Blessing Ngobeni: Standard Bank Young Artist award winnerStandard Bank not only prides itself as a leading financial institution in Africa, but also has a long legacy of supporting the visual arts.
by Portia Chamapiwa
23-08-2023 13:06
in Art and Artists
Blessing Ngobeni 2020 Standard Bank Young Artist: Image: Supplied
Ntsumi Ya Vutomi Standard Bank Gallery | 4 August - 15 September
--
Standard Bank not only prides itself as a leading financial institution in Africa, but also has a long legacy of supporting the visual arts through its gallery.
Boasting a history of over three decades of displaying visual arts, an exhibition at the Standard Bank Gallery forms part of the prestigious prize for the annual Standard Bank Young Artist Award Winner for Visual Arts.
Following his award in 2020, Ntsumi Ya Vutomi is Blessing Ngobeni's first exhibition at the Standard Bank Gallery.
--
As a young boy, growing up in an unstable environment, the course of Blessing Ngobeni's life seemed bleak and likely to be struck by the misfortune of a lack of guidance at a critical time in his life.
One could argue that his trajectory into art was therefore not accidental, but rather indicative of the kind of transformative power art would have in his life.
Yet also in making him an interlocutor - a witness if you like - who shows the effects of a troubled, chaotic world that is often unkind to its most vulnerable.
--
Art is therefore not only a means of making sense of the world for Ngobeni but also an instrument for depicting his place in an anxious and agitated society still dealing with the traumas of the past.
Blessing Ngobeni's venture into installation art Recently, Ngobeni has ventured into installation art and expanded his repertoire with the use of found objects and material, video, and animation work.
While the work remains large scale in terms of size and figuration, the intricacy of adding new material, such as fabric and small found objects, has created a new layer of processing and understanding the work, making palpable the complexity of a mix of ideas and thoughts he presents to make sense of the world.
Central to Ngobeni's imagery is the dominance of a figure on the picture plane, a characteristic that gives the work its caricature and confrontational quality.
This further accentuates its uniformity and consistent standard.
The figures in Ngobeni's work however, are by no means neutral.
They consist of other images that come from historical references, newspapers, magazine cuttings and other forms of print.
They are caricatures of the characters they represent and appear compromised by the truths of the tragedies carried by the history they depict.
Therefore, Ntsumi Ya Vutomi is an exhibition that not only extends the different facets of Ngobeni's practice but also brings them together as elements of artistic expression and a language that is bold and distinctive.
It includes an acknowledgement of the participants of the Blessing Ngobeni Art Award (BNAP), a prize, which he started in 2016.
The award, is not only a testament to his generosity in his pursuit to give back but also provides financial support, mentorship and a platform for a young up-and-coming artist to exhibit their work.
Establishing such an award is not only visionary but also beneficial for the broader sustainability of the visual arts landscape in widening the network for younger artists to enter the market.
It gives Standard Bank Gallery great pleasure to host this exhibition as part of its Young Artist Award programme for the year.
This forms part of an extensive line of exhibitions that have not only shaped the space through exerting a positive creative impulse, but also becoming part of its prestigious heritage of exhibitions for future generations.
Dr Same Mdluli
Curator and Manager, Standard Bank Gallery
ALSO READ: National Arts Festival: Q&A with award winner Blessing Ngobeni
Is jy Afrikaans? Kliek hier vir nuus in jou taal!
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
07/08/2025
July 8 2025, 22:30 (PDT) Tata Motors & Dolby Bring Dolby Atmos to Harrier.ev, R...
12/07/2025
As the death toll continues to mount, with at least 120 killed and more than 170 people still missing on July 10 from devastating Texas floods, a number of broa...
12/07/2025
EL SEGUNDO, Calif., and MIAMI -DirecTV and TelevisaUnivision have signed a deal that will make the ad-supported premium subscription tier of ViX, ViX Premium wi...
11/07/2025
PARK CITY, UTAH, July 11, 2025 - The nonprofit Sundance Institute announced today the 11 producers chosen for its annual Producers Labs, returning to Ucross Fou...
11/07/2025
If you've ever wondered what might be playing in Clark Kent's headphones...
11/07/2025
L3Harris Technologies President of Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Jason Lambert and General Manager of L3Harris Waco facility Sean Ling held a ce...
11/07/2025
ARLINGTON, Va. WETA, the flagship public media station in the national capital area, has launched WETA+, a new streaming service tailored for the local Washingt...
11/07/2025
The Federal Communications Commission has emerged as one of the central players in the broadcast TV landscape in 2025, with its deregulatory policies sparking h...
11/07/2025
Calrec will introduce usability, customization and system enhancements across its entire range of Argo consoles during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Amsterda...
11/07/2025
LONDON Encompass Digital Media said it will support live and on-demand viewing of the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup across multiple global regions for sports enterta...
11/07/2025
Two-thirds of broadcast engineers reaped the benefits of a pay raise within the last year....
11/07/2025
CARY, N.C. SmallHD has launched the Quantum 27, a new 26.5-inch Quantum-Dot OLED monitor designed to deliver postproduction image quality in a compact, set-frie...
11/07/2025
The Federal Communications Commission's Enforcement Bureau and Tegna have entered into a consent decree that will settle an investigation into the accidenta...
11/07/2025
WASHINGTON Following news in early July that Paramount had settled President Donald Trump's lawsuit, Sens. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Ben Ray Luj n (D-N...
11/07/2025
Model/Actriz Performs Lead Single Cinderella on The Late Show with Stephen Colbe...
11/07/2025
Behind the Mic: Amazon Prime Preps for First Season of NBA Action; MSG Networks ...
11/07/2025
SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Suite Studios' Craig Hering on Adapting to Client...
11/07/2025
2025 SVG Content Management Forum Breaks Down AI's Impact, Continued Transit...
11/07/2025
A Journey HOME: University of Nebraska's HuskerVision Goes IP Leaders from the HuskerVision and Lawo share their IP learnings By SVG Staff
Friday, July 1...
11/07/2025
CMSI, Remote Picture Labs, Ace ESPN's Cloud-Based Editing Efforts for Wimble...
11/07/2025
Netflix Enters the Live-Boxing-Production Ring for Round 2 With Historic Taylor-...
11/07/2025
Back to All News
Too Hot to Handle: Italy Is Coming on July 18 Only on Netflix
Entertainment
11 July 2025
GlobalItaly
Link copied to clipboard
July 11, 20...
11/07/2025
Back to All News
Netflix Will Release Death Inc. Seasons 1, 2 and 3
Entertainment
11 July 2025
GlobalSpain
Link copied to clipboard
Season 1
Season 2
Se...
11/07/2025
AI and Multimedia Authenticity Standards Collaboration launches two papers to guide the future of AI integration, today at the AI for Good Global Summit
The...
11/07/2025
Ceramics - the humble mix of earth, fire and artistry - have been part of a global conversation for millennia.
From Tang Dynasty trade routes to Renaissance pa...
10/07/2025
The current holder of the prestigious Thomson Foundation Young Journalist of the Year Award has been forced to stop reporting over fears for her safety in Afgha...
10/07/2025
Spotify is turning up the volume on Australian music with a multipronged initiative designed to highlight the dominance of Australian artists on the global stag...
10/07/2025
This is not a drill: Oasis is back on the road-marking its first live performanc...
10/07/2025
The music industry depends on fresh ideas, bold voices, and emerging talent. Yet across the U.K., too many young musicians lack the space to develop their craft...
10/07/2025
NEW YORK - July 10, 2025 - Nielsen, the global leader in audience measurement, data and analytics, today announced that it appointed Richard Pacheco as head of ...
10/07/2025
Local newscasts don't exist in a vacuum. News directors and station management constantly evaluate what's working, what isn't and perhaps most impor...
10/07/2025
Lawo has announced that Stuttgart Media University (Hochschule der Medien, HdM) has comprehensively modernized its central recording studio after selecting an I...
10/07/2025
The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) has opened early-bird registration for the Media Technology Summit, which will take place in a ne...
10/07/2025
NASHVILLE, Tenn. TNDV Television has launched Aspiration 35, a new version of its 40-foot Aspiration truck reimagined for cinematic multicamera productions....
10/07/2025
BURBANK, Calif. Key Code Education, a provider of instructor-led postproduction training, is growing its curriculum with new programs for beginner and intermedi...
10/07/2025
HACKENSACK, N.J. Actus Digital will demonstrate how broadcasters can transform compliance monitoring from a necessary expense into a strategic revenue driver at...
10/07/2025
The Federal Register has published a summary of the Federal Communications Commission's Public Notice seeking comments on its ownership rules that lists a d...
10/07/2025
Back to All News
Netflix Presents the Official Trailer for SuperestarPlay Video
Play Video
Entertainment
10 July 2025
GlobalSpain
Link copied to clipboard...
10/07/2025
In the race to understand our planet's changing climate, speed and accuracy are everything. But today's most widely used climate simulators often strugg...
10/07/2025
As one of the world's largest emerging markets, Indonesia is making strides toward its Golden 2045 Vision - an initiative tapping digital technologies and...
10/07/2025
10 Jul 2025
VEON and Cohen Circle Secure Investor Commitments for Kyivstar Listing Kyiv, New York, Dubai, and Philadelphia - July 10, 2025 - VEON Ltd. (Nasdaq:...
10/07/2025
5G for all? What the DFL's use of Easy5G and RefCam could mean for events in...
10/07/2025
Save the Date: PGA TOUR Studios Welcomes SVG Remote Production Summit on Oct 14-...
10/07/2025
Cloud on the Road: How Remote-Production-Service Providers Are Adapting to a New...
10/07/2025
Seattle Kraken's Ryan Schaber on the NHL Team Taking Live Game Productions I...
10/07/2025
FOX Sports Reboots Small Control Room in Los Angeles as Hub for Vertical-First P...
10/07/2025
SVG Sit-Down: MSE's Zach Leonsis, ViewLift's Rick Allen Go Deep on Joint...
Blessing Ngobeni: Standard Bank Young Artist award winnerStandard Bank not only prides itself as a leading financial institution in Africa, but also has a long legacy of supporting the visual arts.
