About David Koloane

South African painter David Nthubu Koloane was born in Alexandria, Johannesburg. He received his art training from 1974 to 1977 at the Bill Ainslie Studios, which later became the Johannesburg Art Foundation.

Since the late 1970s, Koloane has been a pioneer in the development of the black art community in South Africa. He co-founded Johannesburg’s first black art gallery and was the head of Fine Arts at the Federative Union of Black Artists (FUBA). FUBA acts as an agency for Black artists, creating an awareness of their work in South Africa and other foreign markets, while providing classes in music, singing, the arts, and theatre for over 3,000 young people per month. He was instrumental in establishing studio space for black artists at The Fordsburg Artists’ Studios (The Bag Factory) and he founded the Thupelo Workshops in South Africa, a concept that spread to Botswana, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Namibia.

Committed to the visual art world, Koloane’s art reflects a personal struggle to illuminate the experiences of black South Africans to the world. Koloane is an acclaimed artist, educator, writer, curator and facilitator. He has been recognised and honoured internationally for his contribution to the visual arts in South Africa.