About the artwork

Vusi Beauchamp’s provocative iconography employs popular culture, satire and stereotypes in service of a visual political commentary. His work seeks to interrogate current societal ills and musings against a backdrop of South Africa’s post- “Rainbow Nation” era – a time that promised racial equality, upward mobility, and “a better life for all” after the country’s transition from Apartheid. Beauchamp examines the South African government currently embattled within itself, the disconnect it displays with its people, and the tense social climate under years of viral threat, mired in misinformation and heightened insecurities over corruption. He writes that “it’s no longer about the people, but about the abuse of power”.

In The Tempest he combines portrait, text, fauna and flora to suggests both social and political anecdotes as provocations posed to the viewer: with no definitive answer; providing a platform for subjects of political concern, not easily palatable content, but all the more urgent to address. 

About the artist

Vusi Beauchamp, born in Johannesburg in 1979, studied printmaking and painting at the Tshwane University of Technology and Graphic Design at Damelin.  

Beauchamp’s paintings are created by using various methods, including spray painting and stenciling, as well as materials such as crayons, charcoal, oil sticks and acrylic paints. Beauchamp’s controversial works comment on social issues, politics and events within the South African context. Beauchamp’s provocative iconography employs popular culture, satire and stereotypes in service of a visual political commentary. He seeks to examine the post-apartheid South African government embattled within itself, the disconnect with its people and the vexed social climate under this new viral threat, mired by false news and heightened insecurities over corruption.

Beauchamp challenges preconceived constructed societal associations through the juxtaposition of contrasting iconography, marks, mediums and colours. His works echo the palimpsest of graffiti and decayed advertising in urban spaces through the use of multiple mixed media layers. This layering of media include images from popular culture as well as figures and portraits depicted mimetically in dramatic colours. These striking compositions contribute to the overall sense of vibrant turmoil that Beauchamp’s works instill on the viewer. Although his works address South African societal issues, they could easily be related to express the dissatisfaction felt by many international communities with regards to their political and economic leaders. For more information about Vusi Beauchamp and his latest projects visit https://davidkrutprojects.com/artists/62264/vusi-beauchamp