MUSTAFA MALUKA | SOME PEOPLE WILL KILL FOR THE MONEY, MONEY

Private Collection, The Netherlands

Some people will kill for the money, money was painted in 1999-2001, during Maluka's postgraduate studies at De Ateliers in Amsterdam, where he developed his mature painting style. The artist finds inspiration from his urban upbringing on the Cape Flats, and his love of graffiti and hip hop, depicting as here his “invented heroes... people I would like to look up to”. His work has appeared in several international exhibitions including the 27th São Paulo Bienal and Flow at the Studio Museum in Harlem, and on the front cover of Sue Williamson’s South African Art Now. Writing in The New York Times in 2008, critic Holland Cotter describes Maluka as “a fine painter”, “the heroically scaled portraits, culled from fashion magazines but resembling passport photos and mug shots”.