"As we will always say whenever we pray, ‘our Father who ART in heaven, how great thou ART’."
Born in 1977 in Soweto, Johannesburg, John Vusi Mfupi majored in painting, graduating in 2000. Mfupi’s art was born out of necessity – his now signature collage style has become synonymous with the artist’s visual depictions of daily life, but developed as an efficient means of production for an artist living in a small space: "Canvases are bulky, paper collages can be packed flat and easily stored. I was only a couple of years out of the college, and it was tough getting going. I had no space and had to buy art materials; I started using magazines, because the only thing I needed was colour."
Mfupi's work portrays celebration of youth and mobility; dealing with matters that affect humanity globally. Due to the irregular nature of the paper collage medium, the resulting artworks have a spontaneous feel to them, which denies the painstaking process of selecting the correct colours and textures needed to build up each image. The act of collage has assumed metaphoric importance in Mfupi’s work. By literally incorporating the very images that shape and influence our daily lives, and recycling them to produce individual responses to everyday events, Mfupi also comments on the consumer society we live in; as well as the process of consumption.
"Celebrating youth has always played a central role in my art, as well as in my teachings… I’m just telling stories. It’s a daily life experience. I used to work with schools on a full-time basis and normally, when I would drive past there, I would capture all those kids playing football. I don’t struggle with subject matter because it’s whatever I experience in my day-to-day life."
