CONRAD BOTES (b. 1969)

Kong
2005
monotype
106 x 75 cm

A description of Botes’s work in the catalogue of In Fumo, curated by Giacinto Pietrantonio, reads:

The sharp lines of his figuration coupled with the bold strident colours, the juxtaposition of symbols and subjects, serve to amplify the contradictions and exigencies of South African culture and society. Racial conflict, economic and religious status symbols, false values and cultural mystifications are at the centre of Botes’ crude, ironic, yet naïve attacks.

BIOGRAPHY

Conrad Botes has an MA in Fine Arts from the University of Stellenbosch (1997) and a degree in Second Phase Illustration from the Koninklijke Akademie voor Beeldende Kunsten, Den Haag, Netherlands (1994).

Part of his childhood was spent living in a Department of Water Affairs prefab house on the edge of the Theewaterskloof Dam. His father was a teacher at the local school. The characters that peopled his childhood world contributed to the development of his penchant for exposing the soft underbelly of Afrikanerdom and, by extension, South African culture. His biting satire, frequently directed at South African society, politics and religion, is channelled into his painting, printmaking and sculptural art practice.

Botes is a co-founder (with Anton Kannemeyer) of Bitterkomix, a rude, lewd and abrasive publication which the two started as students to jolt the establishment and enliven the lives of their peers. Bitterkomix grew to be something of a national countercultural beacon, with one of the comics becoming the first publication to be banned in democratic South Africa.

Botes’s artworks, which range from paintings on glass to striking objects of furniture and light, are more personal. His practice is multilayered and multifaceted, both conceptually and visually, and can be characterised by its clear and simple linework, bold colours, comic book-style imagery, and expressive motifs. He is fascinated by the subversive qualities of the image – its capacities to seduce, confront and disturb. Drawn to allegory and its ability to draw the viewer into a narrative, he sometimes employs biblical themes as vehicles for political allegories exploring the intricacies of guilt and complicity in relation to violence, race and gender.

‘With his monoprints, silkscreens, lithographs and other work on paper, Botes indisputably proves his status as torchbearer of the Post-Pop movement in South Africa. With his icons of atavistic males and females, including the “tortured soul” and the femme fatale, the artist mocks conventional notions of individualism and “humanism”, ranging from romantic love to self-flagellation. Botes has been portrayed in critical literature as the “posthuman” artist par excellence,’ wrote Ashraf Jamal in 2004.

He has had several solo exhibitions and has participated in numerous group shows locally internationally, including Bittercomix at the Cité des Arts, Saint Denis, Reunion (2019), Edging Forward: New Prints at the International Print Centre in New York City (2018) and Artists Engaged? Maybe at Calouste Gulbenkian Museum, Lisbon, Portugal (2014).

The Erotic Drawings of Conrad Botes was released by Soutie Press in 2019.

He currently lives and works in Cape Town.

SOURCES
‘Conrad Botes,’ The Artists’ Press, https://www.artprintsa.com/conrad-botes.html.
‘Conrad Botes,’ Kalashnikov Gallery, https://kalashnikovv.com/artists/conrad-botes.