Amsterdam

STEVENSON is pleased to present Around Midnight, a solo exhibition of paintings by Simphiwe Ndzube, marking the culmination of his two-month residency at the Thami Mnyele Foundation in Amsterdam, in collaboration with ZAM Magazine.

In Around Midnight, Ndzube describes a newfound reconciliation with the act of painting, where he steers away from including objects and installation, and instead layers brushstrokes to create dimensionality and movement in the work. Following his recent Los Angeles pop-up exhibition, Sophiatown Suite, which focused on the political and musical resonance of Sophiatown, Ndzube broadens his references to figures and iconography from 1950s apartheid South Africa, exploring the role of music as a function of resistance and building community. The artist specifically muses on idols like Hugh Masekela and Miriam Makeba, alongside the photography of Bob Gosani, who documented Black South African life for Drum Magazine.

The scenes are all depicted against a night sky, with subjects playing instruments, dancing and languishing in glowing palettes. Ndzube describes how the use of black imbues a ‘cosmic’ element to the work, and frames these scenes within a sacred and liminal moment in time and space. The title also refers to the understanding of how music can breathe life into spaces in the darkness.

While his early approach to world-building was defined by a self-described ‘urgency’, and a combination of painting and installation, the artist sees Around Midnight as a bridge between his world-building and recent play with texture and colour. This body of work maintains an attention to spectacle, and hones in on the political and artistic inseparability which surrounds the history of music in South Africa.

The exhibition opens on Friday 13 March, 5 to 7pm.