Monotype Babe: The creative process and inspiration behind Lebogang Mabusela's art


By Lindelwa Masuku

Lebogang Mabusela, also known as the 'Monotype Babe', is a contemporary fine artist based in South Africa. Her love for creating art dates back to her childhood, and with the support of her family, she decided to pursue it as a career. 

Mabusela's creative process involves looking back at her past works for inspiration, as well as drawing from her personal experiences and emotions.

One of her most significant pieces of work is the Robert Hodgins "Joburg Words", which reflects the city's history and her personal experiences navigating the space. Mabusela considers herself a contemporary artist whose work speaks to modern issues such as Johannesburg's evolution and the 'Makoti' experience. 

She has also branded herself as the 'Monotype Babe' due to her investment in the monotype medium, which she plans to continue exploring.

Despite facing challenges such as juggling a 9 to 5 job with her art and feeling pressure to achieve certain milestones, Mabusela has established herself as a successful artist. She is currently working towards sustaining her living solely through her art, while also experimenting with new materials and scaling her work to create bigger pieces. 

Mabusela's dedication to her craft, business acumen, and collaborative spirit make her our visionary in focus this week, we sit down with Lebogang in her Newtown Johannesburg studio. 


Can you tell us about your background and how you became a fine artist?

I think like most people, when I was a child, I was very creative, I knew that this is what I want to do, so I followed that, there were questions about what career path I’d choose in high school, and there were a few which I thought were respectable, but my heart was not there — gladly, my family was very supportive of me, they saw how much I loved art and creating, so they encouraged me to go this route

Can you walk us through your creative process when developing a new piece?

My work inspires the next, so, as a creative process in creating new work, I look at my past work, even as far as the first piece I’ve ever made. I take reference from that, for example, specific colours I used, how I used them, and look at how it worked for that particular piece and pick up from that to inspire the next.

Other bodies of work that I’ve created, stemmed from within, how I was feeling at that moment, and manifested in the work.


How do you stay inspired and motivated?

For me, it comes very easily, I don’t struggle with that. There’s always an idea to create something, even when I’m going through a brief “creators block”. I could be in a corporate space and I’d still get an idea to create something.

When I was younger, staying in Secunda, Mpumalanga, I used to work in my father’s Tavern, and he’d sell cigarettes, in those boxes there’s a gold foil like paper, I’d collect those from time to time, and create patterns using that, I would sit there and be creative, there was always something to do to help me stay motivated.

How do you handle criticism and rejection when it comes to your art?

If the criticism is constructive and relevant, I take it and use it to better myself, no matter how difficult it may be. I always say that, let the frustration that may come with criticism fuel you to work.

Can you discuss a specific piece of work that holds a special meaning to you?

The Robert Hodgins “Joburg Words”.  The piece has these words that reflect Joburg, some of these words are quite familiar to me. They were written/made during the Apartheid era. That work is significant to me, I see Joburg as such a fascinating phenomenon. Robert's work made me want to look into the city, and I’m able to do that now, through my lens and experiences as I navigate the space.


How do you see your art fitting into the contemporary art scene? Do you consider yourself a contemporary artist?

I do consider myself a contemporary artist, and I think my art fits well within the contemporary art scene. The topics I speak about in my work are modern, for example, ‘Johannesburg Words’, and ‘’Makoti’, these are things that are happening now. And the monotype medium that I use, and the way I use the technique and styles, are contemporary.

Do you ever see yourself exploring other art mediums?

Print-making is where my interests lie, and this is what I’d like to do for as long as I possibly can. I am invested in it—I do, however, have space to explore other mediums, such as oil pastels.
Print-making is my first love, and I’ve already branded myself as ‘Monotype Babe’ [laughs]

How do you handle the business aspect of being a fine artist?

I started thinking of my practice as a business in the beginning, I registered as a company, opened a business account, and got an accountant to help me with taxes and so on. This doesn’t invariably cover my living expenses, so I have to build a ‘hustling’ spirit, to pay my bills.

Making relationships and collaborating with other artists is also a good business move for me, finding community within the space.

Can you discuss any challenges or obstacles you have faced as an artist?

It’s very difficult juggling a 9 to 5 with practising my art because the hardest thing about it is finding time to create, and creating requires one to be fully present, that’s one of the obstacles I face. I’m glad to have my very supportive mother and understanding so that this doesn’t become that much of a struggle for me. 

Another obstacle would be pressure, feeling like I should have achieved something by a certain time, I haven’t had a solo exhibition and international residency until I was 26, this was about 3 years after Varsity. Most of my peers did this right after graduating. That was one of the things that would worry me.

Is there a point of success in your career/practice as an artist that you feel you have reached or established fully?

Reaching a point where I can sustain my whole living as an artist is my goal, however, I do consider myself successful presently, overall as an individual, and as an artist. I’d like to think that I am successful. I am satisfied because I feel like I’m living through my answered prayers, so I consider myself successful in that sense. 

How do you see your art evolving or developing in the future?

I already am thinking a lot about how my work will develop in the future. There are other things that I’m doing, and experimenting with, such as materials, and trying to get more into drawing in other experimental ways different from what I’m used to doing. I am also scaling my work and getting into creating bigger pieces, and that speaks to how I see my art evolving and developing in the future.


We wish Lebogang well on her future plans and we are in full confidence that she is going to shake the storm in the art scene. 

Next week we give the paint brush to another visionary in focus. 

Article Tags

Monotype babe

Lebogang Mabusela

Joburg Words

Cancel

    Most Read