Mustafa Maluka (born 1976, Cape Town, South Africa)[1] is an artist known for his portraits.

Biography

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Maluka grew up in Cape Town, South Africa, but came of age in Amsterdam, the Netherlands where he studied at De Ateliers postgraduate art institute and the Amsterdam School for Cultural analysis at the University of Amsterdam.[2] He also took up residence in Berlin, Helsinki and New York.[3] He is currently 47 years old (2024)

Maluka's work has appeared in several international exhibitions such as the 27th São Paulo Bienal[4] in Brazil,"World Histories" at Des Moines Art Centre,[5] Iowa and "Flow" at the Studio Museum[6] in Harlem. He has been included in group exhibitions at the Studio Museum in Harlem (2008),[7] the Snug Harbor Cultural Center (2010), Des Moines Art Center (2008), the Stedelijk Museum Zwolle (2006) and the Contemporary Museum of Honolulu (2006).[1]

Maluka participated to the group exhibition You Love Me, You Love Me Not at Municipal Gallery in Porto, Portugal (2015) showcasing part of the Sindika Dokolo collection[8] and also in Us Is Them by the Pizzuti Collection, Columbus, USA (2015).[9] In 2009, he made the cover of the first book on African contemporary art, writing by Sue Williamson, a key figure on the South African art scene since the early 1980s.[10]

Work

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His portraits of pop-culture icons as well as imaginary people are painted an unusual color palette that alludes to ambiguous or "indeterminate race" or ethnicity. These are rendered within the context of colorful, patterned geometric backgrounds.[3][11]

Reception

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Maluka's work has received critical attention and has been reviewed in Art in America] magazine,[3] ArtThrob,[11] OneSmallSeed (a South African quarterly art magazine),[12] ArtAfrica magazine,[13] the Mail & Guardian (South Africa)[14] among other publications.

Collections

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He is part of the collections of Kamel Lazaar Foundation and Sindika Dokolo Foundation.[15] His work is held int the permanent collections of the North Carolina Museum of Art,[16] and the Studio Museum in Harlem.[17]

Book covers

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Maluka's work has appeared on the covers of various books. Most recently his painting entitled "I can't believe you think that of me"[18] appeared on the cover of the Harper Collins book South African Art Now[19] and one of his photographs on the cover of the social science book "The new media nation: indigenous peoples and global communication".[20] A still from a 2001 interactive piece was used as the cover for the book "Africa and its significant others: forty years of intercultural entanglement".[21] The novel by Doreen Baingana called "Tropical Fish: Stories Out of Entebbe"[22] was also adorned with 3 covers featuring different works by the artist.

Awards

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  • 1998 Thami Mnyele Award,[23] Amsterdam
  • 2004 Tollman Award for the Visual Arts[24]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Mustafa Maluka". Artnet. Retrieved 5 July 2023.
  2. ^ "Mustafa Maluka". Fundacion AMMA. Retrieved 5 July 2023.
  3. ^ a b c Valdez, Sarah (15 January 2010). "Mustafa Maluka". Art in America. Retrieved 3 July 2023.
  4. ^ 27a. Bienal de São Paulo: Como viver junto – How to live together | e-flux
  5. ^ archiveworldhistories
  6. ^ Flow – Studio Museum in Harlem – Art – Review – New York Times
  7. ^ Cotter, Holland (4 April 2008). "Out of Africa, Whatever Africa May Be". The New York Times. Retrieved 10 July 2023.
  8. ^ "Major exhibition devoted to works from the Sindika Dokolo collection on view at Galeria Municipal Almeida Garrett". Art Daily. 11 July 2023. Retrieved 11 July 2023.
  9. ^ "Us is Them: Mustafa Maluka". Africanah. Retrieved 11 July 2023.
  10. ^ Allara, Pamela. "Allara on Williamson, 'South African Art Now'". H-Net; H-AfrArts. Retrieved 11 July 2023.
  11. ^ a b McIntosh, Tavish. "Mustafa Maluka at Michael Stevenson". ArtThrob. Retrieved 3 July 2023.
  12. ^ "Mustafa Maluka Prodigal Son". OneSmallSeed. 10 September 2012. Retrieved 3 July 2023.
  13. ^ Stevenson, Michael (September 2005). "Mustafa Maluka". ArtAfrica. Retrieved 3 July 2023.
  14. ^ Tolsi, Niren. "Shifting forward through art". Mail & Guardian (South Africa). Retrieved 3 July 2023.
  15. ^ "Mustafa Maluka". AMMA Foundation. Retrieved 3 July 2023.
  16. ^ "No More Keeping my Feet on the Ground/". North Carolina Museum of Art. 11 March 2021. Retrieved 3 July 2023.
  17. ^ "Collection: Our Artists". Studio Museum in Harlem. 10 September 2020. Retrieved 3 July 2023.
  18. ^ "Mustafa Maluka - I can't believe you think that of me, 2007, oil and acrylic on canvas. 183 x 133 cm - galerie bertrand & gruner". Archived from the original on 17 May 2009. Retrieved 20 February 2011.
  19. ^ South African Art Now by Sue Williamson
  20. ^ New Media Nation: Indigenous Peoples and Global Communication (Anthropology of Media): Valerie Alia: 9781845454203: Amazon.com: Books
  21. ^ Africa and Its Significant Others: Forty Years of Intercultural Entanglement – Google Books
  22. ^ TROPICAL FISH, ETC: Three Beautiful Covers for One Book!
  23. ^ African Artists @ Thami Mnyele, Netherlands
  24. ^ A R T T H R O B _ N E W S
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