Wim Botha


Wim Botha is a South African contemporary artist.

Biography

Botha was born in Pretoria in 1974 and currently lives in Cape Town, South Africa. He grew up in a suburban town on the eastern side of Pretoria. In 1996, Botha graduated from the University of Pretoria with a Bachelors in Visual Art. He has received the Helgaard Steyn Prize for sculpture in 2013, Standard Bank Young Artist Award 2005, and the Tollman Award 2003.

Works

Botha has found inspiration for his work in government texts and religious icons, objects that show belief, faith, observation, transgression and forgiveness. Among the mediums he uses are treated wood, books, acrylic enamel paint, oil paint, steel, Indian ink, bronze, paper, and marble.
The artist explains; “My works are a process of distillations...They attempt to reduce all-encompassing ideas and universal factors down to their core idea.” Exploring along the way “intercepting variables” and “patterns”

Exhibitions

Source:
2003
Speculum - Stevenson, Cape Town
2005
2006
Wim Botha: Standard Bank Young Artist for Visual Art 2005 - Standard Bank Gallery, Johannesburg
2007
Wim Botha: Apocalagnosia - Stevenson, Cape Town
2008
Wim Botha - Galerie Jette Rudolph, Berlin
Wim Botha - Stevenson, Johannesburg
2009
Wim Botha: Joburg Altarpiece & Amazing Things from Other Places - Stevenson, Cape Town
2011
All Around - Galerie Jette Rudolph, Berlin
Wim Botha - Stevenson, Cape Town
2012
Wim Botha - Stevenson, Johannesburg
2013
PREDICATES - Galerie Jette Rudolph, Berlin
2014
Linear Perspectives - Stevenson, Cape Town

Group shows

2003
  • The Ampersand Foundation - Warren Siebrits Gallery, Johannesburg
  • Contact Zones - Colonial & Contemporary - Stevenson, Cape Town
2004
2005
  • South African art 1848 - now - Stevenson, Cape Town
  • African Remix - l'art contemporain d'un continent - Centre Pompidou - Musée National d´Art Moderne, Paris
  • Africa Remix – Contemporary Art of a Continent - Hayward Gallery, London
2006
2007
  • Politische Ikonografie - Galerie Jette Rudolph, Berlin
  • Summer 2007/8 - Stevenson, Cape Town
  • Africa Remix - Contemporary art of a continent - Johannesburg Art Gallery, Johannesburg
  • TRANS CAPE - contemporary African art on the move - Trans Cape Africa, Cape Town
  • Afterlife - Stevenson, Cape Town
2008
Disguise: The art of attracting and deflecting attention - Stevenson, Cape Town
2009
Self/Not-self - Stevenson, Johannesburg
2010
2011
  • Conrad Botes With Berni Searle, Wim Botha, Nandipha Mntambo, Penny Siopis, Serge Alain Nitegeka + Sabelo Mlangeni - Turner Gallery, Perth, WA
  • mémoires du futur - la collection Olbricht - La Maison Rouge, Paris
  • Göteborg International Biennial for Contemporary Art 2011 - Göteborg International Biennial for Contemporary Art, Gothenburg
  • iALPTRAUM! - Blank Projects, Cape Town
  • New Acquisitions - The Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Art Museum, Port Elizabeth
  • Alptraum! - Anat Egbi, Los Angeles, CA
  • ¡ALPTRAUM! - Washington D.C., London, Berlin, Los Angeles, Kapstadt - Projektraum Deutscher Künstlerbund, Berlin
2012
2013
A Sculptural Premise - Stevenson, Cape Town
Pophits & Alptraum - Artspace RheinMain, Offenbach
The Loom of the Land - Stevenson, Johannesburg
2014
  • Artists Engaged? Maybe - Gulbenkian. Próximo Futuro, Lisbon
  • Alptraum - Maribor Art Gallery, Maribor
  • Alptraum - Maribor Art Gallery, Maribor
  • The Divine Comedy. Heaven, hell, purgatory from the perspective of African contemporary artists - -Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt/Main

Exhibition catalogues

  • Wim Botha: Speculum
  • Wim Botha: Cold Fusion: Gods, heroes and martyrs
  • Wim Botha: Standard Bank Young Artist
  • Wim Botha: Apocalagnosia
  • Wim Botha: Joburg Altarpiece & Amazing Things from Other Places
  • Wim Botha: Busts 2003-2012
  • Wim Botha: Solipsis I-V
  • Wim Botha: Rooms 2001-2014