Mixed Media Artist

“My work focuses on urbanisation in Johannesburg. My interest in the city of Johannesburg developed as I grew up here since age four and it is where I currently live and work. I had the pleasure of witnessing South Africa’s first democratic vote in 1994, and saw Johannesburg’s transformation from the early nineties, mid-nineties through to the present. Living in Johannesburg, I am confronted by poverty, pollution, and urban decay daily.
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The effects of urbanisation on the post-apartheid city of Johannesburg are evident to me with regards to its physical, socio-economic, and political changes. I encounter and portray the negative effects of this rapid urbanisation and the resulting pressures and strains placed on the citizens who live and work here daily, surrounded by pollution and trash. Based on my daily encounters with these people I am urged to investigate the social predicament and seek to understand the root cause of the current inner-city decay.

My work is a form of social commentary that deals with the socio-economic challenges that most of the black South Africans face in post-colonial South Africa. I incorporate more than one medium in my paintings, fusing collage, and acrylic paint. I use my own photography taken during my daily travels in and around the inner city of Johannesburg as inspiration for my works which are mostly painted or drawn realistically.” – Andrew Ntshabele

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Andrew is available for commissions.