South African artist Sam Nhlengethwa salutes Nina Simone and Sonny Rollins and other jazz giants at rare London exhibition

Over the course of his career Sam Nhlengethwa – who has been dubbed “one of the country’s most celebrated living artists” – has developed a distinctive collage and painting practice while exploring themes common to everyday life in South Africa, the street life, domestic interiors to the influence of mining. This rare London exhibition, titled Jazz and Blues at Night, is set to run form 12 August - 25 September 2021 at the Cork Street gallery.

For his Goodman Gallery show the artist has focussed on his deep passion for jazz and pays tribute to cultural icons such as Miriam Makeba and Ron Carter – figures writ large in South Africa’s cultural consciousness who recur throughout Nhlengethwa’s work. The exhibition will include a number of portraits and jazz scenes, tapestry and a listening station where visitors can sit back and relax and choose from a selection of Nhlengethwa’s renown collection of classic jazz albums on vinyl, reputedly the largest on the Continent.

South Africa’s jazz scene flourished in the 1950s, 60s and 70s in the urban spaces of the Townships, shaped and created from black suffering and struggle. South African poet Don Mattera described jazz as bringing back “[a] history that was both painful and beautiful, bringing us face to face with giants who came in all shapes and sizes, the ‘dwarfs’ and the ‘walk talls’ blowing mean melodies and drumming up storms … Yes it all happened in ‘Toeka’ – city slickers (klevas and moegoes) doing jazz like it was some kind of escape from the harsh cold-face realities.”

Despite Nhlengethwa’s pioneering role in South African art, his work has received rare visibility in London. A major survey titled ‘Life, Jazz and Lots of Other Things’ was hosted by SCAD Museum of Art, Savannah, Georgia 2014, touring to SCAD and the Carter Center, Atlanta. Alongside his work has been seen in numerous Biennials from 8th Havana Biennial to 2013 Venice Biennale and more recently at the 2015 Beijing Biennial. The exhibition creates the opportunity for London audiences to discover the work of this influential artist.

For more info visit www.goodman-gallery.com/