About The Artist

My creative process expresses multiple methods of making sense of, and attempting to map diverse journeys in life. The shimmer of recognition in the gentle eye-lock of a passer-by, the kind smile reciprocated by a stranger, snapshots portrayed through various series portraying multiple faces, often overlayed, as if looking through several viewpoints at once. Diverse and culturally opposite as we may be outwardly, in these moments, I find that the gold hidden within the grit and grid of the human map, is our unity.

Constructing and deconstructing, like digging and covering up, creating and scratching it away, became more entrenched as my method. Processing the palimpsest situations encountered during journeys to and from my studios in August House, New Doornfontein and Lilian Street, Fordsburg (2018 – 2021). Empathy for these worlds beyond the gated communities and security fences of suburbia, where disintegrating infrastructure and lack of service delivery not only caused inconvenience, but often threated the lives of toddlers, teens, mothers and working women alike. The joys and commonalities of our humanity appear varied at first glance, based on location, yet at the root, we share the same basic needs and driving forces. To view life through the eyes of a stranger, brings new opportunities and solutions to old problems. In my studio on a farm in the Western Cape, the views are spectacular as I work in isolation, yet no more so than I was in my city studios, surrounded by the hussle on the city streets. The work of the artist, I have concluded, is solitary in nature which is what brings out the sweet tones in the work.

The implementation of mixed media appears hap-hazard and frenetic as it mirrors diversity vs commonality. Multi-coloured threads knit together ideas as art medium and process are given ad lib roles on my art-making stage, materialising in an unexpected, silent and invisible beauty emerging from apparent chaos. I employ a versatile command of drawing, painting, printing, cartography, scratching and stitching skills during meditative repetitive processes to track and make visible invisible trajectories to guide both artist and viewer into deeper consciousness of what it means to belong, and to occupy one’s ‘being’.

Artist CV

1982 – 2012 ADVERTISING AND DESIGN

Established a successful career as Creative Director and Senior Designer in advertising agencies.

1981 – 2026 CONTEMPORARY ART

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

• 2017 LYNETTE VAN TONDER at the South African Fine Art Print Fair – GIBS Campus, Illovo, JHB
• 2016 FRAGMENTS curated by Lynette van Tonder – University of JHB, FADA Campus, Bunting Rd
• 2015 COME solo performance by Lynette van Tonder – Jo’burg Art Fringe, Arts on Main, Maboneng, JHB
• 2015 URBANISM curated by Dana MacFarlane – Halifax Art, Parkhurst, JHB
• 2012 COVERED curated by Lynette van Tonder – Upstairs@Bamboo, JHB
• 2013 COVERED II by Lynette van Tonder – Carinus Annex, Standard Bank Art Festival, Grahamstown

CURATED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

• 2025-6 Eclectic Summer exhibition, Curated by Elaine v d Walt, Art@39Long, Groot Brak River, Western Cape
• 2024 Whispers in Matter, Curated by Karen Cullinan – Artyli.com
• 2023 Journeys, Curated by Doris Brand – Cape Palette Art gallery, George, Western Cape
• 2023 HerStory, Curated by Karen Cullinan – Artyli.com, Mandela Square, Sandton
• 2023-4 Eclectic Group Exhibition, Curated by Elaine vd Walt, Art@39Long, Groot Brakrivier, Western Cape
• 2022 December Group, Curated by Dana MacFarlane, White River Gallery, White River, Mphumalanga
• 2022 May Day, curated by Bridget Modima – Ellis House Gallery, JHB
• 2020-1 Reset; Emergence; Umsanzi; Captcha Colour; Africonic Curated: Karen Cullinan – Artyli.com, Stanley Studios, Auckland Park and Mandela Square, Sandton
• 2020 Summer Group exhibition, curated Darryl Scott – Henry George Gallery, JHB
• 2019 Summer show curated by Isa Schwartz Gesseau – Gerard Sekoto Gallery, Alliance Française, JHB
• 2020 Opening, curated by Isa Schwartz Gesseau – Gerard Sekoto Gallery, Alliance Française, JHB
• 2019 Thami Mnyele Competition, curated by Teresa Lizamore and panel of leading curators
• 2019 Urban Findings, curated by Mbali Tshabalala and Nomandla Waca – TMRW gallery, Keys Art Mile
• 2019 Women's Day Exhibition, curated by Ronel van der Vyver – Millennium Gallery, Pretoria
• 2019 Unbearable Lightness of Being, curated by Stuart Trent – Trent Gallery, Pretoria
• 2019 Say, Africa!, curated by Dana Macfarlane – White River Gallery
• 2018 Thami Mnyele Competition, curated by Teresa Lizamore and panel of leading curators
• 2018 Summer Exhibition, curated by Dana Macfarlane – White River Gallery
• 2017 Mosterd na die Maal, curated by Dana Macfarlane – White River Gallery
• 2016 Thami Mnyele Competition, curated by Teresa Lizamore; Les Cohn and panel of leading curators
• 2016 Cats and Crows, curated by Nandi Hillard and Pieter van der Westhuizen, Pretoria Art Association
• 2016 Prime Meridian, curated by Anna Liebenberg – Trent Gallery, Pretoria
• 2016 Equinox, curated by Dana MacFarlane and Lynette van Tonder – Halifax Art, Parkhurst
• 2015 Pictures at an Exhibition – curated by Stuart Trent – Trent Gallery, Pretoria
• 2015 South African Fine Art Print Fair, curated by Sharon Sampson – Gibs Campus, Illovo, JHB
• 2015 Parkhurst Soul, curated by Dana MacFarlane and Lynette van Tonder – Halifax Art, Parkhurst
• 2013-5 Themed Eclectic Group Shows, curated by Dana MacFarlane & Lynette vTonder – Halifax Art
• 2014-5 Annual exhibition, curated by Sharon Sampson – Sharon Sampson Studios, Illovo, JHB
• 2014 Autumn Art Fair, curated by Charles Gijzelaar and Elfriede Dreyer – Fried Contemporary
• 2014 Block exhibition, curated by Astrid Mcleod – The Gallery, Riebeek Kasteel, Western Cape
• 2014 Summer Group Exhibition, curated by Astrid Mcleod – The Gallery, Riebeek Kasteel, W Cape
• 2013 Figures and Form, curated by Carl Jeppe – Tina Skukan Gallery, Pretoria
• 2012 Alumni Show, curated by Carl Jeppe – Technical University of Technology, Pretoria
• 1984 Lithography Exhibition, curated by Prof Werner Otte – Gallerie Welz, Salzburg, Austria
• 1981 Durban Biennale – Group Exhibition by Pretoria Technikon – Fine Art Department
• 1981 New Signatures Exhibition – Top 100 – SA Association of Art, Pretoria

AWARDS – FINE ART

• 2016,18,19 Thami Mnyele Competition – Top 100
• 1981 New Signatures Competition – Top 100

AWARDS – ADVERTISING

• 2004 Loerie 2 x Finalist – Telkom
• 1993 Spada Awards 3 x – Air France
• 1989 Coca Cola / Martini Rossi

MEDIA COVERAGE

Pretoria News, Melville & Northcliff Gazette, Rosebank Gazette, Jo-burg Today, Beeld, Rapport.