kanju, a contemporary African art gallery and design showroom, presents an artist talk by master ceramicist and internationally renown artist Andile Dyalvane on Tuesday, August 27, 2019, from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. The talk, exhibition, and wine reception are open to the public.
Andile Dyalvane was born in 1978 in the small village of Ngobozana, near Qobo-Qobo in the rural Eastern Cape province of South Africa. Andile grew up farming and looking after his father’s cattle herd - sewing a deep connection to the land and his Xhosa culture that resonates powerfully through his work today.
“Growing up in the Eastern Cape, I played with clay but I didn’t even know I could make a living out of this thing. My work represents a lot of my heritage, cultural experiences, and my immediate background, ” Dyalvane says.
Dyalvane’s work alternates between architectural and feminine shapes. Dyalvane also uses tribal practices like scarification in his work. Scarification can be used as a ward against evil and bad omens, or cleansing, or marking one’s rite of passage.
“It is a dying culture or practice, so in my work what I am doing is documenting it and making it permanent for the younger generations,” Dyalvane says.
kanju, which is across from the Dallas Contemporary and was founded in 2017 by Meg Bartos, is making Dallas, TX a destination for showcasing contemporary art from the continent of Africa.
“We are proud to represent several of the leading artists across Africa, and Andile is particularly special to kanju as he is one of the very first partnerships we had. As a result, it is wonderfully fitting that he will be the first of our African artists visiting our Dallas showroom and personally show and tell the story of his work. It is such an honor to work with artists like Andile and Madoda, and we are thrilled that the Dallas public will have a chance to meet them in person and experience this connection of cultures and his amazing work firsthand,” Bartos says.
Andile is the recipient of the 2015 Design Foundation Icon Award and was the Feature Designer of the Year at 100% Design South Africa in 2018, where he presented his lindonga Bowl collection. He was included in Artsy’s Top 10 Contemporary Artists Working with Ceramics and was named one of the Top 200 Young South Africans by the Mail & Guardian newspaper in 2011 and the VISI magazine Artist of the Year in 2009.
In addition to Dyalvane, South African ceramic artist Madoda Fani will be exhibiting work and will be present as well. Fani is from Guguletu, a township of Cape Town, South Africa. His work has won many awards in national competitions in South Africa and his work has been exhibited internationally in Paris, New York, and Miami.
“Bringing Andile to Dallas will help expose patrons of contemporary art and design to one of the great artists working in South Africa right now. We think the city will fall in love with Andile’s energy and spirituality as well as his expert craftsmanship. Having Madoda exhibit as well simply further highlights the depth, variety, and richness that is South African sculpture right now,” gallery director Maya Crawford says.
Price
- FREE!
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