South African painter David Nthubu Koloane was born in Alexandria, Johannesburg in 1938. He received his art training from 1974 to 1977 at the Bill Ainslie Studios, which later became the Johannesburg Art Foundation. Since the late 1970s, Koloane has been a pioneer in the development of the black art community in South Africa. He co-founded Johannesburg’s first Black art gallery and was the head of Fine Arts at the Federative Union of Black Artists (FUBA). He was instrumental in establishing studio space for Black artists at The Fordsburg Artists’ Studios (The Bag Factory) and he founded the Thupelo Workshops in South Africa, a concept that spread to Botswana, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and Namibia. The Bag Factory founded in 1991 became the studio space which made it possible for black and white artists to work together on a professional level, despite the Apartheid legislation of that time.
Koloane’s work has been shown in South Africa, Botswana, France, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Zimbabwe. He has work in some of the greatest collections in the world, including the Saatchi Collection. A reflective and well-published writer, Koloane has written on issues pertaining to Black South African art and the racism in the South African art world. He has also been outspoken about the difficulty in obtaining an art education in South Africa. Committed to the visual art world, Koloane’s art reflects a personal struggle to illuminate the experiences of black South Africans to the world. Koloane is an acclaimed artist, educator, writer, curator, and facilitator. He has been recognised and honoured internationally for his contribution to the visual arts in South Africa.
taken from: David Koloane - Bag Factory
