Clifford M'pai, born in 1937, is largely self-taught although encouraged to attend evening classes by his employer. He now has a considerable reputation as an artist both in South Africa and abroad.

His drawings have a 'naive' quality yet are significantly atmospheric. M'pai never introduces human figures into his drawings, to do so would imply some comment on property and ownership as they would have to be depicted as black or white, but the subject matter seems to speak for them. Here he has drawn the private electrical generator, hidden away in the grounds of Little Brenthurst, the estate of the family for which he works in Johannesburg. Writing about M'pai, Alan Crump, Professor of Fine Art at the University of Witwatersrand, notes the sense of silence in many of M'pai's images and goes on "This is a world of structured fantasy, which protects us from the often fearsome and alienating existence beyond its borders. It is also a statement of what M'pai suggests the world should become. Though much of the urban subject matter derives from the splendour of the Brenthurst gardens the artist does not altogether escape from the reality of shifting social conditions and insecurities which surround his own existence." [See also E. 857-1997]