Major motives in South African art in the first decade of the 21st century

Abstract

The aim of this article is to present an overview of changes which have taken place in Visual Arts in South Africa after the abolition of apartheid in 1994. The artistic issues are shown in a broader perspective of grave alterations which ocurred in South African society and culture after the termination of apartheid. One of the most important aspects concerning contemporary South African Art is the problem of dealing with South Africa’s traumatic past (this problem is the dominating theme of an artistic output of such diverse artists as Minnette Vári,William Kentridge, SueWilliamson, Judith Mason and Kendell Geers). Another extraordinary problem faced by South African present-day art is to find paths in order to construct links between South African art and modern and classical art from Europe. In order to analyze these problems, we take under scrutinous consideration such 21st century artists as Johannes Phokela,Wim Botha, Andrew Putter.