ERIN CHAPLIN

(b. 1988 Durban, South Africa)

‘I am emotional. I am sensitive. I take things too personally. I always feel guilty.I feel like I am living between worlds. Reality, fantasy and my own reality. And time is ticking on in the background. Still life resonates with me because it’s on the clock too. Flowers and fruit can be arranged and painted to live forever but they will die and rot. This comforts me. I don't want anything to be too perfect or too alive because that’s not realistic.’

Erin Chaplin’s work is a deeply personal and reflective. She draws her initial inspiration from her longstanding muse, nature, but reaches further – in reaction to social doctrine and in an exploration of human vulnerability – and into abstraction. Her range of subject matter – from still lifes and portraits to geometric abstraction –  is a reflection of her insatiable fascination with every facet of life.

Chaplin studies the relationship between the natural and the artificial in her work, striving to capture the poignancy of youth as it fades – fresh fruit and flowers as they slowly rot. In response to the challenging nature of the genre, the still-life works are executed in a combination of muted tones and unexpected, contrived colours. The contrast of these tones creates a dynamism in the work that entices and surprises the viewer. In her impasto paintings, a metaphor grows to encapsulate the delicate rawness and vulnerability of the human condition as we grapple with life as it unfolds.

Chaplin was born in Durban, KwaZulu Natal, in 1988. She is a self-taught artist. She has exhibited both locally and internationally. In 2022 she attended a residency in Sintra, Portugal. She currently lives in Cape Town.

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2024

Red and Green Work, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

2022

Island, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

2020

Path Through Mountain, solo, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2026

Investec Cape Town Art Fair, with Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

2025

10 Years | Summer Show, Everard Read, London, UK

Investec Cape Town Art Fair, with Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

Internal Species, Otomys, Melbourne, Australia

Winter Collection, Everard Read, Franschhoek, South Africa

2024

Investec Cape Town Art Fair, with Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

Southern Light, Everard Read, London, UK

Summer, Everard Read, Franschhoek, South Africa

2023

What I Feel When I Think About The Cosmos, Everard Read, Franschhoek, South Africa

Investec Cape Town Art Fair, with Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

We are a way for the cosmos to know itself, Bode Projects, Berlin, Germany

Otomys, Melbourne, Australia

2022

Playing Field, dual exhibition with Jade Paton, Kalashnikovv, Johannesburg, South Africa

2021

Hand to Mouth: From the functional to the abstract, P72 Project Space, Johannesburg, South Africa

Oasis, 25th anniversary exhibition, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

Winter, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

An Enquiry into Pedagogy, Hotel Hernandez, Iziko South African National Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa

2020

Still, group exhibition, Everard Read South Africa & UK

2019

Soft, solo, part of the Cubicle Series, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

Works on Paper, group exhibition, RK Contemporary, Riebeek Kasteel, South Africa

2018

Nice For What, Voorkamer Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa

2017

Outgrowth, Voorkamer Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa