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NKHESANI RIHLAMPFU

Dream on my sweetheart and never stop going for it

(2020)

Woven Calico Rope & Wood

84 x 46 x 46 cm

Winner 2019

ZAR 42000

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Artist Bio

South African based multidisciplinary artist, Nkhensani Rihlampfu , was born and raised in the country’s northern province of Limpopo. He studied fine arts at the Tshwane University of Technology in Pretoria and obtained a B-Tech in Fine Arts.

 

Over the past few years Nkhensani has been involved in numerous art programmes. Amongst the many commissioned works that he has done is a unique sculpture created from shredded South African notes for the South African Reserve Bank, as well as a painting for Constitutional Hill, which is the seat of South Africa’s apex Constitutional Court.

 

Nkhensani’s works have been featured in several group and curated exhibitions in the Absa Gallery, Grahamstown Arts Festival, and Pretoria Art Museum, to name a few. His works have been acquired by many prominent corporate and private art collections, and Nkhensani continuously grows his reputation within the industry through these partnerships.

 

Nkhensani has worked at Workhorse Bronze Foundry, where they were involved in casting multiple artist’s sculptures including William Kentridge’s bronze pieces. In addition to this Nkhensani has also worked with other prominent South African artists such as Nelson Makamo, Nandipha Mntambo, and Louis Olivier.

 

In 2019, Nkhensani presented his first solo exhibition where he transported the exhibitiongoer through a margin of breadth between the world we perceive and the truth that remains unseen. Furthermore, RMB Turbine Art Fair honoured Nkhensani with the Feature Artist exhibit at the 2019 fair, and he won the prestigious Absa L’Atelier 2019 award in Pool A.

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Artist Statement

Nkhensani Rihlampfu introduces us to his universe of woven realities; a space in which actuality is entwined with the idealistic and notional ideas birthed by our society.  Nkhensani aims to expose the manipulation of communication through the gesture and assumption.  By interaction with Nkhensani’s fantastical figures we are immersed in a reality founded on our perception of the world.  The figures coax us to the belief of movement and mass, where the is none. We “feel” the pressure and the weight of non-existent objects.  The work exists in the overlapping margin between truth and ideology; it is in this space that we discover our identity and acknowledge the importance of communication. We are pressed with familiar structures and recognisable characteristics, but never definitive facts.  This orchestration by Nkhensani encourages us to search for a new path to develop sturdy foundations for our communal evolution.

Meet the artists

Nkhensani Rihlampfu

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