323:A Few Good Friends
Motho Fela

Artist

New York, N.Y. –  LatchKey Gallery is pleased to announce A Few Good Friends - Motho Fela, the first solo exhibition of South African artist Turiya Magadlela in the United States. On view from September 10 – October 23, 2021 at 323 Canal Street, NYC.

Substituting brushstrokes for the tugging and stretching of pantyhose, Magadlela’s artworks are abstract compositions rich in socio-political connotations. Inherent to this material are associations with skin tones and feminine eroticism, arousing a myriad of meanings; “fragility, transparency, beauty, pain, distortions and liberations of a woman…” recalls the artist. 

Of the 11 paintings on view, Magadlela’s series titled Inequities, are compositions of fragile strength. Yes, it was definitely on twitter where I saw a mutilated vagina or It was twitter that I first saw a stitched vagina, depict varying shades of grey nylons stretched to the brink of destruction. Leading the eye upwards by the intimate seems of the nylons, Magadlela eloquently stitches together the hips with red thread, fusing an army of ethereal but fierce femmes.

The artist’s subject matters move between articulations of personal experiences of womanhood, motherhood, narratives from Black South African history, and themes of capitalism. Alluding to the feminine tradition of quilting, patchwork compositions in hot pinks and reds continue off the canvas in a cascade of vibrant colors generating visual velocity. Fittingly, the series, named, E. Broadway Boogie Woggie, plays with rhythm and movement similar to its namesake. 

Turiya Magadlela was born in 1978 in Johannesburg where she lives and works today. She matriculated in 1997 from the National School of the Arts, received in 1998 a Certificate in Fine Arts, Funda Community, before a Certificate in Fine Arts, Funda Community College in 2001. Finally, in 2004 Turiya completed her Postgraduate Research Study at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Holland.

Magadlela has participated in numerous group exhibitions both locally and internationally, including Blue Black, curated by Glenn Ligon at the Pulitzer Arts Foundation; Simple Passion, Complex Vision: The Darryl Atwell Collection at the Gantt Centre; The Past is Present at Jack Shainman Gallery; and Blackness in Abstraction at Pace Gallery. In 2015, she was awarded the prestigious FNB Art Prize. She studied at the University of Johannesburg and the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam. In 2018, Magadlela was featured in a list of the top “10 African artists to invest in now” by the TimesLive, and shortlisted for the Jean-François Prat Prize.

This year, she will exhibit for a second time at the Palais de Tokyo, Paris. This is Magadlela’s first solo show in the United States.