Khaya Witbooi
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After matriculating in 1995, Witbooi did a college course in draughtmanship and started working as an illustrator for an architectural firm whilst freelancing for The Argus newspaper in Cape Town (court sketches, cartoons etc.). He has also specialised in the painting of portraits.
In June 2010 he was selected to join the Good Hope Artist’s Studio programme where he was given a studio and the opportunity to paint full- time. In December 2011 he was awarded an artist’s residency at the prestigious Greatmore Studios in Woodstock, Cape Town.
Witbooi uses a combination of stenciling and oil painting to express his observations, usually of a socio-political nature. The result is edgy and urban with an African relevance. Topics like the seeming failure of democracy to provide solutions to problems related to post-colonial and post- apartheid South Africa. Human behaviour in this context and the effects of globalisation are dealt with regularly. It provides valuable insight into a world the viewer seldom had the opportunity to experience first-hand.
“I’ve taken it upon myself to make a statement of a concerned citizen. I’m not expecting people from around the world to do it before I do. If there’s any person to make the first comment, it is the person who feels it immediately, and I’m that person.”
Selected Exhibitions
2023 X - A Decade of Kalashnikovv Gallery, Kalashnikovv Gallery, Johannesburg, RSA 2023 Tables Turning & Turn Tables - Kalashnikovv Gallery, Johannesburg, RSA 2022 The Impossibility of Painting in the Mind of An Artist That May Die Tomorrow - Kalashnikovv Gallery, Johannesburg, RSA. 2017 History Begins With a Garden - Gallery MOMO, Johannesbug, RSA 2018 Trouble Maker - Du Sable Museum, Chicago, USA 2014 My People, let Pharao go - Worldart Gallery, Cape Town, RSA 2014 Paint Matters - Barnard Gallery, Cape Town, RSA 2013 YOUNG VISIONS IN MOTIONS - Bremerhaven, GER
Art Fairs & Festivals
Investec Cape Town Art Fair, Cape Town, RSA: 2023 FNB Art Joburg Fair, Johannesburg, RSA: 2023 / 2015 Latitudes Art Fair, Johannesburg, RSA: 2023