Pebofatso Mokoena

Born in: 1993
From: Alberton, South Africa
Lives and works: Johannesburg, South Africa
Represented by: First Floor Gallery Harare

UN goals

Biography

In his practice, Mokoena considers space, politics, and the environment, and as such, the work he produces transports viewers from the cosmic realm to busy streets and highways. As he once declared, he is uncomfortable with the art world he has to operate with, and his practice is in constant struggle around the apartheid and the deep fissures in South Africa’s moral fabric. His work spans painting, drawing, paper constructions, and printmaking.

Although deeply interested in politics and the legacy of colonialism, his work is abstract and extremely symbolic; geometric figures take possession of the canvas. He shares with us his personal cosmology which resonates with Lucio Fontana’s late work, particularly his series Concetto Spaziale (La fine di Dio), where egg-shaped canvases are reminiscent of the “spiritual womb”.

Such as in Max Ernst's astronomy-themed works, Mokoena's abstract paintings from the "Neoclassical Taste Matrix" cycle share a symbolism that reveals a deep spiritual awareness – a construct of his worldly confrontations encapsulated in an unique cosmology.

Career highlights

Solo shows

2021, First Floor Gallery, Harare, Zimbabwe: Neoclassical Taste Matrix
2020, David Krut Projects, Johannesburg, South Africa: Internal Probes
2018, Bag Factory Art, Johannesburg, South Africa: Inside Jobs
2017, Hazard Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa: The Pebofatso Experience

Group shows

2019, First Floor Gallery, Harare, Zimbabwe: Songs of Sankofa
2017, Bag Factory Art, Johannesburg, South Africa: Atomica Peace
2014, Washington Printmakers Gallery, Washington DC, USA: South African Voices: A New Generation of Printmakers