“I like to watch people and animals and then put what I see on paper. I want to show people what our country looks like. I paint about its goodness.” – Lucas Bambo
As a documentary artist, Lucas Bambo tells the tales of his upbringing in rural South Africa – it is wonderful to experience and see South Africa through such a set of eyes. Bambo’s clever use of line and pattern, characteristic to his style, a whimsical rhythm to his work that almost sings to us. So, when looking at the details in his work one becomes engulfed in the narratives.
The artist portrays socio-economic, political and everyday life situations in his work, printing mostly in black and white, as the medium lends itself well to this, but occasionally prints in colour too. The viewer’s eye is led around the image by visual storytelling, enhanced by patterned lines that connect the figures and objects – a unique characteristic to Lucas’s style of linocut printmaking.
Born in 1964 in Bloedfontein, Mpumalanga. Lucas Bambo developed his artistic skills and style as a child and when he moved to Pretoria, as a young adult, he enrolled in a printmaking course at the Federated Union of Black Artists Academy. This helped him to further his skills in linocut printmaking, which is his primary medium.
Bambo has achieved great success on the South African art scene. In 1997, he received a merit award in the Volkskas Bank Atelier Awards, in 1999 he won the ABSA Bank Millennium National Art Competition, and in 2003 he was a finalist for the Brett Kebble Art Award. He has also exhibited at the National Festival of the Arts in Grahamstown for the past nine years, and his work can be found in several public and private collections, locally and abroad.
JMFA has worked closely with Lucas Bambo for many years, and we try to keep an up-to-date catalogue of all the linocut prints that the artist produces and has available. You can download the current catalogue below:
