Tommy (Thomas Trevor) MOTSWAI (b. 1963)
Elevators
1991
pastel on paper
55.5 x 78 cm
BIOGRAPHY
Tommy Motswai was born in Johannesburg in 1963 and attended the Kutlwanong School for the Deaf from 1968 to 1979. He has since also taught art at Kutlwanong. He began to draw while still at school and continued studying art at the Johannesburg Art Foundation and at the Federated Union of Black Artists (FUBA) after completing school. Dumisani Mabaso taught him at FUBA and was a great inspiration.
In 1985, Motswai won a bursary from Sanlam and began exhibiting, including a solo exhibition at the Goodman Gallery in 1988. In 1992, he won the Standard Bank Young Artist of the Year award.
Motswai works in pastel and various graphic media. His work is in major public and private collections throughout South Africa, including those of the Johannesburg Art Gallery, SA National Gallery, the University of South Africa and the SABC. In 1994 Motswai was commissioned by French Vogue to do an illustration for the cover of the magazine that celebrated South Africa’s first democratic elections.
Motswai first worked at The Artists’ Press in 1993 and since then has produced numerous editions at the studio. Lithography particularly suits his colourful way of working.