Artist Database

Jan K Coetzee spent his academic career primarily at Rhodes University and the University of the Free State. As a Senior Professor of Sociology, his narrative gaze on society and art naturally converged with his long-standing practice of carving and sculpting.

After participating in several group exhibitions across the Eastern, Northern, and Free State provinces, Coetzee held his debut solo exhibition, Books & Bones & Other Things, in 2019 at CIRCA, Everard Read (Johannesburg). Subsequent solo exhibitions followed, including The Book & The Skull (MAP, Richmond, 2020) and The Book & The Sword (Glen Carlou Gallery, Stellenbosch, 2024). Each exhibition is fully documented in an accompanying artist's book.

In his sculptures, Coetzee fosters a dialogue between sociology and art. Many of his bookworks incorporate antiquarian texts, some dating back to the 16th century. Through these sculptures, he explores and deconstructs how writing and publishing have shaped our world throughout the ages, and how the ideas they promoted continue to influence contemporary views.