Full Biography
Willie Bester is regarded as one of South Africa’s most important resistance artists. He incorporates recycled material into his paintings, assemblages and sculpture, usually commenting on political injustices and human rights issues of the day.
Born in the small town of Montagu, South Africa in 1956, Willie Bester’s creative genius was apparent from a young age. Making toy cars from recycled wire just like the other kids, Willie’s draadkars would stand out from the rest with elaborate decoration and metal work. Willie’s passion for political and social issues was ignited when he had to leave school at 10 to help the family financially due to the forced removal from their home under the Group Areas Act. With a Xhosa father and coloured mother, Willie was classified ‘other coloured’ under the Apartheid laws, which meant their mixed race family was not allowed to live in a “coloured” area. As a migrant worker, the only lodgings available to his father were single-sex hostels in large fenced-off compounds. The only option for the family to live together was in informal housing in other people’s backyards.
“Drafted” into the Eersterivier Cadet Rehabilitation Centre for a year, like many other unemployed township and rural youth at the time, Willie was compelled to do army-type training in a racially prejudiced environment. Fortunately he was given some art supplies around this time and he was re-introduced to his childhood love of painting. At the age of 26, after working as a dental technician’s assistant for many years in Cape Town, Willie finally re-immersed himself in his art and opened his first solo exhibition in 1982 which consisted of street scenes and landscapes.
During adulthood his art became a vehicle to express the inequalities that he was witness and subject to. He began to attend part-time classes at the Community Arts Project (CAP) in District Six in 1986, where he found himself surrounded by a community of socially committed artists. He quickly became an active player in the anti-Apartheid movement, expressing his political observations and ideals through an assortment of the mixed media arts. He became known for his signature mixed media creations, combining oil and watercolour paints with his photographs, newspaper clippings and scrap materials acquired from local dumps. Tins, bones, car parts, road signs, military paraphernalia, musical instruments, recycled objects, toys, farm implements, junkyard detritus, scavenged items of significance…. they all found a way into his vividly coloured artworks, building a story of his observed realities behind broadcast media and newspaper articles. By the late 1980s, Willie began to achieve a measure of success as an artist and, in 1991, he turned professional.
His role as a struggle artist naturally turned to one of charting the dramatic social and political developments in post-Apartheid South Africa. Addressing issues of crime, greed, poverty, corruption and government accountability in the new South Africa, his exposure of the complexities of this new society lends a much needed voice to social awareness, touching on uncomfortable subjects to fuel discussion.
“We were naïve about the state of things in South Africa; we
thought things would be different. We wanted to believe that our culture had changed, because we so badly wanted things to be different so that we could move forward. But it’s impossible to forget the past because it influences our future. This is why I document these events, so that we do not forget.”
Willie’s firm belief in upholding human dignity is a driving concept throughout his artwork as he artfully documents South African history, heritage and identity.
“What I try to get behind is why it is so difficult for people to change from their old ways. It hasn’t worked out the way I imagined. People who thought they were superior before haven’t really changed. I try to find out through studying history what gives people the right to think that way. I try to find a solution, not to be disappointed, to reach an understanding.”
Willie’s attention to detail is spread equally from conceptual visualisation to selection of parts, physical construction and final finishing touches. His daily habit of reading the local English and Afrikaans newspapers provides ample opportunity for inspiration. A political or social incident motivates him to visit his art shops – the local scrapyards! – where he spends days meticulously selecting every detail for his subject’s anatomy. Carefully laying out the pieces on the floor of his Kuilsriver studio before building, he usually constructs from the feet up to ensure a strong base. Once complete, a sculpture is then galvanised at an industrial plant to prevent future deterioration, an essential consideration in the international art world of major museums and collectors.
Scouring the scrapheaps and dumping grounds around Cape town for discarded objects, Willie’s creative obsession has evolved into recycling the waste of society into a powerful and thought-provoking platform for social injustice, poverty and political oppression.
“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.”
Willie sees rubbish dumps as symbols of the community in which he lives: those living in the townships are often regarded as rejects of society, yet his works prove time and again that unexpected value can be created from that which is regarded as rubbish.
“I am sometimes tempted to go to the seaside and to paint beautiful things from nature. But I do not do it because my art has to be taken as a nasty tasting medicine for awakening consciences.”
EDUCATION
1991
Full-time professional artist
No formal art training : Mostly self-taught
1986
Community Arts Project, Cape Town
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2017
Transformation, Fynarts Festival, Space
Gallery, Hermanus, South Africa
2016
Comprehensive, Art B , Bellville South Africa
2015
Sculptures, Imibala Trust Gallery, Somerset West,
South Africa
2014
Community, Everard Read Gallery, Cape Town,
South Africa.
Backyard, Barnard Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
2013
Recent works, Sol Plaatjie, Kimberlie South Africa
2011
Recent Works, Oliewenhuis Art Museum, Bloemfontein
South Africa
2009
Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
Sasol Art Gallery, Stellenbosch, South Africa
Investec Private Bank & US Wordfest Artist
2008
Iziko South African National Gallery, Cape Town
Montagu Museum
2005
34 LONG, Cape Town
2003
Association for Visual Arts, Cape Town
2002
SASOL Museum, Stellenbosch
Centre D’Art Contemporain, Brussels, Belgium Grahamstown Featured artist Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg
2000
Arte Assortite, Torino , Italy
1999
Opere Recenti, Studio D’Arte Raffaelli, Trento, Italy Archivio Della Scuola Romana, Introdotto da Achille Bonito Oliva, Roma, Italy
1998
Emporain, Dakar
1994
Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg
1993
South African Association of Art, Cape Town
Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg
1992
Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg
Millpark, Port Elizabeth
1991
Gallery International, Cape Town
1982
Forum, Cavendish Square, Cape Town
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2016
This Place-This Space, Moore Gallery,
Franschoek, South Africa
Outdoor Exhibition, Mok Gallery,
Stellenbosch, South Africa
Melrose Gallery, Johannesburg South Africa
2015
Die Burger 100 years of Art at Artscape,
Cape Town South Africa
Changchun Sculpture Symposium – China
2014
Libertas Gallery, Stellenbosch, South Africa
Summer Season, Everard Read Gallery,
Cape Town, South Africa
Winter, Everard Read Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
2012
Small Works, Everard Read Gallery, Cape Town,
South Africa
Beelden aan Zee, Netherlands
2011
15th Anniversary, Everard Read Gallery,
Cape Town, South Africa
Implemented Environments, (I Art) Brundyn &
Gonsalves, South Africa
2010
20 Years of SA Art Sculptures, Nirox,
Johannesburg, South Africa
2009
34 Long Fine Art, Cape Town , South Africa
Studio Rafaelli. Trento Italy
2008
A Way Through, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa
2007
Rocca di Castagnoli, Biennale Internazionalr dÁrt, Italy
2006
Tokio, Mori Art Museum: June – September
2005
London, Hayward Gallery: 10 Feb – 17 April
Paris, Centre Pompidou: 15 May – 20 August
Studio d’Arte Raffaelli, Trento, Italy
2004
Dublin Exhibition
10 Years – Klein Karoo Arts Festival, Outshoorn, South Africa
Milk Can Project, Association for Visual Arts, Cape Town
Africa Remix – Düsseldorf, Museum Kunst Palast: 24 July – 7 Nov
2003
Suidoos Festival, Peninsula Technikon
‘Coexistence- Contemporary Cultural Production in South African’ Rose Art Museum, USA
2002
Passport to South Africa, Centro Culturale “Trevi”, Bolzano, Italy
Sculpture Biennale, Spier Estate, Stellenbosch
National Art Gallery of Malaysia
King George VI Art Gallery, Port Elizabeth
2001
Barcelona Contemporary Cultural Center, Spain
Studio d’Arte Raffaelli, Trento, Italy
2000
Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, New York
Project Conflux, Association for Visual Arts, Cape Town
1999
Art Salon, Bay Hotel, Cape Town
Rewind/Fast Forward, Van Reekum Museum of Modern Art, Appeldoorn, Netherlands
Claiming Art Reclaiming Space, National Museum of African Art, Washington DC.
Studio d’Arte Raffaelli, Trento, Italy
Artery, Joao Ferreira Fine Art, Cape Town
1998
Biennale de l’Art Contemporian, Dakar, Senegal
The Edge of Awareness, World Health Organization, Geneve, Switzerland, New York, Soa Paulo, New Delhi
Still our Land, Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg, joint with Zwelethu Mthethwa
Project Conflux, Tendances Mikado Gallery, Luxembourg
Project Conflux, Hotel de Ville, Dijon, France
Association for Visual Arts, Cape Town
1996
Chicago Art Fair, Chicago, USA
Basel Art Fair, Basel, Switzerland
Simunye (we are one) exhibition, Adelson Gallery,
New York
Tradition in Tradition, October Gallery, London
Contemporary Art from South Africa,
Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin
Contemporary S.A. Art 85 – 95, South African National Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
South African Art to Atlanta, City Gallery East, Atlanta, USA
OTRO PAIS : ESCALAS AFRICANAS, Palau de la Virreina, Barcelona
The other journey (Africa and the Diaspora), Kunsthalle, Krems, Austria
Seven Artists from South Africa, Boumani Gallery,
San Francisco
1995
DIALOGUES OF PEACE, Exhibition for the UN’s 50th
Anniversary, Palaise Des Nations, Geneva
Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London
Africa ‘95 Festival, London
Art Salon at The Bay, Camps Bay, Cape Town, South Africa
De Kleur van Verandering Exhibition, The Hague, Netherlands
1994
UN ART CONTEMPORIAN D’AFRIQUE DU SUD, Galerie De L’Esplanade, La Defence, Paris
UN ART CONTEMPORIAN D’AFRIQUE DU SUD, Galerie De Ballens, Ballens, Switzerland
HEIMAT PROJECT, Grahamstown Art Festival
Stallion Gallery, Kentucky, USA
5th Havana Biennale, Cuba
Art Salon at The Bay, Camps Bay, Cape Town
Ludwig Forum, Aachen, Germany
CENTRO DE ARTE MODERNO, Las Palmas
Venice Biennale, INCROCI DEL SUD : An exhibition of works by 27 contemporary South African Artists
INCROCI DEL SUD, Roma, Italy
INCROCI DEL SUD, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
1992
Primart Gallery, Cape Town
ZABALAZA FESTIVAL, Museum of Modern Art, Oxford. ( This exhibition traveled to London and other British centres and was subsequently shown in South Africa at the S.A. National Gallery, Cape Town)
1991
Operation Hunger Exhibition, Cape Town
Dorp Street Gallery, Stellenbosch
Gallery International, Cape Town
Cape Town Triennial Exhibition, Touring Exhibition
1990
Gallery International, Cape Town
Institute for African Studies, University of Cape Town
Jacobs & Liknaitsky Gallery, Cape Town
1989
Baxter Gallery, Cape Town
AWARDS
2009
Johnny Walker artist award
2004
Order of the Disa, Members Class, Government of South Africa
2003
Honorary medal for promotion of Fine Arts: Suid Afrikaanse Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns
1992
Prix De L’Aigle, 4th Grand Prix International D’Arts Plastiques de la Vlille de Nice, France
1991
Merit Prize : Cape Triennial
REPRESENTED
MTN Collection, Cape Town
ENGEN, Cape Town
METROPOLITAN LIFE, Cape Town
Human Science Research Council, Cape Town
Cape Provincial Libraries, Cape
Foschini Ltd. Parow, Cape
GENCOR S.A., Johannesburg
Durban Art Gallery, Durban
Tatham Art Gallery, Pietermaritzburg
Pretoria Art Museum, Pretoria
Contemporary African Art Collection, Paris
Vodacom, Cape Town
Smithsonian Inst. USA
Oceana Fishing Group, Cape Town
NASPERS, Cape Town
Zonnebloem Art Collection, Stellenbosch
DE BEERS Collection, Johannesburg
BOE Bank, Cape TownSASOL Limited, Johannesburg
South African National Gallery, Cape Town
Johannesburg Art Gallery
King George VI Gallery, Port Elizabeth
University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg
University of the Western Cape, Cape Town
University of South Africa, Pretoria
Department of National Education, Pretoria
Department of Foreign Affairs, Pretoria
Cape of Good Hope Bank, Cape Town
Rembrandt Van Rijn Collection, Stellenbosch
South African Breweries Collection, Johannesburg
South African Broadcasting Corporation ( SABC TV ), Cape Town
South African Broadcasting Corporation ( SABC TV ), Johannesburg
SANLAM, Cape Town
WOOLTRU, Cape Town
Willie’s work is also in numerous private collections in South Africa and abroad.
PUBLICATIONS
BERMAN, E., 1993. PAINTING IN SOUTH AFRICA. Page 363. Halfway House, Transvaal : Southern Book Publishers, ( ISBN 1-86812-345-6 )
BOGATZKE, H., BROCKMANN, R., LUDSZUWEIT, C. 2000. ONDAMBO – African Art Forum. Page 30 – 49, Page 174 – 177. Gamsberg Macmillan Publishers ( Pty ) Ltd.,
( ISNB 99916-0-211-9 )
FRANK, H., & D’AMATO., M., 1999. LIBERATED VOICES, Contemporary art from South Africa. Page 27. New York, London, Prestel, Munich : The Museum of African Art, ( ISBN 3-7913-2195-1 )
KONATE, Y., 2001. WILLIE BESTER. Bruxelles : Centre D’Art Contemporain
LEE, D., 2006. WILLIE BESTER, ART AS A WEAPON, Awareness Publishing Group ( Pty) LTD., ( ISBN 1-77008-178-X )
LITTLEFIELD KASFIR, S., 1999. CONTEMPORARY AFRICAN ART. Page. 159 -161. London : Thames & Hudson, ( ISBN 0-500-20328-8 )
MAGNIN, A., & SOULILLOU, J., 1996. CONTEMPORARY ART OF AFRICA. Pages 155 – 156, Page 158. New York & London : Thames a Hudson, ( ISBN 0-500-01713-1 )
PROUD, H., 2008. REVISIONS + EXPANDING THE NARRATIVE OF SOUTH AFRICAN ART. Stellenbosch Modern and Contemporary Art GAllery, ( SMAC), ( ISBN 1-874817-36-7 )
RANKIN, E., 1994. IMAGES OF METAL, Post-War Sculptures and Assemblages in South Africa. Pages 89 – 92. Johannesburg : Witwatersrand University Press, University of Witwatersrand Art Galleries,
( ISBN 1 86814 257 4 )
WILLIAMSON, S., & JAMAL, A., 1996. ART IN SOUTH AFRICA – THE FUTURE PRESENT. Pages 134 – 139. Claremont, South Africa : David Philip Publishers ( Pty ) Ltd., ( ISBN 0-86486-321-7 )
INTERNET ARTICLES
Wille Bester, Art Africa 01-12.2011
Willie Bester: Sculptor Extraordinaire
Willie Bester in Cape Town. 08-04-2003
The latest on Willie Bester 11-08-2002
Willie Bester’s work ” not African enough ” for parliament 11-02-2001
Willie Bester 20-02-2000
Art News 19-11-2000
Sarah Bartmann 07-07-2000
Read all about Artist Willie Bester 17-08-1999