About
Simphiwe Ndzube’s (b. 1990, Natalspruit, Johannesburg, South Africa) practice consists of painting, collage, performance, sound, and sculptural forms that explore the nuances of freedom and agency. Inspired by history, remembering/retelling, language, and music, Ndzube creates worlds of characters and bursting landscapes that challenge the idea of the individual and the nation. In a world he terms The Mine Moon,
Ndzube draws influence from his upbringing in a ‘post-apartheid’ South Africa which lingers with the weight of history, subjugation, and violence. However, with a sharp playfulness, Ndzube brings figures and landscapes to life, as they sit between the poles of mythology and realism. The artist does not insist on the aptness and rigidity of ‘historical truth’, but instead emphasizes the art of storytelling with figures brimming with energy, and encompassing the human realities that befall them.
The artist cites South African artists Peter Clarke and Jane Alexander as mentors who similarly hold this fascination with realism and the uncanny, with Ndzube oscillating between these dichotomies. Ndzube’s practice refuses simple categorization but rather has residues of mythmaking, historical commentary, and intentional reimagining. The sticky and morphing nature of truth and history are explored through his interest in experimenting with color, texture, and composition making, which he sees as having a shared musicality between the figures, landscapes, and objects within the frame.
Simphiwe Ndzube lives and works in Los Angeles, CA, and Cape Town, South Africa. He received his BFA from the Michaelis School of Fine Arts in 2015. Recent intuitional solo exhibitions include Oracles of the Pink Universe, Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO (2021); The Rain Prayers, Museo Kaluz, Mexico City, Mexico (2019); and Waiting for Mulungu, Cc Foundation, Shanghai, China (2018). Notable group exhibitions include Pacific Gold, California Biennial, Orange County Museum of Art, Costa Mesa, CA (2023); Abrasive Paradise, Kunsthal KAdE, Amersfoort, the Netherlands (2022); In Some Form or Fashion, The Momentary, Bentonville, AR (2021); Lineages: Works from the Collection, NSU Art Museum, Fort Lauderdale, FL (2021); and Là où les eaux se mêlent (where water comes together with other water), the 15th Lyon Biennale, Lyon, France (2019). His work is collected by the Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO; Fondation Gandur pour l'Art, Geneva, Switzerland; HOW Art Museum, Shanghai, China; Iziko South African National Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA; Musée d’art Contemporain de Lyon, France; Rubell Museum, Miami, FL; Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa, Cape Town, South Africa; Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego; among many others.
C.V.
EDUCATION
BAFA. Michaelis School of Fine Arts, University of Cape Town, 2015
Peter Clarke Art Centre, Cape Town, 2010
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
Intaswahlobo, Stevenson Johannesburg, SA, 2025
After Rain Songs, Stevenson Amsterdam, NL, 2024
Chorus, Blum Los Angeles, CA. 2023
Singular Views: 25 Artists; Simphiwe Ndzube. Rubell Museum DC. 2023-2024
Isithunywa so Moya, Nicodim Gallery, Los Angeles, CA. 2022
Masemola Road, Stevenson Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa. 2022
Vusamazulu | Awakening the Heavens, Nicodim Gallery, New York, NY. 2021
Oracles of the Pink Universe, Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO. 2021
Like the Snake that Fed the Chameleon, Nicodim Gallery, Los Angeles, CA. 2021
In the Order of Elephants After the Rain, Galeria Nicodim, Bucharest, Romania. 2019
The Rain Prayers, Museo Kaluz, Mexico City, Mexico. 2019
Uncharted Lands And Trackless Seas, Stevenson Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa. 2019
Bhabharosi, The Rubell Family Collection, Miami, FL. 2018
Waiting For Mulungu, Cc Foundation, Shanghai, China. 2018
Dancing Into Form, Works on Paper, Harper's Books, New York. 2018
Bhabharosi, Nicodim Gallery, Los Angeles, CA. 2017
Becoming, WHATIFTHEWWORLD Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa. 2016
Imithungo Yezivubeko, Michaelis School of Arts, Cape Town, South Africa. 2015
GROUP EXHIBITIONS &PROJECTS
2025
Stellenbosch Triennial, Ba'zinzile: A Rehearsal for Breathing
2023
“Pictures Girls Make”: Portraitures, curated by Alison Gingeras, Blum Los Angeles
Art in Common: Boil, Toil, and Trouble. Los Angeles, CA
2022
Christen Sveaas Art Foundation: The Unseen, Selected by Hurvin Anderson, The Whitechapel Gallery, London
See You Through It, Cantor Art Gallery, College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, MA
California Biennial 2022: Pacific Gold, Orange County Museum of Art, Costa Mesa, CA.
2021
In Some Form or Fashion, The Momentary, Bentonville, AK.
Witness: Afro Perspectives, Perspectives from the Jorge M. Pérez Collection, Miami, FL.
WHAT DO YOU SEE, YOU PEOPLE, GAZING UP AT ME, Sadie Coles, London
Summer Exhibition 2021, Royal Academy of Arts, London
Shattered Glass, Jeffrey Deitch, Los Angeles, CA
2020
INXS: Never Before Seen Major Works, Nicodim Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Hollywood Babylon: A Re-Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome, Los Angeles, CA
Pineal Eye Infection, Los Angeles, CA
2019
Trans World, Galeria Nicodim, Bucharest, Romania
Trans World, Nicodim Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
People, Jeffery Deitch Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Our Lady of the Flowers, Bucharest, Romania
Together With Other Water, The 15th Lyon Biennale of Contemporary Art, Lyon, France
Filling In the Gaps, Iziko South African National Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
2018
The Adderall and the Ecstasy, Galeria Nicodim, Bucharest, Romania
New Acquisitions, Rubell Family Collection, Miami, FL
Hacer Noche (Crossing Night), Centro Cultural Santo Domingo, Oaxaca, Mexico
Noise!, Frans Hals Museum, Harlem, Netherlands
Both, and, Stevenson Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
The Eye Sees Not Itself, Nicodim Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Indulge, Art Movement, Los Angeles, CA
2017
The Hierophant, Galeria Nicodim, Bucharest, Romania
Son of Mr. Green Genes, BBQLA, Los Angeles, CA
Homeward Bound, Nicodim Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2016
Our Lady + Women's Work, South African National Gallery
Dear Eurpoa, Whatiftheworld gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
The Art of Disruptions, South African National Gallery
#TheOpening, Greatmore Studios, Cape Town, South Africa
2015
Pouring Ours Secretes, Smac Art Gallery, Stellenbosch, Cape Town, South Africa
Kasi-2-kasi Public Arts Festival / Remaking Place, Gordon Institute for Centre and Creative Arts, Cape Town, South Africa
“But he doen’t have anything on!” Commune1 Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
2009
The rights of a child, Iziko National Gallery Annexe & Jewish Museum, Cape Town, South Africa
AWARDS
2019- Culture Creators Annual ‘Innovators & Leaders’ Award
2016- Tollman Award Winner
2015- Michaelis Prize Winner, Michaelis School of Fine Art
2015- Simon Gerson Prize
2013- Cecil SkotnesScholarship
RESIDENCIES
Greatmore Artist Residency Studios, Woodstock CT,
Dalton Warehouse, South Central, Los Angeles. CA. USA
PUBLIC & PRIVATE COLLECTIONS
Longlati Foundation, Shanghai
Fondation Gandur pour l'Art, Geneva
Musee d’art Contemporain de Lyon, Lyon, France
Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), Los Angeles, United States
Pérez Art Museum Miami, Florida
The CC Foundation, Shanghai, China
HOW Art Museum, Shanghai, China
Christen Sveeas Collection, Norway
The Denver Art Museum, Denver, Colorado
Museo Kaluz, Mexico City, Mexico
Rubell family collection, Miami
Rupert Museum, Cape Town
University of Cape Town
Iziko South African National Gallery
Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (Zeitz MOCAA)
A4 Foundation
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Ashraf Jamal. In the World: Essays on Contemporary South African Art. Skira Publishing. August 2017.
Ashraf Jamal. Us & Them, The Killer of The World. Art Africa. no. 4, June 2016, pages 68-71.
Simone Heymans. Young Bright Thing. Art South Africa. Vol. 2, March 2015,
Journals
-2016. Sean O'Toele. ArtForum. Critic's Picks. https://www.artforum.com/picks/id=64536
-2016. Nkule Mabaso. (exhibition Review). Simphiwe's Ndzube's Becoming.
http://artthrob.co.za/2016/11/22/perched-at-the-edge-of-precarity-simphiwe-ndzubes-becoming/
CATALOGUES
Michaelis School of Fine Art Graduate Class Catalogue 2015. Cape Town
Simphiwe Ndzube, Imithungo Yezivubeko. Graduate exhibition Catalogue, 2015, Cape Town
INTERVIEWS
-Vanity Fair. https://www.vanityfair.com/video/watch/journey-through-la-with-artist-simphiwe-ndzube
-ZOO #54 March 2017: http://www.martagnyp.com/interviews/simphiwe-ndzube
-Adjectives. October 2016. In Conversation with Mathew Patridge.
-http://www.adjective.co.za/2016/10/21/simphiwe-ndzube-perspectives/