Johanemann

Johann Oppermann matriculated in 1979 from the Pretoria Art, Ballet and Music School specializing in History of Art and Graphic Art and started his career as a textile designer. He obtained a Baccalaureus Artium degree in Fine Arts in 1991 from Unisa and a Magister Artium degree in Fine Arts in 1999 from the University of Pretoria. Johann Oppermann obtained his PhD (History of Art) in 2013 from the University of the Free State. The title of his thesis is Retrospective alienation of technological media: the animation processes in the oeuvre of William Kentridge. He has published a number of articles on Kentridge’s drawings for projection and animations.

In 1991 the artwork of the South African outsider artist, Alexis Preller, became a source of inspiration and passion for Johann when he researched Preller’s identification and depiction of an African iconography in the early 20th century.

Dr Oppermann is a graphic artist and has participated and exhibited in a number of local and international art exhibitions. He is a keen collector of European cabaret music and chansons, letter fonts, South African art, and antiques.

Johann is a Board member of the Unisa Art Gallery, and a member of the Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns. He is also a member of the editorial board of the South African Journal of Art History and designs the covers of this journal.

Johann Oppermann is a dreamer with a passion for beauty, art making, collecting objects and images and “will” eventually retire in Venice … city of his dreams.