Rather than focusing on popular visual culture, as much artwork does today, Fourie’s artistic practice confronts the mundane. Though his work, which acts as a type of visual poetry, could be seen as mundane, visions and experiences of everyday life transcend into another space, a space in which everyday notions become beautiful, intriguing sights.
Alexandra Karakashian was born in 1988, in Johannesburg, South Africa. She currently lives and works in Cape Town, South Africa. In 2011 she obtained her Bachelor of Art in Fine Art degree the Michaelis School of Fine Art at the University of Cape Town ...
Amita Makan is a descendant of Indian migrants who arrived in South Africa during British colonial rule. Her Gujarati ancestors came from the ‘Mochi’ caste, a caste just above the ‘untouchables’, who were cobblers. She has inherited their ‘cobbler stitch’ and liberated it to weave personal and autobiographical stories ...
André Rose is a public health activist. He is a word smith, painter and photographer. He uses poetry and art to give voice to social issues in society. He uses his art practice to comment on the inequity in our contemporary society. He is especially interested in how urban spaces are utilized and affect and influence the lives of people ...
Anna van der Ploeg is an interdisciplinary artist from South Africa, working primarily in paint, print, and wood. She is compelled by representational imagery for the qualities it shares with literature: an ability to be didactic, or to create a fiction in which to probe at the truth. Van der Ploeg has a sharp interest in language, as intimated in her titles, and writing often runs parallel to the making of her works. Titles sometimes precede, or prompt the actual artwork. Her practice is built on a foundation of intellectual curiosity and technical competence: she is vigorous in both making and thinking. Though the catalyst to her work is conceptual, her process is often labour-intensive and perceptive.
Asanda Kupa’s work is grounded by the experiences of those forced to the periphery of ‘The New South Africa’; despite its great re-birth. Born in Molteno, a semi-rural village in the Eastern Cape, in 1981, Kupa’s scenes depict the chaos and energy of life for many of South Africa’s subjugated black population, ...
A South African born artist, Audrey Anderson completed her BA Fine Arts (Honours) degree at the University of Pretoria in 2006. Since her first project space exhibition, titled Zamalek (2008), at Gordart Gallery in Johannesburg ...
Azael Langa grew up in an artistic family. He did not follow the path of being an artist until he won his first art competition in grade 6. After his primary school years he went to an art high school and it was there that he realized that he wanted to be an artist ...
Banele Khoza was born in 1994 in Hlatikulu, a rural area in Swaziland. He moved to South Africa in 2008 to complete his schooling and in 2011 enrolled at the London International School of Fashion (LISOF) in Pretoria. It was during illustration classes that he realized he’d much prefer to be focus on drawing and went on to study Fine Art ...
Bevan de Wet was born in 1985 in Johannesburg South Africa where he currently lives and work as an artist and printmaker. De Wet works primarily with paper, exploring etching, relief printing, papermaking, drawing and paper folding techniques.
Clara Victor, born in Bloemfontein and inspired by the Lord’s wonderful creation, she paints has painted full-time since 1994 and enjoys to use her talent by painting in realistic or naturalistic styles. Victor prefers to paint in silence where she creates to heart’s delight.
Dale Lawrence’s work as a solo artist and as part of the creative studio Hoick, which he co-founded, has become known for a tendency to marry painstaking application and wry humour. In his two solo exhibitions at SMITH, Look Busy (2016) and Another Helping (2017), and his solo presentation at the FNB JoburgArtFair, Amateur Hour (2018) ...
Daniel Ramontseng became aware of his talent when he joined Naledi Arts and Culture, an organisation with a mission to encourage young people from the township to take part in arts and cultural activities. One program that this organisation had was called “The Artist in Me” which was a program that introduced visual art to less privileged children from the township.
Derrick Vusimusi Nxumalo (b.1962) was born in Dumisa near Scottburgh. As a self-taught artist, Nxumalo has adopted an exploratory approach to his technique and subject matter. Initially he drew detailed landscapes with ball-point and felt tipped pens and now also works in acrylic paint.
Franli Meintjes completed her BA fine Arts degree in 2004 at the University of the Free State and has been working as a full-time visual artist since 2012. Meintjes’s work has been selected for three consecutive years and placed in the Top 10 of the 2013 and 2014 Absa L’ Atelier Art Competition ...
Gary Frier was born in Cape Town and grew up in the then segregated northern suburb of Kuilsriver in the Western Cape. He qualified as a Graphic Designer at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology in 2004. After working in various design industries, Frier moved to create art of a more personal nature.
Ilené Bothma was born in 1981 in Port–Elizabeth, South Africa. She received a BA in Fine Art (with distinction) in 2003 and an MA in Fine Art, in 2007, both degrees from the Stellenbosch University, South Africa ...
Jan Maanda Thsikhuthula was born in the small town of Tzaneen, South Africa, in 1983. His love for art grew from 12 years of age, as he learned to draw and paint landscapes. He enrolled at the Motongoni Art Academy in 2005, and during this time he was introduced to different media and methods.
Jeannette Unite, born in 1964, is a South African artist who has mined for her paint box by collecting oxides, metal salts and residues from mines, heritage and industrial sites, to develop paint, pastel and glass recipes for her large scale artworks that reflect on the mining and industrial sites where human's contemporary world is manufactured ...
Joel “Cyzo” Matladi is a South African artist specialising in animation and digital art. He draws inspiration from the African visual identity and heritage, along with influences from anime, comics and various artists like Mike Henry, Loyiso Mkhize and Skottie Young ...
John Vusi Mfuphi born in 1977 in Soweto, Johannesburg where he currently lives and work. He holds a Diploma in Fine Art from FUNDA community college and one-year teacher training program from the same institution. Mfuphi’s work portrays celebration of youth and mobility ...
Kali van der Merwe's work merges boundaries between art, science, biology, astronomy and taxidermy. She does so by entering the realms of imagination and magic. She explores trajectories between real and fictional while traversing nuanced interconnections between death and life.
Karla Nixon is a Durban based artist who predominantly works with paper. She hand cuts and sculpts intricate images drawn from her surrounding environment. Nixon completed her degree in Fine Art cum laude in 2012 at the Durban University of Technology, South Africa. Her degree focused on paper cutting as a contemporary art form.
Kenneth Shandu is a South African contemporary artist working with a range of materials to make drawings, prints, sculptures and installations. His body of work addresses issues of economically marginalised people, inspired by their everyday experiences in post-apartheid South Africa.
Lazarus Ramontseng was born in the Free State province of South Africa. He is a self-taught artist who showed his artistic talent since he was a young boy. Ramontseng moved to Johannesburg soon after completing high school to pursue a career as an artist.
Leanne Shakenovsky was born in 1986 in Johannesburg, South Africa. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree (honours) from the University of the Witwatersrand in 2008. Following this, she spent time in London and worked on cruise ships as an art associate for Park West Gallery ...
Lebo Thoka's work is mainly influenced by being a Feminist. It covers topics such as femicide in South Africa, as well as the black female existence in proximity to topics such as religion, history vs present day.
Lindokuhle Zwane's artistic mediums include; paintings, charcoal drawings and printmaking. He studied printmaking at Artist Proof Studio, where he also worked as a drawing facilitator for 3 years.
Lizza Littlewort was born in Cape Town in 1963, where she lives and works. She has a diverse education, with degrees from the University of Cape Town in architecture, fine art and English literature. She relentlessly explores the myriad ways of making marks with oil-paint, working on different surfaces that create unexpected ...
Lonwabo Kilani was born in Cape Town in 1980. He completed two years of studies in Visual Arts at Community Arts Project (CAP) in 2001. Kilani studied Film (animation) and later digital arts and interactive media. Because he believes in making art for a purpose, Lonwabo is an activist ...
Makamatele Robert Moramaga is a self-taught sculptor born in Ga-Moloi, rural Limpopo, in 1960. The closest town is Groblersdal, south of Ga-Moloi. Moramaga’s instruction in woodwork began at an early age. He would observe as his father, a traditional doctor, include wood into medicines ...
Manyatsa Monyamane, is a Johannesburg-based artist; storyteller through imagery, inspired and influenced by African literature, theatre and everyday surroundings. Her work unpacks unpopular themes, putting a spotlight on stories often overlooked by mainstream media. She holds a BTech degree in Photography ...
Mashudu Nevhutalu was born in Auckland Park, Johannesburg, in 1992. Although she did not have much art training at primary or high school level, she has always had an interest in art, and her first influence was all the graffiti and street murals she use to see (and still do) ...
Mmakgabo Mapula Helen Sebidi was born in 1943 in Marapyane (Skilpadfontein), in the Hammanskraal area of the Northern Transvaal. As her mother was working as a domestic worker in the city for much of her childhood, she grew up with her grandmother Metato (meaning ‘fence’ or ‘bridge’) ...
Morgan Mahape is a self-taught artist. He wanted to be an artist since he was 10 years old, but his parents didn’t support the idea.
Mothobi Mefane is an artist born and bred in Bloemfontein. Like many artists he developed his love for art when he was still in primary school.
Motsoeokae Klas Thibeletsa was born in 1960 on a farm in the Sout Pan area outside of Bloemfontein.
Following his community’s forced relocation to Thaba Nchu in the 1980s, he applied for work as a cook at the Gedult Mine in Welkom and worked on the mines between 1990 and 1995.
Nicola Holgate is a figurative artist working with both painting and sculptural media. Her subject matter is drawn from her environment and she is best known for her portraits of people, real or imagined. She seeks to portray not only a likeness but also the personality and context of the subject.
Musa Mtshali is a contemporary artist based in Durban and specializes in producing art in mixed media; painting, sculpting, installation and performance art.
Phillip Mabote was born in Qwa-Qwa, Free State, in 1982. Mabote works predominantly in the medium of printmaking, specializing in linocut. He studied Professional Printmaking at Artist Proof Studio (2007 – 2009). As a student, Mabote participated in Sonke Gender Justice Awareness Campaign ...
Pitika Ntuli, born 1942, in Springs, Gauteng, is a South African sculptor, poet, writer, and academic who spent 32 years of his life in exile in Swaziland and the UK. He holds an MFA from the Pratt Institute in New York and an MA in Comparative Industrial Relations and Industrial Sociology ...
Primrose Chimhanda a multidisciplinary artist and Pattern Designer. Her Digital Artworks are sold as limited edition Giclee Prints. Her artworks celebrate the unique characteristics of cultural groups and communities within their social context, and they draw attention to the social issues that these communities face. This is achieved through the use – and fusion – of iconography, geometric shapes and pattern design. Iconographic themes of specialization within the artworks include (vernacular) architecture, nature, and cultural symbols.
The aim of her artworks is to educate and create an awareness, respect and appreciation, within society, towards cultures, belief systems and traditions of communities which may be foreign to the viewer. When social issues within these communities are addressed, the aim is to ignite a debate which could potentially inspire action for change.
Qhamanande Maswana was born in the Eastern Cape in a Township called Mdantsane. He grew up in King Williamstown, Eastern Cape in a small village called Rhayi Location. After winning a few art competitions, Maswana was inspired and was determined to become an extra ordinary artist. He had do opportunity to show in group exhibitions at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Art Museum, Ann Bryant Art Gallery, Galerie NOKO, Port Elizabeth National Arts Festival, Eclectica design art, and MMart house. Maswana works out of his home studio which is an octagonal rondavel in a village near King Williams Town. He considers himself to be a curious artist who is always eager to learn and know more about art and the lifestyle of others in different environments.
Richard Bollers was born in Georgetown, Guyana and obtained his art degree at the National School of Arts in Havana, Cuba where he graduated as a tutor majoring in Drawing and Painting, as ...
Sandile Goje was one of the first students at Dakawa Art and Craft Community Centre, founded by Artists Against Apartheid in Grahamstown in 1992. Dakawa refers to an African National Congress camp in Tanzania before the unbanning of the organization ...
Shenaz Mahomed, born in 1992, is a Pretoria based artist who works predominantly in the medium of hand cut paper. She obtained a BA degree in Fine Arts at the University of Pretoria in 2014 and is currently (2018) completing her MA (FA) there. She was the Curator at Fried Contemporary Art Gallery for 4 years ...
Sibusiso Duma is a Durban-based artist. His talent was noticed and nurtured by the late Trevor Makhoba through his Philange Art Project based in Umlazi, a township south of Durban.
Sifiso Gumede, born 1987, studied silkscreen at the creative inner city initiative, Artist Proof Studio. He collaborated with different artist both international and local. His artwork was selected for the top 100 in Thami Mynele Fine Art Awards ...
Sipho Charles Gwala (b.1985) holds a National Diploma from the University of Johannesburg, in Fine Arts as well as a Bachelor of the Arts, Honours Degree, (Digital Arts) and Leadership and Management Advancement (Cathsseta) from University of the Witwatersrand ...
Sithembiso Zwane was born in 1989 at Baragwanath Hospital situated in Soweto. He completed his matric in 2008 and studied printmaking at Artist Proof Studio between 2009 -2010. In 2011 he started painting murals with Dancing Brushes, the company that he founded, and in 2014 he started to refocus on printmaking ...
The art of drawing with pen and brush has become a major part of Taiwo Ohu Gbenga and the permanent linear method of image-making inspired him to illustrate a series of iconic architectural landmarks in South Africa. It could very well be argued that these buildings house stories, memories and histories like culture and heritages that resonate personally and collectively more so with the immediate society.
Ligege is a self-taught artist. He believes that the responsibility of cultural preservation and social identity rest with the artists of that era. For Ligege, it is important that his art reflects his cultural heritage while remaining relevant to his audience.
Victor Geduldt is a self-taught realist painter. He was born on 3 November 1972 and was raised in Heidedal Township in Bloemfontein, Free State. He started exploring art in various mediums at the age of 14. As a child he often peered through the windows of art galleries in Bloemfontein, absorbing and digesting influences from South Africa’s most celebrated artists such as Frans Claerhout. Geduldt learned to improve his drawing skills by sketching characters from old magazines and comic books.
Vuyisile Adoons creates artworks that people can resonate with by depicting a lifestyle of people living in the rural or semi-rural areas. The aim is to paint stories that touch, move, fascinate people about where we come from but most importantly to convey the message to them that even though we might come from disadvantaged and impoverished communities there are always good stories to be told through art.
Wessel van Huyssteen is an artist and filmmaker. He matriculated in 1980 at Voortrekker High School, Bethlehem, Free State. In 1985 he acquired a BA Fine Arts (Cum Laude for Painting & Drawing) from the Free State University. In 1990 he acquired his BA Honours in Art History at Johannesburg University. In 2017 he received his Master of Arts in Fine Arts ...
Zakhele Hlabisa was born in Mtubatuba North KwaZulu-Natal. He is Durban-based and is a natural realism and conceptual artist. He produces art mainly in drawing, painting, and prints.
