Resume: Eddie Botha
Email: [email protected]
Mobile: 042 257 6643
Website: www.eddiebothacreations.com
General Artistic background
Eddie Botha’s work is both personal and indifferent, sentimental and light as he examines human interactions deeply. Born in South Africa, Eddie is a well-travelled multiculturalist, dreamer, comedian, nature lover and activist whose search for cultural identity and sincere relationships is expressed through his highly detailed drawings and paintings of people and society. Using pen, paint, newspaper and collage, Eddie depicts intricate, intimate scenes filled with a cacophony of characters who colour the everyday streets.
Nothing in Eddie’s works is by chance. Combining a love of street art with the sensitivity of penmanship, a series of conversations about human nature, people, technology, media, politics and sexuality unfold before us using a complex language of colour, symbolism and metaphor. Upon first glance you will smile at familiar individuals as they are depicted in their most candid states: a beach bum, a suited man, a young punk. However, further contemplation of these seemingly sweet figures reveals a darker, more profound meaning embedded within each work- one that touches on the psychological and the humanitarian. Whether in groups or alone, each figure is revealing of one of society’s many sentiments- from brave excess, humility and beauty to greed, fetish and despair.
Although dominated by recurring human faces and bodies, Eddie’s work also touches on the interaction between people and nature, people and technology, animals and animals. For him, nature and the technological often underpin many of our human experiences. By juxtaposing us with them, hard with soft, biological with material, Eddie prompts us to reflect upon the ways that contemporary contexts shape ourselves and inform our behaviors.
Gallery Representations and Stockists
Projects
Residencies
Awards and Acquisitions
Education and Career Path
Previous Exhibitions (Selected)
Email: [email protected]
Mobile: 042 257 6643
Website: www.eddiebothacreations.com
General Artistic background
Eddie Botha’s work is both personal and indifferent, sentimental and light as he examines human interactions deeply. Born in South Africa, Eddie is a well-travelled multiculturalist, dreamer, comedian, nature lover and activist whose search for cultural identity and sincere relationships is expressed through his highly detailed drawings and paintings of people and society. Using pen, paint, newspaper and collage, Eddie depicts intricate, intimate scenes filled with a cacophony of characters who colour the everyday streets.
Nothing in Eddie’s works is by chance. Combining a love of street art with the sensitivity of penmanship, a series of conversations about human nature, people, technology, media, politics and sexuality unfold before us using a complex language of colour, symbolism and metaphor. Upon first glance you will smile at familiar individuals as they are depicted in their most candid states: a beach bum, a suited man, a young punk. However, further contemplation of these seemingly sweet figures reveals a darker, more profound meaning embedded within each work- one that touches on the psychological and the humanitarian. Whether in groups or alone, each figure is revealing of one of society’s many sentiments- from brave excess, humility and beauty to greed, fetish and despair.
Although dominated by recurring human faces and bodies, Eddie’s work also touches on the interaction between people and nature, people and technology, animals and animals. For him, nature and the technological often underpin many of our human experiences. By juxtaposing us with them, hard with soft, biological with material, Eddie prompts us to reflect upon the ways that contemporary contexts shape ourselves and inform our behaviors.
Gallery Representations and Stockists
- Fox Galleries, 63 Wellington Street, Collingwood, Melbourne, Australia
- Alouche Gallery, Manhatten, 82 Gansevoort Street, New York
- Space of Sanctity Gallery, 798 art district, 2 Jiuxianqiao road, Chaoyang Qu, Beijing
- Gallery Yang, 8F, Shengquan Mansion, 28 Tanjiadu Road, Putuo District, Shanghai
- Intersections Gallery, 34 Khandahar Street, Singapore, 198892
- Private Artist’s Agent, Hong Kong
- Blue Planet Fine Art, 25 Main road, Muizenberg, South Africa
Projects
- 2015 till current Art teacher for ‘Kids own Publishing’ – working with local schools and
- May 2018 Oriental kids and babies, kids book illustration
- May 2017 Steve Madden live art event, New York
- June 2015 till 2017 Noble Park Art Show Committee
- October 2016 Art Tram, Melbourne Festival
- August 2016 Dandenong Primary school art production for playground
- July 2016 5 Walls Project, Sydney
- June 2016 Dandenong Mall Hoarding artworks on Community theme
- February 2016 Committee of the Arts and Health Leadership Group,Victoria –
- June 2015 Illustrative contract work for ‘Momentum worldwide’ – NBN –
- January till June 2015 Art Teacher at Noble Park English School, working with refugee children
- May 2012 Terrigal Landart (30 x 40m), 5 Lands Walk Festival
Residencies
- April/ May 2017 Conartists Mixed media residency, New York
- Oct/ Nov 2016 Instinct Residency, Singapore
- March-June 2015 Herritage Hill Art Residency, Dandenong
Awards and Acquisitions
- 2017 Acquired by Beijing National Gallery in Permanent Collection
- 2016 Acquired by 17th Asian Art Bienalle, Dhakar, Bangladesh
- 2014 First prize, Watson’s Art Prize
- 2013 Runner-up, Newcastle’s ‘Waste As Art’
- 2012 Acquired by Bill Granger for his Tokyo branch
- 2011 Highly Commended, Maitland’s ‘Waste As Art’
Education and Career Path
- 2013-current Artist
- 1998-2013 Artist and Landscape Architect
- 1997 Bachelor of Landscape Architecture, Pretoria University
- 1993 Oos Moot High School in Pretoria, South Africa
Previous Exhibitions (Selected)
- March 2018 Off the Kerb Gallery, ‘Artonica’, Solo show, Melbourne
- January 2018 World Art Organization Exhibition and workshop, Seoul, South Korea
- August 2017 1st Sumok Ink Drawing Biennale, Mokpo, South Korea
- October 2017 7th Beijing International Art Biennale, National Art Museum of
- April 2017 Conartist Collective, ‘Happy Birthday’, Solo show, New York
- December 2016 17th Asian Art Bienalle, Dhakar, Bangladesh
- December 2016 No Vacancy Gallery QV, ‘Shwoosh’, Melbourne
- November 2016 Instinc Gallery, ‘Makan’ Solo Show, Singapore
- November 2016 Affordable Art Fair Singapore, Shah Gallery, Singapore
- October 2016 Black Cat Gallery, ‘Draw the line’, Solo show, Melbourne
- August 2016 Lane’s End Projects, ‘Artronica’ Solo show, Melbourne
- January 2016 Poh Chang International Art Workshop, Bangkok
- November 2015 Artshole, ‘Repeat’, Melbourne
- October 2015 House of Bricks, ‘ Technorganic’, Melbourne
- July 2015 Off the Kerb Gallery, ‘Re-mortilization’, Solo show, Melbourne
- July 2015 Dandenong Council, ‘Nocturnal’, Performance art, Melbourne
- March 2015 ‘Art not Apart’ Art festival, ‘Australia Now and Then’ Performance art,
- February 2015 Walker Street Gallery, ‘Befuddled’ Solo show, Melbourne
- January 2015 Midsumma Festival, Dark Horse Gallery, Melbourne
- November 2014 Red Gallery, ‘The moving image’ Solo show, Melbourne
- July 2014 Off the Kerb Gallery, ‘Outside the Box’, Solo show, Melbourne
- October 2013 Manyung Gallery, Melbourne
- October 2013 Tacit Contemporary Art Gallery, ‘Sociality’, Melbourne
- September 2013 House of Bricks Gallery, ‘Neutral’, Melbourne
- September 2013 BSG, ‘Spot the difference’ Solo show, Melbourne (SOLD OUT SHOW)
- August 2013 TUSK Gallery, ‘Here, there, everywhere’, Melbourne
- January 2013 Gaffa Gallery, ‘Spot the Difference’ Solo show, Sydney
- January 2013 Gosford Regional Gallery, ‘Terrigal Plein Air 2012’, Gosford
- November 2012 BSG, ‘Odd One Out’, Solo show, Melbourne (SOLD OUT SHOW)
- November 2012 BSG, ‘Urban Art’, Melbourne
- June 2012 ATVP, ‘Strange, Stranger, Strangerest’, Sydney
- June 2012 Kaleidoscope Gallery, ‘Solstice’, Sydney
- February 2012 Platform 72’s Opening Exhibition, Sydney
- May 2012 International Art Fair, London
- October 2011 Affordable Art Fair Hampstead, London
- May 2011 Arthive Gallery, ‘Teasing the taught’, Solo show, Newcastle
- May 2011 Reading Artfair, London
