Cameron Platter is a contemporary artist living and working in Durban,
South Africa. He was born in 1978, Johannesburg, and graduated with a BFA in
painting from the Michaelis School of Fine Art, Cape Town in 2001. Platter
works in a wide range of media, exploring notions of excess and consumption
through the lens of a South African identity. Across drawing, sculpture,
painting, and video, the artist’s extensive and diverse oeuvre is characterised
by vibrant colours which evoke a playful feeling. He is interested in creating
work which is provocative yet universally relatable, touching on themes
including sex, beauty, politics, and violence. Platter’s work was featured in a
monumental exhibition at the 55th Venice Biennale called “Imaginary Fact:
Contemporary South African Art and the Archive.” The artist often incorporates
found objects in his work—including advertisements, posters, or empty energy
drink containers—to convey notions about popular culture throughout South
Africa and the world in general. Also engaging with ceramic and solid waste,
Platter has an extensive number of paintings and other works that he created in
collaboration with other artists. His multi-disciplinary work reflects
contemporary culture. Using pop iconography of the ‘now’ he revels in both the
worst and the most innovative inventions of our epoch.
In South Africa, the gap between rich and poor is undeniable. South Africa has
the highest unemployment rate in the world. In Platter’s words: “You’ll see
someone driving a million dollar car ignoring someone begging for pennies at a
traffic light”.
He is inspired by these disconnects and his art reflects this.
Platter has been featured in various international exhibitions, such as in “Impressions
from South Africa, 1965 to Now«, at the Museum of Modern Art, New York;
»Rencontres Internationales«, at the Centre Georges Pompidou Paris; at the
Biennale de Dakar 2010, Dakar, Senegal. His work appears in the permanent
collection of MoMA, New York and the Izika South African National Gallery. He
has also been highlighted by The New York Times, Vice Magazine, NKA Journal of
Contemporary African Art, Artforum and Art South Africa.
