Sindiso Nyoni aka R!OT

Sindiso Nyoni (born June 27 1984) is a Zimbabwean self developed artist, activist, multi-disciplinary designer and contemporary illustrator. Inspired by comic book art, the year '1968', vintage animation and words, his work primarily consists of a pencil, ink, pastels, gauche, acrylic and digital media fusion, to create a subversive African 'street' style, which he calls Guerill[art].

Early life

He was born and raised in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. The 7th child in a family of 9, he became involved with art at the age of 4, by teaching himself how to draw from cartoon tv shows (this was before the VCR by the way), comic books, and copying pictures of his childhood idols, Diego Maradonna and Michael Jackson. This developed into creating his own handcrafted comics in primary school, right through to high school where he took art classes at St. Patrick's Christian Brothers College (CBC).

Education

He left Zimbabwe for Johannesburg in 2005, enrolled in a 4 year Communication design course and worked as a bar man and freelance artist/designer in order to pay his way through college. In 2008, He graduated from the University of Johannesburg with a BTech degree in Graphic Design.

Career

In 2009, he joined Cape Town based illustration studio Am I Collective as an intern and collaborated on projects for brands such as Fifa, Nike, Adidas, Smirnoff, HP, Shell and Audi (to name a few). During his time with the collective he was part of the illustration teams on some Cannes Lion winning campaigns.

In 2010 he was involved in the "Voices in Freedom"poster exhibition/collection alongside activist artists Chaz Maviyane-Davies (Zimbabwe) Alain Le Quernec (France) as well as Yossi Lemel (Israel). The exhibition which was launched in Mexico, went on to exhibit around the globe including Japan, Poland, The U.S, parts of the South Americas, and in 2011,South Africa. He then joined Advertising agency Blackriver FC in 2011 where he worked as an Art Director/Designer.

In 2011 he took part in the Piñatarama 2.0, (Art piñata) exhibition, alongside Dr Alderete (Argentina), Alberto Cerriteño (Mexico/Canada), Team-O (Mexico), Junko Mizuno (Japan) and 34 other artists at the Museum of Modern Art in Mexico City.He has also exhibited in group shows locally as well as featuring in local publications, and in 2012 was selected as a participating artist at the Art Takes Times Square exhibition on New York Times square.

In 2013 he was selected to participate in the Dizajn Afrike (Contemporary design in Africa): Dyalli Association exhibition in Croatia. This exhibition formed part of the 'Week of Africa' celebrations in Croatia from the 22nd of May.

In the same year Outdoor ad company JCDecaux in association with Icograda (International Council of Communication Design) showcased 50 posters by 50 designers on digital billboards in London’s Cromwell Road for World Communication Design Day. The world’s most promising design talent was chosen to exhibit their work created to the theme of ‘1Love1Word’. Sindiso Nyoni (R!OT) represented South Africa with his piece Amandla – All power to the Dreamers.

In late 2010 he developed R!OT, an alias that explores a subversive African 'street' style under which he has been operating as an artist.

Honours + Awards

2013 - Icograda 50th / World Communication Design day - Creative Cromwell
Billboard showcase
( Participating artist (Africa representative) - London)

2013 - RIOT (Multimedia installation group exhibition):
( Participating artist - Johannesburg)
2013 - Dizajn Afrike (Contemporary design in Africa):
Dyalli Association exhibition in Croatia
( Participating artist (Zimbabwe representative) - Zagreb)
2012- África Gráfica Group Exhibition - part of the 4th Tenerife Design Festival
( Participating artist - Santa Cruz)

2012- 1 x Silver Pendoring Award

2012- 2 x Bronze Loerie Awards

2012- Art Takes Times Square - Exhibition on New York Times Square (Participating artist - US )

2012- Absolut Blank SA Launch Event (Participating artist - South African Edition )

2011- Loeries Finalist

2011- Bienal Del Cartel : Voices in Freedom- Poster Exhibition (Participating artist - South African Edition )

2011 - Part of the Piñatarama 2 Project / Exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in Mexico City - (Mexico)

2010 - Part of the Bienal Del Cartel : Voices in Freedom- (Global) Poster Exhibition (Mexico)

2010 - Cannes International Advertising Awards -
Illustration team (Am I Collective) - Gold & Silver (Print) Lion for Marcel Paris (France)

2010 - F.H.C Charity - Beating Hearts (Group Exhibition) - Athens (Greece)

2009 - Cannes International Advertising Awards -
Illustration team (Am I Collective) - Bronze (TV) Lion for Ogilvy Amsterdam (Netherlands)