Cinga Samson “Ukuphuthelwa” @ White Cube Gallery, NYC

South African artist Cinga Samson’s exhibition of new paintings is titled ‘Ukuphuthelwa’, an isiXhosa word in the artist’s native language that translates as ‘unable to sleep’. Unlike the English word ‘insomnia’, the isiXhosa term carries no negative connotation and accordingly, for Samson, sleeplessness is not a condition to be cured but a state of spiritual alertness, a sensitivity that deepens in the dark. Rendered in the artist’s signature occluded palette of near-blacks, carbon and deep Prussian blues, Samson’s scenes depict men-like figures, dogs in overgrown fields and portraits of plant life native to South Africa. Encouraging slow, contemplative looking, a sense of existential gravity pervades Samson’s new series of oil paintings, attempting to depict a vast reality that is continuously…