Neill Wright

Neill Wright is a multidisciplinary artist based in Johannesburg, South Africa. His satirical work braves the world of social commentary in a bold, colorful and humorous manner. Wright explores various mediums, such as sculpture, printmaking, and painting as modes of expression, drawing inspiration from the interconnected worlds of media, popular culture, politics, and societal interactions in an attempt to create panoramic views of current issues, hardships, complexities, and paradoxes present within South African and to some extent African society as a whole. Through highlighting the absurdities of a collectively experienced ‘every day’, his work subverts the tragic, placing the viewer in a space where they are confronted by opposing feelings: the melancholic reality and the ironic hilarity of his compositions.

In 2007, Neill graduated with distinction for the degree of Bachelor of Arts in Fine Art (Honours), at the Michaelis School of Fine Art, University of Cape Town, where he was co-awarded the Simon Gerson Prize for an outstanding body of work. In 2009, he graduated with a Postgraduate Diploma in Fine Art, majoring in printmaking. In 2013, Wright was named one of the ten emerging South African artists to watch by The Times, and he has exhibited in a number of group and solo shows as well as at numerous South African and International Art fairs. His works are housed in private collections in Europe, the United States, Australia, and South Africa.

Exhibitions

2024 Stepping in between, District Gallery, Cleveland OH
2023 This Quiet Company, Everard Read, Cape Town
2023 Palm Beach Modern & Contemporary
2023 Where the light gets in, Carousel Fine Art, Miami
2023 Art Palm Beach, Carousel Fine Art, Palm Beach
2023 Joburg Art Fair, Everard Read, Johannesburg
2022 A New Solitude, Everard Read, Johannesburg
2022 I Forget Where We Were, District Gallery, Cleveland
2022 Context Miami
2022 Joburg Art Fair
2021 Context Miami
2020 To Anywhere and Nowhere, Everard Read, Cape Town
2020 The only Way Out Is Through, Everard Read, Johannesburg
2018 Blizzard Head, Everard Read, Johannesburg
2018 Joburg Art Fair
2017 Capetown Art Fair
2017 Jobyrg Art Fair
2016 Wilderness, CIRCA Gallery, Johannesburg
2015 The Atrophy and the Ecstasy, Sulger-Buel Lovell, Cape Town
2013 The Hilarity of Reality, Circa Gallery, Johannesburg
2013 Sydney Contemporary, Australia
2012 Spectacular but Empty, The Lovell Gallery, Cape Town
2011 Protect Your Roots, Salon91 Contemporary Art Collection, Cape Town

Awards

2007 Co-awarded the Simon Gerson Prize for an outstanding body of work, graduating with distinction at the Michaelis School of Fine Art
2011 Winner of the Lovell Tranyr Art Trophy
2013 The Times, as one of the top 10 emerging South African artists to watch