"Born in Randfontein, South Africa Daniel Rakgoathe (1937-2004) obtained his BA (Fine Arts) from the University of California. He lived and worked in Soweto but also taught at the Rorke’s Drift and Mofolo art centers.

Rakgoathe was a mystic philosopher and his art an exponential expression of his psychic cartography.

Primarily a printmaker, his expressive, intricate linocuts spell a syncretic blend of pan-African mythologies, Khoisan folklore, mystic cosmology, quantum tendrils and collective consciousness. He gradually lost his sight and could no longer produce work towards the end of his life.

His primary media were the linocut and the woodcut. Donve Langhan, a leading authority on his work writes: “In Dan’s woodcuts the strong optic qualities of contrasting black and white lines seem to create a sense of depth while simultaneously creating a decorative surface pattern. The stylization of forms, the sense of symmetry, and the predominance of decorative elements in Dan’s work express the inner, rather than the outer world of human beings, consistent with his mystical and philosophical approach to art. Although Dan’s work essentially nurtures the spirit, it also stimulates the mind.”

'Council of Solace' consists of a frieze-like disposition of eight solemn tribal figures viewed frontally. They present a united mass and their anatomies often overlap each other. There is no sense of depth, no suggestion of anything directly behind the figures which are flattened and without volume or mass except on the extreme right where three crouching individuals huddle together within some kind of hollow. The figures are rendered as schematic black silhouettes with thin white line used to suggest facial features and gestures of the hand. Certain faces are rendered far more fully such as the lady with the terrified wide open eyes wearing a voluminous doek. The mood is one of fear and apprehension. The Council of Solace appears to have been called to help the tribe recover from some devastating loss or overcome an overpowering danger.

Every element in the linocut is so densely enmeshed in patterns of circles, blobs, dots, spots and radiating diagonal and straight lines that pattern and figuration blend and become inseparably united. All this hectic patterning comes to a climax at the summit of the linocut where three suns appear. One is normal. The other two are greatly enlarged, swollen and lob-sided, and they take the form of circles within circles joined by thick and thin straight lines. All three sons emit rays and suggest that light will triumph over darkness and that the tribe will overcome adversity and flourish." - Lloyd Pollak