BIOGRAPHY
EDUCATION
1974
National Art Teacher’s Diploma, Johannesburg College of Art (now University of Johannesburg, FADA)
1980
National Higher Diploma in Fine Art – Printmaking, Technikon Witwatersrand (now University of Johannesburg, FADA)
1984
Masters Diploma in Technology in Fine Art – Sculpture, Technikon Witwatersrand
2008
Honorary Doctorate, University of Johannesburg
2012
Research fellowship at Smithsonian Institution (jointly sponsored by National Museum of Natural History and National Museum of African Art)
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS/PROJECTS
2022
Launch of OH NO! DICTIONARY, published by the Ampersand Foundation
THE BIG DRUID: A COLLOCUTION IN THE FLORILEGIUM, documentary film produced by Helène Smuts, directed by Guy Spiller
2021
WILLEM BOSHOFF: WORD WOES, solo, curated by Helène Smuts, Javett Art Centre, University of Pretoria, SA
THE BIG DRUID: MAN OF TREES and THE BIG DRUID: LAND ART, documentary films produced by Helène Smuts, directed by Guy Spiller
YOU DON’T SAY, group exhibition, curated by Teboho Lebakeng, University of Pretoria, SA
THE BLIND ALPHABET PROJECT (1993) Letter B, from Babery to Bigeminate, solo, University of Johannesburg Art Gallery, Johannesburg, SA
Invisible Heritage conference (online), The John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, Poland
2020
THE BLIND ALPHABET PROJECT (1993) Letter L, solo, commissioned by the Leridon Collection, Paris, France
The Lockdown Collection (TLC): Unlocking 21 days of impact, online auction, SA
New World Order, Turbine Art Fair, curated by Dr Johan Thom, Johannesburg, SA
Lerner und lehren von sprachen in der Kunst (Meeting in language), group exhibition, curated by Dr Anette Reckert, the Städtische Municipal Gallerie, Delmenhorst, Germany
THE BLIND ALPHABET PROJECT (1993) Letter B, from Babery to Bigeminate, including an interdisciplinary interpretation of the work through the New Music compositions of South African composer Dr Jaco Meyer, curated by Annali Cabano-Dempsey, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, SA
2019
WILLEM BOSHOFF: WORD WOES, solo, Yorkshire Sculpture Park Yorkshire, England, UK
SEED 1 (SAFFCA Collection), group exhibition, Villa Arcadia, Johannesburg, SA
GROW BOX, group exhibition, Zeitz MOCAA, Cape Town, SA
2018
THE BLIND ALPHABET PROJECT (2015) Letter F, solo, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
Aardklop Arts Festival, group exhibition, Potchefstroom, SA
BIG DRUID IN HIS CUBICLE, Free State Arts Festival, Bloemfontein, SA
2017
Tempting Fate, solo, Free State Arts Festival, Johannes Stegman Gallery, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, SA
Solo, Fried Contemporary Gallery, Pretoria, SA
WORDS – WHY IN THE WORLD, group exhibition, Nirox Sculpture Park, Cradle of Humankind, SA
2016
REAP THE WHIRLWIND, solo, SMAC Gallery, Cape Town, SA
2015
Innibos Arts Festival, group exhibition, curated by John-Anthony Boerma, Mbombela, South Africa
WINTER 2015, group exhibition, curated by Mary-Jane Darroll, Nirox Sculpture Park, Cradle of Human Kind, SA
2014
EXACT IMAGINATION – 300 YEARS OF BOTANICALLY INSPIRED ART IN SOUTH AFRICA, group exhibition, curated by Cyril Coetzee, Standard Bank Gallery, Johannesburg, SA
OH MY WORD, solo, Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg, SA
THE INQUISITIVE MIND: SCIENCE AND IMAGINATION, group exhibition, Oliewenhuis Art Museum, Bloemfontein, SA
BIG DRUID IN HIS CUBICLE, solo, Klein Karoo National Arts Festival featured artist, Oudtshoorn, SA
WINTER 2014, group exhibition, curated by Mary-Jane Darroll, Nirox Sculpture Park, Cradle of Human Kind, SA
2013
Something More Than a Succession of Note, group exhibition, curated by Mélanie Bouteloup, Bétonsalon, Paris, France.
BIG DRUID IN HIS CUBICLE, solo, SMAC Gallery, Cape Town, SA
AFTER THE RAINBOW NATION, group exhibition, curated by Mary-Jane Darroll, Nirox Sculpture Park, Cradle of Human Kind, SA
Hearing Landscape Critically: Music, Place, and the Spaces of Sound, music conference, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, SA
2012
AFRICAN COSMOS – STELLAR ARTS, group exhibition, curated by Christine Mullen Kreamer, Smithsonian National Museum for African Art, Washington DC, USA
TEXT WORKS, joint exhibition with Richard Long, SMAC Gallery, Stellenbosch, SA
AFTER THE RAINBOW NATION, group exhibition, Museum Beelden aan Zee, Den Haag, Netherlands
2011
BLIND FISH, solo, Everard Read, Johannesburg, SA
SWAT, solo, Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg, SA
SETUPS AND UPSETS, solo, Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture, Johannesburg University, Johannesburg, SA
2010
Guest Artist, Johannesburg Art Fair, Johannesburg, SA
BIG DRUID IN HIS CUBICLE, solo, Arts On Main, Johannesburg, SA
HAPPY END, group exhibition, curated by Annett Reckert, Kunsthalle, Göppingen, Germany, Ampersand: A Dialogue between Contemporary Art from South Africa and the Daimler Art Collection, curated by Christian Ganzenberg, Daimler Contemporary, Berlin, Germany
Space: Currencies in Contemporary African Art, group exhibition, curated by Thembinkosi Goniwe, MuseumAfrica, Johannesburg, SA
Dada South?, group exhibition, Iziko South African National Gallery, Cape Town, SA
2009
CHILDREN OF THE STARS, group exhibition, Nirox Sculpture Park, Cradle of Humankind, SA
BIG DRUID IN HIS CUBICLE, solo, Art Unlimited, Art Basel, Switzerland
PENELOPE AND THE COSMOS, with Karel Nel, Everard Read, Johannesburg, SA
2008
Grandeur, group exhibition, curated by Anna Tilroe, Stichting Sonsbeek, Arnhem, Netherlands
2007
Three-person exhibition, Fried Contemporary, Pretoria, SA
Aardklop arts festival, Potchefstroom, SA
Willem Boshoff: Word Forms and Language Shapes, solo retrospective, curated by Warren Siebrits, Standard Bank Gallery, Johannesburg, SA curated by Warren Siebrits
Épat, solo, Stevenson, Cape Town, SA
2005
TEXTures exhibition, Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, Washington DC, USA
Group exhibition, Fried Contemporary, Pretoria, SA
2004
Nonplussed, solo, Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg, SA
Sted/Place, the Denmark/South Africa collaboration, Oliewenhuis Art Museum, Bloemfontein; Johannesburg Art Gallery, Johannesburg, SA
God Save The Queen, solo, South African Constitutional Court, Johannesburg, SA
2003
GARDEN OF WORDS II, Camouflage, Observatorio, Brussels, Belgium
Co-existence: Contemporary Cultural Production in S.A, group exhibition, Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, Boston, USA; later at the IZIKO South African National Gallery, Cape Town, SA
Sted/Place I, the Denmark/South Africa collaboration, curated by Doris Bloom, Galerie Asbæk, Copenhagen, Denmark
Sted/Place II, the Denmark/South Africa collaboration, curated by Doris Bloom, Kastrupgard-Samlingen Museum, Copenhagen, Denmark
Licked, solo, Stevenson, Cape Town, SA
Déchirures de l’histoire, group exhibition, Musée départemental de la Haute-Saône Albert Demard, Champlitte, France
2002
GARDEN OF WORDS II, Vandskel Kunstcentret, Silkeborg Bad, Denmark
MAZE, a 40 x 15m, walk-through installation of scrap materials for Mission Antarctica at the World Summit on sustainable development, Johannesburg, SA
THE BLIND ALPHABET PROJECT, Letter C78-C154, solo, IZIKO South African National Gallery, Cape Town, SA
2001
WRITING IN THE SAND, with the Decembristerne, at Den Frie Udstillings, Copenhagen, Denmark
Short Century: Independence and Liberation Movements in Africa, group exhibition, Munich, Germany; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, USA
Authentic/Ex-centric: Africa In and Out Africa, curated by Olu Oguibe and Okwui Enwezor, Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy
Seeing Blind, group exhibition, Pretoria Art Museum, Pretoria, SA
Cracked-up to be, joint exhibition with Andrew Munnik, Millennium II, Johannesburg, SA
WRITING IN THE SAND, solo, Rand Afrikaans University, Johannesburg, SA
Unpacking Europe, group exhibition, Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam, Netherlands
2000
Group exhibition, Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst, Antwerp, Belgium
Translation/Seduction/Displacement, group exhibition, White Box Gallery, Chelsea, New York, USA
After New York, group exhibition, Ampersand Foundation, Foundation at the Johannesburg Civic Gallery, Johannesburg, SA
Mnemosyne, group exhibition, curated by Leanne Engelberg, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, SA
Urban Futures, group exhibition, Museum Africa, Johannesburg, SA
Aardklop arts festival, Potchefstroom, SA
WRITING IN THE SAND, Havana Biennale, Cuba
THE BLIND ALPHABET PROJECT, Letter C, Umea, Sweden
Johannesburg, Johannesburg, group exhibition, Via Cesare Correnti, Milan, Italy
Visiones del Sur: No es sólo lo que ves: pervirtiendo minimalismo, group exhibition, curated by Gerardo Mosquera, Museo Nacional, Centro deArte, Reina Sofia, Madrid, Spain
1999
Conceptualist Art: Points of Origin 1950s-1980s, group exhibition, Queens Museum of Art, New York; Walker Art Centre, Minneapolis, USA
8th Floralies Internationales, Nantes, France
Group exhibition, Johannesburg Art Foundation, Johannesburg, SA
Manuscript Exhibition, Carfax Gallery, Johannesburg, SA
Emergence, group exhibition, touring major centres in South Africa
1998
Dark Continent, group exhibition, curated by Clive Kellner
THE BLIND ALPHABET PROJECT, Letter C, placed on permanent exhibition, National Library for the Blind, Birmingham, England, UK
Group exhibition, Museu da Cidade, Pavilhao Branco, Lisbon, Portugal; Brussels, Belgium
Group exhibition, Kulturhuset, Stockholm; Göteborg, Sweden
Triennale der Kleinplastik, group exhibition, Stuttgart, Germany
AWARDS/RESIDENCIES/GRANTS
2020
Awarded A2 rating by the National Research Foundation of South Africa
2017
Winner of the Villa Trust Award
2015
Racist in South Africa at the South African Pavilion, Venice Biennale
2008
Honorary Doctorate, University of Johannesburg
2007
NIROX Sculpture Park artist residency
2005
With Ogilvy SA, winner of the Golden Loerie Award as well as the D&AD Global Award
2001
Winner of the Helgard Steyn Award for Sculpture
PANIFICE as part of Authentic/Ex-centric: Africa In and Out Africa), Venice Biennale
Honorary medal for Visual Arts, Sculpture, SA Academy for Science and Art
2000
Aardvark prize, Aardklop arts festival, Potchefstroom, for the installation INDEX OF (B)REACHINGS
South African representative at the Havana Biennale, Cuba
1999
Winner of Gauteng Arts Culture and Heritage Award for Visual Art
1998
Winner of the Ludwig Giess Preis fur Kleinplastik by the LETTER Stiftung, Cologne, Germany
1997
Winner of the FNB Vita Award for Art
1996
South African representative at the Sao Paulo Biennale
1995
Anglo American Chairman’s Fund grant
Foundation for the Creative Arts research grant
Nominated for the Alumnus of the Year Award by Technikon Witwatersrand
1974
Prize winner, Graphic Art and Drawing, New Signatures
Best Student Teacher Award in art graduate course
1971
Prize winner, Sculpture, New Signatures
COLLECTIONS
Unisa Art Gallery, Pretoria, SA
BHP Billiton Art Collection, Johannesburg, SA
University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, SA
IZIKO SA National Gallery, Cape Town, SA
Johannesburg Art Gallery, Johannesburg, SA
University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, SA
King George VI Gallery, Port Elizabeth, SA
Durban Art Gallery, Durban, South Africa
Sandton Municipal Collection, Johannesburg, SA
Pretoria Art Museum, Pretoria, SA
Jack Ginsberg Collection of Book Arts, Johannesburg, SA
Pierre Lombard Collection of Contemporary South African Art, SA
David Krut Collection of Fine Art, Johannesburg, SA
Gordon Schachat Collection, Johannesburg, SA
Sackner Archives of Concrete and Visual Poetry, Miami, USA
Robert Loder Collection of International Art, London, UK
ARTSENSE, Birmingham, UK
Sammlung der Städtische Galerie, Göppingen, Germany
MTN Art Collection, Johannesburg, SA
Sanlam Corporate Collection, Cape Town, SA
Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam, Netherlands
Dimension Data, Johannesburg, SA
Constitutional Court Art Collection, Johannesburg, SA
Reserve Bank of South Africa
Ferguson Collection, Boston, USA
Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, Washington, DC, USA
Yorkshire Sculpture Park, West Bretton, UK
Trevor Noah Collection, USA
