‘aaa_bstract travelling’

C-Gallery is pleased to present “aaa_bstract traveling”: a visual dialogue between the works of Asha Zero and Mongezi Ncaphayi based on the abstract language used by these two acclaimed South African artists.

Apparently collage, the works of Asha Zero are hyper-realistic paintings made with the trompe l’oeil technique. The works – conceived by the encounter between Dadaism, urban art, and abstractionism – are the result of juxtapositions, at first discordant, of elements borrowed from urban and multimedia scenarios. The harmonious syncretism that winds between lines and fragments of color, ambiguity and certainties, emptiness and presence. A metaphor of the human condition reproduced by the interaction of various visual codes adopted by Zero.

The works of Asha Zero have formed part of numerous group exhibitions and art fair presentations, both locally and abroad. He exhibited at SMAC Gallery (Cape Town), Iziko South African National Gallery (Cape Town), The Armory Show (New York) or Artissima (Turin). Zero’s work is included in multiple collections, most notably: the Matthais & Gervanne Leridon Collection, the Jack Ginsberg Collection, the Sanlam Art Collection and the Campbell Smith Art Collection.

Mongezi Ncaphayi‘s works are conceived by his jazzy sensibility. Just like a jazz composition, Ncaphayi’s abstract paintings are born from improvisation and intuition. A spontaneous brushstroke that introduces a second one, and which in turn directs a third one. It is the work that leads the artist – creating virtuosity and dynamism that take shape on paper. In Ncaphayi’s paintings, a musical rhythmicity becomes visible. But it is not only the eye that interacts with Ncaphayi’s artistic language: the sound precedes the color used by Ncaphayi.

Ncaphayi, the Absa L’Atelier Gerard Sekoto Award-winner, has exhibited internationally in group and solo exhibitions including: the Rubell and Norman Schafler Gallery, Pratt Institute (New York), Fondazione Giorgio Cini (Venice), Museo Carlo Bilotti (Rome), SMAC Gallery (Cape Town), 1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair (London), to name a few. Ncaphayi’s work is included in a number of important collections, including: the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art (Washington DC), the Museum of Fine Arts (Boston), the Thami Mnyele Foundation (Amsterdam), the Ampersand Foundation (London), the Luciano Benetton Foundation (Treviso) or the Mastercard Collection (Johannesburg).

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