BRICK BY BRICK

a solo exhibition by Zolile Petshane

2 - 30 July 2026

Chaos & Order 2 by Zolile Petshane | Mixed media on canvas | 75cm x 100cm.

WORLDART is pleased to present Brick by Brick, a solo exhibition by Zolile Petshane, on view downstairs at the gallery from 2–30 July 2026.

This exhibition marks Petshane’s first solo presentation in Cape Town since 2016. Widely regarded as one of South Africa’s most respected and revered abstract artists, Petshane returns with a body of work that is among the most urgent and politically grounded of his career.

In Brick by Brick, Petshane examines the economic and social realities shaping contemporary South Africa. Reflecting on the promises and failures embedded within global and local economic systems, the artist considers how ordinary people continue to navigate and rebuild within these structures.

“GDP is the gospel governments preach, but the numbers rarely reach the people. When states fail to build conditions for genuine job creation, they borrow instead — from the World Bank and institutions like it — entering a cycle of debt that makes the original failure harder to escape. It is this structural failure that informs the paintings,” says the artist.

Through richly layered and visceral abstraction, Petshane transforms the language of economics — its metrics, promises, and silences — into a powerful visual vocabulary. The works speak to systems of debt, inequality, and institutional failure, while simultaneously shifting focus towards those who continue to sustain and rebuild the economy from the ground up.

In these paintings, Petshane looks to the trader, the entrepreneur, and the hustler — every individual whose labour and ingenuity underpin everyday economic life, often without recognition. Brick by Brick becomes both a critique of existing structures and a testament to resilience, agency, and collective perseverance.

Brick by Brick will be on view downstairs at WORLDART from 2–30 July 2026.