Mbongeni Buthelezi has let his remarkable talent go to waste. And he couldn’t be happier.

Despite his second name ‘Richman’, Mbongeni was so cash-strapped in his final year of art studies that he resorted to using plastic waste for his exhibition. It was the start of a trashy love affair that continues to this day.

The impact of melting bags and bottles and spreading lava across canvas in swathes of vivid colour was immediate, the impression lasting. Mbongeni became the toast of many an art aficionado the world over, who regard with awe his novel use of soft drink bottle sleeves, shopping bags, tinted mineral water containers and similar items consumers usually can’t wait to be rid of.

Unless they are, for example, the unnamed but clearly discerning collector in London, who has bought 15 large ‘Buthelezis’ over the years. Closer to home, but no less selective, Paul Rich has installed two of Mbongeni’s ‘masterplastics pieces’ in his office at Ceramic Anilox Engravers (CAE) in Durban.

Botticelli prided himself on the best pigments florins could buy, Buonarroti balanced precariously for years on his Sistine scaffolding, but Buthelezi needs no more than a pile of rubbish and a heat gun to make artistic sparks fly.

A born artist

Mbongeni was one of those rare individuals who knew where he was heading from an early age. He was six or seven when he realised his future was etched out for him, he tells us.

In Newcastle, where herding and milking cows were daily duties, his artistic bent became clear in the many wire cars he crafted as a young boy. He now makes magic behind unassuming doors in a studio in Booysens, Johannesburg.

His art arsenal of choice is a heat gun, which he wields dexterously and with precision aim at whatever wrappers, bottles, trays and other refuse he recovers for repurposing during regular rummaging. ‘I source materials wherever I go, in shops, garages and streets,’ he explains. ‘My eye is trained to spot any suitable material, no matter how dirty or unusable it may seem.’

His works have been showcased as several exhibitions – many solo – in galleries across Europe, the UK, US, and the Maldives. And, of course, in every corner of South Africa, into Africa and the Middle East. It was at one such event, at KwaZulu-Natal’s The Pencil Club, that he and Paul Rich met in 2020 and a fast friendship was forged.

Paul says: ‘Working with artisans who reclaim and recycle packaging waste is very much a part of CAE’s social upliftment effort. I was struck by Mbongeni’s talent and he came across from the minute we met as a super-nice guy.’

So much so that CAE’s main meeting room was named ‘Buthelezi Room’. In Mbongeni’s word, this was a ‘priceless’ moment. Paul has just moved into the room as the company has grown so rapidly in the last two years that it now exports its products to 42 countries and office space is at a premium with all the new jobs created. ‘Uplifting others is always a worthy cause,’ he insists. And in CAE’s case, what goes around certainly seems to have come around.

Prodigious portfolio

Over the years, Mbongeni has produced more than 2 000 works, including many commissions and others for the sheer love of creating the exceptional from the expendable.

Two of his most memorable projects, he says, are the massive murals he created for DaVinci and The Leonardo hotels in Sandton. At 10m x 10m, the latter covers the entire wall up the escalators, giving upwardly mobile perambulators a psychedelic glimpse into South Africa’s socio-political history through portraits of leaders and warriors, spattered with whimsical flecks of brands such as Liquifruit and Crunchie.

If you had wanted to buy one particular, but much smaller, Buthelezi artwork, Prayer, it was once available for a mere R130 000. And his series of four canvases titled ‘lockdown’ and painted from discarded bottles is available online for R200 000.

This is not money wasted. As fans know full well, these are investments in one of the country’s most creative sons as well as appreciating assets, although far too precious and beloved to part with.

Mbongeni is quick to point out that the measure of his artistic worth is quality, not money, and that, as any responsible father, he does not favour one of his creations over any other. ‘They are all my children,’ he stresses.

Although he has major plans for the coming year, he is not going to jinx things by going public. He divulges, though, that he will resuscitate certain exhibitions and commissions that were cut short by the Covid lockdown and that other opportunities have arisen that will keep him collecting and crafting almost non-stop for the foreseeable future.

Perhaps piece number 16 for the British gentleman? Or a third purchase for Paul to add to his ‘young boy looking to the future’ and the Stoney ginger beer-themed portrait of a township girl with headphones, as yet unnamed. The artist has tasked Paul with that job and he’s not finding it easy. ‘Mbongeni is so phenomenal, it seems presumptuous for someone other than the artist to name a work,’ Paul concludes. ‘But I’m working on it.’

Ed’s note: Mbongeni is always looking for raw material – if you can help him, email: mbongenibu@gmail.com

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