Contempory SAN Art

 BAU CUKURI 1960

Bau is a good traditional dancer, musician, storyteller and craft producer. Practicing her skills as an artist using contemporary materials, is new to her. For Bau her culture and her art is her life. It is her identity.

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 XGAOC'O X'ARE (Qhaqhoo) 1970

Qhaqhoo’s knowledge and love of the Kalahari can be seen in most of his work. It reflects a unique simplicity that bears a strong resemblance to the rock art that was done centuries ago by his ancestors. He usually depicts all animals facing in the same direction, which is similar to many rock engravings in Southern Africa.

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 QGAM KHÃX'A 

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 QGAM KHÃX'A 

THAMAE SETSHOGO

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THAMAE SETSHOGO

CG’OSE NTCÕX’O (CGOISE) (Approx. 1950)

Cg’ose is well known for her painting of jackals in the bush that appeared on the tailfins of several British Airways planes since 1997. She has been working with the Kuru Art Project since 1992, when she was introduced to painting and printmaking.

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CGOMA SIMON 1958

Cgoma grew up in D’Kar. She joined the Kuru Art project in 2005. Her natural sense of colour and design is obvious in her unusual colour combinations and attention to pattern and texture in her work.

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COEX'AE BOB (ENNIE)    1940

Coex’ae enjoys her art almost like a small child where the creative process becomes more important than the end product. In this way a bird can easily be transformed into a plant and vice versa. It could be this childlike absorption in her work that results in a looser paint technique, different from the precision of the other Kuru artists.

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DADA COEX’AE QGAM (1934 - 2008)

Dada was one of the first and most well known of the Kuru artists. She grew up in the Ghanzi district and started her art career in 1991 when she acted as a translator during the first art workshops held in D’kar. She has traveled widely and her work has been exhibited worldwide.

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GAMNQOA KUKAMA (1955)

Gamnqoa (the heel or hock of a lion) found in his art a meaningful link to his past. It enlivens memories that would otherwise have been lost or dwell in his mind only. He grew up in a hunter-gatherer lifestyle and worked as farm labourer before his involvement in art. He started his career as an artist with the Kuru Art Project in 1997. He has no formal education but became well known for his oil paintings and linocuts of animals, full of movement and flexibility.

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JAN JOHN 1968

Before joining the Kuru Art project he used to make wood carvings, which he has sold to craft buyers. At the Kuru Art Project he was introduced to painting and printmaking.

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KG'AKG'AM TSHABU (1955)

Kg’akg’am joined the Kuru Art Project in January 2005 after she attended a workshop there. Kg’akg’am loves to work with paint on canvas and enjoys very bright and vibrant contrasting colours. Her subjects vary between traditional life of her people and the natural environment. Apart from painting she also loves printmaking (linocuts and dry point engravings) 

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NCG'ABE TÃSE (NXABE) (Approx. 1960)

Nxabe prefers to work with oil paint on canvas. The large-scale canvasses give her more freedom and directness, different from the printmaking techniques. She loves the strange combinations of plants, birds and other creatures like snakes and insects on her canvasses.

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QGÕCGAE CAO (SARA) 1940

Sara started her artistic career with the Kuru Art project in 2005. She was born in the beginning 1940s, and had never held a pencil or brush in her hands before. Even so, she still had the courage to test her skills together with other people much younger than her.

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THAMA KASE (THAMAE KAASHE) (1971)

His large swirling compositions and unusual colour combinations were met with great enthusiasm by art lovers. He combines known animals with ones that he has conjured up and as a result, they are amusing and charming. He enjoys painting very large canvasses but also loves the printmaking techniques.

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XAGA TCUIXGAO 1960

Xaga was born in the late 1950s, early 1960s in the Ghanzi District, where her people lived as hunter-gatherers. For Xaga and the other women artists at Kuru, the tubers, berries and edible plants from the Kalahari, symbolise times of abundance and prosperity for their people.

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XGAIGA QHOMATCÃ 1955

Xgaiga says the following about art: “Art starts with creation and will always be part of being human. As long as we live, our art will be there. It is like when you come upon a dried up plant that you know contains an edible tuber……. You have to dig really deep to see where it started its life. That is where you will find the food to eat. Art is like that. You have to dig deep to find its life (meaning) “

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