Botha was born in Pretoria in 1974 and currently lives in Cape Town, South Africa. He grew up in a suburban town on the eastern side of Pretoria. In 1996, Botha graduated from the University of Pretoria with a Bachelors in Visual Art. He has received the Helgaard Steyn Prize for sculpture in 2013, Standard Bank Young Artist Award 2005, and the Tollman Award 2003.
Works
Botha has found inspiration for his work in government texts and religious icons, objects that show belief, faith, observation, transgression and forgiveness. Among the mediums he uses are treated wood, books, acrylic enamel paint, oil paint, steel, Indian ink, bronze, paper, and marble.
The artist explains; “My works are a process of distillations...They attempt to reduce all-encompassing ideas and universal factors down to their core idea.” Exploring along the way “intercepting variables” and “patterns”
Exhibitions
2014 Linear Perspectives - Stevenson, Cape Town
2013 PREDICATES - Galerie Jette Rudolph, Berlin
2012 Wim Botha - Stevenson, Johannesburg
2011 All Around - Galerie Jette Rudolph, Berlin Wim Botha - Stevenson, Cape Town
2009 Wim Botha: Joburg Altarpiece & Amazing Things from Other Places - Stevenson, Cape Town
mémoires du futur - la collection Olbricht - La Maison Rouge, Paris
Göteborg International Biennial for Contemporary Art 2011 - Göteborg International Biennial for Contemporary Art, Gothenburg
iALPTRAUM! - Blank Projects, Cape Town
New Acquisitions - The Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Art Museum, Port Elizabeth
Alptraum! - Anat Egbi, Los Angeles, CA
¡ALPTRAUM! - Washington D.C., London, Berlin, Los Angeles, Kapstadt - Projektraum Deutscher Künstlerbund, Berlin
2010
Index 40: Leading Works from the Sanlam Art Collection - Smac Art Gallery, Stellenbosch
PEEKABOO - Current South Africa - Helsinki Art Museum, Helsinki
Triennale Kleinplastik - Larger Than Life - Stranger Than Fiction - Triennale Kleinplastik Fellbach, Fellbach
2009 Self/Not-self - Stevenson, Johannesburg
2008 Disguise: The art of attracting and deflecting attention - Stevenson, Cape Town
2007
* Politische Ikonografie - Galerie Jette Rudolph, Berlin * Summer 2007/8 - Stevenson, Cape Town* Africa Remix - Contemporary art of a continent - Johannesburg Art Gallery (JAG), Johannesburg* TRANS CAPE - contemporary African art on the move - Trans Cape Africa, Cape Town* Afterlife - Stevenson, Cape Town
2006
South African Art Now - Stevenson, Cape Town
Africa Remix - Moderna Museet, Stockholm
What lies beneath - New Art from South Africa - Galerie Mikael Andersen, Copenhagen
Africa Remix - Contemporary Art of a Continent - Mori Art Museum, Tokyo
7ème Biennale de l´Art Africain contemporain - Dak'Art Biennale de l’art africain contemporain,Dakar
Personal Affects - Power and Poetics in Contemporary South African Art - Honolulu Museum of Art, Honolulu, HI
Olvida quien soy - Centro Atlántico de Arte Moderno (CAAM), Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
2005
South African art 1848 - now - Stevenson, Cape Town
African Remix - l'art contemporain d'un continent - Centre Pompidou - Musée National d´Art Moderne, Paris
Africa Remix – Contemporary Art of a Continent - Hayward Gallery, London
2004
Personal Affects - Power and Poetics in Contemporary - Museum for African Art, New York City, NY
Afrika Remix - Zeitgenössische Kunst eines Kontinents - Museum Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf
2003
The Ampersand Foundation - Warren Siebrits Gallery, Johannesburg
Contact Zones - Colonial & Contemporary - Stevenson, Cape Town
Exhibition catalogues
Wim Botha: Rooms 2001-2014 (2014)
Wim Botha: Solipsis I-V (2013)
Wim Botha: Busts 2003-2012 (2012)
Wim Botha: Joburg Altarpiece & Amazing Things from Other Places (PDF only, 2009)
Wim Botha: Apocalagnosia (2007)
Wim Botha: Standard Bank Young Artist (2005)
Wim Botha: Cold Fusion: Gods, heroes and martyrs (2005)
