Walter Oltmann is a practicing artist who was born in Rustenburg and lives and works in Johannesburg where he is represented by the Goodman Gallery. In his extraordinary wire artworks, Oltmann makes connections to domestic textile practices and explores such forms of making in evoking fragility and the passage of time. 

He often combines aspects of decorative ornament with subject matter that seems somewhat contradictory or disturbing in relation to handcrafted embellishment. 

Since the 1980s, Oltmann has developed an interest in the relationship between fine art and craft. In his own practice, he employs hand-fabricated processes of making and has researched wire craft traditions in Southern Africa.