Johannesburg-based artist Turiya Magadlela uses common cloths, from pantyhose to sheeting and correctional service uniforms. By stretching and folding these materials across wooden frames, Magadlela creates abstract compositions. Grouped on the wall these frames make up soft, sometimes translucent large-scale panel reminiscent of Abstract Expressionist paintings, the ragged edges and tears replace the brush marks but like paintings they are varnished and sized.
After matriculating from the National School of the Arts, Turiya Magadlela (b.1978) studied at the Funda Community College under Charles Nkosi, the University of Johannesburg, and the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam. She has had solo exhibitions at Museum Africa and the Goethe Institut (as part of her JAG/Goethe institute young artist award 2003). Select group exhibitions include blank projects in Johannesburg, Ithuba Arts Gallery, Johannesburg, When Form Becomes Attitude, blank projects, Cape Town, The Grote Oversteek at the Stedelijk Museum and exhibitions at the FNB Joburg Art Fair 2013, Art Cologne/NADA 2013, Generator’s Art Space, Activate Architects and the ABSA Atelier exhibition 2001. Turiya currently lives and works in Johannesburg, South Africa.
