Collection: 'MAKWANDE' - Aviwe Plaatjie
MAKWANDE
Aviwe Plaatjie
05.05.21 - 25.06.21
Cape Town based artist, painter and printmaker, Aviwe Plaatjie, has been drawn to the arts since childhood. His clear talent as a child was nurtured by his mother and her employer who took him to part-time art classes. In 2010, Aviwe joined Good Hope Arts Studios as a self-taught painter and later attended a mentorship programme at VANSA for three months where he was introduced to linocut print making.
An avid commentator on his community through his identity based paintings, his characters, friends, neighbours and family are staged onto an often aspirational and imaginary background. Subjects might appear ‘dressed up’ but these often simple garments appear sumptuous in the artist’s expertly malleable hands. His use of colour, texture and luxuriant attention to detail incorporating abstract backgrounds and patterns attend to his ability to weave a strong visual narrative.
‘Makwande’ delivers a series of bold paintings, often escapist, but they allow the artist to portray his subjects and himself outside their normal environment without diminishing their self-worth.
