Collection: Callan Grecia

Born in Durban in 1991, Callan Grecia holds a Master of Fine Art degree in painting from Rhodes University, obtained in 2017. As a young man actively engaged in music, fashion and photography, Grecia discovered in painting a way to explore new modes of expression. He credits his early experiences in hip hop and fashion with unlocking an experimental, almost playful approach to painting; the result is an energetic portfolio of work that has evolved organically with the artist’s taste in music and fashion. 

Grecia aims, through his making, to pause and critically examine his own experiences of western notions of academy and art produced in this context. He describes it as a process of unlearning and finding new ways of relearning aspects of western practice to facilitate new critical dialogues. Grecia offers a view of a complex young democracy, commenting with new sincerity on a nation seemingly obsessed with consumerism, rainbownationism, and his lived experience being a person of colour in post-apartheid South Africa.

Since 2014, Grecia has participated in numerous group exhibitions across the country with a highlight being shady tactics at SMAC Gallery in Cape Town, 2018, curated by Thuli Gamedze. In 2020, his work was acquired by the Durban Art Gallery permanent collection.