Like a Fish in the Water: Terence Maluleke

Terence Maluleke's first solo exhibition in the US, this series of new paintings is a vivid development of his personal and religious symbology, exploring themes of self-determination, community, ritual and artistic freedom. Like a Fish in the Water is a reckoning with Maluleke's faith and expression of the desire for a life inscribed with agency and meaning.

In the starkness of their rendition, focus on foreground action against a flat background, and narrative impact, the works in this exhibition are reminiscent of traditional iconographic paintings. Maluleke’s palette is more subdued than earlier paintings, with a prevalence of golden/mustard hues, enlivened with an experimental approach to mark-making and inclusion of unconventional materials such as glitter. In contrast to the didacticism of religious art, however, he brings an idiosyncratic point of view that embraces ambiguity.

Maluleke has cultivated a vocabulary of forms with personal significance that recur throughout his oeuvre – including calla lilies, which he describes as communicating the push and pull between strength and fragility; portraits of his sister Nozipho, whom he regards as an extension of himself; and the ‘lêkê’ plastic jelly sandal, which featured heavily in his first solo exhibition at Southern Guild, Grace in Grand Bassam. All of these appear in this latest body of work alongside religious symbols and objects of contemporary relevance (including a VR headset), establishing the primacy and power of one’s own unique mythology in building a life of meaning.