RED ROOM

THEMBA BENEDICT KHUMALO, was born on the 16 February 1987 in Soweto, Johannesburg, South Africa.

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Exhibitions

 

2017 Art The Hague with Red Room, The Hague, Netherlands2017

2017 The Place Called Home, solo exhibition at Red Room in Cape Town7 

2017 Cape Town Art Fair, Print exhibition

2017 Group show, SAFFCA collection, Bordeaux, France

2016 World Art Dubai wtih Red Room  

2016 Solo exhibition (my side of the story), Gallery2, Johannesburg

2016 Rust en Vrede gallery,Art exchange,Cape town and Mexico

2016 Red Room at ThatArtFair Cape Town

2016 Art exchange Cape Town and Mexico

2015 Gibbs Gallery, Print art fair Johannesburg

2015 Wall space gallery (urban fused), Melville, Johannesburg

2015 FNB art fair, Turbine art fair

2015 No-manart gallery, Amsterdam

2014 Cape Town art fair

          Washington Printmakers Gallery, Washington, USA

          Cherie de Villiers, Group show, Hyde park, Johannesburg

          Turbine Art Fair ,Newtown , Johannesburg

          FNB Joburg Art Fair, Johannesburg

          Gallery 2, Group show, Rosebank Johannesburg

2013 Turbine Art Fair, Johannesburg RSA

          Freeze Art Fair, London UK

          Joburg Art Fair, Johannesburg RSA

          Bamboo Gallery, “Pieces”, Johannesburg RSA

          Isolate del Cinema festival, Group Show, Rome ITA

          David Brown Gallery, Print Making Exhibition, Johannesburg RSA

2012 Gallery 2, “Coming of age” ,Group Show, Johannesburg RSA

          JAG, “Coming of age”, Group Show, Johannesburg RSA

 2011 Bell Dewar Law Firm, Group show, Johannesburg RSA

          Art in the forest, “Passages”, group show, Cape Town RSA

          Sharon Sampson Studio, Group Show, Johannesburg RSA

          Soweto festival Expo, Group Show, Johannesburg RSA

          Artist Proof Studio, Group Show, Johannesburg RSA

2010 Artist Proof Studio, Group Show, Johannesburg RSA

          Gallery 2, “People end Spaces”, Group exhibition, Johannesburg RSA

2009 Artist Proof Studio, 3RD Year Group show, Johannesburg RSA

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Residency

SAFFCA (Southern African Foundation For Contemporary Art) in Saint Emilion, France. Two and half months residence (2016).

 

Biography

Themba Benedict Khumalo was born on the 16 February 1987 in Soweto, Johannesburg, South Africa.

Khumalo graduated from Artist Proof Studio in printmaking, where he obtained a Design Foundation Certificate. He went on to do a professional printmaking development course under the sponsorship of Pinpoint One, at Artist Proof Studio in 2009 where he was an intern in the silkscreen unit and special project team.

Khumalo is interested in exploring different mediums, such as printmaking, charcoal drawings and painting.

He has been involved in number of group exhibitions, commissions and special projects, such as painting murals in the Eastern Cape and being invited to exhibit in a group show at Isolate del Cinema festival in Rome, Italy.

 

Artist Statement:

My concept is based on my relationships with people. In my work, I explore feelings of connectivity and isolation. I am most comfortable in a designated private space. My biggest fear is rejection and loss. My attempt is to build trust and closer associations with others through my artwork.

There are never human figures in the images. However, electric poles, plugs and cables are the subjects of all the works. These are metaphors for life, energy and movement. The subjects are seen in different contexts, all outside, in a city or landscape. This provides the context. The atmosphere is created by the sky.

I have a digital camera which I take with me wherever I go. I often document scenes between Johannesburg and Orange Farm. I take pictures of spaces and the sky at various times of day. These images are used as reference from which I develop charcoal drawings. Willow charcoal allows for manipulation of form and the blending of tones. These drawings are used as the starting point for the final printed images.

Etching is my chosen printing technique because it enables me to describe the range of tones which are present in the original charcoal drawings. Each work created is intended to capture and evoke a different mood and feeling. For instance in Disconnected, a plug appears abandoned without a cable in the foreground of a vast landscape. In the background are a series of electric poles with no connection to the plug. As in other prints, the atmospheric sky created the tone and atmosphere of the work. In Disconnected, the sky seems threatening as the clouds are dark and heavy.

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Khumalo's work has rapidly found an active market. His work is being bought by private collectors and public curators in South Africa and internationally. His skill and virtuosity and deeply felt empathy and engagement with community challenges, places this young artist on the threshold of a bright future. His supporters feel that an investment in this young artist’s career is an investment in the talent of the best of  South Africa.