BLESSING NGOBENI

(b.1985 Tzaneen, South Africa)

‘I’m working to find the inner part of the human being. So I am stripping that person out...taking the clothes, the skin, the bones. 

I’m trying to see what can come out of this person. Then I rebuild.

I call it the lust of the heart. It is never satisfied.’ – Blessing Ngobeni, 2019

Blessing Ngobeni has made the corruption, incompetence and duplicity of South Africa’s current ruling elite the subjects of his art. He tackles the disconcerting consequences of betraying democratic ideals, the failure to learn from historical tragedies, and the expanding gap between the rich and poor. This critique is informed by Ngobeni’s own experience, the hardships and challenges he had to confront as a child and adolescent. As a result of his exceptional work and dedication to his practice, Ngobeni received the highly prestigious Standard Bank Young Artist Award for Visual Arts in 2020. 

Ngobeni is known for his distinctive style, created with layers of acrylic washes over exaggerated collaged figures, accompanied by unapologetic titles such as ‘Democracy is a Dust Bin’, or ‘A Study of Corruption’. He uses his expressionist paintings not only to overtly critique the current status quo, but to ask uncomfortable questions about the African’s experience of the world. Ngobeni confronts his own experiences and challenges them in the often nightmarishly absurd and violent scenes of his paintings. These scenes, though brutal and honest, are also a display of the artist’s visual sensitivities to line, image and the power of colour.

In recent bodies of work, Ngobeni engages with the idea of a haunting past – specifically with regards to African history, in a scathing condemnation of the continent’s current political and socio-economic status as a result of its colonial legacy. This engagement does not only lie in the concepts behind his art, but in his process of making, of carefully and laboriously constructing artworks from extant imagery as well as his own imagination. His distorted figures are often depicted with bulging bellies heavy with collected collage pieces sourced from local and international press, glossy magazines and social media. Ngobeni introduces other materials to his work; fur, cotton wool, gift wrap and textiles expand the artist’s storytelling palette, allowing him to delve into different narratives and visual metaphors. 

For Ngobeni the past, or history, never leaves us; it defines our everyday lives.

In addition to the Standard Bank Young Artist Award, Ngobeni is the recipient of several awards, including the Reinhold Cassirer Art Award by Nadine Gordimer (2012), and the Arts & Culture Trust Young Professional ImpACT award (2013). He is a 2024 Finalist in the Norval Sovereign African Art Prize. His work was also included in the Phaidon publication, 'Vitamin P3: New Perspectives in Painting' (2016). 

EDUCATION

Artist Proof Studio, Newtown, Johannesburg, South Africa

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2024

Oppressor of the Oppressed, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

The Mirrored Soft Life, Frieze, with Jenkins Johnson, LA, USA

2023

Ntsumi Ya Vutomi, Standard Bank Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa

Coming of the Unknown, Everard Read, London, UK

2022

Fragility of Time, Everard Read Cape Town, South Africa

Spirit of Water Dancing, FNB Art Joburg, with Everard Read, Johannesburg, South Africa

2021

Skeletons at Work, Everard Read Johannesburg, South Africa

2020

Chaotic Pleasure, 2020 Standard Bank Young Artist Award, Everard Read Johannesburg, South Africa

Replica Ever Sang, Everard Read Cape Town, South Africa

Study Song of Chicotte, Everard Read Johannesburg, South Africa

2018

A Note from Error, Everard Read Johannesburg, South Africa and London, UK 

Enemy of Foe, Everard Read Cape Town, South Africa

2017

Masked Reality, Everard Read Johannesburg, South Africa

2016

Song of the Chicotte, Everard Read Johannesburg, South Africa

2015 

As If You Care, Gallery MOMO, Cape Town and Johannesburg, South Africa

2014

In His State of Madness, Gallery MOMO, Johannesburg, South Africa

2012

Exit Emergency, Reinhold Cassirer Award, Bag Factory, Johannesburg, South Africa

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2024

Investec Cape Town Art Fair, with Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

2023

What I Feel When I Think About The Cosmos, Everard Read, Franschhoek, South Africa

Cyclical Bloom, Jenkins Johnson, New York, USA

FNB Art Joburg, with Everard Read, Johannesburg, South Africa

Natural Habitat, 16 on Lerotholi, Cape Town, South Africa

110 Year Anniversary, Everard Read, London, UK

Investec Cape Town Art Fair, with Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

2022

Transcontinental Dialogues, Jenkins Johnson, New York, USA

1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair, with Everard Read, Paris, France

Investec Cape Town Art Fair, with Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

Things I’d like to remember, Everard Read Cape Town, South Africa

3D in 2022: South African Contemporary Sculpture, Everard Read, Johannesburg, South Africa

2021   

Spring Show, Everard Read Johannesburg, South Africa

Blessing Ngobeni and Teresa Kutala Firmino, Everard Read Franschhoek, South Africa

Oasis, 25th Anniversary Exhibition, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

2020

Frieze New York, with Jenkins Johnson Gallery, New York, USA

Pink, Everard Read Johannesburg, South Africa

The Armory Show, with Jenkins Johnson Gallery, Chicago, USA

Investec Cape Town Art Fair, with Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

Masterpiece online, with Everard Read London, UK

2019

CONTEXT Art Miami, with Everard Read, Miami, USA

ArtX Lagos, with Everard Read, Lagos, Nigeria

‘Personal Structures: Identities’, Legate Lithography Editions, Venice Biennale, Italy

Southern Aspect, Everard Read London, UK

Investec Cape Town Art Fair, with Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

2018

EXPO CHICAGO, with Jenkins Johnson Gallery, Chicago, USA

The Photography Show 2018, presented by AIPAD, Jenkins Johnson, New York, USA

Investec Cape Town Art Fair, with Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

FNB Joburg Art Fair, with Everard Read, Johannesburg, South Africa

In the Forests of the Night, Everard Read Johannesburg, South Africa

2017

PULSE Miami Beach, Jenkins Johnson Gallery, Miami, USA

Humanity Today, Jenkins Johnson, New York, USA

EXPO CHICAGO, with Jenkins Johnson, Chicago, USA

Investec Cape Town Art Fair, with Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

FNB Joburg Art Fair, with Everard Read, Johannesburg, South Africa

Viewpoints, Jenkins Johnson, San Francisco, USA

Art Miami, with Jenkins Johnson, Miami, USA

Off the wall, Everard Read Johannesburg, South Africa

Viewpoints, Jenkins Johnson, New York, USA

2016

In Unknown Space, Cleveland Print Room in conjunction with Hedge Gallery, Cleveland, USA

Summer Exhibition, Everard Read London, UK

Art Miami, with Jenkins Johnson, Miami, USA

2013

FNB Art Joburg, Johannesburg, South Africa

2012

On This Earth, Gallery MOMO, Johannesburg, South Africa

Made in Africa, Africa Day, Sandton Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa

2011

SANNA Africa Festival, Zoo Lake, Johannesburg, South Africa

Wasted, Unity Art Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa

2010

Collaboration, Unity Art Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa

2009

Unity Art Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa

2007

Museum Africa, Johannesburg, South Africa

2006

Taxi Outreach Project, David Krut; Michaelis Central Library; Diepkloof Library, Johannesburg, South Africa

RESIDENCIES

Cleveland Creative Fusion, Ohio, USA

Headlands Centre For Art, San Francisco, USA

Reinhold Cassirer Award, Bag Factory, Johannesburg, South Africa

AWARDS

2024 Finalist - Norval Sovereign African Art Prize

2019 Standard Bank Young Artist Award (2020) for Visual Arts in South Africa 

2013 Mail & Guardian 200 Young South Africans

Art & Culture Trust, Johannesburg, South Africa, ACT Lifetime Achievement Awards and ImpACT Awards for Young Professionals: Blessing Ngobeni for Visual Arts

2011 Reinhold Cassirer Art Award