Urban Entanglements: How Art Reflects Citymaking

David Koloane (b. 1938, South African – d.2019, South Africa) worked as an artist, writer, curator, educator and mentor to fellow artists, creating art and encouraging art-making throughout his life. 

Koloane co-founded and helped run several major arts spaces in Johannesburg, which were committed to ensuring safe spaces for Black artists to work and share ideas. In 1977 he helped to establish The Gallery, which was the first Black owned and run art gallery in the country. In 1979 Koloane co-founded the Federated Union of Black Artists (FUBA) and was the first curator of the FUBA Gallery from 1985-1990. In 1985 he co-founded the Thupelo experimental workshops series and, in 1991, co-founded The Bag Factory Artists’ Studios, where he served as director and board member. As a member of the Triangle Network, The Bag Factory remains a globally significant space for residencies and exchange programmes across continents. 

Shortly before Koloane’s passing in 2019, the Iziko South African National Gallery in Cape Town held a major survey of his work, titled A Resilient Visionary: Poetic Expressions of David Koloane. Curated by Thembinkosi Goniwe, this major exhibition later travelled to the Standard Bank Gallery and Wits Art Museum in Johannesburg, where it was re-titled Chronicles of a Resilient Visionary. This exhibition is also the subject of a major publication with that title, supported by Standard Bank, released the following year.

Group exhibitions include: Liberated Voices (1999) at the National Museum of African Art in Washington DC; the 55th Venice Biennale in 2013; My Joburg (2013) at La Maison Rouge in Paris; and PANGAEA: New Art from Africa and Latin America (2014) at Saatchi Gallery in London. 

Collections include: Centre Pompidou, Perez Miami Art Museum, Collection of Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands, Prince Claus Fund and the Louis Vuitton Foundation Collection. 

Kagiso Patrick ‘Pat’ Mautloa (b. 1952, South Africa) was born in the North-West Province of South Africa. His family relocated to Soweto where he became active in the politically aware student body in protesting the segregated education system. A bursary enabled further studies at the Rorke’s Drift Centre in Kwa Zulu Natal. After becoming a founder member of FUBA (Federated Union of Black Arts), he chose to pursue a full-time career as an artist.

Together with David Koloane and Bill Ainslie, Mautloa helped establish the Thupelo Workshops residency in Cape Town. His close association with Ainslie’s Johannesburg Art Foundation, FUBA, and The Bag Factory Artists’ Studios (where he is a board member) saw him invited to a residency with the Triangle Workshop in New York in the late 1980s. 

Notable solo exhibitions include Other Presences at Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg (2008) and Tracking at Goodman Gallery (2003). Significant group exhibitions include A Decade of Democracy: South African Art 1994-2004 at Iziko South African National Gallery, Cape Town (2004), Trade Routes: History and Geography at the 2nd Johannesburg Biennale, South Africa (1997), and the Venice Biennale (1995).

Sam Nhlengethwa (b. 1955, South African) is part of a pioneering generation of late 20th century South African artists whose work reflects the sociopolitical history and everyday life of their country. Through his paintings, collages and prints Nhlengethwa has depicted the evolution of Johannesburg through street life, interiors, jazz musicians and fashion. 

Selected solo exhibitions include: Art Meets Fashion, Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg (2023), Jazz and Blues at night, Goodman Gallery, London (2021);  Leeto: Print retrospective, Wits Art Museum, Johannesburg (2019); IN FOCUS: SAM NHLENGETHWA, The University of Michigan Museum, Michigan (2017); Life, Jazz and Lots of Other Things, SCAD Museum of Art, Savannah, Georgia (2014); Townships Re-visited, Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg (2006); and Homage to Jazz, Standard Bank Young Artist Award travelling show, South Africa (1994-5). 

Group exhibitions include: Through an African Lens: Sub-Saharan Photography from the Museum’s Collection, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (2020). Travelling to Museo de Arte Miguel Urrutia until 11 March 2024; TRANS, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg (2018); BEYOND BORDERS: GLOBAL AFRICA, The University of Michigan Museum, Michigan (2018); South Africa: The Art of a Nation, British Museum, London (2017); New Revolutions: Goodman Gallery at 50, Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg (2016); Contemporary Art / South Africa, Yale University Art Gallery (2014); Imaginary Fact: Contemporary South African Art and the Archive, South African Pavilion, 55th la Biennale di Venezia, Venice (2013); 12th International Cairo Biennale, Cairo (2010); Strengths and Convictions: The lives and times of South Africa’s Nobel Peace Prize laureates, Albert Luthuli, Desmond Tutu, F.W. de Klerk, Nelson Mandela, Iziko SA National Gallery, Cape Town (2009); New Identities – Contemporary South African Art, Kunstmuseum Bochum, Bochum, Germany (2004); 8th Havana Biennale, Havana, Cuba (2003); and Africa 95, Whitechapel, London (1995). 

Collections include: Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Houston; World Bank, Washington D.C; Botswana Art Museum, Gaborone; Anglo American, Johannesburg; Iziko South African National Gallery, Cape Town; Johannesburg Art Gallery, Johannesburg; Nelson Mandela Foundation; Johannesburg; and Durban Art Gallery, Durban.