Rikotso, Philip

Bobbie Burgers is a contemporary Canadian painter. Her lush and Expressionistic depictions of flowers teeter on the verge of abstraction, bursting with bright color and laden with thickly applied, textural paint. “Flowers, to me, are the opposite of still,” the artist has explained. “Changing from minute to minute, they are perfect symbols for life, death, yearning, and beauty. My brushstrokes are layered with my own internal charges, depicting anger, frustration, softness, wanting, and more.” Born in 1973 in Vancouver, Canada, she studied Art History at the University of Victoria in British Columbia. Her work has been exhibited widely at home and abroad, notably including Art Market San Francisco and Equinox Gallery. Today, her works are in the collections of the Berost Corporation in Toronto and the Royal Bank of Canada, among others. Burgers lives and works in Vancouver, Canada.

Rikhotso, Philip

Article credits to http://www.madiathavha.com/gallery-2/artists/woodcarving/philip-rikotso

Philip Rikhotso lives in Dzumeri, Near Giyani in Limpopo Province. He is a self-taught artist who began carving in 1977. Rikhotso is a prolific carver, using quinine or marula wood – a medium indigenous to the area. He has also used soapstone when this has become scarce. Imagery is often drawn from two points of reference; the physical world which Rikhotso observes around him and personal interpretations of Tsonga legends and folklore. Rikhotso often combines these in a somewhat random and arbitrary way and the final sculptural image that is created is a mythical and imaginative one. He often integrates an animal and a human form into one image or combines features from many different animals such a aardvarks, armadillo, crocodiles or birds with devilish horns into one representation. Alternatively, he may sculpt two separate images and then combine them into one, creating a totem-like representation.

Materials and techniques
Rikhotso incorporates found objects into his sculptures without modifying them in any way. Examples are radios, speakers, steel handles, a crocheted hat, animal fur and a whole goat skin. Figures are embellished with such items as earrings, bangles and flamboyant attire such as nail polish, resulting in many of his sculptures being quite humourous.
Rikhotso uses traditional carving tools such as the adze, chisel and scoops. He utilises a variety of media to colour his sculptures such as wax crayon, enamel paints or PVA. The final coat is usually a light varnish.

Cultural context
The work of artists such as Rikhotso can be understood within a cross-cultural context that many living in the rural areas of South Africa find themselves. Although their lifestyles are dominated by traditions (as is their artistic style), they have become aware through rural-urban movement, of a world which is far more complex and driven by a commercial value rather than a spiritual and cultural one. The work of Rikhotso is a response to this new awareness.