RUAN JOOSTE

Ruan Jooste (b. 1988) and in 2010 obtained a B Tec qualification in Fashion Design at the Tshwane University of Technology.

“I was born in Nigel, a small mining town on the border of Gauteng and Mpumalanga, and from an early age I was drawn to creative expression. My journey began with a deep love for both fashion design and photography. After completing my Fashion Design degree at the Tshwane University of Technology in Pretoria, I was selected as a finalist in the Elle Young Rising Star Awards and worked in the fashion industry. From there, I taught myself photography, an adventure that led to my fashion and photographic work being featured in several international publications.

Over time, photography and design began to merge naturally into what is now my digital art practice. Today, I build each artwork stroke by stroke using a Wacom drawing tablet in Photoshop. It’s a slow, deeply personal process that often takes weeks or even months to complete. Every brushstroke is placed with care and intention, grounding the work in craftsmanship and detail.

There is a distinctive joy and defiance in the portraits I create. I aim to celebrate our quirks, our nostalgia, and the emotional texture of South African life. My work draws from the traditions of classical portraiture, while also embracing the unapologetic attitude and immediacy of contemporary culture. The compositions often blend charm, sass, and a touch of magic realism, anchored in local, urban grit. It’s in this playful tension between past and present, tradition and digital, that I find my creative voice. Through colour, wit, and storytelling, I hope to remind viewers of the unique South African spirit that binds and connects us.

Having lived in cities such as Pretoria, Toronto, Johannesburg, Phuket, and now Cape Town, I’ve come to believe that despite our differences, we are more alike than we realise. We dream, we struggle, we search for belonging. My art is a tribute to that universality.”

In 2021, I held my first solo exhibition with Deepest Darkest Gallery in Cape Town. The response was incredibly humbling. Since then, I’ve been fortunate to exhibit internationally; in New York, Austria, at the AKAA Art Fair in Paris, and most recently in Hamburg.” – Ruan Jooste.