• Q: During our conversation on praying, I said that there are multiple ways to pray and thereafter you said that you possibly pray through painting. How would you say painting translates to a form of prayer? 
     
    A: One would structure a prayer and guild it with words that connote humility and respect. Similarly, my work is embedded with hope, wishes and a message to my future audience. From the composition, to the words that become part of the work, even if covered by the spirit of the story, I’m doing an act like that of God, creating with purpose. I don’t let text get in the way of a good harmony or colour symphony that dictates the psychological threshold of meditation and meaning. My prayers are not sent to God, as He is collaborating with me to empower the universe to bring them about. My greatest prayer is that of peace and humanity. I’m preaching about peace, love and freedom. Basically I preach about human rights without politics and I condemn everything that violates human rights or threatens to end other people’s rights, because that is a selfish act of another being. Wisdom is central to ensuring that these messages not only remain, but are glorified and trusted as prayer is. I send letters to everyone, I hope yours finds you in good time too. 

     

    Q: Many of your paintings have the imprint of either your hand or your foot. During my studio visit, you mentioned that the imprint of your hand in particular is “the hand of God.” Why do you incorporate elements of religion into your work?

     

    A: If there is a God who created me in his image, I am therefore like home and He creates through me. There is a religion in not being religious, meaning, being unreligious is also a religion. I can’t deny the fact that I’m well versed about biblical beliefs, because I come from a Christian background. I am still fond of Christian music and other theological philosophies that still make sense to life in general. I believe there is a God, but I don’t define or give Him characteristics, I just know that he internally lives within me, directs me, and constantly has debates and arguments with me on a  daily basis. Whatever I do has His DNA and approval. I never walk alone or work alone or think or act alone, as He is an accomplice in all my doings. He leads me to places I didn’t know that I belong to and He guides me to speak about my discoveries without an ounce of doubt or fear. He allows me to be in my true nature as he intended. Thank God I’m an artist during good and bad times. It is never easy but it is always worth it. 

     
  • Q: Your initial artistic practice initially began with the genres of portraiture and figuration and recently your work is abstract....
    Q: Your initial artistic practice initially began with the genres of portraiture and figuration and recently your work is abstract. Can you say why you have chosen to shift toward abstraction?
     
    A: Abstraction is the ultimate simplification of the complex maze of figurative art. My curiosity has led me to thoughts and planes that belong to my great grandchildren. Abstraction allowed or rather afforded me the power to confront life without the distraction of ocean plastic smiles or melancholic faces. During my years of working in figuration, my intentions relied on human expression and the appropriation of form and mood or shade or limited gestures, submitting my prowess in subjectivity to scrutiny to the powers that be. With abstraction, the world ends at the edge of the canvas, pouring my previous thoughts onto another, seamlessly, and the horizons of this world are blurred with its ground. My shift was inspired by this limitless nature, of its abundance of mystery and endless discovery which I strongly believe is the extension of life and the essence of what art is. It gave more power to reach the cognitive levels that figurative art, in my experience, had limitations on. 

    Thoughts are abstract in their own  dreamy nature. The meaning of abstraction is what we all do when we think and get lost in thought and then we teleport cognitively, which has the power to give us a confidence that affects our mood, especially making us feel good and prolonging our curiosity. For the mere fact that abstraction is formless and its variables are left undetermined is a godly particle or principle that should free us from building walls and limiting life to what we know, and give room to limitless possibilities. I don’t expect you to understand. The motifs in my work are one of the ways that I use to give way to understanding not meaning, because anything outside the definition of something is disqualifying it to just be. Therefore, I believe meaning is a limiting medium for this undying existence of discovery and creation. Abstraction refuses to be defined, rather it is practiced in utter freedom, and that is why I moved away from figurative art. No one can tell me that my art is only for humans to enjoy or to embrace, because I believe it is also meant to inspire all forms of life.

     
  • Q: During my visit to your studio, I noticed that there is an oval shape on each of your paintings, which you said is representative of a portal. Please elaborate on that.

     

    A: It is a launch pad for thoughts or maybe I can say a rabbit hole, where one dives into a world that does not respect any science or any of the universal laws. It is a viewer's passport to  childhood, which is often very fear-based and I think infancy is the closest thing to it. It is an entry point to wonderland, a mirror on the wall to unknown worlds with alternative realities. A gateway to ‘Bilanyoni’, my nirvana - a place where dreams are the order of life. I’m forever hoping for beautiful things and poetically creating spaces of comfort, peace and healing that is filled with limitless love and true freedom. When a viewer dares to look at my work for more than a minute, they are bound to search, to find clues and messages that will  decipher my visual language that will transport them into a place that I made for them to dwell in. Those ovals are the doorways to that organic virtual place.
     
    Q: Quite like the oval shape, there is a motif of a three leaf clover in each of your paintings. Can you share why you use the three leaf clover as a symbol?

    A: In KwaZulu-Natal where I come from, the clover leaf is regarded as a symbol of peace, as it usually grows on undisturbed  soil,  making it a plant that marks years of peace. There’s Imbuya (amaranthus/amaranth) that grows from cultivated ground which is a delicacy plant that we eat. It usually symbolises how fertile and loose the ground is. Clover also has the ability to send a natural report or analysis of plentiful water presence in the soil. My use of the clover leaf is my way of highlighting the importance of peace for all other enjoyments of life to continue happening, so the clover leaf is my personal peace symbol. It is not necessarily associated with luck or hope, but people associate it with anything, and for me, peace is my core theme. My mission is to spread peace, love and the importance of freedom as a human right and source of dignity. 
     
  • Q: Which artist(s) would you say inspires you? 

    A: Jean Michel Basquiat, Caravaggio, Francis Bacon, Trevor Makhoba, Max Ernst, Diane Victor, Ricky Dyaloyi and Francisco Goya, just to mention a few, because the list is quite long.

     

     
  • Q: You started studying engineering and then switched to fine art. These fields definitely have their polarities. Can you share...
    Q: You started studying engineering and then switched to fine art. These fields definitely have their polarities. Can you share why you made this switch?
     
    A: I was bored because I had no foresight or drive towards the goal of being an engineer. Instead my fascination grew in telling and sharing stories of  myths and philosophical truths. I am still obsessed with this to this very day. I became an artist by virtue of being content with my environment. I was thinking of going into advertising when I stumbled upon or rather  got caught in a net of art lust. The sensation of creating never left and so my curiosity about art grows daily. 
     
  • Q: Your work has themes of philosophy, politics and the personal. Can you share why you draw from each of these themes?
     
    A: I am not politically inclined, I just find myself in the midst of a mediocre situation of men serving themselves while claiming to serve everyone. I no longer find interest in discussing politics, because it is like winning a twitter debate and nothing changes afterwards. I am more charged by well-refined thoughts that are nothing short of the purest guidance from source. Philosophy is a pillar of all the knowledge I have acquired in my life. I am also charged by the energy of wisdom and its application in our daily lives. I always take a personal stand for things that move me because I am a true believer of many versions of the truth. I have always yearned for more enlightenment and wisdom to decide on what and who to become for the benefit of myself and others in the future, who will encounter decisions already made for them by us who are living now, as we are constantly creating an unliveable world for our grandchildren. My environment is my treasure now as it is for my future youngings. If you believe in a collective consciousness you would understand and everything would get personal. In some way I am also at the center of my attention and I cannot help but discuss what I am going through as if the world has to know. 
  • Q: Your artworks are segmented with geometric lines, which you said indicate your thought processes. Can you explain why you...
    Q: Your artworks are segmented with geometric lines, which you said indicate your thought processes. Can you explain why you use this technique?
     
    A: Every thought is significant and it is my way of acknowledging all those other thoughts that could not make it onto my canvas, yet they were a part of the creative process. The lines also add weight to my style of working because they somehow affect the work in a certain way.