​Contemporary South African Art

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Article credits to wikipedia.com



Bester was born in 1956 in Montagu, a small town 150 km from Cape Town, South Africa. [1] His father was Xhosa and his mother was classified coloured according to the apartheid systems ot the time. Bester displayed talent early. When other boys made basic wire cars, his cars were elaborated

and decorated, and he began to paint at the age

of seven. When he was 10 years old, his family was forcibly removed in accordance with the Group Areas Act. Bester soon had to leave school to help

the family economically.
In his late teens, Bester, like many township and rural youth in similar situations joined the South African Defence Force. He spent a year there,

and another in a military camp for unemployed black youth. The experiences of raw and naked racism

and the war were important influences.
At the age of 30 Bester returned to the childhood interest of art. The Community Arts Project (CAP)

in District Six gathered a community of socially committed artists he began to associate with.

He used his art to express a political conscience, and became active in the anti-apartheid movement.
In the 80’s Bester became gradually more successful and known nationally and internationally and turned professional in 1991. Bester lives and works in Kuilsrivier, a suburb of Cape Town. [2]
[edit] Work
His works are collages assembled from scraps

and junk from flea markets, townships and scrap yards like shoes, bones, tins, newspaper clippings, metal pieces combined with the use of oil paints and photographs. The themes of the art works stem from the political issues of the time. During Apartheid forced removals and brutalisation of society. Today crime, greed, poverty and corruption. Quote: "People have built up a resistance to anything that addresses the psyche of mankind or people or themselves.

I believe that we must protest against that which

is wrong. There is no form of escape; remaining apolitical is a luxury that South Africans simply cannot afford." [3]

Some of Bester's work is part of The Contemporary African Art Collection (CAAC) of Jean Pigozzi. One of his works was sold for £10.000 at a Sotheby's auction in London. [4]

 

 

Literature
• House, Gloria, Alison Kenzie, und Art Gallery of Windsor. Willie Bester: apartheid laboratory : Art Gallery of Windsor, February 24-June 17, 2007. Art Gallery of Windsor, 2008.
• Lee, Donvé. Willie Bester: art as a weapon. Awareness Publishing, 2008.
 

References
1. ^ South Africa art exhibition at Davos 2010
2. ^ artist's homepage
3. ^ CAACART The Pigozzi Collection
4. ^ V Gallery`s homepage

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