Cathy Layzell

Cathy Layzell is a colourist painter working with the complex interplay between figuration and abstraction in painting. Schooled in the fundamentals of Impressionist colour theory and design principles, Layzell applies the abstracted theory of image composition to the theme of nature. She investigates the visual clues that nature gives us. Her interweaving of brushwork and colour fields aims to stimulate the subconscious neural pathways of perception such that at close range her paintings refer to abstracted textures of rock, foliage, air and water; from afar, a perception of illusionary light suggests a coherent natural scene. Her current series is dominated by a challenging flat black field from which she constructs illusions of light through specific relationships of colour. Life and colour is drawn onto the darkness by an application of marks that explore the transition from darkness to light, abstraction to figuration, blindness to perception. From 2003 to 2007 Layzell was a returning Resident Artist at the Painting School of Montmirail in the South West of France (near Toulouse). She studied at Rhodes University and completed a Post-graduate diploma in Fine Art from Michaelis School of Fine Art in 2013.

SELECTED PROJECTS & EXHIBITIONS

2019 - Investec Cape Town Art Fair with Salon91. 2018 - Folklore, an end-of-year group exhibition in aid of True North, Salon91; Investec Cape Town Art Fair with Salon91; Nano 1.2. Barnard Gallery, Cape Town; Winter, at 99Loop Gallery, Cape Town; Rain Dance at Chandler House, Cape Town. 2017 - Trees Make Forests at Salon91; FNB Joburg Art Fair with Salon91; Turbine Art Fair with Salon91; Reserve, solo exhibition, Salon91; Cape Town Art Fair with Salon91. 2016 - Oracle, year-end group exhibition, Salon91; Wilderness, solo exhibition, Salon91; Turbine Art Fair with Salon91; Cape Town Art Fair with Salon91. 2015 - Polynesia, with Paul Senyol, Salon91; Spectra, group exhibition, Johans Borman Fine Art; Kingdom, group exhibition at Equus Gallery, Cavalli Estate. 2014 - Connect the Dots, solo exhibition, Casa Labia; Artist residency, Luvey ’n Rose, Cape Town. 2013 - In Bloom, Casa Labia Gallery. 2009 - Duende, solo exhibition at Irma Stern Museum.