Simphiwe Ndzube / In Order of Elephants After the Rain
28 September – 9 November, 2019.
Nicodim Gallery
Strada Băiculeşti,
nr. 29 , 013 193
Bucharest, Sector 1,
Romania
Through painting, sculpture, and spatial
intervention, Simphiwe Ndzube’s second solo exhibition with Nicodim is an
introduction to the universe he calls “Echoes of the First Stories.” In the
Order of Elephants After the Rain is a historical event within this
universe that draws from socio-political events on the Mine Moon—a significant
locale in his personal visual language, one not dissimilar from South Africa,
Ndzube’s homeland.
intervention, Simphiwe Ndzube’s second solo exhibition with Nicodim is an
introduction to the universe he calls “Echoes of the First Stories.” In the
Order of Elephants After the Rain is a historical event within this
universe that draws from socio-political events on the Mine Moon—a significant
locale in his personal visual language, one not dissimilar from South Africa,
Ndzube’s homeland.
The Mine Moon and its inhabitants emerge from
the tradition of magical realism, and its cosmology expands along narrative
influences from writers like Ben Okri, Franz Kafka, Haruki Murakami, Gabriel
García Marquez, and Zakes Mda. Ndzube sees the tradition as “a mode suited to
exploring—and transgressing—boundaries, whether the boundaries are ontological,
political, geographical or generic. It facilitates the fusion, or coexistence,
of possible worlds, spaces, systems that would be irreconcilable in other modes.”
the tradition of magical realism, and its cosmology expands along narrative
influences from writers like Ben Okri, Franz Kafka, Haruki Murakami, Gabriel
García Marquez, and Zakes Mda. Ndzube sees the tradition as “a mode suited to
exploring—and transgressing—boundaries, whether the boundaries are ontological,
political, geographical or generic. It facilitates the fusion, or coexistence,
of possible worlds, spaces, systems that would be irreconcilable in other modes.”
With In the Order of Elephants After the Rain, Ndzube tells the
story of the Mine Moon’s last remaining dam and the planet’s sole water source,
which has been stolen from the moon’s native inhabitants by its colonizers, the
Mungu people. The title is derived from an African saying that describes the
movement of elephants after a storm following a period of drought: the giant
animals gather in a parade and amble in procession down to a freshly renewed
pool to drink, bathe, and play. The exhibition is an exploration of the Mine
Moon’s inhabitants’ geopolitical, socioeconomic, and spiritual relationship to
water, and its natives’ strength and search for higher purpose in times of
cruelty and exploitation.
________
Simphiwe Ndzube (b. 1990, South Africa) lives
and works in Los Angeles, CA and Cape Town, South Africa. He received his BFA
from the Michaelis School of Fine Arts in 2015. Ndzube’s work is characterised
by a fundamental interplay between objects, media and two-dimensional surfaces;
stitching together a subjective account of the black experience in
post-apartheid South Africa from a mythological persepective. Recent
exhibitions include Where Water Comes Together With Other Water,
The 15th Lyon Biennale, Lyon, France (2019); People, Jeffrey
Deitch, Los Angeles, USA (2019); Uncharted Lands and Trackless Seas, Stevenson
Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa (2019, solo); Trans World, Nicodim
Gallery, Los Angeles, USA; Galeria Nicodim, Bucharest, Romania
(2019); New Acquisitions, the Rubell Family Collection, Miami, USA
(2018); Hacer Noche, Oaxaca, Mexico (2018); NOISE!, The
Frans Hals Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands (2018); Waiting for
Mulungu, The CC Foundation, Shanghai (2018, solo); Bharbarosi,
Nicodim Gallery, Los Angeles, USA (2017, solo); and Becoming,
WHATIFTHEWORLD, Cape Town, South Africa (2016, solo).
and works in Los Angeles, CA and Cape Town, South Africa. He received his BFA
from the Michaelis School of Fine Arts in 2015. Ndzube’s work is characterised
by a fundamental interplay between objects, media and two-dimensional surfaces;
stitching together a subjective account of the black experience in
post-apartheid South Africa from a mythological persepective. Recent
exhibitions include Where Water Comes Together With Other Water,
The 15th Lyon Biennale, Lyon, France (2019); People, Jeffrey
Deitch, Los Angeles, USA (2019); Uncharted Lands and Trackless Seas, Stevenson
Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa (2019, solo); Trans World, Nicodim
Gallery, Los Angeles, USA; Galeria Nicodim, Bucharest, Romania
(2019); New Acquisitions, the Rubell Family Collection, Miami, USA
(2018); Hacer Noche, Oaxaca, Mexico (2018); NOISE!, The
Frans Hals Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands (2018); Waiting for
Mulungu, The CC Foundation, Shanghai (2018, solo); Bharbarosi,
Nicodim Gallery, Los Angeles, USA (2017, solo); and Becoming,
WHATIFTHEWORLD, Cape Town, South Africa (2016, solo).