Bougi

Claude Chandler

[rve src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/8lTr6CUfhFU?si=Sz3OG_yUCVAs26tL" ratio="16by9"]

Born into Durban’s vibrant art scene, Claude Chandler was raised in a home where creativity was a way of life. The son of two accomplished artists and influential figures in the South African art community, Claude grew up surrounded by canvases, studios, and the dynamic rhythm of artistic expression. His passion for portraiture was ignited in 2005 when he began painting his high school teachers — a project that quickly drew attention and led to portrait commissions, solidifying his path as an artist. Claude went on to study Fine Art at the Durban University of Technology, where he refined his technical skills and began developing a distinct artistic voice. After graduating in 2011, he relocated to Cape Town, immersing himself in the city’s thriving creative community. Since then, he has steadily gained recognition both within South Africa and internationally. Now a well-established artist, Claude Chandler’s work has been featured at numerous prominent art fairs, including the AKAA Fair in Paris (2017–2018), the Stroke Art Fair in Munich, and the FNB Joburg Art Fair (2018). More recently, his work has been showcased at the Positions Art Fair in Berlin and Affordable Art Fair Stockholm (2025). As a key artist working with The Travelling Art Gallery, Chandler has exhibited extensively across Europe, with shows in Berlin, Munich, Hamburg, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Ludwigshafen, and Palma de Mallorca. In 2022, he held a successful residency and sell-out solo exhibition titled Space and Time in Berlin. The Travelling Art Gallery further facilitated in 2025 a four-week artist-in-residence programme for Claude Chandler, during which he worked from a dedicated studio in Leipzig while also engaging with the art scenes in Hamburg, Berlin, and Weimar. In recent years, Claude Chandler has also made a name for himself in the realm of street art, contributing vibrant murals across Cape Town and adding a bold urban edge to his body of work. Whether through intimate portraiture or large-scale public art, his work captures the emotional complexity of the human experience, inviting viewers to reflect on perception, identity, and the evolving relationship between the self and the digital world. In Cape Town, Claude Chandler is represented by The Artists Gallery.