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| Sam Nhlengethwa was born in the township of Payneville, Springs, east of Johannesburg. The artist had an unorthodox rite of passage, as has beem the case with most black South African artists.
Nhlengethwa,who was awarded the prestigious Standard Bank Young Artist Award for 1994, was urban born and raised and as such, relates intimately to township existence. He works ostensibly in the genre of collage. The works concern themselves with, the theme of jazz, and how the syncopated rhythm is made tangible in the fine art. The disjuncture of fragmented montage images is the visual equivalent of the twisted harmonies and staccatos of jazz. Sam Nhlengethwa's studio is situated in a dilapitated building in downtown Fordsburg, Johannesburg, near the Oriental Plaza shopping complex. |
 The studios in the building offer workspace for artists. This is the only facility of its kind for visual artists in the country. The building is affectionately referred to in the arts fraternity as the "Bag Factory" from its previous functions of manufacturing hessian bags.
Nhlengethwa's studio reverberates with compelling and pulsating sounds of jazz emanating from his portable music set. The music underscores the work-in-progress state of the studio. The floor is littered with a variety of magazines, journals and cut-out images in jigsaw puzzle disarray. - Excerpt from an essay by David Koloane |
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 Outdoor jamming |
 Afro Blue |
 Kippies |
 Lady Sings the Blues |
 Around Midnight |
 Dedicated to Charles Mingus |