WHEREVER YOU GO THERE YOU ARE

16.03 - 09.04.2022

A solo exhibition by Kirsten Beets

Salon Ninety One is proud to present Wherever You Go There You Are, a collection of new paintings by Kirsten Beets. This will be the Artist’s eighth solo exhibition with the gallery.

“Wherever you go there you are” is a saying that seems to be almost comically obvious at first glance. However, this sentiment runs far deeper than this superficial reading of its meaning. This mindful musing considers that no matter where you go in the world, you take your whole self with you; there is no getting away from yourself.

Kirsten Beets reflects on her experience of working on an artist residency in the Netherlands. Although she was excited about being in a new place, the opportunity to have a space away from home for her creative practice, and to experience a different routine, she was struck by the understanding that trying to have a holiday from yourself is almost impossible. You are always yourself no matter where you go; you can travel as far as you can go but you will bring with you your quirks, idiosyncrasies and anxieties. However, this realisation was not negative for Beets; the Artist believes that acceptance of this fact can provide a pathway to finding inner peace with the person you carry with you. Not only does this acceptance of being wholly yourself reinforce your sense of identity, it becomes a nexus of comfort when you journey into the world; and with this comes a sense of peace and an ability to be fully here now and enjoy each moment.

In this body of work, Beets explores these liminal moments which exist between the worry of the unchangeable past and the uncertain future. Many of the works explore nostalgia, with their subject matter rooted in the past, which seek to capture a fleeting moment that often only exists as a memory. The pictorial plane, composed of flat colour with characters at leisure, becomes a meditative link between the viewer, the Artist’s own conception of inescapable personhood located within a geographical place, and the viewer’s own experience of inner acceptance of oneself. Through her delicate expression of people and places that feel familiarly nostalgic and yet magically imagined, the Artist hopes to remind you of the small things that bring a measure of peace.

If you would like to sign up to receive the catalogue or book a viewing slot, please click on the respective buttons below. Please note that the catalogue will only be released around midday on the opening day.

PREVIEW:

 

 

 

THE ISLAND

15.01 - 12.02.2022

Group Exhibition

Exhibiting Artists:

Chloe Townsend
Joh Del
Kirsten Beets
Lucy Stuart-Clark
Tara Deacon

 

Salon Ninety One is pleased to present The Island; a group exhibition featuring Chloe Townsend, Joh Del, Lucy Stuart-Clark, and Tara Deacon. The exhibition will open on the 15th of January and conclude on the 12th of February 2022.

The concept of an island is one that has fascinated and captivated our collective imaginations. From deserted sandbars to large land masses teaming with life, islands are so enticing because of their capacity for endless possibility. An island is defined by its isolation; however, islands are not alone in the expanse of the sea. Under the waves, each island is connected, and their birth is a triumph of destructive creation.

Each island holds the opportunity for nature to experiment almost without limitation; birds of paradise with feathers and beaks of all colours and shapes, schools of tropical fish in unexpected hues and patterns, impossibly ancient turtles and tortoises, menacing coconut crabs, the strange architecture of shells, coral gardens below and lush jungles above, reef shark nurseries and cleaning stations for manta rays, treasures shaped by nature or lost at sea, stinging jellyfish glowing gently in the dark, gigantic spotted whale sharks with gaping mouths, improbable fauna which can be both beautiful and deadly, and endless shades of blue. Untouched and self-contained, the island can explode into a riot of fantastical life in almost alien forms that the boundaries of the real and impossible seems to shimmer and almost disappear.

What does that sliver of land out on the horizon hold? That question has inspired myths and folklore, influenced humans to leave the safety of the shore on a voyage of discovery, and caused us to reflect on the very nature of our humanity and our relationship with the natural world. The allure of an exotic, near-utopian escape which is physically separated from our daily lives by an ocean is especially potent after the long months of lockdowns and travel restrictions. Even the idea of white sandy beaches, pristine turquoise water, ripe and juicy tropical fruit, coconuts, and palm trees swaying in the breeze seems like a fantasy now.

The notion of an island creates a setting where our societal structures are stripped away, and our more primal nature is laid bare. Their fragile and wonderous beauty captivates our imagination and exemplifies the power of the natural world. Our human curiosity cannot help but be enchanted by an unknown island’s promise. However, the nature of their very existence leads us to make landfall cautiously; for the beguiling beauty of the island can ensnare and bewitch those who dare to wash ashore.

 

If you would like to sign up to receive the catalogue or book a viewing slot, please click on the respective buttons below. Please note that the catalogue will only be released on the evening before the opening.

PREVIEW

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN

14.07 - 14.08.2021

Winter Group Exhibition

To Whom It May Concern is a winter group exhibition featuring many beloved Salon Ninety One artists and some exciting new additions to our stable.

The phrase “to whom it may concern” is most often used in open letter formats where the recipient is unknown. For the past year, we have all experienced unprecedented change and disruptions to our daily life. Many of us would not have predicted that more than a year later we would still be dealing with the almost surreal and idiosyncratic “new normal”. With all that has had to be cancelled, rescheduled, changed, adjusted, and delayed, where does one put their feelings? How can this shift in our world view be put into words? And, if we could express how much the past year has changed us, who would we even address that to?

The exhibition will open on the 14th July and will run until the 14th of August 2021. To sign up to receive a catalogue on the day the show opens, please use the button below.

ARTISTS:

AMBER MOIR
ANDREW SUTHERLAND
CHLOE TOWNSEND
CLAIRE JOHNSON
FANIE BUYS
GITHAN COOPOO
HEIDI FOURIE
JEANNE HOFFMAN
KATRIN COETZER
KIRSTEN BEETS
MAROLIZE SOUTHWOOD
PAUL SENYOL
SHAKIL SOLANKI
SITAARA STODEL
ZARAH CASSIM

ARTWORKS

 

AMBER MOIR

ANDREW SUTHERLAND

CHLOE TOWNSEND

CLAIRE JOHNSON

FANIE BUYS

GITHAN COOPOO

HEIDI FOURIE

JEANNE HOFFMAN

KATRIN COETZER

KIRSTEN BEETS

MAROLIZE SOUTHWOOD

PAUL SENYOL

SHAKIL SOLANKI

SITAARA STODEL

ZARAH CASSIM

 

 

SOUVENIRS FROM ANOTHER SUMMER

02.12 - 23.12.2020

A solo exhibition of new paintings by Kirsten Beets

Salon Ninety One is proud to present Souvenirs from Another Summer; a solo exhibition by Kirsten Beets. This is the Artists' seventh solo show with our gallery.

This soft, dreamlike collection is expressed in ice cream colours which, at times, seem to melt into each other. Beets explores themes of summer, recreation, nature, and nostalgia. For this exhibition, the Artist has created compellingly beautiful scenes rendered in oil on board, paper, and linen. Beets' subject matter for Souvenirs from Another Summer includes swimmers, birds, ruined monuments, cats and big cats, beachgoers, artefacts, horses, butterflies, bunnies, snorkelers, and palm trees.

This summer collection is quintessentially Kirsten Beets; and demonstrates the artist's ongoing fascination with her much-loved characters, subject matters, the season of leisure, bright colours, growth, water, and sunshine.

ARTWORKS

 

INSTALLATION VIEWS

 

A HAZY SHADE OF WINTER

08.08 - 05.09.2020

A Hazy Shade of Winter is a salon-style group show including works by represented, associated, and exciting new artists. Exhibiting Artists include Adele Van Heerden, Alexia Vogel, Amber Moir, Andrew Sutherland, Black Koki, Elléna Lourens, Keya Tama, Ello Xray Eyez, Emma Nourse, Gabrielle Raaff, Heidi Fourie, Jade Klara, Jeanne Hoffman, Jessica Bosworth Smith, Joh Del, Katrin Coetzer, Katrine Claassens, Keneilwe Mothoa, Kirsten Beets, Kirsten Sims, Laurinda Belcher, Lené Ehlers, Lili Probart, Linsey Levendall, Mareli Esterhuizen, Marolize Southwood, Matthew Prins, Mona Haumann, Natasha Norman, Nicole Clare Fraser, Nina Torr, Paul Senyol, Sarah Pratt, Tara Deacon, and Zarah Cassim.

The group exhibition inspired by the Simon and Garfunkel song of the same name, seeks to explore subject matters, palettes, and imagery which capture and express the varied emotions, colours, memories, and atmosphere, which this season brings. For some artists, winter evokes icy vistas, cool palettes of blues and whites, and the change to colder and shorter days. For others, the changing season elicits a longing for warmer times, the comfort of staying indoors close to the fire, the use of warm and jewel tones, and the desire to capture nature in full bloom.

Winter provides a milestone for the passage of time through the year. For many, 2020 has felt somewhat surreal; time has moved on and the seasons have changed and yet there is a feeling that normal life was a lifetime ago.

Throughout the collection, the viewer is invited to contemplate the artists’ relationship with the season of winter and how something as simple as a change in weather can have a profound impact on the kinds of work they produce.

ARTWORKS:

ADELE VAN HEERDEN

ALEXIA VOGEL

AMBER MOIR

ANDREW SUTHERLAND

BLACK KOKI

ELLÉNA LOURENS | KEYA TAMA

 

ELLO XRAY EYEZ

EMMA NOURSE

GABRIELLE RAAFF

HEIDI FOURIE

JADE KLARA

JEANNE HOFFMAN

JESSICA BOSWORTH SMITH

JOH DEL

KATRIN COETZER

KATRINE CLAASSENS

KENEILWE MOTHOA

KIRSTEN BEETS

KIRSTEN SIMS

LAURINDA BELCHER

LENÉ EHLERS

LILI PROBART

LINSEY LEVENDALL

MARELI ESTERHUIZEN

MAROLIZE SOUTHWOOD

MATTHEW PRINS

MONA HAUMANN

NATASHA NORMAN

NICOLE CLARE FRASER

NINA TORR

PAUL SENYOL

SARAH PRATT

TARA DEACON

ZARAH CASSIM

 

INSTALLATION VIEWS:

THINGS BEHIND THE SUN

20.05 - 27.06.2020

Group Exhibition

Things Behind the Sun is a group exhibition featuring the latest works of Bruce Mackay, Jean de Wet, Kirsten Beets, Maaike Bakker, Nina Torr and Tara Deacon.

This exhibition, inspired by the lyrics of Nick Drake’s song of the same name, is a playful exploration of vivacious colours, decisive lines, and undaunted expression. Things Behind the Sun as a collection of artworks, is a foil to the uncertain times the artists, and the entire world, find themselves in. Each artist, in their body of work, seeks to explore the familiar and the comforting. This group of artists has endeavoured to embrace their signature visual language and find outlets for expression during the strangeness of the current global crisis.

In Bruce Mackay’s work, the artist explores the role of boundaries as demarcations of either safety or restriction through the use of crisp lines and the depiction of cairns and other boundary markers. Jean de Wet’s works look to reflect the strangeness of our reality in works which are fantastical and, yet, familiar. In her work, Kirsten Beets seeks to express the dream-like qualities of the sun which softly illuminates scenes of longing and solitude. Maaike Bakker’s works traverse the razor edge between that which can be controlled, and that which cannot. In her work, Nina Torr looks to the cryptic world of alchemy to express a sense of mysticism. And, Tara Deacon creates seemingly familiar domestic scenes which unsettle as they intrigue.

ARTWORKS:

BRUCE MACKAY

 

JEAN DE WET

 

KIRSTEN BEETS

 

MAAIKE BAKKER

 

NINA TORR

 

TARA DEACON

 

 

INSTALLATION VIEWS:

INVESTEC CAPE TOWN ART FAIR 2020

14.02 - 16.02.2020

Venue: Cape Town International Convention Centre

Booth Numbers: B11 in main galleries / B12 in solo section

From the 14th – 16th of February 2020, the 8th edition of Investec Cape Town Art Fair (ICTAF) will return to the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC). Positioned as the leading art fair in Africa, ICTAF 2020 will include the foremost galleries from South Africa, the African continent, and abroad.

Salon Ninety One will be participating in the MAIN GALLERIES and SOLO sections of the fair this year.

The main gallery exhibit will be located at Booth B11, and will feature the latest works of Amber Moir, Chloe Townsend, Heidi Fourie, Jeanne Hoffman, Katrin Coetzer, Kirsten Beets, Kirsten Sims, Linsey Levendall, Nicole Clare Fraser, Paul Senyol and Zarah Cassim.

At Booth B12 the gallery will be presenting a curated solo exhibition by Kirsten Beets.

ARTWORKS:

AMBER MOIR

 

CHLOE TOWNSEND

 

HEIDI FOURIE

 

JEANNE HOFFMAN

 

KATRIN COETZER

 

KIRSTEN BEETS

 

KIRSTEN SIMS

 

LINSEY LEVENDALL

 

NICOLE CLARE FRASER

 

PAUL SENYOL

 

 

ZARAH CASSIM


 

LINKS RELATED TO THIS EXHIBIT:

metalmagazine.eu | "Ten artists you can't miss"Read Article Here

 


 

WILDFLOWERS

07.12.2019 - 18.01.2020

 

Year-end group salon in aid of Ilitha Labantu, celebrating the diversity, beauty and resilience of women.

Opening Saturday 07 December 2019 at 11am.
Concludes 18 January 2020 at 2pm.

Exhibiting Artists:

Adele Van Heerden
Alexia Vogel
Amber Moir
Andrew Sutherland
Berry Meyer
Black Koki
Bruce Mackay
Chloe Townsend
Craig Smith
Emma Nourse
Gitte Moller
Heidi Fourie
Jade Klara
Jean de Wet
Jeanne Hoffman
Jessica Bosworth Smith
Joh Del
Katrin Coetzer
Katrine Claassens
Kirsten Beets
Kirsten Sims
Lara Feldman
Lara Meintjes
Laurinda Belcher
Lili Probart
Maaike Bakker
Mareli Esterhuizen
Marolize Southwood
Mona Haumann
Nicole Clare Fraser
Patricia Fraser
Paul Senyol
Sarah Biggs
Tara Deacon
Zarah Cassim

Since our gallery was established in 2008, we’ve maintained the tradition of hosting our annual December show, held in aid of a local charity, whereby 10% of all artwork sales have been donated to our chosen cause. This year we’ve decided to support Ilitha Labantu, an organisation which was started in Gugulethu, Cape Town, during February 1989. At that time it was the only organisation in any township of Cape Town providing emotional support, practical advice and education around the serious issue of violence against women.

Visit their website for more information.

PREVIEW:

HELIOS

30.10 - 30.11.2019

Solo exhibition by Kirsten Beets

Concludes 2pm on the 30th of November 2019.

 

Text: by Natasha Norman

Hot on the heels of a sell-out exhibition at Sydney Contemporary Art Fair, Kirsten Beets presents Helios, her fifth solo exhibition with Salon Ninety One. Drawing on her interest in Classical studies, Helios explores the contemporary Southern Hemisphere summer holiday, a time imbued for Beets with a mythological quality.

In the South, the summer marks the end of both the school and calendar year. Hot and listless, time is elastic during warm days spent sun bathing, swimming or snorkelling. The idyllic nature of the season, characterised by a sense of ‘lazy-days,’ imbues memories with a rose-tinted recall. The fickle quality of memory is explored in Beets’ careful play between loose, abstract marks and photo-realism that create a thoughtful tension between accuracy and ambiguity. The soporific effect of heat that saturates experiences at this time of year, manifest feelings of carefree enjoyment and a respite from responsibilities. Beets invokes these qualities in her works through colour and content, creating compositions that conjure these feelings from the perspective of Helios – the ‘all seeing eye’ - worshipped in the older pantheon of Greek Gods for his omnipotence as well as his role as sun bearer.

For Beets, the summer months in Cape Town have always seemed a golden time in her childhood. But on the fringes of all this leisurely sun-worshiping she infers a latent threat to the carefree safety of it all. ‘Don’t Get Too Comfortable,’ ‘Heartbreak Summer’ and ‘Electric Summer’ are works imbued with a reflective glance at the impermanence and transient nature of these experiences. Protective fences ring carefree pool bathers while leopards stalk garden foliage and volcanoes threaten to erupt on the horizon (a tongue-in-cheek nod to the fate of Pompeii). Helios also includes subjects from Beets’ previous solo exhibitions with Salon Ninety One as well as a new series of small, spontaneously executed oil paint sketches which she describes as the melted versions of final canvases, providing an energetic edge to the more meditative nature of her larger canvases. Throughout the exhibition Beets carefully employs the symbolic and mythological language of her subjects to reflect upon summer as a space of only transitory hedonism.

ARTWORKS:

INSTALLATION VIEWS:

SYDNEY CONTEMPORARY ART FAIR

Sydney Contemporary Art Fair 2109

12.09 - 15.09.2019

Salon Ninety One was proud to be a part of the fifth edition of the Sydney Contemporary Art Fair at Carriageworks, Sydney, Australia.

We have took a very playful approach to scale, colour and installation within our SCAF 2019 booth, characteristic of Salon Ninety One gallery, our Artists and our aesthetic. The Gallery Booth A01 featured the work of Salon Ninety Onesignature artists, Kirsten Beets, Paul Senyol and Kirsten Sims. In addition to our featured booth Artists we were thrilled to be representing the work of Amber Moir at NEXT, a group exhibition platform with works from around the world carefully selected by the SCAF team.

KIRSTEN BEETS paints our contemporary Eden. Her paintings inhabit a place somewhere been the real and imagined, a painted mythology that explores ethical realities. She is continually looking at the shifting relationship between people at leisure and the natural world. She isolates the moments of these interactions, sometimes as immersive images other times as curious objects suspended in the picture plane. Snapshots of our curious human interactions with natural environments are all rendered in delicate detail. Her works are complex collections of observations and imaginary musings made manifest in oil paint on paper, board and linen. Her carefully considered compositions tell a subtle story of serenity and loss, leisure and decay, stasis and transience.

KIRSTEN SIMS expresses the way she views the world through painting, seeking a connection with viewers through images. Her work has a strong narrative quality and is often animated by a sartorial crowd of characters, but she just as naturally replaces the theatre of human interaction with the drama of a natural landscape. Whether familiar or imagined, place plays an important role in her work. She lives and works in Cape Town but the vista she has painted most is the ocean view from her family home in Mossel Bay, South Africa. Sims completed a BA in Applied Design at the Stellenbosch Academy and her Honours degree in Illustration at Stellenbosch University. She currently works on editorial and commercial illustration projects while exhibiting her artworks both locally and internationally. Sims paints with a combination of inks, acrylics and gouache on museum board.

PAUL SENYOL is an abstract painter who reflects the details of everyday life, paired down to an empathy with colour, line and form. His work is a crafted response to his wonderings through various spaces. The colours and textures of urban and natural environments inform his spontaneous practice in the studio where every material he uses – acrylics, pastels, ink, pencils and spray paint - is chosen for the particular mark it can contribute to a finished composition. Senyol has been studying art and the mark since his fascination with skateboarding magazines as a teenager in Cape Town. Skateboarding emerged as a gateway to early creative works on the street and remains an important part of Senyol’s experience of urban spaces. He makes regular visits to the public library to source graphics, album covers, magazine layouts and illustrations. Senyol’s unique visual language is founded on the inevitable change and flux in environments. His works are testament to the translation of experiences into form.

AMBER MOIR's unconventional approach to making her watercolour monotypes explores and reconstitutes the limitations of traditional printmaking techniques. Moir’s large works are the result of the intensely physical and unpredictable process of printing with a manual pitch roller. She says of her method: “The challenges within my process create space for the works to acquire greater meaning and be more successful than if it were predictable and easily controlled”. Original paintings are impressed onto calico, creating a confluence of painting and print. Gashes, strips of folded fabric and uneven printed surfaces serve as visual cues of the presence of Moir’s body in her process. Moir graduated from Stellenbosch University with a degree in Fine Arts in 2014. She has worked from Cape Town, South Africa since returning in 2017 from two years of living and teaching on Kyushu Island, Japan.

Beets’ background in 3D rendering, Sims’ formal training as an illustrator and Senyol’s formative years as street artist have come to influence their personal visual language, ensuring an interesting conversation between their diverse works within the walls of the Salon Ninety One booth and the greater context of the fair itself. Their work has shown significant growth, with the artists takings risks, in refining their techniques and pushing the boundaries of their chosen medium. Paul Senyol was the first artist to ever exhibit with the gallery, Kirsten Beets and Kirsten Sims have been showing with Salon Ninety one for eight and seven years, respectively. Amber Moir recently held her first solo exhibition with our gallery and is known for her monotypes on paper and fabric, printed by way of a highly energised and physical process utilising a pitch-roller in order to create these unique works.

We look forward to sharing our Artists latest works with new collectors from Australia and Asia.

Should you wish to receive a catalogue please contact enquiries@salon91.co.za

If you are visiting the fair and need to reach us telephonically we are available on Whatsapp only +27 82 679 3906

Please note that this collection is available exclusively from the Sydney Contemporary Art fair, Australia.

ARTWORKS | NEXT PLATFORM AT SCAF 2019

AMBER MOIR

 

ARTWORKS | BOOTH A01 SCAF 2019

KIRSTEN BEETS

 

KIRSTEN SIMS

 

PAUL SENYOL

 

INSTALLATION VIEWS