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Monani Jackson Nkumanda (b. 1948)

Monani Jackson Nkumanda is an artist from Guguletu, South Africa who creates fresh, ideologically unencumbered visions of his environment in striking dioramic sculpture - scenic representations in which the sculptured details blend into the painted background. Nkumanda's early years were spent on a farm near Cradock, where as a pastime he modeled clay figures depicting local scenes. In 1966, at the age of 16, he moved to King Williams Town where he trained as a carpenter. He was adept at drawing and one day someone asked him to draw a chicken for them. After much persuasion he did so, with astounding results. He was immediately inundated with requests to draw various objects and though all Jackson thought he wanted to do was build cupboards, he couldn't deny a deep seated urge to express himself in this manner.

Nkumanda's focus, perspective and use of space and color are remarkable. He seems immune to untidiness and nothing is left to chance. Each work is a complex un-romanticized arrangement of elements with a perspective that is truly extraordinary. His three dimensional, multi-media works depicting South African township and rural scenes feature people, shacks, animals, cars and tractors, sculptured and mounted on hardboard. These mounted sculptures are angled and scaled to project the illusion of depth and distance. His scenes are built up from scraps of material: wood, cork, sponge, metal tins - anything he can lay his hands on. He has an incredible eye for detail and, typically, inside a shack one may see a black and white television set showing a boxing match or elsewhere in front of a barber shop a man can be seen having his hair shaved while chickens run around and people in the background run towards a burning shack carrying buckets of water. These are real life situations. As we explore Nkumanda's sculptures, the very fabric of life unfolds. We can see that each figure has it's own unique character but nonetheless remains part of a greater whole; the extended unity that we find in the myriad paths that criss-cross the townships and rural villages of Nkumanda's South Africa.

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