It is not easy to forget the artists who set out to change the world and provide a place for voices to be heard. Today, we see David Koloane’s lifestyle and art till his death.
David Koloane (b. 1938) was born in the Johannesburg township of Alexandra. Koloane had an interest in art in high school and continued to create art in his leisure time while working several jobs to support his family.
Back in his day, white-owned commercial galleries exhibited black artists, and were subjected to working under controlled conditions. Only if they created “township art,” which adhered to a realistic style and portrayed scenes of everyday life in black communities with poverty glossed over in colorful tableaus and upbeat colours, could their work be displayed.
Unwilling to adhere to this, Koloane found a teaching workshop run by Bill Ainslie, a white artist and activist who turned his Johannesburg home into an interracial school. Between 1974 and 1977 he attended art classes at the Bill Ainslie Studios, which later became the Johannesburg Art Foundation.
After studying at Mr. Ainslie’s studio (later known as the Johannesburg Art Foundation) from 1974 to 1977, Koloane started assisting in the founding and management of organizations that he himself considered to be inspiring and nurturing.
Because of his growing passion for the arts, David Koloane took on a part-time and then full-time teaching job at a township high school. Later, Koloane rose through the ranks to become the executive director of the Johannesburg branch of the Federated Union of Black Artists (FUBA). The Thupelo Workshops were founded in South Africa as a result of his participation in several The Triangle International Artists Workshops, and the idea later spread to Botswana, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and Namibia. Koloane saw that stable studio space was something that was lacking in Johannesburg, especially for Black artists. In order to do this, he worked together with Robert Loder and Ricky Burnett to develop The Fordsburg Artists Studios (The Bag Factory) in 1991.
The subject matter of David Koloanes paintings was the world that surrounded him: the panorama of black urban life, circumscribed by want, brutalized by violence, but vital and resilient. He composed his images in a smoky, shadowed Expressionist style that transformed sociological fact into metaphor and expanded historical incidents into cosmic dramas.
David Koloane was known to always combine his artwork with social involvement. He contributed to several catalogues, curated exhibitions, sat on judging panels, The National Arts Council advisory panel and delivered numerous papers while attending workshops and conferences all over the world. In 1998, the government of the Netherlands honoured Koloane with The Prince Claus Fund Award for his contribution to the development of the visual arts in South Africa. In 2015 Koloane received a honorary doctorate from Rhodes university.
His initiatives co-establishing the first Black Art Gallery in 1977, the Thupelo experimental workshop in 1985 and the Bag Factory Artists’ Studios in 1991. Koloane tutored at the Federated Union of Black Artists (FUBA) in 1979 and became the head of the fine art section and gallery from 1985 to 1990. Collaborations with different people across the racial divide and national boundaries are key to Koloane’s accomplishments. Thupelo and Bag Factory are two examples that brought together artists from different geo-cultural backgrounds around the world.
Koloane passed away at the age of eighty-one. According to the New York times, his longtime dealer, Neil Dundas, of Goodman Gallery in Johannesburg and Cape Town, said the cause was respiratory failure. They further explained that Koloane underwent chemotherapy early this year after receiving a diagnosis of lung cancer, but the disease was in remission, and he had been able to attend the opening of a career retrospective in Cape Town on June 1.
At the time of his death, three institutions were putting on three different versions of a major retrospective; A Resilient Visionary: Poetic Expressions of David Koloane at the Iziko South African National Gallery in Cape Town and Standard Bank Art Gallery in Johannesburg as well as David Koloane: Chronicles of a Resilient Visionary at the Wits Art Museum (curated by Dr Thembinkosi Goniwe).
The exhibitions outline Koloane’s extensive career and detail his contributions to both South African and worldwide visual arts. His achievements extended beyond his status as an artist; he also worked as a writer, activist, educator, curator, mentor, and trailblazer. Among his many legacies, he leaves behind the Bag Factory Artists’ Studios—a non-profit contemporary visual art organisation I mentioned earlier. For many Black artists over the years who might not have had the chance to engage, develop, and excel in their different disciplines, the Bag Factory has served as an essential resource.
Some Bag Factory’s alumni include Sam Nhlengethwa, Kagiso Patrick Mautloa, Tracey Rose, Gabi Ngcobo, Lady Skollie, Blessing Ngobeni and Bronwyn Katz.
