Public Opening: WonderBuhle
We are delighted to invite you to the public opening of uNyezi, an exhibition of new paintings by the South African artist WonderBuhle. On Saturday March 26 between 12:00 and 6:00 PM and Sunday March 27 between 12:00 and 5:00 PM, we welcome you to our gallery for the festive opening.
The exhibition takes the name of WonderBuhle’s daughter uNyezi, meaning the moon or the one that sits among the stars. Wonderbuhle’s muses are presented with an air of youth, serenity, and self-possession – guided by the moon’s light and protected by the magical flowers that adorn their faces. The figures stand immersed in a sea of the purest sage green. This symbolic color – appearing for the first time in these new works – cleanses his muses of negative energies and grants them the wisdom to face the future.
“The calling of being a big brother at home, to be a leader to my younger brothers and my kids, and about who is bringing new knowledge and teaching, how we can grow spiritually and to be informed about things in society. That’s the whole point of the show.” – WonderBuhle
ABOUT WonderBuhle
WonderBuhle, born 1989 in South Africa, is a Durban-based visual artist from Kwa-Ngcolosi, a village that is still ruled by a chief. He started making art as a hobby at the age of nine. He says that his mother encouraged him to explore art as a career as he used to play with charcoal from the fire and draw stick figures on the walls of the house as a child.
WonderBuhle received his first formal training through the BAT Centre Artists in Residency (AIR) Program and went on to study fine art through the Velobala apprenticeship program at Durban University of Technology, under the mentorship of Themba Shibase.
The artist states: “I understand my artistic practice as a space between my inner soul, my dreams and my identity. I communicate my views from where I am standing as a black youth in South African society and the world at large. South Africa is in a moment of self-realization; reflecting and embracing its cultural diversities, whilst rewriting its stories through the lenses of young people who are curious, like myself.”
WonderBuhle had his first solo exhibition at the Durban Art Gallery in 2018 and has been included in numerous group shows at Unit, (London, 2020); The Art House (Wakefield, 2018); Michaelis Gallery (Cape Town, 2017); KZNSA (Durban, 2015) and the African Art Centre (Durban, 2014). In 2016, he was the recipient of Bremer Kunststipendium Art Grant (three-month residency) and in 2020; he took part in the La Brea Studio Artists Residency in L.A.
