NOMKHUBULWANE

Last week we took a trip down to Durban to deliver a few of my carvings to the gallery shop and were delighted to see they were exhibiting one of Andries Botha's fantastic life-size elephants.

Nomkhubulwane is woven out of recycled car tyres.

"Nomkhubulwane is the Zulu Goddess of rain, nature, and fertility, and is regarded as the Mother Earth. She is believed to be capable of changing into different types of animals. The name Nomkhubulwane means "she who chooses the state of an animal." - Andries Botha.

There are currently 14 elephants made by Botha and his team. These are placed in many locations around the world.

This isn't the first time I have featured Botha's elephants on my blog. (See here.) These are the elephants that stole my heart. No wonder .....they are contructed of thousands of little pieces of wood and the longer they remain outdoors the more weathered they become.

The top three photographs are mine but the other photographs come from Andries Botha's website. Wander over to see more amazing work by this South African sculptor .

ART FROM THE BANAL OR DISCARDED

Aluminium Cloth (detail) by El Anatsui. October Gallery UK


Artworks made from discarded objects hold great fascination for me especially if the pieces are as amazing as these pieces by Ghanain artist, El Anatsui. He 'sews' together flattened aluminium bottle caps to create huge cloths sometimes big enough to cover a wall or the fronts of buildings. (see here)





Many Moons by El Anatsui. Flattened Bottle caps and copper wire.



One of my favourite pieces is Crumbling Wall made from sheets of perforated rusty metal. These metal sheets were actually old graters used to prepare gari, a West African dish made from cassava. The grater is made by punching holes in a piece of flattened metal with nails which leaves a raised jagged surface over which the cassava is rubbed.



Crumbling Wall by El Anatsui. Perforated rusty metal sheets


See more of El Anatsui's remarkable works here.
"Art grows out of each particular situation, and I believe that artists are better off working with whatever their environment throws up." - El Anatsui

Filthy Rivers, intersecting on a Dying Field by Joseph EZE (photos from Jess Castellote's blog)

These assemblages by Joseph Eze are made from found flip flops. Flip Flops! I admire anyone who can create art from something that is washed up on a beach or accumulating at some rubbish dump. Read more about his work on Jess Castellote's blog on contemporary art in Nigeria, here.

A dark footpath through a garden by Joseph EZE



Snow Flake Wreath by Tamiko Kawata. Safety Pins.



Art made from objects that are banal, plentiful and cheap also intrigue me. Tamiko Kawata uses the lowly safety pin and rubber band in many of her artworks.

Autumn Letter by Tamiko Kawata

Beige on Black by Tamiko Kawata. Rubber Bands.

Red Eye Bull by Richard Swenson


Richard Swenson, a retired physicist opted to restore old John Deere tractors upon retirement and while searching for parts for his tractor restoration he discovered scrap metal on farm junk piles that he could perhaps turn into something. Something became sculptures that are now exhibited in museums. Read his story here.


"When you put together things that other people have thrown out, you're really bringing them to life - a spiritual life that surpasses the life for which they were originally created." - Louise Nevelson