Colbert Mashile

Colbert was born in 1972 in the rural area of Bushbuckridge, SA. After becoming a Bachelor and Master of Arts at the University of Witwatersrand he started his career as an independent artist.

He established a style, technique and iconography that are uniquely his own. Using acrylic water paints and charcoal on thick watercolour paper, he has become known for his earthy colours, precise draftsmanship, and strange compositions that combine animal characters he remembers from his childhood and human figures. And sometimes combined with a range of props that often seem unrelated to the scenario depicted.

Colbert’s art is full of commentary on social and political issues – between the rural and urban, Western and African, physical and spiritual, beautiful and ‘ugly’. He has already established himself as one of South Africa’s most unique and exciting contemporary artists.