... was born in 1985 in Tzaneen, Limpopo province, South Africa. His childhood was a very difficult one. When he was at an age of six years his mother brought him to his uncle with whom he was to grow up. Because his uncle physically mistreated him, he escaped and lived in the South African bush. Two years later his mother found him and took him with her and to her new husband. Over the course of time Blessing also got problems with his stepfather, so he escaped from home again. At the age of ten he finally came to Johannesburg and lived there on the streets. He met other street children with whom he hang around and committed crimes such as robbery and theft. Five years later, he was arrested for armed robbery and was sentenced to nine years' imprisonment, of which he had six to stay in prison.

Through his imprisonment, Blessing realized that he had to give his life a different direction. After graduating school in prison, he discovered his talent by participating in the Tsoga (Wake Up) Arts Project where he was where he was taught in painting. With the help of guards and two special friends who gave him the necessary materials, he began to pursue his art seriously - with impressive results. After release from prison he studied at the "Newtown's Artist Proof Studio" and worked for "David Krut Publishing" as well as for the art museum "Johannesburg Art Gallery". He gained his place within the South African artist elite by beeing awarded with the "Reinhold Cassirer Art Award" (Best Young Artist of the Year) by Nadine Gordimer as well as by beeing nominated by the "Mail and Guardian" as one of the 200 young South Africans with a great future ahead. He was described as an African Picasso.

In 2013, the well-known US actor Samuel L. Jackson visited Blessings Studio. He asked Blessing to finish the work he was working on as quickly as possible so he could buy it.

In his works, Blessing Ngobeni uses a series of found objects and waste materials, in particular cuttings from magazines and cardboard boxes, which are in a way intergated in his works so one hardly recognizes their origin at all. The reason for using these materials are, on the one hand, to use the materials themselves as an expression of the difficulties of young artists to enter the world of art if they do not have the appropriate socio-economic support to acquire the needed materials. On the other hand, Blessing chooses the materials according to their influence on his life. The cuttings from magazines, for example, are taken from art magazines. They show artworks from artists who have played a conceptual and aesthetic role in his artistic development.

Blessing deals primarily with the relationship between the cities inhabitants and their environment. Outward life is characterized by music, sex, entertainment and a fast lifestyle. These outward appearances obscure the difficult problems of daily life in southern Africa. The pressure of crime, poverty and unemployment intensifies the relations between inhabitants and creates - in the positive as well as the negative - the passion so obviously seething in this city (Johannesburg).
Blessing Ngobeni is now internationally recognized and is exhibited in renowned galleries in London (Circa Gallery) and New York (Jenkins Johnson Gallery).

Exhibitions:

2016 Everard Read Gallery, Johannesburg
2016 Circa Gallery, London
2016 "In unknown space", Cleveland Printroom, Cleveland, USA

2015 "As If You Care, Gallery MOMO, Cape Town

2014, "In His State of Madness", Gallery MOMO, Johannesburg

2013 "Works on Paper", Gallery MOMO, Johannesburg

2012 "On This Earth", Gallery MOMO, Johannesburg
2012 "I Made In Africa", Africa Day, Sandton Gallery, Johannesburg
2012 "Exit Emergency", Reinhold Cassier Award, Bag Factory, Johannesburg

2011 SANNA Africa Festival, Zoo Lake, Johannesburg
2011 "Wasted", Unity Art Gallery, Johannesburg

2010 "Collaboration", Unity Art Gallery, Johannesburg

2009 Untitled, Unity Art Gallery, Johannesburg

Media:

2013 "200 Young South Africans" (Mail & Guardian)
2013 Artwork, This Political Song, printed as cover "Rethinking the South African Crisis: Nationalism, Populism, Hegemony" by Gillian Hart