Saatchi Yates Presents Nokukhanya Langa’s First UK Solo Exhibition

Nokukhanya Langa

Nokukhanya Langa
14 September – 15 November 2022
Saatchi Yates
6 Cork Street
Mayfair
London, W1S 3NX

Saatchi Yates is delighted to present a solo exhibition of new paintings by emerging mixed-media artist Nokukhanya Langa, opening on Wednesday, 14 September. The exhibition delves into the world of modern media and internet culture while breaking the rules of traditional painting. Langa’s never-ending Hypnotic multi-coloured spirals and infinite gradients portray her interest in the loss of the image, and by extension, of reality.

Nokukhanya Langa
Nokukhanya Langa in her studio in Gent, Belgium

Born in Springland, Maryland, USA, and now based in Ghent, Belgium, Langa has grown up living between the United States, India, South Africa, The Netherlands, and Belgium. Her art practice reconciles the pluralities of her personal story, mixed cultural heritage, and lived experiences; all coming together to form part of her large-scale paintings, filled with vibrant imagery in a stream-of-consciousness style.

(L-R:  Untitled (2022), Oil on Cotton, 68 x 56 x 10 cm,  ‘143’ (2022), Mixed Media and Oil on Canvas, 115 x 115 x 10 cm;)

Unlearning the rigidity of her training in traditional oil painting, she plays with abstract motifs; colour, swirls, and other fluid shapes work in unison with more recognisable motifs like text and signs. Shifting back and forth between figuration and abstraction, the result is an agile use of approachable jargon and aesthetics that convey the more subtle, and incendiary subtext of the works in a kind of hallucinatory reality. This body of works builds on the selection presented at the Melly Museum in Rotterdam earlier in 2022.

Noku Langa, ‘Much Denial of Unacceptable Feelings’ (2022) Mixed Media and Oil on Canvas, 160 x 160 x 10 cm,

Nokukhanya Langa’s exhibition at Saatchi Yates will open on Wednesday 14 September and will be available to view for free until Tuesday 15 November.

https://www.instagram.com/nokukhanyalanga/

https://saatchiyates.com/

©2022 Nokukhanya Langa