KATHARIEN DE VILLIERS
Born in 1991 in South Africa. She lives and works in South Africa.
Katharien de Villiers explores and questions spatial and interpersonal dynamics, placing the relationship with the viewer at the center of her work.
By revealing the patina of time, while using surrealist symbolism and building collage constructions inspired by hybrid memories, the artist makes works through different mediums - sculpture, painting, installation - focusing on what is normally hidden or considered obvious. Her works are presented as multi-layered narratives. The choice of colors often stems from the relationship with the exhibition space. This one, in all its authorial connotation, is reshaped by the presence of the ordinary, leaving everyday subjects taking on new meanings.
Through tactile manipulations involving the juxtaposition and decontextualisation of materials, Katharien appeals to the sensory, mental and physical potential and participation of the viewer when confronted with her work. Thus, depending on the inherent power of the given form and the viewer's inclination to be informed or moved, she allows the voluntary encounter to evolve into a symbiosis of original and inspired reality.
Her work has been exhibited extensively in South Africa and Europe and is part of the Nirox Foundation's permanent collection. Her most recent solo exhibitions include Sound Blindness at the A4Arts Foundation in Cape Town in 2021. She has participated in several group exhibitions in Belgium, including Vibrations Off (Kristof de Clercq Gallery, with Honore d'O and Manfredo Schu).
Her first solo exhibition, An Bonnet of Gatsbys, was held at SMITH Gallery in Cape Town in 2017. In 2018 she had two solo exhibitions - one in a Johannesburg basement called Pick Over the Bones, again with SMITH Gallery, and Trembling Thought, an independent initiative she curated in her studio. Both exhibitions were space-specific installations.
In 2019, she exhibited at SMITH Gallery. In the same year, she participated in the exhibition Still Here Tomorrow To High Five You Yesterday at MOCAA Zeitz.
CURRICULUM VITAE
SOLO SHOWS | Selection
2021
Echo Me /Here I Am /Ecco Mi, Osart Gallery, Milan - IT
Sound-blindness, A4Arts Foundation, Cape Town - SA
2019
Bananas and Saints Alike, Smith studio (Curated by Jana Tereblanche),
Cape Town - SA
2018
Pick Over the Bones, 68 Jute street, Johannesburg - SA
Trembling Thought, GUS gallery (Curated by Heinrich Groenewald), Stellenbosch - SA
Trembling Thought, SMITH studio, Cape Town - SA
2017
A Bonnet of Gatsbys, SMITH studio (Curated by Amy Ellenbogen),
Cape Town - SA
The Carwash: a Declaration of the Independence of the Imagination and the Rights of Man to His Own Madness, The Atrium, TRUMPET Building, Keyes Art Mile, Johannesburg - SA
2015
The Palace of Illness in Beauty, MAP, Glaze Gang, KASK, Gent – BE
GROUP SHOWS | Selection
2023
Art paris Art Fair, 31 PROJECT, Paris - FR
2022
UpCycle. Quando l'Arte Reinventa il Mondo, Italian embassy in Bern - CH
(IM)MATERIALITY, THIS IS NOT A WHITE CUBE, Lisbon - PT
2021
40 Under 40, WHATIFTHEWORLD, Cape Town - SA
2020
ApartmentxTHEFOURTH, THE FOURTH, Cape Town - SA
2019
Unresolved Category, Gallery MOMO (Curated by Heinrich Groenewald),
Cape Town - SA
Aspect : Ratio, Galley MOMO (Curated by Keely Shinner), Cape Town - SA
Bad Taste: Image in Crisis, SMITH gallery (Curated by Jana Tereblanche), Cape Town - SA
2018
Still Here Tomorrow to High Five You Yesterday, Zeitz MOCAA (Curated by Azu Nwagbogu), Cape Town - SA
Salad, SMITH studio (Curated by Jana Tereblanche. 2017 Fulcrum Suzanne Shaw Creative), Cape Town – SA
Award, Candice Berman Gallery (Curated by Layla Leiman, The Bag Factory), Johannesburg - SA
2017
Open Laboratory, Winter Sculpture Exhibition, Nirox Sculpture Foundation, Johannesburg - SA
Out of Nowhere, SMITH studio (Curated by Amy Ellenbogen), Cape Town - SA
2016
Nothing Personal, SMAC gallery, Stellenbosch - SA
From Whence They Came, SMITH studio (Curated by Amy Ellenbogen),
Cape Town - SA
How Blushing Foot and Scissor met on the Fourth Floor of Atlantis, Kalashnikovv gallery, in collaboration with Neel de Bruyker (BE), Tine Peuteman (BE), Guus van der Velde (NL), Jeanne Gaigher, (SA), Ruann Coleman (SA), Lucy Jane Turpin (SA), Antonia Brown (SA), Katharien de Villiers (SA). Curated by Katharien de Villiers, Johannesburg – SA
SKETCH, SMITH studio (Curated by Amy Ellenbogen), Cape Town - SA
2015
Drawing a group show, GUS gallery (Curated by Lucy Jane Turpin), Stellenbosch - SA
Ensayo Para Una Exposición, Combo gallery, in collaboration with Olga Micinska, Erika Roux, Christopher Squier and Lisa-Marie Vlietstra,
Cordoba - ES
2014
Vibrations off, Kristof de Clercq Gallery, in collaboration with Honore d'O and ManfreDuSchu, Gent - BE
The Horizon Apparatus, Tumult Gent. KASK cinema. Gent, Belgium. 2014 7E. Apartment exhibition. Lange Boomgaardstraat 7E, curated by Katharien de Villiers and Jonathan Paepens. In collaboration with Chris Swart, Abigail Liparato, Hayoun Kim, Annemieke Olthuijs and Jonathan Paepens, Gent – BE
2013
They Put Alternating Currents in our Head, Zwarte Zaal Gallery, curated by Paul Casaer and Cel Crebeels. In collaboration with Annemieke Olthuijs,
Gent - BE.
WITH 31 PROJECT
FAIRS
2023
Art Paris Art Fair, group show, Paris - FR