Conrad Botes

artist

Conrad Botes (1969) is a South African artist whose practice encompasses painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, and comics. His work combines a distinctive comic-book style with dark humour, elements of the grotesque, and biblical or religious motifs. His paintings, prints, and sculptures often explore issues of violence, gender, race relations, guilt, and power. He studied illustration at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague and later earned a master’s degree in fine arts from Stellenbosch University. His works have been shown in major exhibitions such as the Havana Biennial (2006), the Biennale of Sydney (2010), and Impressions from South Africa (2011) at MoMA in New York. In 2004 he received the Absa l’Atelier award. Together with Anton Kannemeyer, he founded the magazine Bitterkomix, through which they have been commenting on South African society, politics, race, religion, and power relations since the early 1990s. Botes lives and works in Cape Town. His work is currently featured in the Argus & Medusa exhibition at DOX.