Sihlali, Durant

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.

Sihlali, Durant

Born: 1935 Germiston, Transvaal

A painter, graphic artist and sculptor of figures, still life, genre, landscapes, seascapes and abstract works. Uses oil, acrylic, gouache, watercolour, wash, pencil, charcoal, various graphic media, wood and metal. 1975-85 gold and coal mining industry series of paintings, drawings and life-size sculptures.

Studies: 1950-53 Chiawelo Art Centre, Moroka, Transvaal; 1953-58 Polly Street Art Centre, Johannesburg; 1955 Da Vinci School of Fine Art, Johannesburg under Carlo Sdoyo; 1955-58 under Sidney Goldblatt; 1965-66 under Ulrich Schwanecke; 1985-86 Villa Arson Art School, Nice, France.

Profile: From 1974 a member of the WSSA; 1980-85 a member of the Brush and Chisel Club. 1979-83 a part time teacher at various Soweto art centres; from 1983 Head of the Fine Arts Department, FUBA. 1981 visited Athens, Greece and Palermo, Sicily. 1986 spent six months in Paris.

Exhibitions: He has participated in numerous group exhibitions from 1952 throughout SA and in West Germany, Israel, Greece, the UK, the USA, France, Australia and Sicily; 1965 Piccadilly Gallery, London, African Painters and Sculptors from Johannesburg; 1966 Lidchi Gallery, Johannesburg, first of over 12 solo exhibitions held in Johannesburg; 1979 Contemporary African Art in SA, touring; 1981 Standard Bank, Soweto, Black Art Today Exhibition; 1982 National Gallery, Gaborone, Botswana, Exhibition of SA Art; 1988 Johannesburg Art Gallery, Vita Art Now.

Awards: 1978 First Prize, Mariannhill Institute; 1982 Second Prize Sculpture, University of Zululand African Arts Festival; 1983 First Prize Graphics, University of Zululand African Arts Festival.

Public Commissions: Works in the Tladi Anglican Church, Soweto in 1960 and in the Heidelberg Anglican Church in 1972.

Represented: Africana Museum, Johannesburg; National Gallery, Gaborone, Botswana; Sandton Municipal Collection; University of Fort Hare; University of Zululand.

References: BSAK 2; AASA; Echoes of African Art; SA Panorama July 1982 and June 1983.