Collen Maswanganyi - Revival

01.07.23 - 29.07.23
Solo Exhibition at
Kalashnikovv Gallery,
Johannesburg

Exhibition Statement

Working with wood and acrylic paint as his two principal mediums, Collen Maswanganyi fashions sculptures (relief and free-standing) that he dresses both in African tradition and modern fashion as a commentary on technological development and how that impacts political, religious and social constructs and his own rural background.

Leaving the skin of his characters unpainted and exposing the grain of the wood he works with, Maswanganyi calls attention to the indigenous corkwood and leadwood, he travels down to Limpopo in the Giyani Region to go and source. It plays a natural contrast to the vivid colours he blocks out for their clothing, especially in the closely-cropped compositions of his reliefs. And continues his exploration of the dynamism created when technological interventions meet tradition, to highlight what renaissances can occur.

Speaking to collective identity and a sense of community, for this body of work Maswanganyi focuses on a sense of revival that has permeated his spirituality, his perspective on place and the development of his own practice which has seen an appreciable shift to carving reliefs using his freestanding sculptures as reference. “As a Christian, I speak to revivals we have at church to reinvigorate congregants. As a citizen, I question the revival we need as a country, the revival of our economy, thinking, approach, strategies and leadership. As an artist, my use of indigenous materials allows me to more deeply think about restoration and our connection with the environment and home.”

Maswanganyi was born in 1977 in Nobelhoek and has a diploma in Fine Art from the then Witwatersrand Technikon, now the University of Johannesburg. As a third-generation artist, taught by his father Johannes Maswanganyi, who in turn was taught by his grandfather, Piet Mafemani Maswanganyi, carving is a family legacy.

Keen to share his practice and transfer skills, Maswanganyi ran a workshop titled Carving X at Nirox Sculpture Park in 2022, which resulted in the first exhibition at the Villa Legodi Centre of Sculpture at Nirox Sculpture Park. The workshop formed part of his award in 2021 from the Claire and Edoardo Villa Will Trust which established the Edoardo Villa Extraordinary Award for Sculpture. His work has also featured in a number of group exhibitions locally and abroad including: ‘The Identity of South African Artists’ at Fortis Circus Theatre in Holland (2004), ‘The World Needs Us’ at Centro Luigi di Sarro, Rome, Italy (2009), ‘Celebration of South African Freedom’ at the Beijing International Art Biennale in Beijing, China (2015), ‘Off Thee I sing 1’, at Lizamore and Associates in Johannesburg (2020), ‘Wild Wild Life’ at Glen Carlou Gallery in Cape Town (2020), ‘Ebenezer’ at Turbine Art Fair in Johannesburg (2021), ‘World of Whims’ at Turbine Art Fair in Johannesburg (2022) and ‘Carving a Print’ with Artist Proof Studio at Investec Cape Town Art Fair in Cape Town (2023). This is Maswanganyi’s first solo exhibition with Kalashnikovv Gallery.