Johan Thom
b. 1976 - Johannesburg, RSA
Johan Thom obtained his BA in Fine Art from the University of Pretoria (1999), MTech in Fine Arts from Tshwane University of Technology (2002) and achieved his PhD in Fine Art from the Slade School of Fine Art in London (2014). He currently lives and works in Pretoria as a visual artist and Senior Lecturer in Fine Art at the Department of Visual Art, University of Pretoria.
Thom works across a variety of media including sculpture, video, drawing, printmaking and photography. His research focus is on materiality in fine art where he utilises a broad range of theoretic frameworks that include evolutionary approaches to art-making and post-phenomenological, performative approaches to the body and its identity.
Thom is also one of South Africa’s foremost performance artists. He uses his own body and physical objects as the site of exploration and expression. His work is often created in various public urban contexts as well as museums and galleries. Thom’s works draw from his daily experience of life in South Africa, as well as from distinctly different cultural traditions and philosophies.
Selected Solo & Duo Exhibitions
2023 Things Appear & Disappear - Kalashnikovv Gallery, Johannesburg, RSA 2015 The devil made me do it - Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg, RSA
2014 The Animal Series 2013-2014 (feat. collaborations with Willem Boshoff, Diane Victor,
David Koloane, Guy Du Toit and Bevan De Wet - Nirox Projects, Johannesburg, RSA
2010 Becoming, Binding and Disappearing - Iwalewa Haus, GER
2008 Bind / Ontbind - Kwazulu Natal Association of Art, Durban, RSA
2008 The Theory of Flight - Bag Factor Gallery, Johannesburg, RSA
2006 The Diary of New York - Graskop Gallery, Mpumalanga, RSA
2004-6 Minotaur Series 12 - a collaboration with Christophe Fellay at the Forum d`Art
Contemporaine, Luxembourg, CHE (2004) and the Johannesburg Art Gallery, Johannesburg,
RSA (2006)
2004 Bind / Ontbind - Outlet, Pretoria, RSA
2003 The Exorcism series - National Cultural History Museum, Pretoria, RSA
Selected Group Exhibitions & Projects
2019 Self - Glen Carlou Gallery, Stellenbosch, RSA
2017 (Don’t) Look Back - Gallery MOMO, Johannesburg, RSA
2015 Curate Life Collection - Museum of African Design (MOAD), Johannesburg, RSA
2014 Visual Encounters - University of Pretoria, Pretoria, RSA
2014 African Artists: Still Fighting Ignorance & Intellectual Perfidy (SFIP) - Ben Uri Gallery &
Museum, London, GBR
2014 The Bodies We Tell as part of the Ravy Festival - Gallery of Contemporary Art,
Yaounde, CMR
2014 Nomad Bodies - Artesis University College, Belgium, GER
2014 FIAC - Goodman Gallery, Paris, FRA
2014 Surfacing - Goodman Gallery, Cape Town, RSA
2013 Buroarbeit curated by Nico Anklam - YEARS, Copenhagen, DNK
2013 Video Art from Africa: Still Fighting Ignorance & Intellectual Perfidy (SFIP) - Malmö Konsthall,
Malmö, SWE
2013 Working Title - Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg, RSA
2011-12 Mine curated by Abrie Fourie, travelling group show: Iwalewa Haus, Bayreuth, GER (2011),
DUCTAC, Dubai, UAE (2012) and University of Johannesburg Art Gallery, Johannesburg,
RSA (2012)
2009-10 Opening Borders / Opening Objects - University of Western Ontario, CAN
2009-10 Dystopia - a travelling group exhibition held at Unisa Art Gallery, Pretoria (2009),
Museum of African Design, Johannesburg, SA (2010) and Oliewenhuis Art Museum,
Bloemfontein, RSA (2010)
2009 The Double Body: Being in Space - FADA Gallery, University of Johannesburg,
Johannesburg, RSA
2009 The Heart of the African city - MAP ZAR, University of Pretoria, Pretoia, RSA
2009 Britto New Media Festival - National Gallery, Dhaka, BGD
2009 Dada South? - Iziko South African National Gallery, Cape Town, RSA
2008 Rites of fealty / Rites of passage - Bag Factory Art Gallery, Johannesburg, RSA
2008 Between meaning and matter - Bell Roberts Art Gallery, Cape Town, RSA
2007 A Legacy of Men - Johannesburg Art Gallery, Johannesburg, RSA
2007 South African Art on Paper - Gallery Barry Keldoulis, Sydney, AUS
2007 Bliss - Fried Contemporary, Pretoria, RSA
2006 Waste at Work - a travelling group exhibition curated by Jeanetta Blignaut and held at
Hollard Headquarters, Johannesburg, SA (Sept 2006) and at the Spier Estate in Cape Town,
RSA (Nov 2006)
2004 Negotiate - Johannesburg Art Gallery, Johannesburg, RSA
2004 X - An Exhibition in Celebration of Ten Years of Democracy - Stephen Lawrence Gallery,
London, GBR
2004 Young Vision - Alliance Francaise, Johannesburg, RSA
Residencies & Awards
2007 Nirox Foundation Residency - Cradle of Humankind, RSA
2006 Britto Arts Trust Residency - Dhaka, BGD
2004 CRIC/Pro Helvetia Residency, Ecole Cantonale d’Art du Valais - Sierre, CHE
Art Fairs & Festivals
Investec Cape Town Art Fair, Cape Town, RSA (2018, 2019)
FNB Art Joburg Fair, Johannesburg, RSA (2018, 2019)
RMB Turbine Art Fair, Johannesburg, RSA (2019)
Nirox Sculpture Fair, Cradle of Humankind, RSA (2014)
Canary Islands Biennale, Canary Islands, SPN (2006)
Venice Biennale, Venice, ITA (2005, 2013)