Nicholas Hlobo named as Tollman Award winner
Cape Town-born Nicholas Hlobo is the recipient of the Tollman Award for the Visual Arts in 2006. This R100 000 award is made annually to a young South African artist considered to have exceptional ability and potential for future development.
To qualify for this award, the artist must already have produced some striking work, to critical acclaim, but not yet be widely recognized. Although the money is given unconditionally, it is understood that it should be used to provide an opportunity for the artist to work towards an exhibition, study further or travel abroad.
Born in Cape Town in 1975, Hlobo has a B Tech degree from the Wits Technikon (2002). Since his graduation his work has evolved into sculptural pieces made of unusual materials such as rubber inner tubes, leather, ribbons, soap and found objects, exploring Xhosa traditions about ritual and sexuality in an ambiguous manner. He is not only a sculptor but a performance artist, and his sculptural pieces often form part of his dress for his performances. He also works with painting, video and installation.
Recent group exhibitions include 'Olvida Quien Soy - Erase me from who I am' at the Centro Atlantico de Arte Moderno in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (February - April 2006), 'Take me to the river' at Pretoria Art Museum (2005) and 'A Decade of Democracy: Witnessing South Africa' at the Museum of the National Center for Afro-American Artists, Boston, and other US venues (2004-5).
The award is given by the Tollman family, who have extensive business interests in tourism and the wine industry, and the judging committee comprised Rochelle Keene, curator of the Adler Museum at the University of the Witwatersrand, Walter Oltmann, an artist and lecturer in Fine Art at Wits and gallerist Michael Stevenson.
Past Tollman Award winners are Wim Botha and Churchill Madikida (joint winners 2003), Mustafa Maluka (2004) and Zanele Muholi (2005).
