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South African visual artist Balekane Legoabe

Balekane Legoabe

Jo'burg | 8 artworks for sale

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  • One - Digital Collage by Balekane Legoabe One
    Digital Collage / 21 x 21 cm
    R2 000
  • Two - Digital Collage by Balekane Legoabe Two
    Digital Collage / 30 x 21 cm
    R2 400
  • Compass - Digital Collage by Balekane Legoabe Compass
    Digital Collage / 21 x 31 cm
    R2 400
  • Kite - Digital Collage by Balekane Legoabe Kite
    Digital Collage / 20 x 42 cm
    R2 800
  • Honey - Digital Collage by Balekane Legoabe Honey
    Digital Collage / 42 x 30 cm
    R3 200
  • The Beginning - Digital Collage by Balekane Legoabe The Beginning
    Digital Collage / 28 x 42 cm
    R3 800
  • Neat - Digital Collage by Balekane Legoabe Neat
    Digital Collage / 28 x 42 cm
    R3 800
  • Looking In The Mirror ed.2/3 - Digital Collage by Balekane Legoabe Looking In The Mirror ed.2/3
    Digital Collage / 42 x 42 cm
    R4 000
  • We Are Wavering Ed.1/3 - Digital Collage by Balekane Legoabe
    We Are Wavering Ed.1/3
    Digital Collage / 42 x 42 cm
  • High School, Magazines & Pens ed.3/3 - Digital Collage by Balekane Legoabe
    High School, Magazines & Pens ed.3/3
    Digital Collage / 30 x 60 cm
  • The Prettiest One Ed.1/3 - Digital Collage by Balekane Legoabe
    The Prettiest One Ed.1/3
    Digital Collage / 30 x 30 cm
  • Untitled Ed.1/3 - Digital Collage by Balekane Legoabe
    Untitled Ed.1/3
    Digital Collage / 42 x 42 cm
  • The Beginning Ed.1/3 - Digital Collage by Balekane Legoabe
    The Beginning Ed.1/3
    Digital Collage / 28 x 42 cm
  • Shower Ed.3/3 - Digital Collage by Balekane Legoabe
    Shower Ed.3/3
    Digital Collage / 42 x 60 cm
  • Looking In The Mirror, What I See Ed.1/3 - Digital Collage by Balekane Legoabe
    Looking In The Mirror, What I See Ed.1/3
    Digital Collage / 42 x 42 cm
  • Midnight Ed.1/3 - Digital Collage by Balekane Legoabe
    Midnight Ed.1/3
    Digital Collage / 42 x 42 cm
Balekane's work explores the relationship between nature, spirituality and identity through the interrogation of personal and collective histories. She is interested in the ways in which the human experience mirrors the processes of nature and vice versa. Seasons, cycles, birth, death, growth, decline, resilience, change, resistance, expansion - all of these phenomena are markers of the human experience and we also see them, in one way or another, affect plants, animals, the elements and the cosmos. Balekane draws visual inspiration from ancient rock art and cave paintings; African, Eastern and Western mythology, as well as language, metaphor, ritual and family. Her process is driven by personal interpretations and explorations around African and Eastern healing modalities as well as eclectic philosophical and religious systems.
BA in Visual Communication with a specialisation in illustration (Open Window Institute)
 
Balekane Legoabe (b.1995) is an artist, curator, illustrator, motion designer, art teacher and certified reiki practitioner based in Johannesburg, South Africa. Her formal educational background is in graphic design and illustration. Legoabe holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in visual communication with a specialisation in illustration and a Bachelor of Arts degree in film arts with a specialisation in motion design, both obtained from the Open Window Institute. She has acquired her advanced certification in Usui Shiki Ryoho (Western Reiki) obtained from Soul Healing Academy, a leading Reki training centre offering accredited training through the Reiki association of South Africa. Legoabe has taken part in several group exhibitions and art fairs around South Africa, and was the prize winner of the 2019 StateoftheART gallery award for emerging artists.

Legoabe has work in the following public collections: William Humphreys Gallery, Kimberley, South Africa and Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg, Germany. In 2023 She started a small business teaching extra mural art lessons at a local park. Legoabe also has more than four years experience in arts management, arts administration and curation.
 
Selected Exhibitions

2024
Investec Cape Town Art Fair with Ebony Curated

2023
Latitudes Art Fair - Eleven Editions, Johannesburg
Artwords - Gallery @ Glen Carlou, Stellenbosch
Hiatus - Ebony Curated, Cape Town
The F Word - Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg

2022
Group exhibition - Abstract*d, StateoftheART Gallery Cape Town
 
2020
 

2019
Summer Salon Exhibition - Bag Factory, Johannesburg
Collaborative Exhibition 'The Fatuous State Of Severtity'at TMRW Gallery
Group exhibition Ín This, I Found Myself'- No End Contemporary Art Space, Johannesburg
StateoftheART Gallery Award Finalists Exhibition - Cape Town
Turbine Art Fair - No End Contemporary Art Space Booth, Johannesburg
Joint exhibition with Bianca Brand - No End Contemporary Art Space, Johannesburg
Joint exhibition with MJ Turpin - No End Contemporary Art Space @ FNB Art Jhb.

Which new trends or South African artists do you find inspiring at the moment?
I am hugely inspired by South African artists, Louis De Villiers and Anastasia Pather. I really enjoy the scale of De Villiers’ work and his expressive mark making as well as the way he creates balance through the contrast of his black, white and gold compositions. Pather’s work was one of the things that inspired me to work traditionally. I love her fun, bold and expressive compositions.

Which South African deceased artist do you most admire and why?
I would have to say David Koloane. His work carries a lot of weight - not only because of its historical context and therefore relevance, but also because it’s expressive and emotive. There’s a certain emotionality to his subject matter and manner of mark-making which I really like. I enjoy work that makes you feel something, thus creating a connection between the viewer and the art work.

If you could only have one piece of art in your life, what would it be?
Anything by Louis De Villiers. His work is amazing!

How did you get started? Did you always want to be an artist?
I’ve always enjoyed art as a subject during my primary and early high school years. I started taking art more seriously in my grade 11 year. It was then that I knew I wanted to be an artist. I went on to study Illustration and Motion Design in university as I felt that this was a “safer” route to go, because being an artist would be risky. But here I am today steadily trying to build a career as an artist.

What are some of the key themes you explore in your work?
The relationships between the psychological, emotional and spiritual. How these three aspects influence each other and result in one’s ultimate state. 

What should people know about your art that they can’t tell from looking at it?
That it’s an outpouring of my heart and soul. I feel that the heaviness or lightness of my emotional and mental states expressed through my work can somehow be felt, thus forging a connection with the viewer. 
 
Tell us more about your creative process.
I like to tidy up my space and lay out all of my materials. When working digitally I make sure that my desk is in order and my drawing tablet and laptop are plugged in or fully charged. In terms of  actually creating the work, It’s all very intuitive.  I generally don’t plan out my pieces - I just start and hope for the best. When working both digitally and traditionally  I mess around with the composition until it feels right. It’s all predominantly driven by my mental space and emotions at the time. I pour out the fullness of what I’m thinking and feeling into the artwork that I'm making.

What drives you as an artist?
Creation. The beauty of the natural created world around us is so inspiring. I’m also driven by the creations of other artists through various avenues such as fine art, design and music. I’m driven and fascinated by how a piece of art or music  can make someone feel something. To me, that’s amazing! 

Do you have a favourite or most meaningful work?
A piece called “Past Forward - Virgin in the Rose Garden” by South African artist, Karin Miller. It’s just so incredibly beautiful!

What is your greatest achievement as an artist to date?
Winning the State of The Art Gallery Award, and having the opportunity to have my work shown at No End Contemporary Art Space’s FNB Joburg Art Fair booth.

What are your aspirations for the future?
I really hope to sometime in the near future do an artist’s residency overseas.I definitely hope to do more art fairs and to be a part of more exhibitions. I’d like my art to find its way into  homes and spaces where it will be displayed so that  people to connect more and more with it. I’d like for people to see a piece of themselves and their stories in the images that I create.