David Koloane

David Koloane

David Nthubu Koloane (born June 5, 1938 in Alexandra , Johannesburg , † June 30, 2019 in Johannesburg) was a South African visual artist , curator and art critic. In his paintings , collages and drawings he dealt with current issues of political injustice and human rights . According to his own statements, from 1974 onwards he dealt with the "human condition", the "situation of being human".

biography

Koloane grew up in a township . While still at school he began to be interested in art and to occupy himself with it in his free time when he didn't have to earn money for his family. From 1974 to 1977 Koloane attended art classes at Bill Ainslie Studios, which later became the Johannesburg Art Foundation. In 1977 Koloane was one of the founders of the first “black” art gallery in Johannesburg. His increasing devotion to art then brought him a job as a teacher in a high school in a township, first part-time, later full-time. Koloane also remained very committed in the following period: in 1982 he was co-coordinator of the Culture and Resistance Arts Festival in Botswana , from 1986 to 1988 he was curator of the Fuba Art Gallery in Johannesburg; In 1990 he worked as co-coordinator and co-curator for the Zabalaza Festival in London . From 1984 to 1985 Koloane also studied at the University of London , where he graduated in museology .

David Koloane's work is represented in the Johannesburg Art Gallery , the South African National Gallery in Cape Town , the Botswana National Museum, the Museum Goch and in numerous other private and public collections at home and abroad.

Work and way of working

His canvases and drawings, worked intensively and expressively with oil pastel and acrylic in dense layers on top of one another, deal with the political and social situation of the black population in South Africa. He sees and paints what surrounds him. Without denunciation but also without whitewashing. David Koloane's artistic field of work was broad. He has also contributed to various catalogs, acted as a member of the jury several times, and published several articles in his home country and abroad. David Koloane has emerged not only as an artist in the last few decades, but also as the initiator of many workshops inside and outside South Africa, as well as a curator of exhibitions and as an art critic. He is the co-founder of the legendary Bagfactory, Fordsburg Artists' Studios in Newtown Johannesburg, the first studio community in South Africa and in recent years has sat on all of the country's major art and cultural committees, including the advisory body of the National Arts Council. In 1998 Koloane was honored by the Dutch government with the Prince Claus Prize for his contribution to the development of the fine arts in South Africa.

Commenting on his work, he said, “My concerns about socio-political issues and my contributions to helping disadvantaged black South African artists during and after apartheid are evident. One can say of my work that it reflects the past as well as the current socio-political landscape of South Africa. The socio-political conditions created by the system of government during the apartheid era have made human condition the axis around which all of my work revolves. The human figure became an icon of creative expression. ”Another concern of his was the promotion and training of young artists. In his artistic work as in his life, he stood for the word “each one teach one” coined on the prison island Robben Island.

Exhibitions (selection)

• 2008 Museum Goch, Goch , Germany, David Koloane - works on paper -, homage for his 70th birthday
• 2004 “The ID of South African Artists” (an exhibition accompanying the musical “The Lion King”), Amsterdam , Netherlands
• 2003 Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
• 2002 Galerie Seippel, Cologne, Germany, Johannesburg Blues
• 2002 Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
• 2001 Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
• 2000 Liberated Voices Exhibition, Museum for African Art , New York City , USA
• 1990 Gallery on the Market, with Michael Zondi, Johannesburg, South Africa
• 1990 South African Mural Exhibition, ICA Gallery London , Great Britain
• 1990 Art from South Africa Museum of Modern Art, Oxford , Great Britain
• 1989 African encounter, Dome Gallery, New York, USA
• 1989 The Neglected Tradition Exhibition, Johannesburg Art Gallery , Johannesburg, South Africa
• 1988 Pachipamwe international artists workshop, Zimbabwe National Gallery Harare , Zimbabwe
• 1987 Contemporary Black artists Academy Art Gallery, Paris , France
• 1987 Portraits: UNISA Art Gallery, Pretoria , South Africa
• 1986 Historical perspective of Black South African artists French Alliance, Pretoria, South Africa
• 1985 Fuba Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
• 1985 Gallery 198, London, Great Britain
• 1984 Stockwell Studio exhibition, London, Great Britain
• 1982 Art towards social development, National Gallery and Museum, Gaborone , Botswana
• 1979 Bill Ainslie Studios, Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
• 1979 Gallery 101, Johannesburg, South Africa
• 1978 Black Expo '78, Johannesburg, South Africa
• 1977 The Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
• 1977 Nedbank Gallery Killarney, Johannesburg, South Africa

literature

• Matthias Schamp, David Koloane, Stephan Mann: David Koloane: Works on paper. Homage for the 70th birthday. Kerber Christof, 2008.
• Magdalena Kröner: The rhythm of the city, the painting of David Koloane. In: Museum Bochum: New Identities - Contemporary Art from South Africa. HatjeCantz, 2004, ISBN 3-7757-1489-8 , p. 82ff.
• Véronique Tadjo, David Koloane: David Koloane. David Krut Pub., 2002.
• Ralf-P. Seippel, Indra Wussow: David Koloane. In: Ralf-P. Seippel (Ed.): Tracing the Rainbow. Seippel, 2002, ISBN 3-9807161-6-3 , p. 32 f.
• H. Bogatzke, R. Brockmann, C. Ludszuweit: Ondambo: African art forum. Gamsberg Macmillan, 2000, pp. 30-49, 174-177.
• Ralf-P. Seippel, David Koloane: Art Dialogue, South Africa - Germany. 1999, ISBN 3-9804967-8-3 .
• Esmé Berman: Painting in South Africa. Southern Book Publishers, 1993, p. 363.
• Clémentine Deliss , Whitechapel Art Gallery, Malmö konsthall, and Guggenheim Museum Soho: 7 stories about modern art in Africa. Flammarion, 1995, pp. 140-156, 261-265.
• Frank Herreman, Mark D'Amato: Liberated voices: contemporary art from South Africa. The Museum for African Art, 1999, p. 27.
• Sidney Littlefield Kasfir, Gus Gordon: Contemporary African Art. Paw Prints, 2008, pp. 159-161.

Web links

• Information on artthrob (English)
• Information on artprintsa.com (English)
• Profile on the side of the V Gallery (English)
• Articles on Palo Alto Online (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ devdiscourse.com
2. ↑ Koloane at artprintsa.com (English), accessed June 8, 2014.