Famous Billy Molokeng charcoal measuring 44cm x 61cm. There is a mark at the top middle. Shipping R70.

Billy Molokeng

Born 1949 - Gauteng

About the Artist

Billy Molokeng was born in 1949 in the Alexandria Township in Johannesburg. He was orphaned at a very young age and brought up by his sisters. In order to make a day-to-day living he started selling his drawings, and later, paintings. This brought him to the attention of a wealthy sponsor, who enabled him to attend a private art school, which in turn helped to develop his style and technique.

Molokeng is an unusual and dynamic personality who enjoys and excels in all forms of creativity. He composes and performs his own songs, enjoying enormous popularity under the stage name of “Billy Africa”.
 

Style and Format

Versatility, dynamism and inventiveness have kept Billy Molokeng’s work fresh and ever changing, ensuring that both he and his art do not become stereotyped. This is demonstrated by the fact that his work was initially typically “township” in character, but developed into his own more unique style in later years.

His early paintings portray scenes taken directly from life in the townships. The compositions of these early works are dense and on a single plane, usually with several figures depicted in a bold and heavy manner. His individuality and originality, however, is still strongly evident. His figures are lively and filled with movement, containing a subtle humour, underlying joy and light-heartedness which so many art lovers relate to, and enjoy.

During the 1970s and 1980s, this South African artist’s work became more sophisticated, both technically and conceptually, representing a more mature artist at work. Molokeng’s work started to move away from direct township depictions towards a fusion of the urban experience with African motifs and culture.

Compositionally, his African art became lighter and began to incorporate more of the figurative and abstract than the literal. Many of his paintings began to display a more sketchy landscape background, containing forms such as huts, missionary churches, ox wagons, oxen and human figures in tribal and rural dress partaking in traditional customs.

Towards the end of the 1970’s, a calligraphic element within his work began to emerge. This, together with the Bushman-like figures that started to populate his township art, gave his work a potent African flavour that still exists to this day, and makes Billy Molokeng’s work so appealing to South Africans and foreigners alike.

In the 1980’s Molokeng’s work witnessed further developments, resulting in a more refined technique and style. Township life, once again, became important subject matter, although it was rendered in a more personal manner and blended with the African landscape. The landscape element of this newer work is more solid and is rendered as an integral part of the more abstract compositions and forms. Influenced by life and politics within the townships during the most volatile period of South African history, Molokeng’s work began to demonstrate strength and a sensitivity that were to remain an intrinsic part of his work.
 

Exhibitions

Molokeng had his first exhibition at Dorkey House, Eloff Street, Johannesburg. In 1974 he participated in several group exhibitions – at the Canadian Embassy, Gallery 101, Lidchi Art Gallery and at the Herbert Evans Art Gallery, Johannesburg. In 1976, he participated in the Second International Art Fair in Tel Aviv, Israel. This was followed by a one-man show in Germany in 1979. The next year (1980), he took part in group shows in Athens and in Rome and subsequently had a one-man show at the Lidchi Art Gallery in Johannesburg. In 1981, Billy Molokeng was awarded one of the three prizes for painting at the Republic Art Festival.

Molokeng has also been featured in a group exhibition at the World Bank offices in Washington, U.S.A. along with other artists chosen from Cameroon, Ghana, Mali and Nigeria.

Currently, Billy Molokeng presents a strong sense of “Africa” within his paintings. Their potency and appeal lie in his bold use of colour, his strong compositions and his unique use of his medium. The acrylic and oils are used as an overlay, which is often scratched away to create different textures and layers, as well as expose various underlying colours. His use of black strengthens and enhances the burnt sienna, ocher, gold, greens and blues as well as emphasizing his trademark white and black eyes of his figures.

Billy Molokeng’s South African artworks are appreciated by thousands and are part of many private and public collections both in South Africa and abroad.