Willem Boshoff
The artist that I chose to create a character profile on is Willem Boshoff, a sculptor, painter and graphic artist. Willem creates conceptual art, he says that he doesn’t really understand what conceptual art is anymore but he deals with subjects that interest him. The artwork that directed me towards this artist is titled Nice Guys, Willem's old ties collection. These items are seen as being flamboyant in his eyes.
Desiderata
Willem was interviewed in a video and one thing he said that stood out for me was that he doesn’t belong to a specific movement. Through his art he wants to relate and belong to everyone. He goes against the idea of there being boundaries and his desire is to be everywhere and to be all things to all people. He goes on to explain that all he ever desires to be is a fine artist. Even if he were given a second chance in life to pursue other things, he would still choose fine art.
Vision
Through his art, he intends on looking at the world critically and having his own point of view. He express art that is not compromised by politics. Willem is also has a great understanding of language and text and uses it in his conceptual works.
Stance
Politically he doesn’t feel its important to consider himself belonging to particular party or club. He believes this would bring about the boundaries that he goes against. One could almost say he comes across as being neutral. Politically he seeks no affiliation, that might just cause his work and views to become one-sided.
Purpose, philosophy and principles
Willem believes that he does not belong to any philosophy or political party. He say he doesn’t belong to a church, whether or not he is a believer is not stated but what he holds firmly is the idea of one expressing themselves by doing what they want to do. “You cannot put art in a box” is what Willem says “ It runs wild and free… the moment you can define it, it seems to die.” He inspires young artists never to stop, he stresses the fact that if they keep on believing in themselves, eventually others will also believe in them.
Influences
Willem's father was a trained carpenter and he wanted to be a sculptor at a very early age in his life, in order for him to study art in high school, he had to take a teaching course along with it. He was happy to do this because he delighted in subjects of psychological and philosophical emphasis. His decision of becoming a sculptor was highly influenced by Henri Pretorius who was one of Willem's high school teachers during his early days . The concepts he comes up with are political, dealing with race and social class.
Bio
Willem Boshoff was born in 1951 in Vanderbijlpark, situated in Vereeniging. Willem is currently based in Johannesburg. His academic career spans a period of more than twenty years and he is a former head of the Department of Fine Art of the University of Johannesburg. He has an honorary doctorate from the University of Johannesburg. For unknown reasons Boshoff decided not to display his artwork in a public gallery until he was thirty years old. He had His first exhibition in 1981 at the Johannesburg art gallery.
Stylistic innovations
He grew up with a great interest for wood, his father being a carpenter he grew up with a respect for technical expertise. I an another interview he was identified by the person who was interviewing him as an artist that works mainly with raw materials and their refinement. At the Johannesburg Art Fair he worked in collaboration with the Goodman Gallery and an art sponsor. The installation he made for the 2010 Johannesburg Art Gallery were three etched granite stones. He explains that the slabs are found rough and polished until they become shiny. He describes this process as reinventing the wheel.
Character and convictions
At some point in Willem’s life he was called up for military duty, it was in that camp that he experienced a resistance to military drive due to the fact that he began to embrace people of different nationalities. He could be seen as an over achiever because he believes that it is important to have the mentality of expecting to create his best artwork with every piece that he makes.
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