Musonga Mbogo, Black Boy Fly, (detail) 2019. Oil stick, spray paint and acrylic, 180 x 200cm. Courtesy: the artist.
LUKE POTKIN
Fair Director, The Other Art Fair, Australia
Musonga Mbogo’s work oozes energy but also struggle, and provides challenging storytelling. The small, solitary human figure near the centre is surrounded and consumed by an overwhelming bombardment of symbols. The repeated outstretched hands motif reflect a reaching out, striving for more, looking for a better life and a better world. Something that smashes apart the chains of unequal identity, the locks and prisons that stop the figure from flying and from achieving greatness. But despite the battle depicted on the canvas, for me it feels like an unfinished story and through that there is optimism
MICHELLE CHANIQUE
Gallery Manager, Galerie pompom, Sydney
Mbogo, despite being a young artist, seems very confident. His use of text and colour works really well, there is a lot to read in this work. I feel it is very abstract expressionist, yet very now. This work is strong
PATTY CHEHADE
Gallery director, praxis ARTSPACE, Adelaide
At the heart of Mbogo’s work is the deep, dark experience of a young immigrant maturing in a country that’s vastly different to their own. The hard-hitting text can be read alongside the title, Black Boy Fly. Has he heard this before? It demands us to respond to the question while considering the dark experience of his past or that of his present.