Gabrielle Kruger
EIGEN + ART Lab, Berlin 04.07 - 24.08.2024
Gabrielle Kruger (b. 1993) is a contemporary South African artist working with paint(ing) in unconventional ways. She has developed an artistic practice that pushes the conventions of traditional painting through extensive play and experimentation with acrylic paint as a dynamic medium, blurring the boundaries between painting, performance and sculpture.
Gabrielle and Galerie EIGEN + ART (Leipzig/ Berlin) first started working together after a studio visit in Cape Town in 2019. This year, the gallery invited the artist to produce her first solo show in Germany while working and living in Berlin for three months.
During this time, Gabrielle befriended many locals and artists, but also reconnected with old friends from Cape Town. Two of those friends came over for a studio visit, a conversation and to document the work in progress.
28.05.24_ 25.06.24_ Sanri
Pienaar documents the studio process. A new camera, a melting ice-cream and an afternoon nap in the sweltering heat.
Sanri Pienaar is an acclaimed Art Director and Stylist based in Cape Town, currently spending the summer in Berlin.
Sanri lives in Woodstock a stone-throw away from Gabrielle’s studio in Cape Town. They became friends sometime during or after university through mutual friends.
[Photographs by Sanri: pages 2 - 14]
S: When did you first start working with paint in this way and how did you develop this techinique?
G: During my studies the lecturers were always encouraging us to be experimental in all the different workshops that they offered. I’ve always been drawn to painting and saw the potential for the material to be scultpural. Through experimentation and play, a happy accident led me to discover that I could peel paint off a plastic surface and it could exist as a whole entity in itself. It led me to experiment further and eventually I even collaborated with a chemical engineer in developing a paint specific to my needs.
What does a typical day in the studio look like and how does it differ here from your studio routine in Cape Town?
G: The biggest difference between my studio here and in Cape Town is that I have to drive there but here it is so convenient waking up, walking downstairs and I’m already in the studio. I’ll break up my morning with a pilates session or a coffee and croissant run and then return to work until the late afternoon sun cooks me out of the studio around 6pm. Most days, after dinner and exploring Berlin for a few hours, I’ll go back to work. I’ve spent many late nights weaving the large Woven Painting. In Cape Town there is a national phenomenon called ‘Loadshedding’ where the electricity is switched off at intervals during the day. This kind of forces me to take a break, so I’ll take a nap or go home. Living in the same space as your work can be too tempting to never stop, so I’ve been conscious about maintaining a balance.
“Through experimentation and play, a happy accident led me to discover that I could peel paint off a plastic surface and it could exist as a whole entity in itself.”
19.06.24_ Studio photographs by Luca Vincenzo. A plate of carbonara and perfect moody light after the rain.
Luca Vincenzo is a distinguished photographer and artist whose practice exists at the intersection of performance, community, humanity and nature. Luca lives and works between Europe and his home-country of South Africa.
Luca and Gabrielle can’t recall when exactly they met but it was many years ago and ever since they have been following each other’s work and staying connected.
[Photographs by Luca: pages 17 - 23]
L: Where did the title for your show, ‘wind swept paint’ come from?
G: I actually wanted to title the exhibition ‘wind-smeared, paint-swept’, but even I struggled over the flow of the words. The title is quite visual; of paint swept away by the wind. I imagine paint being spilled all over the place; a bit like what it looks like in the studio. This body of work is really about movement, transference and change. The inspiration comes from the transition of the seasons and small moments like new growth budding or leaves rustling in the wind. As soon as I start painting, it becomes all about the movement of the paint. The smearing, the squirting of the paint; it’s all transference. There is a performative aspect to my studio processes. I’m essentially landscaping the paintings after the paint has dried. I use wet paint to glue dried paint and so it become like collaging with paint. Therefore there is never really an end to the painting. Bits and bobs of paint that I made for one painting gets used in another, or paint get shaved off from one painting and those paint-shavings inspire a whole new painting. It’s a continous conversation between the paintings themselves, a continious studio dialogue of transference, layering and growth.
L: How do you usually go about giving titles to your work?
G: It’s great when a title comes naturally and immediately, but usually when I have to sit with it, I’ll go with two or three words that I was thinking about while creating the work and mix that up a bit. Sometimes certain works are purely a Woven Painting or a Paint Study and then I title it as such.
“The title [wind swept paint] is quite visual; of paint swept away by the wind. I imagine paint being spilled all over the place; a bit like what it looks like in the studio.”
Gabrielle Kruger was born in 1993 in Cape Town, South Africa, where she currently lives and works. After graduating summa Cum Laude from Stellenbosch University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2015, she earned her Masters in Fine Arts with Distinction from Michaelis School of Fine Art at University of Cape Town in 2018, specialising in painting.
Her most recent solo show in 2023, Paint Innings with Brundyn Arts & Culture at Boschendal Gallery in Franschhoek showed works from 20192023. Other solo shows include; Fifty Sounds, a three story exhibition of works by Gabrielle Kruger, Georgina Gratrix and Mongezi Ncaphayi at Gallery Kiche in Seoul (Korea) in 2022, Wait the Line at Smac Gallery in Cape Town in 2020, For Paint to Dry at SMAC Gallery in Stellenbosch, South Africa and Overgrowth at Marta Moriarty Art Window in Madrid, Spain; both in 2019; Garden Smoothie, collaborative exhibition with Marlene Steyn at SMAC Gallery, a solo exhibition as part of the Selected Graduates Section at Turbine Art Fair in Johannesburg, South Africa as well as her Masters Graduate exhibition, titled Undergrounding Landscapes, at Michaelis School of Fine Art at University of Cape Town (UCT) in Cape Town; both in 2018.
In 2023 she completed a three month artist-in-residence program at GlogauAir in Berlin. In 2019, Kruger was the Artist-in-Residence at the Nirox Sculpture Park at the Cradle of Humankind in Johannesburg, South Africa, which culminated in a collaborative project between Kruger, The National School of the Arts and Nirox Foundation to present a ‘Painting Performance,’ titled An African Adaptation of Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream. Kruger presented numerous ‘Painting Performances’ in 2019, including Gucci Garden of Eden, curated by Elana Brundyn and Louw Kotze and performed by Students of the Cape Town Academy at the Norval Foundation in Cape Town, South Africa, as well as arteBOTANICA, curated by Manthe Ribane and performed by students of The National School of the Arts at the Nirox Sculpture Park in Johannesburg.
Most recent group show participations includes: Investec Cape Town Art Fair presentation with Eigen + Art Gallery in 2024, Monochrome at Boschendal x Brundyn gallery in Franschhoek, GlogauAir Open Studios in Berlin, Mixed Media at Eigen + Art Galerie in Leipzig, Chromatic Horizons at Oude Leeskamer in Stellenbosch, Investec Cape Town Art Fair presentation with Eigen + Art Gallery, under~water~love popup exhibition by Eigen + Art Gallery at Under Projects, Cape Town; all in 2023; Inner Landscape at Gallery Bloom in Geneva, Kindred at Boschendal x Norval Gallery in Franschhoek, Artbusan fair presentation with Gallery Kiche in Korea in 2022.
