GreatJoy Ndlovu is a full-time visual artist based in Johannesburg, South Africa. He was born in the city of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. He studied art at Cyrene Mission in the Southern part of the Matabeleland region in Zimbabwe. He has been enjoying the summits of art world prominence within South Africa and immense recognition of his world-class talent across continents, exhibiting in both local and international art fairs and galleries. Greatjoy retains an ever-growing number of faithful collectors worldwide. His current body of work renders more of its focus on the portrayal of masculinity, identity, and the abstract representation of the nature of thought conceptions, particularly in light of mindset generation as expressed in his 2019 series “Conversations of a Man”. His principal theme circumnavigates around merging motion and emotion to arouse mental images wrapped in synchrony to his style of art.
GreatJoy’s style notably intertwines expressionistic and representationalistic ideas with figurative drawings, while retaining an enthralling tinge of abstraction that frequently lurks in his works. Included also in his works are mind-piercing forms of portraiture which seek to decipher internal truths and meanings with such lightness of detail, rather than merely beaming goodly but shallow superficial semblances.
GreatJoy’s work starts from light-hearted, experimental sketches that develop into large-scale detailed works, or even entire series, without losing an experimental element that so characterizes his work. His work is strongly influenced by challenges incurred by men in society. It aims to table talk and to inspire men and the greater society to raise and tackle these challenges with an elevated degree of seriousness, and it also presses more on the need to help socialize and educate our young boys differently. These notions are carved out from personal experiences lived and are contained and well referenced in his autobiographical art book, The Path to GreatJoy. The book has come to resonate with many art enthusiasts around the globe as an engrossing read for keeps for passionate art lovers.
GreatJoy’s canvas stands as a testator of his exploratory genius with diverse material, evidenced in the manner and the piecing up of his riveting techniques, as revealed and shed across much of his art series. Such a touch of creativity in his approach has set to make him one of the sought-after African artists posed to gain world acclaim in the art scene of his generation. Apart from art, GreatJoy is also a philanthropist, working alongside non-profit organizations such as the SOS Children’s Village and Operation smile. He believes charity, work ethic, education, and creativity serve as key catalysts to the development of our communities.
In 2017, GreatJoy was featured in Destiny Magazine, in the article entitled “Bold and Distinguished” along with other nominated artists. He has since been interviewed in high-profile TV and radio broadcast segments in programs such as “Power Business”, “Business Of The Arts” and the renowned top-notch lifestyle TV show, “Top Billing”.
2018 saw him invited to the panel for a discussion on the relationship of art to peace, and social change, held on the 50th Anniversary of Reginald Turvey by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahai of South Africa, which was hosted at the Berman Contemporary in Sandton. He was also presented for ArtTalk at Starbucks (Conversations over Coffee) to converse about his concept, “The Alpha Male Enquiry” as was discussed in his autobiography book “The Path to GreatJoy”.
2019 saw him be a recipient of a three-month European-based international artist residence award by the Southern African Foundation For Contemporary Art (SAFFCA) in Knysna, Western Cape with French artist Luc Detot.GreatJoy’s work forms a part of various art troves of collectors, the likes of the famous comedian Trevor Noah, ABSA Bank, South African Horizons, Envisionit Capital Solutions, Vision Capital Management, GAPP Architects, and Urban Designers.
