Steyn, Marlene

Bobbie Burgers is a contemporary Canadian painter. Her lush and Expressionistic depictions of flowers teeter on the verge of abstraction, bursting with bright color and laden with thickly applied, textural paint. “Flowers, to me, are the opposite of still,” the artist has explained. “Changing from minute to minute, they are perfect symbols for life, death, yearning, and beauty. My brushstrokes are layered with my own internal charges, depicting anger, frustration, softness, wanting, and more.” Born in 1973 in Vancouver, Canada, she studied Art History at the University of Victoria in British Columbia. Her work has been exhibited widely at home and abroad, notably including Art Market San Francisco and Equinox Gallery. Today, her works are in the collections of the Berost Corporation in Toronto and the Royal Bank of Canada, among others. Burgers lives and works in Vancouver, Canada.

Marlene Steyn was born in 1989 in Cape Town, South Africa, where she currently lives and works. Steyn obtained her Master of Fine Art degree in 2014 from the Royal College of Art in London, UK. Her work is included in Phaidon’s prestigious Vitamin C: Clay and Ceramic in Contemporary Art. Artist-in-residence programmes include a collaborative residency with Kay 16 and Artport Residency in Tel Aviv, Israel and an upcoming residency Sundaymorning@ekwc and centre-of-excellence for ceramics in Oisterwijk, Netherlands in 2022.

In 2019, Steyn presented two solo exhibitions: deep she dive her at SMAC Gallery in Cape Town, South Africa, and Unbuttoning my belly, at Lychee One in London, UK. Earlier solo exhibitions include: Shouty Insides at Galerie DYS in Brussels, Belgium in 2018; Knot I : I Knot at SMAC Gallery in Johannesburg, South Africa in 2017; Your Skin Is Not The Best Hiding Place at SMAC Gallery in Cape Town and You Can’t Cry When Your Head is Underwater at Lychee One, London, both in 2016; Mad Love at Lychee One in London as well as The End is Located Underneath Her Third Armpit (if the muscle is flexed) at Commune 1 in Cape Town, both in 2015; How Cannibals Cuddle at Cabin Gallery in London, in 2014.

Recent group exhibitions include: A Show of Solidarity, in support of the South African Solidarity Fund during an enforced Covid-19 lockdown, at SMAC Gallery in Cape Town; Staycation at Lychee One in London, UK; ‘L’Heure Bleue’ at PLUS-ONE Gallery in Antwerp, Belgium and SHAPING THINGS: An exploration of clay and ceramics in contemporary South African art practice at SMAC Gallery in Stellenbosch, all in 2020. Further selected group exhibitions include African Textures at OSART Gallery in Milan, Italy; arteBOTANICA in collaboration with Viviers Studio at the Nirox Sculpture Park in Krugersdorp, South Africa, both in 2019; Paper Cuts, at the Saatchi Gallery in London UK; Bone Memory at Lychee One in London, UK and Kneadingthetorsomakesabuzz, curated by Karni Barzilay at KAV 16 Gallery in Tel Aviv, Israel in 2018; Another Antipodes Inc at PS Art Space in Fremantle, Australia and All Things Being Equal at the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (MOCAA) in Cape Town, South Africa in 2017.

Steyn has participated in numerous art fairs including a solo presentation at Miart in Milan in 2018, as well as group presentations at 1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair, London; the Investec Cape Town Art Fair, Cape Town, and FNB Art Joburg, Johannesburg.

https://www.smacgallery.com/artist/marlene-steyn

The Leaf Blows Her

Oil and Ink on Canvas 185 cm x 195 cm 2017