Wim Botha

Wim Botha (born 1974) 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.^[1] 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.^[2]

Works

Botha has found inspiration for his work in government texts and religious icons, objects that show belief, faith, observation, transgression and forgiveness.^[3] Among the mediums he uses are treated wood, books, acrylic enamel paint, oil paint, steel, Indian ink, bronze, paper, and marble.^[4]

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”^[5]

Exhibitions ^[6]

2014 Linear Perspectives - Stevenson, Cape Town

2013 PREDICATES - Galerie Jette Rudolph, Berlin

2012 Wim Botha - Stevenson, Johannesburg

2011 All Around - Galerie Jette Rudolph, Berlin Wim Botha - Stevenson, Cape Town

2009 Wim Botha: Joburg Altarpiece & Amazing Things from Other Places - Stevenson, Cape Town

2008 Wim Botha - Galerie Jette Rudolph, Berlin Wim Botha - Stevenson, Johannesburg

2007 Wim Botha: Apocalagnosia - Stevenson, Cape Town

2006 Wim Botha: Standard Bank Young Artist for Visual Art 2005 - Standard Bank Gallery,Johannesburg

2005

• A Premonition of War - Durban Art Gallery, Durban
• A Premonition of War. Standard Bank Young - The Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Art Museum, Port Elizabeth
• Cold Fusion. Gods, Heroes and Martyrs - Stevenson, Cape Town
• Standard Bank Young Artist for Visual Art 2005 - South African National Art Gallery,Cape Town

2003 Speculum - Stevenson, Cape Town

Group shows

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 (MMK), Frankfurt/Main

2013 A Sculptural Premise - Stevenson, Cape Town Pophits & Alptraum - Artspace RheinMain, Offenbach The Loom of the Land - Stevenson, Johannesburg

2012

• Alptraum - The Nightmare Never Ends - X project space, Berlin
• Alptraum - Green Papaya Art Project - - Metropolitan Museum of Manila, Manila
• Alptraum - Green Papaya Art Projects, Quezon City
• Alptraum - Goethe-Institut Johannesburg, Johannesburg

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

2010

• Index 40: Leading Works from the Sanlam Art Collection - Smac Art Gallery, Stellenbosch
• PEEKABOO - Current South Africa - Helsinki Art Museum, Helsinki
• Triennale Kleinplastik - Larger Than Life - Stranger Than Fiction - Triennale Kleinplastik Fellbach, Fellbach

2009 Self/Not-self - Stevenson, Johannesburg

2008 Disguise: The art of attracting and deflecting attention - Stevenson, Cape Town

2007

* Politische Ikonografie - Galerie Jette Rudolph, Berlin 
* Summer 2007/8 - Stevenson, Cape Town
* Africa Remix - Contemporary art of a continent - Johannesburg Art Gallery (JAG), Johannesburg
* TRANS CAPE - contemporary African art on the move - Trans Cape Africa, Cape Town
* Afterlife - Stevenson, Cape Town

2006

• South African Art Now - Stevenson, Cape Town
• Africa Remix - Moderna Museet, Stockholm
• What lies beneath - New Art from South Africa - Galerie Mikael Andersen, Copenhagen
• Africa Remix - Contemporary Art of a Continent - Mori Art Museum, Tokyo
• 7ème Biennale de l´Art Africain contemporain - Dak'Art Biennale de l’art africain contemporain,Dakar
• Personal Affects - Power and Poetics in Contemporary South African Art - Honolulu Museum of Art, Honolulu, HI
• Olvida quien soy - Centro Atlántico de Arte Moderno (CAAM), Las Palmas de Gran Canaria

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

2004

• Personal Affects - Power and Poetics in Contemporary - Museum for African Art, New York City, NY
• Afrika Remix - Zeitgenössische Kunst eines Kontinents - Museum Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf

2003

• The Ampersand Foundation - Warren Siebrits Gallery, Johannesburg
• Contact Zones - Colonial & Contemporary - Stevenson, Cape Town

Exhibition catalogues

• Wim Botha: Rooms 2001-2014 (2014)
• Wim Botha: Solipsis I-V (2013)
• Wim Botha: Busts 2003-2012 (2012)
• Wim Botha: Joburg Altarpiece & Amazing Things from Other Places (PDF only, 2009)
• Wim Botha: Apocalagnosia (2007)
• Wim Botha: Standard Bank Young Artist (2005)
• Wim Botha: Cold Fusion: Gods, heroes and martyrs (2005)
• Wim Botha: Speculum (2003)

References