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David Koloane

David Koloane was born in Alexandra, Johannesburg. He is an artist, writer, art critic and curator. He studied at the Bill Ainslie Art Studios under Bill Ainslie from 1974-1977. He also trained in Museum Studies at the University of London. He was co-founder of the Thupelo Art Workshop project. In 1982 he co-ordinated Art Towards Social Development which was part of the first international conference involving artists living in South Africa and those who were in exile. The conference Culture and Resistance was held in Botswana.

He is also a founder member and honorary director of the Fordsburg Artists Studios. He has established a reputation both locally and internationally and features in most major collections, museums and galleries in South Africa and internationally. (Smithsonian Institute, USA; Daimler Chrysler, Germany; Victoria and Albert Museum, UK) He has exhibited in Johannesburg, Holland, Mozambique, Italy, England, USA and Finland, and is often invited to lecture abroad and at local universities. He is regularly invited to act as external examiner at various universities in South Africa.

His work has also been widely written about in many leading South African and international catalogues, journals and magazines. His concern in socio-political matters and contributions to the furtherance of disadvantaged black South African artists during and after the apartheid era is evident. His work can be said to reflect the socio-political landscape of South Africa both past and present. The socio political conditions created by the apartheid system of government have to a large extent transfixed the human condition as the axis around which his work evolves.

‘The changing face of the city has become the centre around which my work revolves. It is about the old and the new – histories and memories.’ David Koloane

Experience
- 1982 Coordinator: Art Toward Social Development: Gaaberone, Botswana
..Coordinator, Botswana Arts Festival, 1985
..Co-Founder, Thupelo Art Project
- 1985 Judges Panel, African Arts Festival, University of Zululand, Kwazulu-Natal
..Co-curator: Federated Union Black Arts (FUBA) Gallery
- 1990 Coordinator: Art from South Africa, Oxford Museum of Modern Art, ..Oxford, UK
..Curator: Dialogue, Castle of Good Hope, Cape Town
- 1991-present Director/honorary director: Bag Factory Artists’ Studios
- 1995 Curator: Seven Stories About Modern Art in Africa, White Chapel Art ..Gallery, London
- 1995 Curator: Women’s Voice, Daimler-Chrysler museums, Stuttgart, Germany
- 1996 Curator: New Prospectives, Newtown Gallery
- 1993 Co-Founder and Director: Fordsburg Artists’ Studios (The Bag Factory)
- 1997-2003 Board Member: National Arts Council, South Africa
- 1999 Co-Curator: Art Dialogue South Africa-Germany, Castle of Good Hope B ..Block, Cape Town
- 2001 Judges Panel. Daimler Chrysler Visual arts Competition
- 2004-2006 Arts Consultant to The Freedom Park Trust
- 2005 Consultant for the Sasol Art Collection
- 2006 Judging Panel for the Sasol Wax Competition
- 2008 Honorary Doctorate from the Vaal University of Technology

Organisational and community involvement
- 1977 –1979 Co-founder of Johannesburg’s first black-owned art gallery.
- 1982 Visual Arts Co-ordinator for Cullure 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 Modem Art, Oxford. The ..exhibition toured the British Isles.
- 1993 Selected for the South African entry to the Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy.
- 2003-2005 Arts Consultant to the Freedom Park Trust
- 2006 Keynote Speaker at the VANSA conference in Cape Town

Artistic training
- 1974 -1977 Bill Ainslie Studios, Johannesburg
- 1983 Birmingham Polytechnic, England, 1983
- 1983 Triangle Workshop, New York, NY, 1983
- 1984 -1985 University of London, Diploma in Museum Studies

Selected solo exhibitions
- 1977 Nedbank Gallery, Killarney, Johannesburg
- 1990 Gallery on the Market, Newtown, Johannesburg.
- 1993 Made in South Africa I, Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg
- 1994 Made in South Africa II, Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg
- 1997 New Work, NSA Gallery, Durban
- 1999 Cityscapes and City Dwellers, Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg
- 2002 Johannesburg Blues, Seippel Gallery, Cologne, Germany
- 2003 Rituals Goodman Gallery
- 2005 New Work AVA Gallery

Selected group shows
- 1975 Nedbank Gallery
- 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
- 1983/4 Triangle Artists’ Workshop Exhibition, New York
- 1984 Stockwell Studio Exhibition, London, England
- 1984/5 Stockwell Open Studios, London
- 1985 USSALEP/Fuba Workshop Exhibition, Fuba Gallery, Johannesburg.
- 1985 Touring Exhibition, South Africa and Germany
- 1985 with Ben Ntsusha, Fuba Gallery, Johannesburg
- 1986 Academy Art Gallery, Paris
- 1986 University of South Africa, Pretoria
- 1986 Alliance Française, Pretoria
- 1986 Historical Perspective of Black South African Artists Exhibition, Alliance ..Francaise, Johannesburg
- 1987 South African Tour
- 1987/8 Johannesburg Art Gallery
- 1987 Natal Society of Arts, Durban
- 1987 Contemporary Black Artists Exhibition, Academy Art Gallery, Paris France
- 1987 Vita Art Now, Johannesburg Art Gallery.
- 1988 Pachipamwe International Artists Workshop, Zimbabwe National Gallery, ..Harare
- 1988 With Dumile Feni and Louis Maqhubela, Gallery 198, London, England.
- 1989/90 Touring Exhibition, Nordic Countries
- 1989 African Encounter, Dome Gallery, New York, USA.
- 1989 The Neglected Tradition, Johannesburg Art Gallery
- 1990 Vita Art Now, Johannesburg Art Gallery
- 1990 South African Murals, ICA Gallery, London, UK
- 1990 Art from South Africa, Museum of Modem Art, Oxford, UK.
- 1995 Zora Neal Hurston National Museum of Fine Art Hurstonville, FL, 1995
- 1995 Meridian international Center, Washington DC
- 1996 Alvar Aalto Museum, Jyvaskyla, Finland
- 1996 Art First Gallery
- 1996 Bomani Gallery, San Francisco
- 1996/7 South African National Gallery, Cape Town, GoodMan Gallery
- 1999 Liberated Voices, National Museum of African Art, Washington DC
- 1999 Global Art – South African Contemporary Art, Jane Alexander, Kay ..Hassan, David Koloane
- 2002 Ubuntu, Malaysia Art Museum, Kwalalampur, Malaysia
..Tracing the Rainbow-Kunst und Literatur aus dem neuen Südafrika, travelling ..exhibition,
..Kunst:Raum Sylt-Quelle, Rantum; Kulturverein Zehntscheuer, Rottenburg; ..Seippel Gallery, Cologne, Germany (catalogue)
- 2006 Seville Biennal, Unhomely, Seville, Spain
..Andrew Tshabangu, Seippel Gallery, Cologne, Germany

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
- SABC collection
- Pretoria Art Museum
- Sasol Art Collection
- Billiton Collection

Awards
- 1983 British Council Scholarship
- 1993 Vita Quarterly Award
- 1998 Prince Klaus Fund Award

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