Sculpture-project-Research-Task

Nicholas Hlobo Research

"South African artist Nicholas Hlobo creates works on paper, sculptures, and performances that activate the associative potential of materials such as ribbon, leather, and rubber. Laden with innuendo and wordplay, Hlobo's works fluidly traverse topics related to identity—including gender, sexuality, and ethnicity—anchored in the artist's position as a descendent of Xhosa, one of South Africa's largest indigenous communities, to challenge prescribed perceptions of his country.

Born in Cape Town in 1975, Hlobo graduated with a degree in Fine Art from Johannesburg's Technikon Witwatersrand in 2002, developing his practice in post-apartheid South Africa. After turning to art in his late twenties, the artist quickly rose to international recognition. Hlobo's materially charged works involve cutting and piecing materials together, with the repetitious 'baseball' stitch visible across their surface"

When reading the background information of the artist, I paid attention to how the conceptual function of the materials play a significant role in his works. After watching his interview in the Bloomberg Markets and Finance, I learned that the artist grew up without a central male figure in his life and how he was raised in a woman dominant household by his maternal grandmother. Hearing the artist comment on how ribbon for example is not associated to the manly image, helped me in understanding the artist's rationale and the context behind his works. I was also interested in how the consistent use of materials that build a homogeneous feel to the artist's body of work was a characteristic I enjoy in an artist, using the same base but developing into different outcomes.

Nicholas Hlobo - Artists - Lehmann Maupin

"Bhaxa, Iqinile, Ikhiwane, 2006" : Wooden chairs and seat, sunlight soap and ribbon

A piece of structural work that is different to the overall collection of works that involve fabric. Through the colonial chairs and the melted soap that is associated to Apartheid Africa, the artist challenges the sociopolitical context he was raised in.

Michael Stevenson - Nicholas Hlobo Nicholas Hlobo: Uhambo »

"Ingubo Yesizwe, 2009"

"The sculpture was the centerpiece of Hlobo's exhibition at Tate Modern, London, which ran from December 2008 to March 2009 in the Level 2 Gallery. Made of leather off-cuts, rubber, ribbons and gauze, with an underlying steel structure, the work resembles a great, slouching creature, measuring 30 meters from its head to the tip of its long tail. Many of the materials that the artist uses serve as visual metaphors for an array of cultural phenomenon, and his works are not only named after particular ritualistic practices but consciously recall the rich history and tradition of the Xhosa culture.

The title of the work, Ingubo Yesizwe, translates as 'clothes or blanket of the nation', is comprised of hundreds of tiny stitched pieces of discarded leather and rubber, sewn together to become the multifaceted skin of a large animal-like form. The work references the tradition in Xhosa culture of commemorating important milestones with the ceremonial slaughter of a cow; in the death ritual in particular, the animal’s hide is used to cover the corpse before burial to protect the deceased in his or her voyage to the afterlife, the meaning of ‘Ingubo Yesizwe’. The Tate Modern exhibition curator, Kerryn Greenberg, wrote: 'Ingubo Yesizwe implies protection, integration, and the potential for transformation, both of the materials Hlobo uses and the country he lives in'."

Igqirha Lendlela (detail) - Hlobo Nicholas — Google Arts & Culture A R T T H R O B _ A R T B I O

"Igqirha Lendlela, 2005" : Leather jacket, rubber inner tube, ribbon, blouse, bust and wooden tripod

This sculpture comprises the parts of a costume that Hlobo wore for a performance entitled Igqirha Lendlela in which he wore a skirt made of men’s ties, a black leather biker jacket and a large rubber hump. He crossed Cape Town in this attire, going from Green Market Square to Khayelitsha. The hump suggests for Hlobo the burdens that people carry daily, but also the historical ‘baggage’ with which South Africans grapple as they try to forge a new country.

The title is a reference to a Xhosa song known commonly as the ‘Click Song’ and famously sung by Miriam Makeba. It is about the tok-tokkie beetle, which, in Xhosa mythology, is a symbol of good luck and of travelling or journeying (literally and metaphorically).

Amongst the body of work of the artist, I chose these two artworks because I was interested in the relationship of material and narrative. I saw the use of rubber, ribbon, the intertwined stitching in both works, however the same materials are used in different contexts. The artist's cultural background is shining through each artwork as I found the symbolism and use of Xhosa folklore appropriate and effective in both pieces of work.

https://www.jessicahemmings.com/nicholas-hlobo-uhambo-tate-modern-london/

http://archive.stevenson.info/exhibitions/hlobo/index2009.htm

https://ocula.com/artists/nicholas-hlobo/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25BZnnEqrP8&t=556s

https://www.designboom.com/art/monumental-art-by-nicholas-hlobo-reflects-xhosa-culture/

https://art21.org/watch/art-in-the-twenty-first-century/s9/nicholas-hlobo-in-season-9-of-art-in-the-twenty-first-century-2018-preview/

https://javettup.art/artworks/igqirha-lendlela

Research

Confirm copying