Phillemon Hlungwani grew up near Giyani in rural Limpopo and it is the traditional customs and cultural practices of his community, of which he is deeply proud, which inform all that he does as an artist. As a young herdboy tending the family goats he learnt the bushveld landscape in intimate detail and he depicts the bones and soul of it as no artist before him.
In the words of Trent Read, in this exhibition Hlungwani effortlessly segues between drawing, etching and linocuts and the mindshift that must occur as he approaches each discipline (at 90° to the last) and the technical skills required to handle such enormous plates is astounding.
However technique alone does not make great art and here again Hlungwani shows a vision beyond his years. His work is deceptively simple and often tender but there is a sinewy strength to his line which so perfectly suits his subject and the results are invariably beautiful.
Phillemon Hlungwani
Born in Giyani, Limpopo in Thomo Village, South Africa.
He attended Thomo High School where he obtained a first class in Art for Matric. In 2000 he studied fine art at the Johannesburg Art Foundation. In the same year he won the King Korn competition and was one of the finalists for the Absa Gallery competition.
In 2001 Hlungwani won the King Korn competition and was one of the finalists for the Absa Gallery competition.
He then went to the WITS School of Art to study a teacher’s training course for art and started at the Artist Proof Studios, where he is still based today teaching professional printmaking classes.
Hlungwani has had the following solo exhibitions: December 2011 - Everard Read Gallery, Johannesburg; July 2011 - Everard Read Gallery, Johannesburg; December 2009 - Everard Read Gallery, Johannesburg; November 2009 - UCT Irma Stern Museum, Cape Town; April 2009 - Awarded a sojourn in New York by the Ampersand foundation; May 2008 - ABSA Gallery, Johannesburg.
Examples of the Phillemon Hlungwani art that will be on exhibition at Knysna Fine Art from November 18 until well into December.
