Willie Bester

Willie Bester (born 1956) is a South African artist known for his installations made of found objects.

Life

Bester was born in 1956 in Montagu, a small town 150 km from Cape Town, South Africa. [1] His father was Xhosa and his mother was classified Coloured according to the Apartheid system of the time. Bester displayed talent early. When other boys made basic wire cars, his cars were elaborated and decorated, and he began to paint at the age of seven. When he was 10 years old, his family was forcibly removed in accordance with the Group Areas Act. Bester soon had to leave school to help the family economically.

In his late teens, Bester, like many township and rural youth in similar situations joined the South African Defence Force. He spent a year there, and another in a military camp for unemployed black youth. The experiences of raw and naked racism and the war were important influences.

At the age of 30 Bester returned to the childhood interest of art. The Community Arts Project (CAP) in District Six gathered a community of socially committed artists he began to associate with. He used his art to express a political conscience, and became active in the anti-apartheid movement. In the 1980s he became gradually more successful and known nationally and internationally and turned professional in 1991.

Bester lives and works in Kuilsrivier, a suburb of Cape Town.[2]

Work

Bester's works are collages assembled from scraps and junk from flea markets, townships and scrap yards like shoes, bones, tins, newspaper clippings, metal pieces combined with the use of oil paints and photographs. The themes of the art works stem from the political issues of the time: during the Apartheid era, forced removals and brutalisation of society; today, crime, greed, poverty and corruption. He is quoted as saying: "People have built up a resistance to anything that addresses the psyche of mankind or people or themselves. I believe that we must protest against that which is wrong. There is no form of escape; remaining apolitical is a luxury that South Africans simply cannot afford."[3]

Some of Bester's work is part of The Contemporary African Art Collection (CAAC) of Jean Pigozzi. One of his works was sold for £10,000 at a Sotheby's auction in London.[4]

Exhibitions

Solo exhibitions (selection)

Group exhibitions (selection)

Literature

References

  1. ↑ South Africa art exhibition at Davos 2010
  2. ↑ Artist's homepage
  3. ↑ CAACART The Pigozzi Collection
  4. ↑ V Gallery`s homepage
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