Mokgabudi Amos Letsoalo was born in 1969 in Molepo vilage, Lompopo Province. He claims that he was inspired by his mother's decorave, traditional African paintings done with earth pigments on the walls of their house. He use to help with these paintings.
"My work is mostly inspired by indigenous people (in Africa) and their lifestyle. I find the household of the indigenous people in Africa very interesting, the objects/still lifes that one finds in every household. You either find objects like clay pots, some old bottles (which in many case are inherited from our ancestors to store traditional medicines and herbs).
I have my own perspective of what still life looks like to me as an African.
I am appropriating indigenous vocabulary, in imagery, use of colour and language in my painting. I am at the same time not doing realistic images, but I am trying to create the realistic feeling. You will always find images of bottles, pots, cups, etc. I call this process 'painting and looking at the still life from an African perspective'."
International Dialing Tel: 015 290 2177 | Cell: 082 664 0952
Email AmosL@polokwane.gov.za
Colbert Mashile is a young artist from Johannesburg whose work deals with tradition, customs and rituals as well as attitudes prevalent in society. As a young boy, Mashile had to undergo certain circumcision rites that left him with a lot of emotional trauma and psychological confusion.
Born in 1972 in Bushbuckridge (Northern Province), he comes from a place which is shrouded by powerful cultural norms and customs. At the age of 10 he had to undergo initiation rituals. The ritual in the Bushbuckridge area is not based on issues of transforming boys into men as such, but to reinforce tradition. Like many individuals exposed to the ritual tradition of circumcision, he has struggled to comprehend the historical nature of the traumatic process and his immediate response to the horror and trauma of the experience was suppressed until a later stage when he realised that he found it difficult to look at gaping wounds of injured people, especially the wounds that were inflicted for ceremonial purposes.
Through the restorative process of creating art, Mashile expresses his emotions and experiences of the past through his artworks. The associated imagery in Mashile’s work includes psychological associations to the circumcision ceremony as well as references to childhood memories and to his childhood home. Driven by the turmoil from within, Mashile’s technique is quick and loose in style, allowing the direction of his image to be the result of his intuitive response. He makes use of psychological images in an attempt to replace horrific scenes, sights and sounds of the initiation ritual. The titles of Colbert’s work are in Sotho and are directly derived from descriptions of the imagery found in each work.
Having completed a BA (FA) from the University of the Witwatersrand in 2000, he had experience with printmaking, but a true comprehension of the process did not evolve until he was allowed to work and experiment at David Krut Print Workshop. An ongoing collaboration began in 2003 and has allowed Mashile to work with various established printers such as Tim Foulds, Zhane Warren and visiting Master Printer Randy Hemminghaus of New York. Mashile has created various monoprints and limited drypoint editions as well as several large, bright monotypes and a series of delicate, monochromatic linocuts.
Cell: 082 362 5680
Email colbertmashile@gmail.com
Collen was born in 17 January 1977 in a rural village called Noblehoek near Giyani Limpopo Province, South Africa. He comes from an artistic family. His father is a well-known sculptor.
His father, Johannes Maswanganyi, has participated in a number of exhibitions locally and internationally. He has two wives, his mother Annah makes beadworks, his other wife, Esther Maswanganyi, makes beads, clay-pots and embroidery and has exhibited in a number of exhibitions. His younger sister's and brothers are learning the skills mentioned above. His father was taught by his father, Piet Maswanganyi.
He started school at Haaka primary school in 1983. He passed his matric at two different schools namely Ndengeza high school in 1995 and N'wamavimbi high school in 1996. He did a Fine Arts Diploma at the Technicon Witwatersrand from 1996 to 1999.
After obtaining his diploma he worked as an full-time artist.
Just like his father, he works with wood. He paints most of his sculptures. He sometimes makes life size sculptures. "My art is about the old and the new. Look at life generally where I make sculptures dressed in African and modern ways. Look at technological development. My mostly popular works involve people or couples speaking on phones or people dressed modestly."
His works are collected by private people, corporates, museums and galleries. His aim is to exhibit internationally just like his father and other sculptors from his region like Jackson Hlungwani, Noria Mabase and others.
Email: collenmaswanganyi@webmail.co.za
Cellphone: (+2782) 642 3290
