This past weekend WonderBuhle presented a debut solo exhibition “Kubongwa Okukhulu Nokuncane” at BKhz Gallery
It’s been exactly two years since WonderBuhle presented an entire solo exhibition. This past weekend he was joined by art enthusiasts for his third solo exhibition titled “Kubongwa Okukhulu Nokuncane” at BKhz Gallery “to celebrate gratitude, presence and everything in-between”.
Often we are held captive by the wait for significant events in life to occur for us to celebrate and show gratitude, forgetting that even the “little things” in life are just as important. We have been conditioned to think that events such as getting a new apartment and a car are the greatest milestones in life (not to minimise those achievements but essentially those things will be left here on earth one day) that we neglect celebrating life and everything in the present moment because as we know life is not promised. WonderBuhle’s solo exhibition “Kubongwa Okukhulu Nokuncane” reflects that, showing gratitude for the little and big things in life.
“You see those men in the painting? They’re a representation of my uncle and the backstory is simple. My uncle recently celebrated his birthday for the first time. He bought a cake and did the whole thing. The ritual of birthday celebrations emakhaya is not a popular one so to see umntu omdala do it meant something. When I asked him why he did it, all he said was that he was grateful for the opportunity. Most of his peers are gone, so for him to see life this long was a moment worth gathering people for. It was a moment worth remembering,” says Wonder Buhle about the “Kubongwa Okukhulu Nokuncane” artwork.
WonderBuhle artworks illustrate relaxed black people in thought provoking poses, through the use of “charcoal and acrylic against flat planes of color. His signature includes a His signature motif is a gold flower-shaped pattern, which he overlays on top of his figures’ skin. Poetic and personal, this recurring symbol references a native flower used for ancestral practices in Mbambo’s rural South African village, and serves as a reminder of the artist’s strong ties to his community“. Wonder has exhibited his artworks in South Africa, Germany, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. Through various artist-residency programs in South Africa and Europe, he’s been able to hone his craft and “complete and an apprenticeship under artist Themba Shibase at the Durban University of Technology and received a Royal Over-Seas League Scholarship for an international residency at the Art House in Wakefield, U.K”.
Artwork details:
WonderBuhle
Kubongwa Okukhulu Nokuncane
2022
240cm x 144cm
Acrylic and metallic paint on canvas
