Professional Documents
Culture Documents
MAQHUBELA
Transformational
Discourse:
New
Paintings,
2010
-
2012
14
November
20
December
Art
First
is
privileged
to
present
this
group
of
luminous
new
paintings
by
Louis
Khehla
Maqhubela.
They
are
the
first
works
to
be
completed
since
his
momentous
retrospective
exhibition:
A
Vigil
of
Departure
(1960
2010),
which
toured
South
Africa.
Opening
at
The
Standard
Bank
Gallery,
Johannesburg
to
great
acclaim
and
historic
reunions,
the
show
continued
at
the
Iziko
South
African
National
Gallery,
Cape
Town,
and
then
at
the
Durban
Art
Gallery.
Marilyn
Martin,
former
Director
of
the
National
Gallery,
was
both
curator
and
the
author
of
a
distinguished
catalogue
published
in
conjunction
with
the
exhibition,
which
provides
an
in
depth
historical
survey
and
an
introduction
to
the
recent
work.
Maqhubelas
contribution
to
the
history
of
South
African
art
has
now
been
reinscribed
after
a
long
absence
from
his
homeland.
Settling
in
London
in
1978,
he
continued
his
move
away
from
the
genre
known
as
township
art
in
pursuit
of
his
personal
engagement
with
modernist
abstraction.
The
layered
surface
quality
of
his
paintings
is
unique
and
enigmatic.
It
reflects
a
deep
spiritual
journey
characterised
by
a
profound
humanism,
a
dignity
and
an
affirmation
of
life
that
outshines
the
rare
intimations
of
struggle
or
suffering.
Return
journeys
to
South
Africa
after
1994
renewed
an
interest
in
rituals
and
places
of
his
youth.
Memories
of
colour
and
traditional
forms
have
re-entered
his
vocabulary
in
these
significant
canvases,
which
have
emerged
slowly
and
knowingly
from
the
hard
won
space
of
his
London
studio.
Both
'Ndebele
Gate'
and
'Ndebele
Woman'
reflect
the
impact
on
Maqhubela
of
his
recent
visits,
whereas
'Galactic
Parade'
conjures
a
private
world
of
serendipitous,
joyful
forms,
and
'Transition'
presents
a
culmination
of
his
ethereal,
abstract
concerns.
Fellow
London
artist
John
McLean
pays
tribute
to
Maqhubela:
I
was
fascinated
by
the
surfaces
he
achieves.
No
matter
what
the
medium
watercolour,
oil
or
acrylic
he
always
makes
his
paint
effulgent
and,
especially
in
his
oils,
particulated
at
the
same
time.
He
does
this
in
a
way
like
no
other
painter
I
have
seen.
In
my
own
painting
I
am
never
happy
until
the
structure
is
right,
and
that
means
the
colour,
the
surface,
the
drawing,
everything.
Louis
approach
is
the
same,
no
matter
how
different
our
work
ends
up.
He
builds
his
pictures
and
they
finish
tough
as
well
as
beautiful.
Maqhubela's
work
has
entered
major
private,
public
and
corporate
collections
in
South
Africa
and
the
UK
and
he
is
represented
in
the
Smithsonian's
National
Museum
of
African
Art
in
Washington
DC.
Illustrated
works:
Top
left
Galactic
Parade,
2012,
oil
on
canvas,
55x106cm
Bottom
right
Ndebele
Woman,
2012,
oil
on
canvas,
114x68cm
Art First, 21 Eastcastle Street, London W1W 8DD t: +44 (0)207 734 0386 e: info@artfirst.co.uk www.artfirst.co.uk