SHAUNEZ BENTING

Shaunez Benting is a Cape Town-based artist born on the Cape Flats’ sub-economic township of Bonteheuwel.  He works mainly in acrylic medium and also does charcoal and pastel drawings. 

 

Born with an innate ability to draw, he is self-taught and has been painting, full time, for the past 10 years.

 

The principal theme in Shaunez’s work is the street life in the so-called “coloured” townships, depicting the era of District Six and the socio-economic impact of segregation on the Cape Flats.  He tries to express the nostalgia of the misplaced, amidst the innocence of the ignorant.

 

He finds the diversified medium of acrylics to be a perfect reflection of a community in continuous flux. 

 

His style of work tries to focus on the happy space of the subject matter.  He is currently working on a series on first-nation peoples of South Africa and looks forward to where this new direction will take him.