What is it called when you get to see 3 young talented artists exhibit their work in one space? Magic?; Inspirational?; [Redacted Expletive] Amazing!? Tyburn Gallery has brought out a group exhibition called INTERSECTION that includes young emerging artists with different mediums: Gabriel Choto, Gabrielle Kruger and Neo Matloga. I attended the private viewing on Thursday 12th of July and it was, frankly, one of the best viewing’s I’ve been to so far. I got to meet the great Kudzanai-Violet Hwami — and I somehow composed myself — whose work I am yet to introduce to this blog but shall in due course so, keep an eye out. Tyburn is popularly known for shining the light on young contemporary artists and, from my research, this is the first time all 3 artists have had their work exhibited — in a gallery — in London. Choto was lively, sharp and incredibly personable; Matloga was sweet, calm and seemed really shy and Kruger was, unfortunately, not in attendance. The exhibition is currently on show till the 22nd of September and the gallery is open 10am – 6pm on Tuesday – Friday and 12pm – 5pm on Saturday.
Gabrielle Kruger
Kruger (born 1993) is from Cape Town, South Africa, where she lives and works. She has a degree in Fine Arts from Stellenbosch University which led on to her been awarded a Masters in the same discipline after graduating summa cum laude from the aforementioned university. Perusing Kruger’s CV via her website, she has a growing list of experience as she has displayed a number of her work primarily in South Africa.
Kruger’s Style
Kruger takes on a very unique approach on how one uses paint to create a body of work – evidencing how vast her creative mind is. She makes use of acrylic paint to create plant-like forms, taking it away from the traditional expectation of paint to canvas. In Woven Painting III, it’s as the name suggests: the acrylic paints are squeezed onto a plastic sheet to which Kruger, after the paint dries, meticulously threads them together to create the woven piece.
Kruger’s Work
Neo Matloga
A shy and reserved man, born in Limpopo, South Africa (1993), Matloga currently resides and works in Amsterdam. There he finished a 2-year residency at De Ateliers and also holds a visual art studies degree from the University of Johannesburg. He has been a part of various group exhibitions from Brussels, Cape Town, Hamburg and now at London with Tyburn. He has also had solo shows at art fairs in New York and Johannesburg and his very own solo show at De Ateliers recently this year.
Matloga’s Style
Matloga uses his work to depict the everyday experience of a black household in South Africa and evokes his mother tongue, Sepedi, as he titles majority of his pieces in the language. In the ‘statement‘ on his site, a comment is cited from Matloga stating: ‘if there’s a possibility that a black face is seen as a distortion, what I’m saying is, OK, here, you have this image of the distortion, which was already there in your prejudices or racist gaze. The process of cutting, reconfiguring, and collaging facial anatomy is my way of trying to identify with the racist gaze, thereby dis-appropriating its oppressive power’. Matloga makes use of photographs, charcoal, cloth, collage and a variety of other mediums to aid in creating his spectacular pieces.
Matloga’s Work
Note: ‘Mehopolo ya go fapana’ & ‘Ka morago a kgwedi’ pictures are from Matloga’s website except for the picture on the right.
Gabriel Choto
Born in 1995 in Harare, Zimbabwe, Choto grew up in Bradford, England and currently resides in London. He holds a Diploma in Art and Design from Leeds Art University and a BA (Hons) in Drawing from Camberwell College of Art (UAL), London. According to his interview with Dami Ayo-Vaughan on Lucid Lemons, growing up Choto used art as a form of escapism to bring to life his feelings that he was unable to express verbally which led on to him pursuing a degree in the arts. I believe you’ll find that art says the things our mouth finds difficult to whisper.
Choto’s Style
Choto, a mixed media artist, makes use of printmaking and painting which has been a developing practice. In this project, he has recreated images of close family members, sharing intimate moments one such as the children in the embrace of their father; the grandmother looking intently at her grandchild. We also get to see a small but significant ageing process in the images if you focus on the features of the faces painted.
Choto’s Work
Make sure to check these artists out on their Instagram:
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