SASHA HARTSLIEF

(b. 1974 Gauteng, South Africa) 

Passionate about drawing from an early age, Sasha Hartslief is largely self-taught. Hartslief’s subjects are often viewed from a philosophical, deeply personal perspective, resulting in paintings that are emotionally charged, pensive in mood and considered in composition. Her subtle investigations into the human condition somehow strike a chord with us.

Hartslief uses brushstrokes to evoke the transience of light, colour and movement. And like her Renaissance and Impressionist forebears, she employs everyday visual devices to explore the way in which atmospheric light and tonal modulations inform a surface, and to evoke atmospheres fraught with symbolic subtexts. But the transience of the captured moment is counterbalanced by the disciplined rigour of Hartslief's technique and painterly process. She admits to being "obsessively skills-driven and consumed" by her work. Each image becomes a formal study in light, contour and line.

“In choosing my subject matter, I can become fascinated by something as inchoate as a mood, or specific as a visual concept,” says Hartslief. “In general, my ideas are more emotive and pictorial than intellectual. I never start out with an abstract idea and then try to attach an image to it, but sometimes I am haunted by a certain mood or visual concept, and I will explore it from many angles before it releases me.  Just as often, though, I have many disparate ideas for which the only common thread is that they all arise from a striking visual moment, which arrests my attention and demands to be painted.”

Hartslief explains further, “I try not to label myself as an impressionist, a realist or any such thing, although I believe a person's style of painting is as peculiarly their own as their manner of speech or the cast of their features. Similarly, I find myself deeply drawn to the works of many artists as demonstrations of uninhibited mastery, but I believe that no artist should focus exclusively on one particular medium or style of painting when looking for inspiration. When the painting is done, it is, in a sense, just as mysterious to me as anyone else, for it often contains allusions and cadences which I had never intended. People often ask me the meaning of my paintings, they want to know what a particular painting is "about", but I would never want to limit the viewer’s experience with anything as closed and final as an artist's intention or a particular narrative. Even though each painting depicts something objective, I feel that there is a mutable dimension buried in the light and mood which will strike each person differently, and that open element of interpretation is part of the joy of painting for me.”

Since 1999, Hartslief has exhibited regularly at the Everard Read Gallery, Cape Town, including several solo exhibitions. She continues to attract a broad collector base from around the world.

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2022

A Quiet Life, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

Shadows & Reflections, Everard Read, London, UK

2020

Nocturne, Everard Read, London, UK

Patterns of Light, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

2019

Recent Oil Paintings, Everard Read, Franschhoek, South Africa

2018

Interiors, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

Aura, Everard Read, London, UK

2016

New Works, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

2013 

Hartslief: New Works, Everard Read, Johannesburg, South Africa

2012

Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

Rosendahl, Thöne & Westphal, Berlin, Germany

2011 

Recent Works, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

2009 

Sasha Hartslief: New Works, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

2007

Solo Exhibition, Everard Read, Cape Town South, Africa

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2021

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

Offering, Everard Read, Franschhoek, South Africa

2020

Staring Straight to the Future, Everard Read online exhibition, South Africa

Winter, Everard Read, London, UK

Imago, Everard Read, Franschhoek, South Africa

On Being, Everard Read, Franschhoek, South Africa

2019

Sasha Hartslief & Grace da Costa, Everard Read, Franschhoek, South Africa

2018

Summer, Everard Read, London, UK

People & Portraiture, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

2017

Summer Exhibition, Everard Read, London, UK

2016 

Nocturne, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

2015 

Summer in the City, Everard Read Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa

Homage, Everard Read Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa

WINTER, Everard Read Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa

EMPIRE, Everard Read Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa 

2014

Summer Season Part I, Everard Read Gallery, Cape Town South Africa

Winter, Everard Read Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa

2013 

100, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa