​Contemporary South African Art

Quote from http://152.111.1.87/argief/berigte/citypress/1998/12/20/2/3.html



"Moletsane, a contemporary and friend of painter Gerald Sekoto, was described by a family friend as ``an unsung artist''.

The friend, Joseph Oesi, said Moletsane lived at

a time when black artists suffered on many fronts.

According to his son, Charles, Moletsane discovered a talent for drawing at a young age.

Financial troubles forced him to leave high school, but the young artist worked as a clerk to put himself through evening classes in Johannesburg.

In the early 1970s Moletsane exhibited works at the National Gallery and the Art Gallery in Gaborone, Botswana. The United States, Canadian and Australian embassies also displayed his works.

Moletsane accepted a scholarship to study at the Academy of Fine Arts in Milan, Italy, in 1977. His artistic career flourished.

He rubbed shoulders with European artists and was awarded a medal for his work on a massive collaborative mural project in Sicily.

After returning to South Africa with a Masters degree in Fine Arts in 1986, Moletsane took up work as a portrait and mural painter, a sign-writer and a sculptor.

Until his death he taught part-time at the Joint Enrichment Project in Johannesburg and at the National Institute for Crime Prevention and the Rehabilitation of Offenders in Soweto.

Moletsane also taught fashion illustration at the Academy of Fashion Design.

Charles Moletsane said of his father: ``He was very much involved in community projects such as creating signs in the townships RDP projects and the like.''

Sapa