David Brits (Cape Town, 1987) is an award-winning artist whose experimental métier is dedicated to investigations in public-scale sculpture. He graduated from the Michaelis School of Fine Art at the University of Cape Town in 2010. Over the past four years, he has devoted his practice to formal investigations in public-scale sculpture. Equally energised by material exploration and archival investigation, Brits’ practice also spans installation, print-making, drawing and film.
Recent major public sculpture commissions include the Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation, The Speir arts Trust and the Iziko South African National Gallery. He is the winner of the Rupert Art Foundation’s inaugural Social Impact Arts Prize.
Brits’ recent solo exhibitions include Time is a Flat Circle held in 2022 at MOVART Gallery, Lisbon; Sketches for the Cathedral of Johannesburg, held in 2016 at HAZARD Gallery in Johannesburg, and Snake Man, at SMITH Gallery, Cape Town, in 2015.
In 2014, Brits was awarded a residency at the St. Moritz Art Academy, Switzerland, where he was mentored by Marcel van Eden and Daniele Buetti. Recent group shows include Materiality at the IZIKO South African National Gallery, Cape Town, Words curated by Willem Boshoff at the Nirox Sculpture Park, Johannesburg, Nevermind the M*ssat A SPACE, Helsinki, Kindergeburtstag, held at the Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris. His work has featured in the academic journal Graduate Research and Reviews in the History of Art and Visual Culture (2015) and has been named as a “young artist to watch” by the South African Art Times.
Moreover, his work is housed in public and private collections in both South Africa and abroad. He is a recipient of the Golden Key Society Award for Visual Art, the Irma Stern Scholarship and the Barbara Fairhead Prize.
