Sam Nhlengethwa

Sam Nhlengethwa is a South African creative collage artist and the co-founder of Bag Factory Artists' Studio.

Early life and education Born in Payneville township of Springs in Gauteng, he relocated early with his family to Kwa-Thema and spent his childhood with his grandmother in Ratanda. Being born into a family of jazz lovers, Nhlengethwa's work was inspired by jazz and townships he grew up in. He began collecting jazz records from the age of 17 and started assembling his art collection in 1977 while in school and swapped his own work for those of his schoolmates. In his own art, he drew inspiration from the townships where he grew up. He attended the Rorke's Drift and studied at the Johannesburg Art Foundation and the Mofolo Art Centre in Soweto.

Work and career Nhlengethwa began his career in 1976 and later taught part-time at the Johannesburg-based Federative Union of Black Artists (FUBA). While studying at the Mofolo Art Centre in Soweto, he participated in Thupelo and Triangle workshops. He co-founded the Bag Factory Artists’ Studio in Johannesburg in 1991 to provide studio space and artistic resources to black artists. He won the Standard Bank Young Artist award in 1994,

Style

Nhlengethwa collage style niche uses hard-edge cut out and cut up shapes of ready-made images from selected reproductions and juxtaposed to make new images, often combined with other media to create new forms. He also work with photogravure and lithographs. In his prints and paintings, he uses overlays of techniques such as collage painting, drawing and photography.

Artworks Sam Nhlengethwa had created 277 artworks which includes:

2018 Inspired by Romare Bearden and Ernest Cole 2018 Waiting for Green 2018 ...to be rescued I & II 2019 The Market Square 2019 Park Station 2019 JSE in Winter 2019 South side of Constitution Hill 2013 Stand Accused 2014 Tribute to Ephraim Ngatane

Galleries Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg Goodman Gallery, Cape Town Goodman Gallery, London

Exhibitions He had been featured in 23 exhibitions globally including:

2020 Interiors continued, Goodman Gallery, London 2019 Joburg Selected, Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg 2018 Feedback: Art, Africa and the 1980s, Iwalewahaus, Bayreuth, Germany 2014 Earth Matters: Land as Material and Metaphor in the Arts of Africa, Fowler Museum at UCLA, Los Angeles, California, USA 2013 Group Exhibition: My Joburg, La Maison Rouge, 12e, Paris, France 2010 12th International Cairo Biennale, Cairo Biennale, Cairo, Egypt 2009 Abstract South African Art from the Isolation Years: Part 3, SMAC Art Gallery, Stellenbosch, South Africa

Selected solo exhibitions He had been featured in 6 solo exhibitions including:

2018 Sam Nhlengethwa: Waiting, Goodman Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa. 2017 In Focus: Sam Nhlengethwa, University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA. 2014 Sam Nhlengethwa: Some Final Tributes, Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa.

Selected works at auction Sam Nhlengethwa's work has realized prices ranging from $81 USD to $66,202 USD in auctions (for Glimpses of the Fifties and Sixties in 2019). at auction including:

2018 Definitely Waiting for Someone 2012 The Launch 1988 Bus Stop 2006 Brandfort 1974 Dedicated to Victor Ndlazilwana 1996 Rehearsing 2006 Church Street, Kwa Guqa II

Art fairs Frieze New York Online

Collaborations with printmaking studios In the course of his career, Nhlengethwa had collaborated with various South African printmaking studios namely:

The Artists’ Press Artist Proof Studio David Krut Print Workshop LL Editions Fine Art Lithography Studio MK & Artists Print Workshop Mo Editions Printmaking Studio Sguzu Printmaker's Workshop