Self Portrait' by South African artist Mbongeni Buthelezi, who creates Pollockesque canvases using recycled plastic.
'Winter in Kliptown' by Mbongeni Buthelezi, exhibited at the Seippel Gallery in Koln, Germany.
'Hula Hoop III' by Mbongeni Buthelezi is an example of the artist's attention to detail. He uses melted recycled plastic to tell engrossing African story-portraits.
Mbongeni Buthelezi was born in 1956 in Johannesburg, South Africa. He has made a name for himself in contemporary art, through his use of waste plastic.
Buthelezi "paintings" are made of waste plastic, which he cut's it into little pieces and melts, with a heat gun, onto a plastic canvas. Buthelezi's work alludes structural difference, creating surfaces and structures with subtle and changing tones and colours. The use of such material shows Buthelezi's awareness of environmental problems and the physical decay of the townships as well as the references to general social and political impoverishment and flaw of opportunities and alternatives that he observes in South Africa.
Buthelezi attended courses at the African Institute of Art in Johannesburg from 1986 until 1992 and later also at the University of Witwatersrand from 1997 until 1998. Buthelezi's work to mediates and communicates hope. He is convinced that by telling his story and depicting his history through his artwork, he can change the path of the younger artists who will follow him.
Source:http://arteye.co.za/art/index.php/viretuemart/thokozani-mthiyane/associated/mbongeni-buthelezi
Artist's works captures my interest as his artistic process involves the melting down strips of coloured plastic on to the canvas surface. He understates the creation process as simple and haphazard, but the final Pollockesque pieces speak for themselves, enjoyable and provocative on all levels, from all distances.
"I'm interested in finding the details in the painting, but also, as you step away from the piece it really comes together,"
The strokes created by the plastic pieces resembles oil paint applied with palette knifes too!
