PRESS RELEASE
SHANY VAN DEN BERG: (in)filtration of time
Oct 4 – Oct 31, 2017
Please join us at 18h30 on Wednesday 4th October, 2017
Ulundi House, Portswood Square, Portswood Ridge, V & A Waterfront
EXHIBITION CONCLUDES 31st October 2017
(in)filtration of time
It started with a premise of creating.
A drawing, daily as a ritual.
An intimate diary of the world around her and her place within it.
A year’s documentation,
That very soon has a life of its own.
An expanse of the artist’s heaven, earth and hell.
Within these boundaries negative and positive spaces merge.
A pulse.
Memories and new thoughts.
Colours and monochrome.
Fear, pain, happiness, love, life and loss.
Dark shapes embrace. They dance with empty white noise.
Bronze sculptures stand and wait.
Alongside there are printed papers as birds flutter.
Canvas and linen sail nearby in the air.
Veins and roots filter down like sediment.
Conversations cascade.
Unfolding her stories, one after the other
365 moments in repose.
An(other) requiem sings:
What if she remembers?
What if she forgets?
Focusing on contemporary portraiture and figurative work with a strong central theme of womanhood, van den Berg works includes oil paintings inspired by the Old Masters together with other media including sculpture, site specific installations and drawings. These all serve portals to her internal investigations: narratives of struggle, exploration, discoveries, and ultimately transcendence as a human being.
She was a finalist in 2005 in Sasol New Signatures. Out of more than 2000 applicants, van den Berg was chosen as one of 50 finalist artists for the 2009, 2010 and 2016 BP Portrait Awards show at the National Portrait Gallery in London. In 2016 she was the runner up for the BP Portrait Travel Award. Artworks are included in various private collections including in South Africa, France, Germany, Luxenburg, Caymen Islands, UK and U.S.A
A portfolio is available upon request.
Click here to read an article by Mary Corrigall
*Images courtesy of Michael Hall
