Overview

Following in the tradition of the ‘Renaissance Man’, Pitika Ntuli is a true artistic, political and academic polymath. Interested in exploring the contradictory relationship between tradition and modernity, Ntuli’s witty and dark reflections on our society are captivating and visionary.

Works
  • Pitika Ntuli, It's Been a Long Journey
    It's Been a Long Journey R 230,000.00
  • Pitika Ntuli, Spirit Family at Dawn
    Spirit Family at Dawn R 345,000.00
  • Pitika Ntuli, The Trinity of Hope
    The Trinity of Hope R 109,250.00
  • Pitika Ntuli, Towards the Kiss of Freedom
    Towards the Kiss of Freedom R 155,250.00
  • Pitika Ntuli, Uprising
    Uprising R 230,000.00
  • Pitika Ntuli, When Dreams Begin to Coalesce
    When Dreams Begin to Coalesce R 201,250.00
  • Pitika Ntuli, The Burden of Conscience, 2010
    The Burden of Conscience, 2010
  • Pitika Ntuli, Political Suicide
    Political Suicide
  • Pitika Ntuli, Mother and Child, 2009
    Mother and Child, 2009
  • Pitika Ntuli, Warrior Queen of Africa, 2018-2020
    Warrior Queen of Africa, 2018-2020
  • Pitika Ntuli, In the Womb of Elephantine Dreams, 2018-2020
    In the Womb of Elephantine Dreams, 2018-2020
  • Pitika Ntuli, I armed Myself with Jaws of Love, 2018 - 2020
    I armed Myself with Jaws of Love, 2018 - 2020
  • Pitika Ntuli, Domes of Love, 2018 - 2020
    Domes of Love, 2018 - 2020
  • Pitika Ntuli, Cyclone of our Dreams
    Cyclone of our Dreams R 201,250.00
  • Pitika Ntuli, Child on a Swaying Crescent Moon, 2018-2020
    Child on a Swaying Crescent Moon, 2018-2020
  • Pitika Ntuli, African Rainbow Snake, Heal Us!, 2018 - 2020
    African Rainbow Snake, Heal Us!, 2018 - 2020
  • Pitika Ntuli, Medium on Fire , 2018-2020
    Medium on Fire , 2018-2020
Video
Biography

Pitika Ntuli was born in 1940 in Springs and grew up in Witbank in Mpumalanga. While a teacher, artist and critical thinker living under the threat of apartheid in the sixties and seventies, Ntuli was forced into exile in Swaziland and arrested and made a political prisoner until 1978, when international pressure forced his release to the UK.

 

Having already completed an MFA at Pratt Institute in New York in 1977, he finished  an MA at  Brunel University in London, in 1985 after which he lectured art at various international and South African universities including; Central St. Martin’s College of Art and Wits University. He was an artist in residence in the 1980s and ‘90s at schools and colleges in London. Among many other leadership appointments at South African universities, he served as Deputy Vice-Chancellor at the UDW. 

 

His contribution to the development of arts and culture in South Africa has been immense. He served as director at the Sankofa Institute for the African Renaissance and, Fellow of the Mapungubwe Institute, among many other fellowships. He was awarded the Arts and Culture Trust – Lifetime Achievement Award in 2013 and the City of Johannesburg named him a ‘Living Legend’ in 2012. 

 

He has curated several exhibitions,. In his capacity as an artist he has staged numerous solo exhibitions in South Africa, Germany and the United Kingdom. 

 

His works grace numerous important corporate, private – such as Paul Simon, USA, and Akufo Addo, Ghana  - and public collections such as the African American Institute, New York, USA and Constitutional Court, Johannesburg, SA.  

 

Primarily a sculptor, Pitika’s work expresses a sense of haunting loneliness – a distress at the pillaging of a continent and culture through the lens of post-colonialism. His stark skeletal structures are created in any physical medium he can find: metal, wood, stone, and bone and can range from small to monumental works in granite that weigh in excess of 19 tons.

 

"In Art, the creative act is a titanic battle between flesh and spirit. Each artwork is a diversion of the flesh, the body. Each time the artist dies, a new work is born, or rather the opposite: each time a work of art is born the artist dies a little. A little death invokes a greater desire to live and thus creates another artwork. When the artist dies finally, she continues to live through her offspring – her children and her artworks. "

 

While there is an element of darkness on display in his work, there is a strong sense of wit and tongue-in-check irony present in each of his sculptures.

 

Pitika is also a poet, often combining classical Eurocentric form and clichés when discussing the destruction and pillaging of the African culture and landscape. 



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