Dada Khanyisa 'this is for you' Show Sadie Coles HQ London

Dada Khanyisa 'this is for you' Exhibition Sadie Coles HQ London art artworks

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Dada Khanyisa‘s signature ‘sculptural paintings’ are taking center stage in a new solo exhibition London’s Sadie Coles HQ. Titled this is for you, the Joburg-raised Cape Town-based, artist reflects their immediate community in the South African capital to constructs a lively visual poetry. Blending pop and youth culture with a deeper political history, Khanyisa captures contemporary and reflects it back onto the viewer with vibrancy, movement and humor.

this is for you looks to nostalgia and collective history as means to explore the present. The works on view, created from hand-carved wood and found objects, bear a scrapbook-like quality. Khanyisa’s background in traditional and digital animation sings through modernist forms, enchanting a choreographic figurative approach where posed subjects collide with painted panels and three-dimensional elements.

“I try to include local items in my work. I think it’s important as far as grounding the work in a location,” Khanyisa told Juxtapoz. “I wouldn’t say the people are particular or specific, but these are the people I’m around, and I’m interested in presenting a wider image of the people I have around.”