Adele van Heerden
Adele van Heerden (b. 1989) is an artist primarily using painting and photography as conduits in her process of evolving techniques to create scenescapes between time. Living, working and swimming in Cape Town, South Africa, van Heerden’s practice —defined by an amorphous understanding of the phenomenon of the ‘body’: a body of water, — is distinguished by her artwork’s initiation. First, she captures a moment on camera, then, to re-scribe the meaning, the artist engages the memory’s transferral procedure, with pencil and gouache on drafting film. Also interested in ideas of domesticated and wild water, fluidity and liminality, van Heerden’s intentional abstractions distil these images to their finest strands of energy, colour and light. Van Heerden graduated with a diploma in Fine Art from Ruth Prowse School of Art (2010), a BA in History, Politics and Art History from the University of South Africa (2014), and an Honours in Curatorship from the University of Cape Town (2015). Solo exhibitions include Mirror (2024), Oceanic (2023) and Inside/Outside (2021) at 131 A Gallery (Cape Town), Field Trip at David Krut Projects (Johannesburg, 2022), The Secret Life of Plants at Rust en Vrede (Cape Town, 2022), Infinite Detail at Lizamore & Associates (Johannesburg, 2021) and In Memoriam at AVA Gallery (Cape Town, 2018). Van Heerden's work has been included in group exhibitions at Gallery MOMO (Cape Town), 131 A Gallery (Cape Town), Academie Galerie (Munich), David Krut Projects (Johannesburg), Reshape 22: Future Art Histories (Latitudes Online), The UNESCO Centre (Paris), Lizamore & Associates (Johannesburg), Salon 91 (Cape Town), Gallery 2 (Johannesburg) and 99 Loop Gallery (Cape Town).
Her work has also been shown at the Latitudes Art Fair (2024), Cape Town Art Fair (2022), Turbine Art Fair, Johannesburg (2018, 2019) and notable exhibitions at the Woordfees Arts Festival, Stellenbosch (2019 & 2023) and the Klein Karoo Nasionale Kunstefees, Oudtshoorn (2020). Van Heerden has completed residencies at Cité Internationale des Arts Paris (2020, 2023), Cape Town Art Residency (2024) and David Krut Projects (2021).
Van Heerden has served as a member of the board of the Arts Association of Bellville, Cape Town (2018–2019) and the Friends of the Iziko South African National Gallery (2019–2024).
Artist Statement:
I am interested in the visuality that comes from the proximity between human-made and natural environments, the relationship between design and art, as well as figuration and abstraction. Moments of discord, harmony, juxtaposition and parallel discern meaning to me as I capture their memory. My intention is to capture and hold an experience and to connect to the energy and feeling of a place. To share in its temporality, to investigate its form and function against its organic elements, or environment. To use abstraction as a means of purification, and direct connection.
My work, predominantly centred around urban, natural landscapes, waterscapes and interior spaces has recently expanded into a visual exploration of the interplay between water and light. Water is a substance that affects, refracting and reflecting it. As a swimmer, I am drawn to municipal pools and coastal shorelines, using my body, sketchbook, and camera to observe and engage. There is an autobiographical component to my practice, a sort of abstracted narration I explore through translating this experience. Painting water started when I was diagnosed with a hip condition that demanded surgery and a lot of rehabilitation. Swimming is an embodied experience for me, where the body serves as a sensory apparatus through which revelations are made.