Zander Blom is a South African contemporary artist currently living and working in Cape Town. Blom initially enrolled to study information design at the University of Pretoria, but dropped out when he realised he had a greater interest in pursuing art-related projects, and began working independently to produce his early printmaking and video works.
Blom has a great interest in 20th century modernism and non-figurative, abstract art from Europe and the United States. Inspired by Piet Mondrian and Francis Bacon, in his own practise Blom seeks to challenge the limits and traditions of painting, whilst also paying homage to it. As opposed to merely using brushes or palette knives, Blom works in an experimental manner to develop new tools for painting, repurposing various objects for use in his studio. Typically working in oils on unprimed Belgian linen, Blom goes about his mark-making in a gestural and intuitive fashion, creating impasto paintings that are uniquely striking and bold.
Blom’s work has been exhibited at the Norval Foundation, Cape Town; Galerie Hans Mayer, Düsseldorf and the Iziko South African National Gallery, Cape Town. Additionally, the artist has been the subject of many solo exhibitions at Stevenson in both Cape Town and Johannesburg. Notably, two catalogue raisonnés on Blom’s art have been published, Paintings Volume I (2013) and Volume II (2016). Blom’s work is also included in publisher Phaidon’s major anthology of contemporary painting, Vitamin P3: New Perspectives in Painting (2016).
