​Contemporary South African Art

Georgina Gratix

 

Georgina Gratrix was born in Mexico City in 1982 and grew up in Durban, South Africa. She studied at the Michaelis School of Fine Art, University of Cape Town, and graduated in 2005, specialising in painting. In 2018, Gratrix was awarded the Discovery Prize at the 50th Anniversary edition of Art Brussels, for her presentation with SMAC Gallery in Brussels, Belgium. Gratrix is a recipient of the Ampersand Fellowship Award and completed a residency at the Ampersand Foundation in New York City, USA in 2018. She completed a residency in Oaxaca, Mexico, in association with a Centro de las Artes Augustín (CASA) culminating in an exhibition entitled Crossing Night in the same year. 

 

Most recently, Gratrix was included in the following group exhibitions: Punch, curated by Nina Chanel Abney, at Jeffrey Deitch Gallery in Los Angeles, USA; Skin Stealers at Nicodim Gallery in Los Angeles;  the Ampersand Foundation Award 21 years celebration exhibition curated by Gordon Froud at the University of Johannesburg Art Gallery (JAG) in Johannesburg, South Africa, all in 2019.

 

Solo exhibitions include: On Repeat, at SMAC Gallery in Johannesburg, in 2018; Puppy Love, at SMAC Gallery in Cape Town, in 2016; The Berlin Paintings at Die Tankstelle in association with Nolan Judin Gallery in Berlin, Germany, in 2013; My Show in 2012 at SMAC Gallery in Stellenbosch; and Everything Ecstatic, at Ten Haaf Projects in Amsterdam, Netherlands, in 2010.

 

Further notable group exhibitions include: Thinking, Feeling, Head, Heart at the New Church Museum in Cape Town, South Africa in 2015; PAPERWORK: An Exhibition of Contemporary South African Works on Paper at SMAC Gallery in Stellenbosch in 2014; The Beautyful Ones at Nolan Judin Gallery in Berlin, Germany, in 2013 and Dialogues with Masters: Visual Perspectives on Two Decades of Democracy, a curated exhibition for the 2013 FNB Joburg Art Fair. Also in 2013, Gratrix’s work formed part of Paddle 8: Curator’s Selection by Tania Pardo for ARCOmadrid International Contemporary Art Fair in Madrid, Spain. In 2012, Gratrix exhibited in Subject as Matter at the New Church Museum and in PAINT 1: Contemporary South African Painting at SMAC Gallery, both in Cape Town, South Africa. Her work was also included in 1910- 2010: From Pierneef to Gugulective at the Iziko South African National Gallery in Cape Town, South Africa in 2010 and Fresh Fruits at Ten Haaf Projects in Amsterdam, the Netherlands in 2009.

 

Gratrix’s works have been included in SMAC Gallery’s presentations at artmonte-carlo in Monte Carlo, Monaco in 2019; UNTITLED, Art at Miami Beach in Miami, USA in 2018 and MiArt at Fiera Milano City in Milan Italy in 2017, as well as editions of the Investec Cape Town Art Fair and FNB Art Joburg in South Africa. In 2020, Gratrix will present a solo booth at The Armory Show in New York, USA.

 

To date, SMAC Gallery has produced two publications on the artist, Georgina Gratrix (2016) and Some New Paintings by Georgina Gratrix (2018). Her work is included in the following collections: Iziko South African National Gallery, Cape Town; Missoni Collection, Milan; University of Cape Town (UCT) Art Collection, Cape Town; Matthais and Gervanne Leridon Collection, Paris; Spier Arts Collection, Cape Town; Ellerman House Art Collection, Cape Town; Nandos Arts Collection, London, UK.