Overview
Sibusiso Mbhele And His Fish Helicopter is a cinematic look at the life and work of a visionary South African outsider artist who sparked the jealousy, wrath, and ultimate rejection of his own community with his wondrous creations of scrap metal flying machines.Based on his eponymous film, originally screened in 2000 at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, Koto Bolofo’s first monograph documents a young, talented South African sculptor forced to flee his rural home—a full-sized, hand-built metal facsimile of a helicopter—which stood as an oddity against a background of traditional thatched huts in his African village.
Self-taught, Mbhele earned his living creating scrap metal sculptures of planes, cars, and bicycles from wire, car wrecks, oil tin drums, and other recycled materials. After making the headlines in the local newspapers, Mbhele’s neighbors, jealous of his recognition and success, destroyed his creations and his beloved helicopter home. They had him jailed, and though he was later released, the tension and threat of further trouble was enough to make Mbhele take flight from his precious helicopter haven and head for the security of the city and the unknown.
Synopsis
Sibusiso Mbhele And His Fish Helicopter is a cinematic look at the life and work of a visionary South African outsider artist who sparked the jealousy, wrath, and ultimate rejection of his own community with his wondrous creations of scrap metal flying machines.
Based on his eponymous film, originally screened in 2000 at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, Koto Bolofo’s first monograph documents a young, talented South African sculptor forced to flee his rural home—a full-sized, hand-built metal facsimile of a helicopter—which stood as an oddity against a background of traditional thatched huts in his African village.
Self-taught, Mbhele earned his living creating scrap metal sculptures of planes, cars, and bicycles from wire, car wrecks, oil tin drums, and other recycled materials. After making the headlines in the local newspapers, Mbhele’s neighbors, jealous of his recognition and success, destroyed his creations and his beloved helicopter home. They had him jailed, and though he was later released, the tension and threat of further trouble was enough to make Mbhele take flight from his precious helicopter haven and head for the security of the city and the unknown.
Publishers Weekly
Art by Air, Land, Sea & Eye South African sculptor Sibusiso Mbhele lived in a life-size, fish-shaped helicopter that he made himself, and earned a living in his small rural town by making scrap-metal sculptures of airplanes and other vehicles, until his jealous neighbors destroyed his home and had him jailed. Sibusiso Mbhele and His Fish Helicopter, a photo book by South African photographer and filmmaker Koto Bolofo that accompanies his documentary film of the same name, offers a look at Mbhele's enormous, painstakingly crafted, whimsical sculptures. The color and black-and-white photos capture not only the art works but the surrounding community and Mbhele himself who has since been forced to relocate in various stages of his life. Also included are a few reproductions of Mbhele's drawings and paintings. (June) Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.