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Willem Boshoff (born 1951, Johannesburg, South Africa) is one of South Africa's foremost contemporary artists and regularly exhibits nationally and internationally.
Boshoff spent his childhood in Vanderbijlpark, which is a town located next to the Vaal River, located approximately seventy five kilometers south of Johannesburg. His father, Martiens, was a carpenter which allowed him to develop a love for working with wood. This had a large influence on his current technical expertise. Boshoff is known primarily for his conceptual installations. The way he communicates his ideas and has a social responsibility is what makes Boshoff a conceptual artist. According to a book that was written by Ivan Vladislavić, he states that Willem Boshoff is "an artist who had been creating unusual art since the Seventies, although he came to widespread public attention with his installation The Blind Alphabet at the Johannesburg Biennale, Africus 95.” “Calling himself a ‘linguistic terrorist,’ Boshoff stresses not only that he has claimed all languages as a weapon in an artistic war against cultural hegemony, but also that his tactics are unconventional.”
Boshoff's academic career stretches beyond a span of twenty years. He trained as a teacher at the Johannesburg College of Art before pursuing a diploma in fine art, with an emphasis on printmaking, in 1980. He received a master's degree in sculpture from Technikon Witwatersrand in 1984. He made study trips to Austria and Germany in 1982, as well as to England, Wales, and Scotland in 1993. He received an honorary doctorate from the University of Johannesburg in 2008.
Boshoff, one of South Africa's most established artists, has joined the Department of Fine Arts as a mentor for postgraduate students. Prof. Boshoff, whose work has been shown extensively in South Africa and internationally, will serve as mentor and resident artist in the department. Prof. Boshoff made his mark at the university in 2011 when his Thinking Stone sculpture, one of sixteen artworks commissioned by the Sculpture-on-Campus project, was installed near the Main Building. The "Black Belfast " granite stone, situated next to the H vd Merwe Scholtz Hall, weighs approximately 20 ton and, to date,is the largest of the artworks funded by the National Lottery Distribution Trust fund. Mr Ben Botma, Head of the Department of Fine Arts, says Prof. Boshoff, who is based in Gauteng, will work on the Bloemfontein Campus for certain months of the year. "As an artist he is extremely productive and has an impressive international exhibition programme. As a result he has a good overview of what happens in the most important museums and contemporary galleries. This information and insight can be shared with students with great success." Mr Botma says although the mentorship is aimed at postgraduate students, Prof. Boshoff's presence and obsessive work habits will also motivate and inspire undergraduate students. "Willem is very popular as external examiner and moderator at other universities and he has a good perspective of what happens at the major universities". Boshoff would eventually leave the University and focus on becoming a professional artist.
His installations are frequently based on the exploration of language and are created in materials ranging from stone to paper to sand. Boshoff has also worked with plant-related art pieces. He submitted a piece into the GrowBox Art Project that referenced the Biblical parable of the sower sowing seed on the rocky ground.