The Artists

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The Artists
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Jane Alexander

• Jane Alexander was born in Johannesburg in 1959
  and currently lives and works as a freelance
  artist and teacher in Cape Town. Among her many
  accolades, Alexander won the Standard Bank Young
  Artist Award in 1995 and the FNB Vita Art Now
  Award in 1996.
• Her work has received much critical attention,
  both locally and internationally and her art
  often features mysterious hybrid beings human
  bodies with animal heads which various art
  critics have interpreted as being an exploration
  of post-apartheid South Africas troubled and
  multicultural society.

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Walter Oltmann

• Born in 1960 in Rustenburg, Walter Oltmann
  currently lives in Johannesburg, where he is a
  lecturer in the Department of Fine Art at Wits
  University.
• Oltmann often uses wire, metal and inexpensive
  materials to create large-scale, labour-intensive
  works of art. He draws his inspiration primarily
  from the natural world (plants, animals and
  insects especially) and traditional South African
  art and craft. Oltmann was the recipient of the
  1990 Standard Bank National Drawing Prize and the
  2001 Standard Bank Young Artist Award.

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Nontsikelelo Veleko

• Born in 1977 in Bodibe in the North West
  Province, Nontsikelelo Veleko currently lives and
  works in Johannesburg. Her bold photographic
  portraits of South African street fashion have
  received much critical acclaim and she has
  quickly gained a reputation as one of South
  Africas leading young artists.
• Among her many achievements, Veleko featured as
  part of the 2006 group exhibition of contemporary
  African photography Snap Judgements at the
  ICP in New York, and in 2008 was awarded the
  Standard Bank Young Artist Award.

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Dominic Thorburn

• Dominic Thorburn was born in Cape Town and
  obtained his Masters of Fine Arts at Rhodes
  University, before going on to study at the
  Tamarins Institute, University of New Mexico. He
  is now Associate Professor and Head of the
  Graphic Art Section at Rhodes University.
• Thorburns work has been exhibited both
  nationally and internationally, and forms part of
  numerous collections, including the University of
  New Mexico Collection. Thorburn is primarily
  interested in aspects of printmaking, and was
  co-convenor of the 3rd Impact International
  Printmaking Conference held in South Africa in
  2003. He also initiated the Fine Line Press at
  Rhodes University, which is currently the only
  institution-based printmaking press and research
  unit in South Africa.

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Brent Meistre

• Brent Meistre obtained his Masters of Fine Arts
  at Rhodes University, went on to work as a
  photographic tutor at the BACES Education College
  in London and is currently a Senior Lecturer in
  Rhodes Universitys Fine Art Department.
• Meistre was the winner of the first Nelson
  Mandela Metropolitan Museums Biennale Award in
  2006 and a finalist in the Daimler Chrysler Award
  for Contemporary Photography in 2004. His
  multi-media work includes photography, stop-frame
  animation, video and sound design and powerfully
  explores history, memory, narrative and meaning.

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Dina Belluigi

• Dina Belluigi studied Fine Arts at Rhodes
  University, where she obtained a Masters degree
  and went on to lecture. She has exhibited widely
  in South Africa, and has been involved in a
  number of community outreach programmes
  including print-making and photogram workshops in
  Eastern Cape Schools.
• Among her many exhibitions, her solo show mneme
  was featured at the 2001 National Arts Festival
  and consisted of paintings, projections,
  drawings, photographs and a video piece which
  explored the representation of memory in the
  family snapshot

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Zach Taljaard

• Zach Taljaards work focuses largely on the
  complexity of masculine identity, and he has
  received much critical attention for his unusual
  and innovative installations.
• His exhibition CON/FRONT at the 2006 National
  Arts Festival featured three works /
  installations Ghost Images, The Kiss and The
  Match which successfully merged classical
  ancient Greek sculpture with contemporary pop art
  to create a vivid exploration of the ways in
  which masculinity has been portrayed through
  history.

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Patrick Rorke

• Born in 1953 in Lesotho, Patrick Rorke currently
  lives and works as a full-time artist in
  Johannesburg. Rorke has exhibited both nationally
  and internationally, and works with a variety of
  media including paint, sculpture, ceramics and
  mosaic.
• He was commissioned by the Constitutional Court
  to produce a number of engraved copper panels
  which form part of the building, and he has
  produced several public installations, murals and
  mosaics in malls, restaurants and stations in
  Johannesburg. His current exhibition Park
  Station to Paris features drawings and paintings
  inspired by South African and European travels.

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Maureen de Jager

• Maureen de Jager has exhibited both locally and
  internationally. She has held three solo
  exhibitions at the Grahamstown National Arts
  Festival, including In Sepia, which was part of
  the 2008 Main Festival Programme.
• Working across media, she often utilises
  materials and/or found objects which have rich
  metaphorical associations in regards to her
  thematic interests in trauma, memory and
  melancholic loss. These include steel and rust,
  which she uses to invoke the deterioration of
  memory over time.

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Karl Schoemaker

• Karl Schoemaker obtained his Bachelor of Fine
  Arts from Rhodes University in 1989 and currently
  lives and works as a photographer and designer in
  Port Elizabeth. He recently exhibited with
  WalkerDigital at the National Arts Festival.

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William Dieudonné Chalmers

• William Dieudonné Chalmers is a self-taught
  artist from Bathurst who has exhibited in both
  solo and group exhibitions nationwide. His work
  is currently on display at the Gallery Dieudonne
  in Bathurst, Old Joe's Kaia in Schoemanskloof and
  Cuyler Street Gallery in Port Elizabeth. Chalmers
  works primarily with bronze, oil, pastel and
  pencil.