David Brits was born in 1987 in Cape Town and lives there. He graduated from the Michaelis School of Fine Art (Painting) at the University of Cape Town in 2010. 

Brits has, over the past four years, devoted his practice to formal investgations in public-scale sculpture. Equally energised by material exploration and archival investigation, Brits’ practice also spans installation, print-making, drawing, and film.

Recent major public sculpture commissions include the Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation, The Speir Arts Trust and the Iziko South African National Gallery. He is the winner of the Rupert Art Foundation’s inaugural Social Impact Arts Prize.

Brits’ recent solo exhibitions include Time is a Flat Circle, curated by Camila Maissune at MovArt Gallery, Lisbon, as well as inclusions in the Matereality group show at the Iziko South African National Gallery, curated by Andrea Lewis, and Synaptic at THK Gallery, Cape Town.

In 2014 Brits was awarded a residency at the St. Moritz Art Academy, Switzerland, under the mentorship of Marcel van Eden and Daniele Buetti. Additional group shows include Words curated by Willem Boshoff at the Nirox Sculpture Park, Johannesburg, Nevermind the M*ss at A SPACE, Helsinki, Kindergeburtstag, held at the Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris. His work has been featured in the academic journal Graduate Research and Reviews in the History of Art and Visual Culture (2015) and has been named a “young artist to watch” by the South African Art Times.

Brits made his curatorial debut with Not My War, an exhibition held at the Michaelis Galleries, UCT. This acclaimed show brought together works by significant South African artists that have reflected on their country’s involvement in border wars in Northern Namibia and Southern Angola during the 1960ies to 1980ies.

Brits’ work is housed in public and private collections in both South Africa and abroad, including the Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation Collection, the SunFair Collection in New York, and the  Fondation Gandur pour l'Art Collection in Geneva. He is a recipient of the Golden Key Society Award for Visual Art, the Irma Stern Scholarship and the Barbara Fairhead Prize.