NORMAN O’FLYNN

(b. 1971)

Norman O’Flynn is a prolific painter and sculptor who has held numerous solo shows and participated in group exhibitions, residencies and workshops across the globe – from Switzerland to Egypt, Lebanon to Zambia. His love of an interdisciplinary approach and cross-cultural collaboration add extra pep to his distinct visual language, a vocabulary of immediately and globally recognisable imagery.

“O’Flynn knows Pop to be an irresistible lure, he also knows it to be the defining symptom of human error. By trafficking inside of it, he exposes its folly and opens up its strengths. ‘The initial image grabs you and pulls you in.’ Once inside, however, we are snagged in ‘unfuckery,’ words, signs, symbols that expose Pop’s corrosive lure.”

- Ashraf Jamal

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2025      Habitats, Everard Read, Franschhoek, South Africa

2023      After the Stampede, Worldart, Cape Town, South Africa

               The Rising Tide, Knysna Fine Art, Knysna, South Africa

2022      Rules for Rebels, Worldart, Cape Town, South Africa

2021      Always and Always, Worldart, Cape Town, South Africa

2020      Lovesick, WorldArt, Cape Town, South Africa

2019      Cool and Composed, WorldArt, Cape Town, South Africa

2018      Timekeeper, Art Supermarket Asia, Hong Kong

2018      GNOMON. Worldart, Cape Town, South Africa

2017       Better & Better. Worldart, Cape Town, South Africa

2016      The good, the bad and the BOOM! WorldArt, Cape Town, South Africa

2015      BANG BANG BOOM. Diedericks Faber. Johannesburg / Cape Town, South Africa

2012      Guardians. WorldArt, Cape Town, South Africa

2010      Deep Down we all want to rob a Bank. Erdmann Contemporary, Cape Town, South Africa

2009      The World Needs Me. Erdmann Contemporary, Cape Town, South Africa

2007      Never Too Late to Be A Man, Bell Roberts Contemporary, Cape Town, South Africa

2005      The Bull and Other Stories, Bell Roberts Contemporary, Cape Town, South Africa

2005      Currency, AVA, Association for Visual Art, Cape Town, South Africa

2004      Behind the Tent, Thapong, Gaborone, Botswana

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2025      Diepe Grond, KKKNK National Arts Festival, Oudtshoorn, South Africa

2023      A rabbi, a doctor and a politician walk into a bar, Brutal, Cape Town, South Africa

               Cosmos, Everard Read Franschhoek, South Africa

2020      Liminality in Space, AAF, Lagos, Nigeria

2019      Forward? Forward! Forward…, Stellenbosch University centenary exhibition, US Museum, Stellenbosch, South Africa

2019      NEL, Inaugural Exhibition, Cape Town, South Africa

             Threesome, 19 Karen Gallery, Gold Coast, Australia

2017      Nando’s Pop-Up, SOHO, London

2016      The Space Between/The Noise Behind, Fried Contemporary, Pretoria, South Africa

              South Africa - A Cohesive Clash, Tanya Baxter Gallery, London

              Imagio Mundi, Luciano Benetton Collection, Venice & New York

2015      Old White Men, Alma Martha Project Space, Cape Town, South Africa

2014      Sound Diary, M-Contemporary, Sydney, Australia

2011      Present/History, Erdmann Contemporary, Cape Town, South Africa

2010      The Laboratory for Recycled Revolutions, curator Isa Suarez, Greatmore International Artists’ Studios, Woodstock, Cape Town, South Africa

2010      Minor Matters. Department of Fine Arts. UFS. Bloemfontein, South Africa

                Premondial Barocco, II Ramo D’oro. Naples, Italy

                Conceptual Matters, Erdmann Contemporary, Cape Town, South Africa

                Bristol Art Fair. Bristol

2009      The World Needs Us, Centro Luigi Di Sarro, Rome

                Exchange. COWI, Copenhagen

2007      South African Art on Paper, Gallery Barry Keldoulis, Sydney, Australia

2006      2006, special project (curated and conceptualized by Norman O’Flynn for 20 artists), Bell-Roberts Gallery, Cape Town & Johannesburg

2006      the blank paper project, as part of the Cape Biennial, blank projects, Cape Town, South Africa

The Heritage Cache, curated by Cobus van Bosch and Arlene Amaler-Raviv, secret location, Cape Town, South Africa

2004      D.I.E.N.S., KKNK National Arts Festival, curator: Liza Grobler, Oudtshoorn, South Africa

2002      YDESire Art Night, curated by: James Webb and Kim Stern, Castle of Good Hope, Cape Town, South Africa

ART FAIRS

2016-2025           Investec Cape Town International Art Fair

2023                      Scope Miami, Miami, USA

2020                      Sydney Contemporary, Sydney (Australia)

2019                       Turbine Art Fair, represented by WorldArt Gallery

2018                      Stroke International Art Fair, Munich (Germany)

2018                      FNB Johannesburg Art Fair, Johannesburg (South Africa)

2017                      Scope Miami, Miami (United States)

2016                       Moniker Art Fair, London (United Kingdom)

COLLECTIONS

Deutsche Bank, Nando’s Contemporary Art (UK/Australia/South Africa), Hollard Insurance, Luciano Benetton, MTN, University of Cape Town, MAP South Africa, Sanlam, Spier and private collections across the globe.

AWARDS & RESIDENCIES

2017-2019 Pietra Santa Sculpture Residency, Italy

2016      IICD Residency, Nigeria

2009      Triangle Artists’ Workshop, Beirut, Lebanon

2007      ABSA L’Atelier finalist, Johannesburg, South Africa

2006      Pro-Helvetia Fellowship and residency at Altes Spital, Solothurn, Switzerland

2005      Centre for the Book, Alexandria, Egypt

2004      Thapong International Artists’ Residency, Gaborone, Botswana

2005      ABSA L’Atelier finalist, Johannesburg, South Africa

2004      Brett Kebble Art Awards national finalist, South Africa

2004      ABSA L’Atelier top 100, Johanensburg, South Africa

2003      Batapata Triangle International Workshop, Chikanga, Zimbabwe

2003      Insaka International Artists’ Residency, Rockstone Studios, Lusaka, Zambia

1992      Irma Stern Award for Excellence in Printmaking, University of Cape Town, South Africa

EDUCATION

1988-1992 BA FA, Michaelis School of Fine Art, University of Cape Town, South Africa