Thokozani Style. I knew I was in for a treat.
I entered the gallery, dropped my bags and let myself enjoy the space. The first artist whose work greeted me was Samson Mnisi. His work is also very abstract which much brighter tones. The first piece ‘Alchemy’ had two main tones almost giving a feeling of day and night. He played with color against the white backdrop and let the white paint drip into the darker tones giving a very ying yang feeling.
Asanda Kupa also had some oil on canvas pieces on display that had a lot of people, Melody looked like a cluster of men standing together and beside each other. The oil was so generous you could see the soil they stood on and the gold beneath it. You could also see fragments of the sun & conflicting clouds behind them. The stroke of the brush created a very rough background to the canvas which made the work engaging.
Andrew Ntshabela’s work was the main feature in the gallery. His canvas is abstract collages of articles with all kinds of headlines where he paints children in conversation, playing a game, walking, bringing home groceries. He has women in conversation as well. He adds splash of paint drops on the imagery and I am told his focus is to inspire hope. The images really make you want to take time to read the different articles, music notes , symbols and images from all over the world because they are topical whilst enjoying the main image. I spoke to the lady in the gallery and I’m told his work sells internationally because “Hope is the currency for the future”
There was also beautiful women painted by Bambo Sibiya. An African women with beads, an a printed dress against a back drop of rings with flowers.
This abstract piece by Layziehound, “What’s not to like about me” was so complex. You have to just stand back and ask yourself, what is going on here. It’s mainly pink so it’s inviting but the imagery is not something you’ve seen before so I will let you form your own conclusion,
For me, I can see a face to two, the colors are very warm. The writing on there is in a language I don’t know. It’s gorgeous, but I can’t really tell you what it’s saying. Super abstract.
Thokozani Mthiyane had another piece at the back of the gallery. This outline was beautifully crafted giving me the feeling that I was looking at an outline of a universe with stick people, many faces , lots of triangles like little pyramids, stars circles and crosses. You can also all star prints across the surfaces as if someone walked all over it. It’s part of a series called Ancient Songs Awakening.. The work looked like the writing of cavemen expressing what night time would feel like on a cave wall.
Had such a good time in this little gallery, in the heart of Sandton. I summarized the vibes in this video below.
