JUSTIN ABELMAN

Justin Started painting at the age of 10, of Eastern European background, his grandparents on both sides immigrated from Lithuania and Latvia at the end of the 19 century.

On matriculating, he studied graphic design at the Johannesburg School of Art. On completing his studies, he worked as a designer in both Johannesburg and London for a leading advertising agency.

His international travels have taken him to, amongst other countries, Eastern Europe and America, where he was greatly influenced by the Naive school of painting.

He has participated in several group exhibitions, and in 1983 had his first solo exhibition. This was followed by a successful exhibition in Greenwich Villiage, New York in 1985.

He has works hanging in private collections in San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Toronto, Stockholm, Sydney, Rio de Janeiro, Vienna, Brussels, London, Tel Aviv, Amsterdam, Auckland and Berlin.Subsequently, he has held many one man exhibitions in Johannesburg and Cape Town resulting in a vast array of commissions for private buyers as well as gallery owners.

His work illuminates the Wooltru boardroom in Cape Town, as well as Virgin Atlantic Airways offices in Johannesburg. He has had work sold at Christies in London and has painted two pictures for Swedish Actress Britt Ekland for her private collection in Los Angeles.

His paintings have graced the covers of Readers Digest and 16 of his works have been reproduced as a series for upmarket greeting cards. Justins paintings are happy colourful, and fun, paying special attention to detail, choosing his subject matter from every day happenings as well as creating situations in his mind which he translates onto canvas.
During the course of 2015-2018, Justin has been invited to exhibit in renowned galleries in Berlin, Copenhagen, Brussels, Istambul, Barcelona, Funchal-Madeira, USA, London, Lima Peru, Prague, Bucharest and Vienna.

A little red heart is hidden in all his paintings. Naive art is a manifestation of joy, taking us back into the Garden of Eden where all life began. The purity and beauty has been stolen from many of us by the intellect. The popularity of his art is understandable. He brings ease and modesty to his work, planting the seeds for an intimate and celebratory way of seeing the contemporary world.

During the course of 2015 and 2018, Justin's paintings have been featured in no less than 8 international Naïve art journals.

He reached for the sky, followed his passion and achieved much success and fame. To date he has sold over 3000 paintings, hanging in collections worldwide.

Justin responds to life by portraying it in its simplicity ,naivety, and humour. Justin resides and paints in Johannesburg.

EXHIBITIONS
1983 Solo Exhibition, Trevor Coleman Gallery Johannesburg
1983 Group exhibition, Arts Festival Hyde Park Corner Johannesburg
1983 Group exhibition, Sandton Arts Festival Johannesburg
1984 Group exhibition, Trevor Coleman Gallery Johannesburg
1984 Solo Exhibition, Greenwich Village Gallery, New York, USA
1984 Group Exhibition, Willem Annandale Gallery, Lichtenburg
1984 Two Person exhibition Killarney Mall Johannesburg
1985 Group exhibition Visual Arts Gallery Johannesburg
1985 Solo exhibition, Greenwich Village Gallery, New York, USA
1986 Group exhibition Benoni public Library
1986 Solo exhibition Crake Gallery Johannesburg
1986 Group exhibition Crake Gallery Johannesburg
1987 Group exhibition Crake Gallery Johannesburg
1987 Solo exhibition Gallery 709 Cape Town
1987 Group exhibition, Natalie Knight Gallery, Johannesburg
1988 Group exhibition,KWV Centre,Hyde Park,Johannesburg.
1988 Group exhibition Chelsea Gallery Cape Town
1988 Group exhibition Strack van Schyndel Gallery Johannesburg
1988 Solo exhibition Strack van Schyndel Gallery Johannesburg
1989 Group exhibition Strack van Schyndel Gallery Johannesburg
1989 Group exhibition Crake Gallery Johannesburg
1989 Solo exhibition Strack van Schyndel Gallery Johannesburg
1990 Group exhibition Strack van Schyndal Gallery Johannesburg
1994/5 Group exhibition Spring Arts Festival, Summer Place, Johannesburg
1996 Group exhibition Liz Turpin Gallery, Johannesburg
1997 Solo exhibition Gallery Mezzo, Johannesburg
1999 Group exhibition, State Theatre Gallery, Pretoria
2000 Group exhibition Hyde Park Gallery, Johannesburg
2008 Group exhibition, Israeli Celebration, Beyachard, Johannesburg
2008 Group exhibition, White House Gallery, Johannesburg.
2012 On-going paintings hanging at Cherie de Villiers Gallery, Hyde Park Corner, Johannesburg
2013 Group exhibition. Art at Constantia. Groot Constantia wine estate, Cape Town
2014 Solo exhibition, Great Park Synagogue Gallery, Johannesburg
2015 Group exhibition, Gallery on Riviera, Killarney, Johannesburg
2016 Group exhibition, The Art Link Gallery on 6th, Parkhurst, Johannesburg
2016 Group exhibition, Crowne Plaza hotel, Rosebank, Johannesburg
2016 Group exhibition, Stephan Welz Gallery, Sandton, Johannesburg
2016 Work featured in five Sachet Mixte art journals
2017 Permanent display of work at The Art Link Gallery on 6th Parkhurst, Johannesburg
2017 Group exhibition, Great Park Synagogue, Johannesburg
2017 Permanent display, Issy's Coffee Shop, Johannesburg Holocaust and Genocide Museum.
2018 Group exhibition, Great Park Synagogue, Johannesburg
2018 Alive Art Gallery. Johannesburg
2018 Art Needlepoint.com, USA, 25 images used as needlepoint templates
2018 Featured Artist in "South African Artist" magazine
2018 Television interview "Simcha" SABC 2
2019 Featured in the "South African Arts Diary"
2019 "Tonic" Gin & Tapas Bar, Linden, Johannesburg
2020 Commissions and private sales.