Dumile Feni

Zwelidumile Geelboi Mgxaji Mslaba "Dumile" Feni (May 21, 1942 – 1991) was a South African contemporary visual artist known for both his drawings and paintings that included sculptural elements as well as sculptures. Feni's work often tied to the period of Apartheid in South Africa. He lived in self-imposed exile from 1968 to 1991 based between London, Los Angeles and New York, where he spent the last decade of his life. Although Dumile did exhibit in New York, his income derived mainly from designing record covers, posters, calendars and illustrations in books. In 1991, shortly before his planned return to South Africa, he died from heart failure while shopping at his favourite music store, Tower Records in New York. His body was returned to South Africa and he is buried in Johannesburg. Described as the ‘Goya of the townships’, Dumile found his subject matter in the life and events he observed around him, but he had the ability and vision to transform the particular into the universal. His works reflect his deep love of music, particularly jazz. In many of his drawings, even the disposition of the figures on the page is invested with a musical rhythm. Dumile was primarily a graphic artist, working almost entirely in monochrome.