Nyanga artist's pen work is on the ball
Nyanga East artist Themba Mkhangeli with some of his realistic ballpoint pen portraits and drawings. Picture: Michael Walker Nyanga East artist Themba Mkhangeli with some of his realistic ballpoint pen portraits and drawings. Picture: Michael Walker
Cape Town - Every morning before dawn Themba Mkhangeli gets up to help his mother set up the family Shisa Nyama stand in Sithandatu Avenue in Nyanga.
His mother, Busisiwe, who runs the stand, is a well-known face in the community. For over two decades she has managed it, selling braaied sausages, chops and chickens, as well as buckets, to passersby.
When Mkhangeli gets a chance between helping out at the family business, he draws. Earlier this month he sold his first artwork, an extremely realistic ballpoint pen portrait of a young girl.
His artwork was displayed at a group exhibition organised by the Bellville Association of Arts at the Art.b gallery.
“The reaction was overwhelmingly positive and the drawing sold almost immediately,” said Juria le Roux, vice-chairman of the association. “Seasoned artists were impressed by the skill and level of detail displayed in Themba’s artwork; ball point pen is not an easy medium to work in.”
Le Roux said the gallery gives unknown artists, such as Mkhangeli, the chance to exhibit their works next to those of well-known names.
Mkhangeli said he was lost for words when he got the call that his work had been sold. “I was so excited. I didn’t know what to say,” he said.
The 21-year-old has not been an artist long. He started doodling in 2014, while he was studying to upgrade his matric results so he could attend university. He soon realised he had a talent.
And his medium, ballpoint pen, was what he was using to study. “I did not have pencils or other materials. I used what I had,” he said. “Many famous artists cannot draw with ballpoint pen. So I decided to go with it.”
After matric, he enrolled at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology to study industrial design, fashion and graphic design. But he failed the theory section of the course and dropped out. Then he decided to focus solely on his artwork.
On Tuesday at the house of his friend and business partner, Nqobile Ndlovu, in a side street in Crossroads, Mkhangeli laid out over 20 of his artworks on the double bed.
The portraits range from former police commissioner Bheki Cele to SA film star Charlize Theron, Afropop legend Brenda Fassie and Nkosinathi Maphumulo, better known as DJ Black Coffee.
Others are of friends he grew up with in Nyanga. Mkhangeli says it takes between two to three days to finish a drawing. He works in short bursts - sometimes an hour, sometimes half an hour.
“I really have to focus,” he said. He starts with a sketch in HB pencil.
“When I am done sketching, I have to focus a lot when I use the pen.”
Mkhangeli and Ndlovu have also started a fashion brand called Seko Rough to push clothing “from the townships”, selling the merchandise from their Facebook page. And they have more plans.
“Next year I want to open a project. I want to teach children after school,” said Mkhangeli.
“We don’t have anything, we need containers and materials.”
Weekend Argus