Willem Boshoff’s sought-after sculptures offer much more than meets the eye.
They are drenched in text, either on the artwork itself, or accompanied by a detailed description of the piece. He writes dictionaries and is fascinated with words. He believes that art captures something of the human spirit.
Boshoff is a world-renowned artist, academic, researcher, and generalist. Regarded as a leader in his research discipline, Prof Boshoff works part time in the Department of Fine Arts, the University of the Free State (UFS) .
The rating that he has just received from the National Research Foundation (NRF) is an ode to academic practitioners in the arts who, according to him, seldom receive such high ratings.
NRF ratings are allocated based on research outputs and are a valuable tool to benchmark researchers against the best in the world.
Boshoff hopes that this rating will assist with future efforts to raise research funding.
“Most of my artworks involve long-term archival research across a range of disciplines such as music, botany, visual arts, philosophy and more. This rating opens up the playing field in science for art, which is wonderful” he says.
This is a first for the country in the field of art.
Cape Insights delights in showing you over his select sculpture when touring with us in Cape Town, as well as his thought-provoking pieces when visiting Johannesburg’s Constitutional Court, Origins Centre, and NIROX Sculpture Garden in the Cradle of Humankind.
He has also beguiled some of our curious clients with his contextual explanations.
”Besides knowing what material the work is made of, when, and by whom, it’s important to provide context. This helps with a better understanding of the piece. Of course you can make up your own mind, but it’s also good to know mine.” See him here in converstion.
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