Akshar Maganbeharie’s portraits of pop stars and movie icons celebrate and vilify fame and pop culture.

Multidisciplinary artist Akshar Maganbeharie, a Design Indaba Emerging Creative for 2022, is primarily inspired by pop culture – specifically Britney Spears, Starbucks, and Kylie Jenner. But his apparently light-hearted artwork makes trenchant comments about the dark side of capitalism and the destructive nature of cultural imperialism. The Cape Town-based creative, tells us what lies at the heart of his evocative, semi-abstract artworks that focus on the stars of Hollywood, Bollywood and the music industry.

Akshar Maganbeharie graduated in Fine Art from the University of the Witwatersrand.

After receiving his degree in Fine Art from the University of the Witwatersrand in 2017, Akshar Maganbeharie moved to Cape Town where he continues to live and work.

Formally, Akshar’s approach to art-making is multi-disciplinary, moving between painting, drawing and installation. Thematically, he considers the ways in which pop culture and social media have permeated his identity. “My three biggest inspirations,” Akshar offers by way of explanation, “are Britney Spears, Starbucks, and Kylie Jenner.”

Akshar’s semi-abstract and semi-figurative impressionistic style has a carefreeness that translates into the subject matter. His work is concerned with seemingly unserious subject matter, while confronting and making commentary on issues of cultural imperialism, neo-colonialism and capitalism.

Akshar’s notable group exhibitions include:

Autumn Salon, Gallery Fanon, Johannesburg (2021)
Kutti Bazaar, proto-, A4 Arts Foundation, Cape Town (2021)
Apartment Vol. 2, The Fourth, Cape Town (2020)
He is also a member of the Kutti Collective, a group of individual and collaborating South African Indian artists.