Collection: John Botham

John Botham was born in 1963 in Grahamstown, where he grew up and matriculated. He studied art at Rhodes University, following his passion for art.

After completing a Fine Art Honors degree, John taught art for sixteen years in South Africa and England before embarking on a career as a full-time artist.

Inspired by the South African countryside's dramatic colours and abstract landscape shapes, he dedicates his days to transforming these images into oils on canvas. "I strive to express in my work a joyous sense of being at ease with my own life, living in peace and harmony with nature. I try to create a new poetic reality through tapestry-like landscapes of light."

"I am fascinated by the power of colour, and I endeavour in my paintings to search for the mystical longing of light that dwells in all life. I hope to express an inner tranquillity, in contrast to the fast-moving, busy pace of life as it is today."

He paints the beauty of the landscape, creation, and magical moments, such as the break of day. His art does not represent the reality we live in South Africa. Instead, it represents a vision of a world of happiness and peace.

His most important inspirations and influences are the linear graphic works of South African painter and printmaker Cecil Skotness, the pure colour of the Fauve painters, the magical world of Peter Bruegel and the harsh light of the German Expressionists.