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INXS: Never Before Seen Major Works by Simphiwe Ndzube, Moffat Takadiwa, Zhou Yilun at Nicodim

June 6, 2020

Artist: Simphiwe Ndzube, Moffat Takadiwa, Zhou Yilun

Exhibition title: INXS: Never Before Seen Major Works by Simphiwe Ndzube, Moffat Takadiwa, Zhou Yilun

Venue: Nicodim, Los Angeles, US

Date: April 4 – May 23, 2020

Photography: all images copyright and courtesy of the artist and Nicodim, Los Angeles

In 1978, Gary Morris, then-manager of Midnight Oil, approached an unknown band called The Vegetables about a change of direction: they’d give up sex, drugs, and alcohol, devote their lives and music to God Almighty and become rock-and-roll parisioners, prosthelytizing in His name from arena to arena, stadium to stadium. They’d be so pious, so free from sin, so inaccessible that they’d perform in cages suspended above the audience. No one could possibly corrupt them even if temptations arose. He’d call them INXS.

Michael Hutchence, singer of The Vegetables, liked the name but nothing else of Morris’s plan, and you’ve heard about the rest in the tabloids.

In 2020, Nicodim Gallery will resurrect a more-perfect version of Morris’s vision for a different “band” in a different world. Artists Simphiwe Ndzube, Moffat Takadiwa, and Zhou Yilun have each released major, never before seen works that are so moving, so autoerotic, that—for the safety of the public—they are installed, locked away from the citizenry, sealed within the gallery, disinfected, and only viewable online. The gallery is thrilled to share this safe, online experience in such trying times, and sincerely hopes it provides sanctuary and salvation in the face of the pandemic.

Simphiwe Ndzube (b. 1990, Cape Town, South Africa) lives and works in Los Angeles, CA and Cape Town, South Africa. He received his BFA from the Michaelis School of Fine Arts in 2015. Ndzube’s work is characterised by a fundamental interplay between objects, media and two-dimensional surfaces; stitching together a subjective account of the black experience in post-apartheid South Africa from a mythological persepective. Recent exhibitions include Hollywood Babylon: A Re-Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome, Nicodim, Jeffrey Deitch, and AUTRE Magazine, Los Angeles, USA (2020); Where Water Comes Together With Other Water, The 15th Lyon Biennale, Lyon, France (2019); People, Jeffrey Deitch, Los Angeles, USA (2019); Uncharted Lands and Trackless Seas, Stevenson Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa (2019, solo); Trans World, Nicodim Gallery, Los Angeles, USA; Galeria Nicodim, Bucharest, Romania (2019); New Acquisitions, the Rubell Family Collection, Miami, USA (2018); Hacer Noche, Oaxaca, Mexico (2018); NOISE!, The Frans Hals Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands (2018); Waiting for Mulungu, The CC Foundation, Shanghai, China (2018, solo); Bharbarosi, Nicodim Gallery, Los Angeles, USA (2017, solo); and Becoming, WHATIFTHEWORLD, Cape Town, South Africa (2016, solo).

Moffat Takadiwa (b. 1983, Karol, Zimbabwe) lives and works in Harare, Zimbabwe in the neighborhood of Mbare, one of the biggest hotspots for the recycling and repurposing microeconomy in the country. For years, Takadiwa has been utilizing his practice with a focus on rehabilitating his community, promoting an urban development project with the goal of establishing a community-oriented arts district. Working with local upcoming young artists and young creatives, Takadiwa aims to create the world’s first arts district made of reused and repurposed materials. Takadiwa graduated with a BA Honours from Harare Polytechnic College, Zimbabwe in 2008. Part of the post-independence generation of artists in Zimbabwe, Takadiwa has exhibited extensively across major institutions in Zimbabwe as well as internationally. Recent exhibitions include thread., Long Beach Museum of Art, USA (2019–20); The Extreme Present, Jeffrey Deitch and Gagosian, Miami, USA (2019); Stormy Weather, Museum Arnhem, The Netherlands (2019); Second Hand, Jameel Arts Centre, Dubai, UAE (2019); KUBATANA, Vestfossen Kunstlaboratorium, Oslo, Norway (2019); Ex Africa—storie e identità di un’arte universale, Museo Civico Archeologico, Bologna, Italy (2019); The Eye Sees Not Itself, Nicodim Gallery, Los Angeles, USA (2018); De Nature en Sculpture, Villa Datris Foundation, L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, France (2017); and Say Hello to English, Tyburn Gallery, London, United Kingdom (2017, solo).

Zhou Yilun (b. 1983, Hangzhou, China) lives and works in Hangzhou. Zhou graduated in 2006 from the oil painting department at China Academy of Art. His works are formed from a bricolage of identity, as he lifts and distorts techniques inherited from the Renaissance, Baroque, and Romantic eras—revisiting, perverting, and parodying their ideas for the new globalist regime. He has recently exhibited at the KWM artcenter in Beijing, China (2018), appearing in The Post Southern Song Dynasty, an exhibition of works featuring the Martin Goya Business artist collective. Other recent exhibitions include Zhou Yilun: Q.S.K.T., Galerie Peter Kilchmann, Zurich, Switzerland (2020, solo); Zhou Yilun: Ornament and Crime, Nicodim Gallery, Los Angeles, USA (2019, solo); After Sunset, Galeria Liusa Wang, Paris, France (2018); Parallel Times, Inna Art Space, Hangzhou, China (2017); The Monkey On Horseback, Galeria Nicodim, Bucharest, Romania (2016, solo); Zhou Yilun, Nicodim Gallery, Los Angeles, USA (2015, solo); GO█DFINDER, Platform China Contemporary Art Institute, Beijing, China (2015, solo); and My Generation: Young Chinese Artists, Tampa Museum of Art, Tampa, USA; Orange County; Museum of Art, Newport Beach, USA (2015).

INXS: Never Before Seen Major Works by Simphiwe Ndzube, Moffat Takadiwa, Zhou Yilun, 2020, exhibition view, Nicodim Gallery, Los Angeles

Moffat Takadiwa, Number 8, 2020, found bottle caps, foil caps, aerosol tops, and keyboard keys, 116 x 58 x 3.5 in, 295 x 148 x 9 cm

Moffat Takadiwa, Red Robot, 2020, found keyboard keys, bottle caps, and toothbrush heads, 94 x 46 x 6 in, 238.75 x 116.75 x 15.25 cm

Moffat Takadiwa, The Towering Twins, 2020, found bottle caps, alcohol bottle caps, aerosol bottle tops, and detergent bottle caps, 111 x 59 x 3.5 in, 282 x 150 x 9 cm

Moffat Takadiwa, The Twins, 2020, found keyboard keys, toothbrushes, 138 x 75 x 11 in, 350 x 190 x 28 cm

Simphiwe Ndzube, Goldie, 2019, mixed media, collage and acrylic on linen, 78.75 x 78.75 in, 200 x 200 cm

Simphiwe Ndzube, Amajita agangayo, 2019, collage, duct tape, and acrylic on canvas, 59 x 43.5 x 2 in, 150 x 110.5 x 5 cm

Simphiwe Ndzube, Bhekizwe, The Alligator Rider, 2020, acrylic, collage, duct tape, and fabric on canvas, 59 x 102.25 x 2.5 in, 150 x 260 x 6.5 cm

Simphiwe Ndzube, I’ve Been Mistaken as a Mountain, 2019, acrylic, artificial braids, collage, duct tape, and fabric on canvas, 59 x 118 x 8 in, 150 x 300 x 20 cm