Willem Botha

Maestro Willem Botha was born in South Africa in 1962.

Today he lives in Bulgaria and works in a creative workshop in Sofia.

Willem started his career as Sculptor at Shows and Exhibitions in the South African Defense Force in 1981.  He was mentored by Artists like Andre Prinsloo and Jan van Der Merwe.  

In 1986, he moved to Namibia where he was a Sculptor for the Windhoek State Museum. During the time in Windhoek, he had several one man and group expeditions in various galleries in Windhoek and Swakopmund.

In 1988 he was commissioned to remake the Atlas Sculpture on the House Hohenzollern Building in Swakopmund.

In 1990, he moved to Town where he sculpted full time. Willem did some freelance work for Jean Doyle, helping with the bronze casting of her work. During his time in Cape Town, he exhibited in several galleries in and around Cape Town.

In 1991, he moved to Graskop, where he continued full time sculpting and he opened his own foundry.  

He moved back to Pretoria in 1992, to continue sculpting and established Art Cast Foundry. In the same year he was commissioned to do several decorative works for the Palace of Sun City, that includes, all the doors bronze handles. Sculptors that he did castings for are to name but a few, the late Bobby Lawrence, Niko van Rensberg, Maureen Quinn, Anton Smit, Andre Prinsloo, Barry Jackson and his own work.  

During all these years, his works was exhibited in galleries in Cape Town, Pretoria, Johannesburg and in Namibia. His works are in private collections and Public commissions, and can be seen at the SANRAL building in Midrand, Johannesburg, and the Atlas sculpture on the Hohenzollern Building in Swakopmund, Namibia.

In 1997 he entered the world of film making in the art of special effects.  

In 1999 Millennium Films invited him to Bulgaria as Special Effects Supervisor. He worked on more than 72 Hollywood productions. He worked with Hollywood actors like Morgan Freeman, Hillary Swank, Jean Claude van Dame, Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jason Statham, Bruce Willis, to name but a few.

He moved back to South Africa in 2006 and became Production Designer and Supervising Art Director on international productions.  

In 2014, he was nominated for the SAFTA Award for Best Production Designer and in four other categories.

In 2016 he retired from the film industry and started sculpting full time again.  

In 2021, Willem moved to Sofia, Bulgaria, where continues his sculpting career.

Willem has a classical approach to sculpture. He likes to explore the body, of his works present a dramatic tension with an unbalanced perception of gravity. He sometimes likes to introduce movement, it is then endangering his compositions which confine to the unstable balance, while revealing each time the nobility and the grace. His admiration for the antique can be seen in his most recent works. His pieces are fragmented, he strips his models, he thus conditions the spectator's gaze, he upsets it, he hypnotizes it. Willem believe in the words of Leonardo da Vinci that his Art is never finished, only abandoned.

Private collections:  

His works are now in collections in South Africa, United Arab Emirates, The Netherlands, United Kingdom, Norway, Sweden, Australia, USA and Bulgaria.  

Maestro Willem Botha has numerous solo exhibitions and projects around the world.  

His works are owned in multiples museums, galleries and several private collections around the world.