“To: The Unknown” is a solo exhibition by young contemporary artist Banele Khoza, presented for the first time by LKB/G Galerie in Hamburg, Germany. The inspiration for this collection of paintings is drawn from the mystery of understanding abstracts, the gap between the meaning created by the artist and what is perceived by the viewer. Banele’s passion for colours, how he expresses this, are in focus in the exhibition. He likewise explores the interaction of viewers with an artist’s works.
“The sense that I have felt from people when it comes to abstract works, they either get lost and not understand what the work is about, others find joy in the colors – as color is personal and has different meaning to each individual. I am also aware that color is a personal expression on my end, and that is the journey I wish to take people through. I have also come to associate different meanings of my own with color and sometimes with a viewer we are on the same page regarding meaning or they completely trail into their own context – which revokes personal memories and experiences…
The paintings are consistent to my love for washes, the acrylic still imitates washes that could have been traces of watercolour paints, which the transparency and fluidity capture my personality of being a sensitive human, and transparent and deep with emotion. The works are also a response to running away from the figure that has been heavily associated with my painting style, it is running away from expectations and what would safely sell and deviating to emotion and true expression without expectation – it is to the unknown.” explains Khoza, about this exhibition.
Banele Khoza was born in Hlatikulu, Swaziland in 1994. Now based in Pretoria, South Africa since 2008, he is an artist intrigued with the intricacies of human relations and continues to explore this in his works. Khoza has most recently exhibited with SMITH (Cape Town) in February 2018 after various successful group shows in 2017, winning the Gerard Sekoto Award and the South Africa Taxi Foundation Art Award in the same year.
“To: The Unknown” exhibition is open from August 2 2018 until September 7 2018 at LKB/G in Hamburg, Germany.