Passion Matete

Passion Matete — born Motubatse Matete Mathibele — is a contemporary South African visual artist whose portraiture places Black subjecthood at the centre of the frame, unhurried and unapologetic. Working in high-key saturated fields of colour, he isolates the sitter against flat planes of red, green and cyan so that nothing remains but presence: skin, gaze, posture, breath.

His practice draws on the vernacular of township photography studios, on the ceremonial palettes of Northern Sotho tradition, and on the visual grammar of contemporary streetwear. Each portrait is built from dozens of translucent layers, a slow accumulation that lends the surface an almost photographic stillness while remaining unmistakably painted.

Matete's works have found a rapidly growing international collector base since his arrival on the OmniArt saleroom floor, with pieces from his ongoing Chroma Subjects series reaching multiples of their low estimate at live sale.