africanah.org

Arena for Contemporary African, African-American and Caribbean Art

US IS THEM: Mustafa Maluka

MMOntologicalAnxiety2013

 

Mustafa Maluka is also in the group show US IS THEM – according to many critics one of the best shows of 2015 – Pizzuti Collection, Columbus Ohio. Until April 2, 2016.

 Ontological Anxiety, 2013.

 

 

 

About the artist:

Born in Cape Town, South Africa, 1976
Lives and works in Helsinki, Finland and New York, New York
Mustafa Maluka’s paintings celebrate a diversity of men and women; his colors and shapes do not tend towards specificity. He was born in Cape Town, South Africa and has lived in Berlin, Amsterdam, and New York. He is currently based in Helsinki, Finland. His subjects are global citizens of indefinite origin, perhaps as peripatetic as the artist himself. They all have direct serious gazes that demonstrate confidence and a tight cosmopolitan stylishness.

MMPregnantDarkness2013

Pregnant Darkness, 2013.

MMRestructuringFoundations2011

Restructuring Foundations, 2011.

MMYourbestwillnotgoodenough2013

Your best will never good enough, 2013.

About the exhibition:

US IS THEM IS A POWERFUL EXHIBITION OF 75 PAINTINGS, SCULPTURE, PHOTOGRAPHS, AND VIDEO BY A GROUP OF 42 INTERNATIONAL ARTISTS WHOSE WORK CONFRONTS ISSUES OF POLITICS, RELIGION, AND RACISM.
The exhibition is organized to reflect timely and potent issues of social justice and current affairs across the world. There exists a long history of artists as social critics from Goya to Manet. Artists are in the unique position to create things of beauty that inspire reflection, elevate our consciousness and fuel a sense of responsibility. The artists in US IS THEM continue that tradition by creating enlightening and thoughtful works that challenge and rearrange stale notions of identity and obsolete notions of difference.

MMSomewhereyouarenotsupposedtobe2013

Somewhere you are not supposted to be, 2013.

As the title suggests this exhibition focuses on what connects rather than separates us. We live in a global society. What happens abroad impacts us at home. What happens at home reverberates across the world. While we experience dramatic social, cultural, economic, and environmental changes, people across continents share in a continuing fight for social justice, solidarity, and tolerance. This exhibition presents works that respond to and raise awareness about our common human condition.