Conrad Botes

Conrad Botes was born in 1969 in Ladismith, Western Cape, and currently lives in Cape Town. He obtained a Master’s degree in Fine Arts at the University of Stellensbosch (1997) and a Diploma in Second Phase Illustration at the Koninklijke Akademie voor Beeldende Kunsten, Den Haag, in the Netherlands. Conrad grew up in South Africa during the period of Apartheid, so his work tackles serious issues of race and human condition through a series of post-pop cartoon imagery. His biting satire is channelled into both his painting and printmaking and it is frequently directed at South African society, politics and religion. Since the early 1990s his comix have been published in the Bitterkomix series, together with those of his frequent collaborator Anton Kannemeyer. He took part to important group exhibitions, including Victims and Martyrs at the Gothenburg Kunsthalle, Sweden (2011); the 17th Biennale of Sydney (2010); the third Guangzhou Triennial, China (2008); Africa Comics at the Studio Museum in Harlem, New York (2007) and the 2006 Havana Biennale (1994).