ISABELLA KUIJERS
I am a multi-disciplinary figurative artist with a Masters degree from London Metropolitan University and six solo exhibitions in South Africa. I currently live in London.
I use drawing, painting, ceramics and various other mediums to explore the dynamics of interpersonal and society-wide communication. My work investigates how information is modified, added to, or subtracted from, as it flows through different channels. This exploration extends beyond traditional art-making materials to encompass language use and platforms like social media sites. With a deep curiosity about transfer and translation, my artistic practice revolves around experimenting with the way systems alter the implicit and sometimes explicit content of information packages, revealing emergent narratives and evoking thought-provoking juxtapositions.
In this exploration, I view the consumption, production and dissemination of data as self-portraits or avatars. I aim to critically examine the underlying mechanisms that shape our experiences of information exchange in an era oversaturated with data. By delving into the interplay between individuals and the mediums we engage with, my work challenges conventional notions of representation and interpretation, blurring the boundaries between the individual and broader cultural contexts.
For example, in my alphabet series, I created pictographic fonts, some of which I engraved into MDF boards. One particular typeface featured the faces of academics and artists from my research, revealing their demographics and serving as a shorthand method of citation. It also allowed me to encode my own text as images of respected figures, highlighting how we often cloak our work in the prestige of established individuals. These three-dimensional artworks not only encode text but also offer alternative readings and engage viewers through tactile dimensions, encouraging frottage or braille-like exploration.
Similarly, my "subtext" series involved collaborative interviews with individuals. From these interviews, I carefully selected specific lines of their speech, captured them on video, and painted their lips. This process fostered intense engagement while intentionally obscuring the exact words spoken, emphasizing the impulse and desire for communication beyond the explicit content.
Much of my work appropriates images from our daily media consumption—news sites, social media, online shopping, direct messages, memes, and photostreams—and explores the motivations behind our own image production. I believe that artifacts of our everyday lives, especially the mundane, provide valuable insights into the overarching narrative ebbs and flows of a particular time. In this way, my work becomes auto-ethnographical, reflecting the interplay between personal narratives and broader social contexts.
Additionally, I am intrigued by the recycling of thoughts and images and questions surrounding ownership and original copyright. I examine the question of what can be incorporated into painting and explore the extent to which source material must be transformed for it to become an artist's own creation.
Through my artistic practice, I strive to explore the complexities of human interaction, inviting audiences to reimagine the possibilities of meaning-making within the spaces formed between individuals and their communicative environments.
In summary, my artistic practice deals with dynamics of communication and the transformation of information across various mediums. Through experimentation and engagement with diverse materials, I aim to shed light on the role of individuals as both conduits and embodiments of information. By prompting viewers to reconsider their own experiences of communication, I seek to inspire new understandings of the mediums we constantly employ to make ourselves known.
ARTIST CV
BIOGRAPHY / EDUCATION
2014 Bachelor of Fine Arts with a major in English Literature, University of Stellenbosch, Stellenbosch, South Africa.
2020-21 Masters of Fine Art at London Metropolitan University, London, UK
(Cum Laude, Class Prize for Highest Achievement in Fine Art)
(Cum Laude, Class Prize for Highest Achievement in Fine Art)
UPCOMING
March 2023 - exhibition (solo), 99 Loop Gallery, Cape Town
2023/24 - Residency Fellow at Driftwood Studios, South Africa
NOTABLE EXHIBITIONS
PAST
2023 - ‘Studies’ (solo), Ilse Schermers Gallery, Stellenbosch
2022 - A Sense of Place, Latitudes Online (with The Printing Girls collective)
2021 - ‘Acts of Translation’ (solo), Association of Visual Arts (AVA), Cape Town
2021 - DECEM, London Metropolitan University MFA Graduate Exhibition, London
2019 - ‘feed’ (solo), 99 Loop, Cape Town
2019 Turbine Art Fair, 99 Loop Booth
2019 nano 1.3, Barnard Gallery, Newlands
2019 Cape Town Art Fair, 99 Loop Booth
2018 ‘EN CIPHER’ (Solo), 99 Loop, Cape Town
2018 grand at Grande Provence, Franschoek
2018 Cape Town Art Fair, 99 Loop Booth
2018 nano 1.2, Barnard Gallery, Newlands
2017 ‘Codex’ (Solo), 99 Loop, Cape Town
2017 Lady Garden, Cavalli Gallery, Stellenbosch
2017 nano 1.1, Barnard Gallery, Newlands
2017 Ars Gracia Artis, Grande Provence, Franschhoek
2017 Oracle, Salon91, Cape Town
2016 ‘Overgrowth’ (Solo), 99 Loop, Cape Town
2016 Watercolour Show, The Cape Gallery, Cape Town
2016 SKETCH, SMITH studio, Cape Town.
2015 Dreams, Amongst Other Things. Salon91, Cape Town.
FEATURES
SOANYWAY MAGAZINE ISSUE 8: Available: https://www.soanywaymagazine.org/issue-eight
SOANYWAY MAGAZINE ISSUE 14: Available: https://www.soanywaymagazine.org/issue-fourteen
RESIDENCIES
Residency at AqTushetii in the republic of Georgia
September 2023 - Residency Fellow at AqTusheti, located in Georgia, Eastern Europe
The Residency culminated in a small solo show in Tbilisi
OTHER
Isabella writes reviews and analysis of South African Art and Art History for the online art publication: Artthrob. She has contributed to print publications such as: ArtAfrica Magazine, The Sunday Times and the Big Issue. Her articles can be read at: http://isabellakuijerswrites.tumblr.com/