I was born & raised in Johannesburg South Africa.
After studying graphic art, I worked in advertising for a number of years, painting in my spare time. Encouraged by an award for ‘Most promising artist’ (Artists of fame & promise exhibition – Johannesburg 1961) I went on to spend a year in Paris, studying at the Academie de la Grande Chaumier.
On returning to South Africa from Europe, I was dismayed at the oppression and inhumanity surrounding me as the Apartheid regime wielded the full weight of its power.
(Nelson Mandela had just been arrested and most of my friends – artists and musicians, many of them black, were either in prison or had left the country.)
Feeling I had no choice, as an artist and human being, I left South Africa in 1966 to go into voluntary exile into Swaziland. Unable to sustain myself as a painter in this new, albeit freer environment, I took work as an architectural draughtsman. This experience gave me a lifelong interest in building design & led me to running my own architectural practise.
I designed and built several unique houses. (‘A House in Swaziland’ – ADA magazine 1990. ‘World’s Most Extreme Houses’ series Pioneer television 2005 )
While living at the Royal Village in Lobamba and working with local craftsmen, I immersed myself in Swazi tradition and culture, gaining the central insight to ‘art’ in Africa i.e. that no one creates anything by themselves, but can only submit to ‘the voices of the ancestors’ – listen to the spirits and allow them to work through us. This is a belief that still informs my work.
Why do I paint? I have been influenced by a deep love and appreciation of African music – especially the unique urban jazz I was exposed to when growing up in South Africa.
I paint because I can paint. Like a musician can play music. It is my response to being human. It doesn’t need to make sense, because it’s a feeling. I communicate by working with form and colour and get joy out of placing paint onto canvas.
After the Democratic election in South Africa, and Mandela becoming the president in 1994, I returned to South Africa to work in film, as a storyboard artist, Art director and Production designer. For a while, I enjoyed the new wave of optimism and creativity that infused ‘the New South Africa’ at that time.
Somewhat disillusioned by the superficiality and commercialism of the ‘world of film’, I returned to my home in Swaziland, painting full time.
My work is represented in private collections in Australia, America, Israel, Swaziland and South Africa.
ou can view Rays work online at www.yeboswaziland.com and at Yebo Art Gallery on Mpumalanga Road in Ezulwini.
Artists will find a free resource library and advice at the gallery, art materials also available. Follow on Facebook.com/yebodesigns