Art that stimulates lateral thinking
Gallery owners have a sheep mentality, says artist.
Claudia Bothma is an exciting artist who uses recycled material for her thought-provoking sculptures and paintings.
Among the material she uses is computer parts such as mother boards, old brass pipes and anything she can find that has a reflective surface.
“I find these materials beautiful. It has an oriental Zen quality when you look at it,” says Bothma. When talking about her art she says many people unfortunately only want ‘chocolate box pictures’, where as her pieces aim to get people to think outside the box. She says her work has no specific agenda but she rather tries to get the viewer to be challenged about the unusual use of materials.
“I think an artist’s message only crystallises after years of evolving,” she explains.
Bothma says currently it is unfortunate that galleries only stick with certain artists who are popular and they tend to have a sheep mentality.
Bothma has been commissioned by the African National Congress’ (ANC) Chancellors House for a piece. She also has appeared in Migrate magazine (an international art publication) and has exhibited at the Saxon Hotel.
A collector from Wyoming in the United States is also very interested in one of her sculptures, Wakhan Thanka, which is Navaho Indian and means ‘great spirit’ or ‘great gift’.
If the public wants to see Bothma’s artwork they can contact her at claudewelles@hotmail.co.za.
