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John Phalane
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Lives & Works in Tzaneen, South Africa
John Phalane is a self-taught artist who began work in pencil on paper in 2004. As a young man Phalane left for Johannesburg where he worked as a driver. He drove the long routes between Gauteng and Limpopo before becoming inspired to recreate these routes on paper. Phalane has an encyclopaedic knowledge of roads and maps; the starting point for his creations are always the road. The road is the armature and everything grows from there outwards. He works with intensity and focus, manipulating existing maps into something of his own and thereby claiming ownership of the spaces to which he was denied access for most of his life. He immerses himself in the drawing process, often creating throughout the night and working pencil into the paper until it gets a glossy surface. His colour choices are vibrant and as intense as his focus. Phalane works from his studio in the village of Ga-Kgole, Limpopo. John Phalane will be presented by WHATIFTHEWORLD. 

John Phalane, Hong Kong, 2012 - 2022, Colour pencil on paper, 85 x 60 cm. Courtesy of WHATIFTHEWORLD.

Artists 2023