David Koloane was born on June 5, 1938 in Alexandra, Johannesburg.
South Africa’s socio-political conditions and apartheid’s implications have, to a large extent, transformed the human condition as the axis around which his work revolves.
The human figure has become an icon of creative precision.
ARTISTIC TRAINING
1974 - 1977 Bill Ainslie Studios, Johannesburg
1983 Birmingham Polytechnic, England
1983 Triangle Workshop, New York, USA.
1984 - 1985 University of London, Diploma in Museum Studies
ORGANIZATIONAL AND COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
1977 - 1979 Co-Founder of Johannesburg’s first black-owned art gallery.
1982 Visual Arts Co-coordinator for Culture and Resistance Festival, Gaborone.
1985 Co-founder of Thupelo Art Workshop Project.
1986 - 1988 Curator Fuba Art Gallery, Johannesburg.
1990 Co-curator for Art from South Africa, Museum of Modern Art, Oxford. The exhibition toured the British Isles.
1993 Selected for the South African entry to the Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy.
EXPERIENCE
1982 Coordinator: Art toward Social Development: Gaborone, Botswana.
1983 - 1985 Coordinator: Botswana Arts Festival, 1985
1985 Co-founder, Thupelo Art Project
Judges Panel, African Arts Festival, University of Zululand, Kwazulu-Natal.
1985 - 1990 Co-curator: Federated Union Black Arts (FUBA) Gallery
1990 Coordinator: Art from South Africa, Oxford Museum of Modern Art, Oxford, U.K.
Curator: 'Dialogue', Castle of Good Hope, Cape Town
1995 Curator: 'Seven Stories about Modern Art in Africa', Whitechapel Gallery, London.
Curator: 'Women’s voice', Daimler-Chrysler museums, Stuttgart, Germany
1993 - to present Co-founder and Director: Fordsburg Artists’ Studios (The Bag Factory)
1997 - to present Board Member: National Arts Council, South Africa
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
1977 Nedbank Gallery, Killarney, Johannesburg
1990 Gallery on the Market, Newtown, Johannesburg
1993 'Made in South Africa 1', Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg
1994 'Made in South Africa 2', Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg
1997 'New Work', NSA Gallery, Durban
1999 'Cityscapes and City Dwellers', Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg
2002 'City Beat', Seippel Gallery, Germany
1993 Solo Exhibition, Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
1975 Nedbank Gallery, Johannesburg
1976 with Michael Zondi, Nedbank Gallery, Killarney, Johannesburg
1978 'Black Expo '78', Johannesburg
1979 Bill Ainslie Studios, Johannesburg
1982 "Art Towards Social Development", National Gallery and Museum, Gaborone,Botswana
1983 'Triangle International Artists' Workshop Exhibition'
1983 - 84 Triangle Artists' Workshop Exhibition, New York
1984 Stickwell Studio Exhibition, London, England.
1984/5 Stockwell Open Studios, London, England.
1985 'USSALEP/Fuba Workshop Exhibition', Fuba Gallery, Johannesburg
Touring Exhibition, South Africa and Germany
With Ben Ntsusha, Fuba Gallery, Johannesburg
1986 Academy Art Gallery, Paris, France.
University of South Africa, Pretoria
Alliance Francaise, Pretoria
Historical Perspective of Black South African Artists Exhibition, Alliance Francaise, Johannesburg
1987 South Africa Tour
Johannesburg Art Gallery
Natal Society of Arts, Durban
Contemporary Black Artists Exhibition, Academy Art Gallery, Paris France
'Vita Art Now', Johannesburg Art Gallery
1988 'Pachipamwe International Artists Workshop', Zimbabwe National Gallery, Harare
with Dumile Feni and Louis Maqhubela, Gallery 198, London England
1989 - 90 Touring Exhibition, Nordic Countries
1989 'African Encounter', Dome Gallery, New York, USA
'The Neglected Tradition', Johannesburg Art Gallery
1990 'Vita Art Now', Johannesburg Art Gallery
'South African Murals', ICA Gallery, London, UK
'Art from South Africa', Museum of Modern Art, Oxford, UK.
1995 Zora Neal Hurston National Museum of Fine Art Hurstonville, Florida, USA
Meridian International Center, Washington DC, USA
1996 Alvar Aalto Museum, Jyvaskyla, Finland
Bomani Gallery, San Francisco
1996- 97 South Africa National Gallery, Cape Town
1999 'Liberated Voices', National Museum of African Art, Washington DC
2000 'South African Artists', Seippel Gallery, Germany
2002 'Ubuntu', Malaysia Art Museum, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
SELECTED COLLECTIONS
Larry Poons, New York
Robert Loder, London
Sir Anthony Caro, London
South African National Gallery, Cape Town
Botswana National Museum and Gallery, Gaborone
South African Higher Education Trust, Johannesburg
BMW Collection, Germany
Mobil Oil South Africa
Department of Education and Training, Pretoria
AWARDS
1983 British Council Scholarship
1993 Vita Quarterly Award
1998 Prince Klauss Fund Award
ADDITIONAL ROLES
2001 - External Examiner, University of Cape Town
Curator, Writer, Art Awards Panelist
LITERATURE
1981 Margaret Makhoana, Bonanza Magazine
A Profile: Dan Rakhoathe Mofolo Art Centre
1982 A Profile: Lucas Seage: A Konrad Aadenauer Prize Winner. Staff Rider Magazine
1984 A dissertation on the establishment of printmaking workshops employing alternative methods in the urban areas of South Africa, U.K.
1990 Art from South Africa: Catalogue, Thames, and Hudson
A question of identity: Third Text magazine, London, UK
A report on the Johannesburg Africa’s Biennale catalogue text
1997 Walking the Tight Rope: Trade Routes, 2nd Johannesburg Biennale catalogue text
1999 Liberated Voices: Catalogue text