Frida Orupabo, Mawande Ka Zenzile, Simphiwe Ndzube, Thenjiwe Niki Nkosi

EVENT DESCRIPTION

In an exchange of programming between galleries, Frida Orupabo, Mawande Ka Zenzile, Simphiwe Ndzube and Thenjiwe Niki Nkosi exhibit at Kiang Malingue’s Tin Wan space in Aberdeen, Hong Kong. Simultaneously, a show of works by Tao Hui, Tromarama and Wang Zhibo takes place at Stevenson in Amsterdam.

For all four artists from Stevenson’s programme this show marks their Hong Kong debut, each presenting artworks that articulate the key concerns of their respective practices.

Frida Orupabo’s presentation of video, sculpture and collage, all created from found material, highlights the artist’s process of excavation and retrieval. Orupabo’s lexicon, developed from restricted and archival footage of black subjects, weaponises remembrance to explore questions related to race, family relations, gender, sexuality and violence.

Mawande Ka Zenzile’s recent paintings, created using cow dung and oil paint, foreground his ongoing project of ‘decolonising visualities’. His non- representational works, often likened to western conventions of abstraction, bring specific focus to isiXhosa modalities and the broader aesthetic sensibilities of indigenous South Africans. Ascended Masters, a text work, takes this further, uniting spiritual, intellectual and philosophical leaders from different contexts to better debunk the illusion of their separateness.

Following a body of work in which the artist worked from photographs and found images, Simphiwe Ndzube’s new paintings mark a return to the flamboyant mysticism of his imaginative universe, The Mine Moon. These two-dimensional works as well his Amagents sculptures move between folklore and township vernacular, to combine the figurative and the fantastical in a mode that is characteristic of Ndzube’s magical realism.

In her new suite of figurative paintings, Thenjiwe Niki Nkosi continues to use sport as an allegorical environment for her analysis of power relations. These large-scale group-scenes – depicting athletes at rest, in preparation and in communion – are minimally rendered to pointedly evaluate history, imperialism and the endurance of camaraderie.

The conversation about this joint project started when Stevenson partner Joost Bosland and Lorraine Kiang met through the organizing committee of the International Galleries Alliance. The galleries shared an interest in alternative models for global reach that are open to midsize galleries, beyond digital presentations and art fairs. One prime asset that all galleries already have is their physical spaces, designed and maintained with great care. Sharing this asset in specific strategic ways as well as their networks and highly specialised knowledge of the local audience allows them to thrive in ways that are particularly in tune with what art is all about.