Katlego Tlabela (b. 1993, Pretoria, South Africa) is an artist who completed his 4th year of a BA in Fine Arts at the University of Cape Town's Michaelis School of Fine art primarily majoring in printmaking. He is based in Pretoria.

Regardless of his choice of major, Tlabela has always found himself predominantly concerned in the multi-disciplinary technical and creative processes of painting, sound, photography and sculptural installations – within each discipline; he finds ways to incorporate elements of print. Tlabela’s artistic interests have spanned from social and political crises in Post-Apartheid South Africa, the independent African continent as well as the United States of America. Resistance, protest, dialogues around race and positive methods of representation of the Black Body and Experience are visualized through text-based and visual works often revisiting history and relating it back to contemporary events.

The political and personal merges through Tlabela’s work, with pride and defiance. Since 2020, Tlabela’s practice has solely focused on painting and depicting fictional yet attainable scenes of the Black Elite, often also paying tribute to historically prominent Black artists within his works.

Throughout his career, Tlabela has achieved success and recognition locally and internationally through exhibitions, fairs, auctions and public and private collections.

​

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

​

2023

C.R.E.A.M, The Breeder, Athens, Greece

Pitori to Paris, Galerie Cecile Fakhoury, Paris, France

Legacy, Legacy, Legacy! , Sakhile&Me, Frankfurt, Germany

 

2017

NEGRO SUNSHINE, North West University Botanical Garden Gallery, Potchefstroom, South Africa 2023: Tswelopele, Southern Guild Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa

 

GROUPS EXHIBITIONS  

 

2024

Where Thou Art - That - is Home, Osart Gallery, Milan, Italy

​

2022

ZUT!, The Breeder Gallery, Paris, France

When We See Us: A Century of Black Figuration in Painting, Zeitz MOCAA, Cape Town, South Africa

 

2021

Ndoimadzi, Botho Project Space, Johannesburg, South Africa

 

2020

Habit At, BKhz (Online)

Medium is the Message, Unit London, London, England

Liminality in Infinite Space, African Artists Foundation, Lagos, Nigeria

Black Voices: Friend of my Mind, New York, USA and Online

 

2019

Winter Salon, Bag Factory Artists’ Studios, Johannesburg, South Africa

Mixed Messages, Bkhz, Johannesburg, South Africa

Keep Languages Alive, D54, Johannesburg, South Africa

 

2018

In To View, Ebony Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa

PROOF, SMAC Gallery, Stellenbosch, South Africa

 

2017

Disclosure, SMAC Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa

From The Horse’s Mouth, Ebony Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa

 

2016

Meditative Moments at Mullers Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa

Nothing Personal, SMAC Gallery,Cape Town, South Africa

Unpacking, Eclectica Contemporary Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa

Creative Destructions, Eclectica Contemporary Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa 2017: 100 Years: University of Fort Hare Print Exchange, Steve Biko Center and De Beers Art Gallery, Eastern Cape, South Africa

 

2015

Revisiting the Latent Archive in Sites, Greatmore Studios Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa

Street Level, World Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa.

Revisiting the Latent Archive in Sites, AVA Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa

 

2013

Sasol New Signatures Top 93 Finalist exhibition, Pretoria Art Museum, South Africa 2015: Return to Sender, Center of African Studies Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa