Last year the tenth ABN AMRO Art Award was granted to Neo Matloga. As part of this prize, hisĀ exhibition, along came your eyes, has opened at the Hermitage Amsterdam. For this solo showĀ Matloga produced a series of seven new works.Ā
Using photographs, ink, and charcoal, Matloga creates 'collage-paintings' that open a window onto theĀ world that surrounded him in South Africa. Each painting is titled in the artistās native language, aĀ proud nod to his home province, Limpopo. The paintings serve as a recollection of scenes from hisĀ past. They are filled with emotions, coupled with imagined realities that blend the absurd and theĀ surreal in an exchange of passion, conflict, and joy.
In his new body of work, Matlogaās characters are seen lounging at the beach, in an intimate embraceĀ in a swimming pool, or sharing a moment at a cafĆ©. The characters look directly at the viewer, but theirĀ heads are consistently shown in profile, in what could be seen as a cue to racial profiling. In this way,Ā Matloga takes the gaze of his characters ā and the viewer ā far beyond the canvas. The title of theĀ exhibition, along came your eyes, echoes this poetic push and pull of the gaze.Ā