Mbongeni Buthelezi
Mbongeni Richman Buthelezi Profile
Born in Johannesburg in 1956 and raised in rural
Kwazulu natal, not much is documented about the early
years on Mbongeni. But what we do know is that it was
difficult and inspiring at the same time.
At some point before his twenties he returned to the
urban sprawl of what we now call Gauteng and was
enrolled in The Singaporean art institute in
Johannesburg between 1986 and 1992, there after
being accepted at to WITS fine arts school for what we
can only assume was natural talent shown during his
time at the Singaporean Art institute. After his formative
tertiary education years Mbogeni developed and
created his style out of necessity, mostly due to lack of
funds to create traditional fine art such as oil, water and
sculptural mediums which where most often costly and
elitist. He chose this medium as a way to stand out
from the traditional mediums previously mentioned.
Once his medium was perfected in technique and his
inspirations where focused he set his own path to
success and was quickly recognised as a unique
talented icon within the South African and international
art scene. Having various solo exhibitions between
1988 -2019 including
Mercedes-Benz South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa
Daimler AG, Kunstbesitz, Stuttgart, Germany
Museum for African Art, New York City
Johannesburg Art Gallery, South Africa
Spier Collection, South Africa
These being just a smidgen of all of his solo exhibitions.
A true South African Icon who reflected a new South
African art landscape.
Mediums
Mbongenis medium and technique involves
melting down strips of coloured plastic
collected from recycling depots and rubbish
bins on to the canvas surface, itself often from
recycled or materials thrown away.
In his own words in a VISI Magazine interview
in 2011
“Plastic is considered to be dirt but, when I
use it to paint, I first clean it and then give it
energy in a different space. Once I breathe
new life into the plastic, it becomes something
new and it belongs. I paint with cheap
materials but this doesn’t mean I’m limited to
painting township scenes.” Visi Magazine
Online (2011) Visi.co.za
His subject matter is mostly figurative subject
matter of physical township life and how it
affects the way of life which is almost purely a
life of survival on a day to day basis or hand
to mouth. This way of life is intercepted in
non-figurative organic shapes and forms seen
and experienced in the township.
Mbongenis medium now encapsulates 18
different techniques of melting recycled
plastics into various brush strokes, colours,
hues, shades, textures and layers of sepia,
neutral shading to create depth and subtle
variances.
Mbongeni Buthelezis influence on my
Architectural Concepts and Material
choices.
My use of coloured steel sheeting relates to
two of Mbogenis trademarks, firstly the bright
colours of his artwork mirrored in my dwellings
bright coloured sheets. Secondly his subject
matter and life within the townships, the use of
steel sheeting to create dwellings. Mbogeni
himself has said that he likes that he able to
take a material not traditionally beautiful in the
eyes of the art critics and turn it into something
strikenly beautiful. I have done this in the same
way using the steel sheeting normally reserved
for industrial applications, roofing and purely
functional and uplifted the material to give it
energy in a contemporary architectural level
that is modern, beautiful, striking and highly
practical. Not to mention inexpensive. The
angular shapes of the township landscape with
the telephone poles are also mimic in my
square angles in the form of my dwelling as
well as the steel vertical posts supporting the
roof. These are meant to look like the
telephone and electrical poles in the shanty
towns, with no real pattern of placement.
My second material which has relation to
Mbogenis medium, is the timber cladding and
timber slatted screens. I would be specifying
Evatech timber products, a recycled material
with a low carbon foot print and really eco
friendly product which is made from recycled
plastic products normally thrown in a rubbish
dump.
Overall the influence on my design is the up
cycling and recycling of normally discarded
materials, put together in my design to create a
beautiful striking dwelling for the client. My
client can also have peace of mind that his life’s
work and philosophy to use recycled products
in his artwork and also transfer to his everyday
normal life.
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