Description
Frame measures 25.75" x 18.5" dimensions inside inner matting is 12" x 19". It's<br>triple matted. Frame shows some wear, picture and matting are perfect.<br><br>Billy Molokeng<br><br>Born 1944 - Gauteng<br><br>About the Artist<br><br>Billy Molokeng was born in 1944 in the Alexandria Township in Johannesburg. He<br>was orphaned at a very young age and brought up by his sisters. In order to make<br>a day-to-day living he started selling his drawings, and later, paintings. This<br>brought him to the attention of a wealthy sponsor, who enabled him to attend a<br>private art school, which in turn helped to develop his style and technique.<br><br>Molokeng is an unusual and dynamic personality who enjoys and excels in all<br>forms of creativity. He composes and performs his own songs, enjoying enormous<br>popularity under the stage name of “Billy Africa”.<br> <br><br>Style and Format<br><br>Versatility, dynamism and inventiveness have kept Billy Molokeng’s work fresh<br>and ever changing, ensuring that both he and his art do not become stereotyped.<br>This is demonstrated by the fact that his work was initially typically<br>“township” in character, but developed into his own more unique style in later<br>years.<br><br>His early paintings portray scenes taken directly from life in the townships.<br>The compositions of these early works are dense and on a single plane, usually<br>with several figures depicted in a bold and heavy manner. His individuality and<br>originality, however, is still strongly evident. His figures are lively and<br>filled with movement, containing a subtle humour, underlying joy and<br>light-heartedness which so many art lovers relate to, and enjoy.<br><br>During the 1970s and 1980s, this South African artist’s work became more<br>sophisticated, both technically and conceptually, representing a more mature<br>artist at work. Molokeng’s work started to move away from direct township<br>depictions towards a fusion of the urban experience with African motifs and<br>culture.<br><br>Compositionally, his African art became lighter and began to incorporate more of<br>the figurative and abstract than the literal. Many of his paintings began to<br>display a more sketchy landscape background, containing forms such as huts,<br>missionary churches, ox wagons, oxen and human figures in tribal and rural dress<br>partaking in traditional customs.<br><br>Towards the end of the 1970’s, a calligraphic element within his work began to<br>emerge. This, together with the Bushman-like figures that started to populate<br>his township art, gave his work a potent African flavour that still exists to<br>this day, and makes Billy Molokeng’s work so appealing to South Africans and<br>foreigners alike.<br><br>In the 1980’s Molokeng’s work witnessed further developments, resulting in a<br>more refined technique and style. Township life, once again, became important<br>subject matter, although it was rendered in a more personal manner and blended<br>with the African landscape. The landscape element of this newer work is more<br>solid and is rendered as an integral part of the more abstract compositions and<br>forms. Influenced by life and politics within the townships during the most<br>volatile period of South African history, Molokeng’s work began to demonstrate<br>strength and a sensitivity that were to remain an intrinsic part of his work.<br> <br><br>Exhibitions<br><br>Molokeng had his first exhibition at Dorkey House, Eloff Street, Johannesburg.<br>In 1974 he participated in several group exhibitions – at the Canadian Embassy,<br>Gallery 101, Lidchi Art Gallery and at the Herbert Evans Art Gallery,<br>Johannesburg. In 1976, he participated in the Second International Art Fair in<br>Tel Aviv, Israel. This was followed by a one-man show in Germany in 1979. The<br>next year (1980), he took part in group shows in Athens and in Rome and<br>subsequently had a one-man show at the Lidchi Art Gallery in Johannesburg. In<br>1981, Billy Molokeng was awarded one of the three prizes for painting at the<br>Republic Art Festival.<br><br>Molokeng has also been featured in a group exhibition at the World Bank offices<br>in Washington, U.S.A. along with other artists chosen from Cameroon, Ghana, Mali<br>and Nigeria.<br><br>Currently, Billy Molokeng presents a strong sense of “Africa” within his<br>paintings. Their potency and appeal lie in his bold use of colour, his strong<br>compositions and his unique use of his medium. The acrylic and oils are used as<br>an overlay, which is often scratched away to create different textures and<br>layers, as well as expose various underlying colours. His use of black<br>strengthens and enhances the burnt sienna, ocher, gold, greens and blues as well<br>as emphasizing his trademark white and black eyes of his figures.<br><br>Billy Molokeng’s South African artworks are appreciated by thousands and are<br>part of many private and public collections both in South Africa and abroad.
