Simphiwe Ndzube is a painter and sculptor who uses flamboyant color and theatrical space to tell a story of the Black experience in post-apartheid South Africa. His work was most recently the subject of a 2021 exhibition “Simphiwe Ndzube, Oracles of the Pink Universe” at the Denver Art Museum. Other major shows include “Like the Snake that Fed the Chameleon” (Nicodim Gallery, LA, 2021); “The Fantastic Ride to Gwadana” (Stevenson Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa, 2020, a solo exhibit); and ”Where Water Comes Together with Other Water,” The 15th Lyon Biennale (Lyon, France, 2019). His work is collected by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Denver Art Museum; Musée d’art Contemporain de Lyon, France; Iziko South African National Gallery, South Africa; Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa, South Africa; and many others. Ndzube has held residencies at the Dalton Warehouse Studios, South Central, LA (2018) and Greatmore Studios, Woodstock Cape Town (2016), and was awarded the Culture Creators Innovators & Leaders Award in Art (2019).

Ndzube lives and works in Los Angeles and Cape Town, South Africa.

Organized by the Department of Art and Art History. Supported by the UC Davis College of Letters and Science and co-sponsored by the Manetti Shrem Museum.