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Bio
Ydi Coetsee Carstens (b. 1990 South Africa) graduated with a MA in Fine Arts from the University of Stellenbosch in March 2015. Her current practice is focused on figurative painting, using traditional oil painting genres like still life, interiors, portraits and landscape. During her masters studies she spent four months at Makerere University (Kampala) on a soul searching experience. Today many of her paintings speak about the segregated communities in her hometown where her father worked as Dutch Reformed pastor. Ydi had her first solo exhibition Bly/Stay at the Rust-en-Vrede Gallery in 2018. She was a Sasol New Signatures finalist in 2015 and a Top 40 finalist in the Sanlam Portrait Awards in 2017. Since 2016 she has taken part in numerous group shows and contemporary art projects. Artist statement I believe beauty can be subversive when it exposes what we value and what we thrust aside and/or overlook. Painting is an exciting and conceptual medium to me because it plays on traditional notions of value and ‘high art’ and has a heritage undulating between complacency with the status quo and subversion of it (for example Reformation art and Romanticism). Re-imagining oil painting in the Sub-Saharan Africa context demonstrates how figurative painting remains a dynamic and thriving discipline, able to question, destabilize and contemplate culture and what it means to be human. My studio process involves stitching together and editing photographic sources, drawing, stencilling, masking, scumbling, dry brush, glazing and sometimes using gold leaf. Artists I admire include Edgar Degas, Andrew Wyeth, Antonio Lopez Garcia, Andries Gouws and Adriaan van Zyl. My aim is to paint thoughtful, complex pieces, consistently, and to continue to develop this ability as I move and think through the world. Thematically I’m interested in social issues, history, modern painting, church history, theology and philosophy. |
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Exhibitions:
Dec 2020 "Subsurface scattering", curated by Clare Menck, Gallery One 11, Cape Town
Dec 2020 "A subtle skill", Knysna Fine Arts, Knysna
Nov 2020 "Subsurface scattering" Porterville museum, Pure Porterville arts festival
Nov 2020 "Apart/A part", Art-b gallery, Bellville
Oct 2020 Open studios, Rustenburg farm, Stellenbosch
July 2020 "Committee's choice exhibition", Art-b gallery, Bellville
June 2020 "Art in isolation" Imibala gallery, Graaff-Reinet
May 2020 "The Grand", Rust-en-vrede-gallery, Durbanville
March2020 "Unleavened", Dyman contemporary, Stellenbosch
March 2020 Imibala gallery, Somerset-West
Jan 2020 D-street contemporary art gallery, Stellenbosch
Dec 2019 Rust-en-vrede-gallery summer sale, Durbanville
Dec 2019 Liebrecht gallery summer salon, Somerset-West
Nov 2019 Knysna Fine arts summer salon, Knysna
July 2019 "Soma", 40 Stones in a wall group show, Graham's town
June 2019 "Seeing the light", Hofmeyer hall, Stellenbosch
June 2010 "Not a portrait", Rust-en-vrede-gallery, Durbanville
April 2019 "Palette/plate/palet", Rust-en-vrede-gallery, Durbanville
April 2019 "Home Moods", Liebrecht gallery, Somerset-West
April 2019 "Narratives of place", Mullers gallery, Cape Town
March 2019 "Ek sien jou ek is hier", Stellenbosch University Woordfees
Dec 2018 Group show, D-street kunskamer, Stellenbosch
Dec 2018 Pictures at an exhibition, Liebrecht Art Gallery, Somerset West
Dec 2018 Forward? Forward! Forward... Stellenbosch University Museum, Stellenbosch
July 2018 The Grand, group show Rust-en-vrede-gallery, Durbanville
June 2018 40 Stones in a wall group show, Graham's town
June 2018 Magritte group show, Liebrecht Art Gallery, Somerset West
May 2018 60 x 60, member's exhibition, Art-b Gallery, The arts association of Bellville
April 2018 "Water", Group show, Liebrecht Art Gallery, Somerset West
April 2018 ResCape, pop-up exhibition. First Thursdays, Long Street, Cape Town
March 2018 Bly/Stay SOLO, Rust-en-vrede-gallery, Durbanville
August 2017 Sanlam Portrait Awards, top 40 exhibition, Rust-en-vrede-gallery, Durbanville
August 2017 Vuleka competition exhibition, Art-b Gallery, The arts association of Bellville
June 2017 'Tiny Treasures annual fundraiser exhibition', Art-b Gallery, The arts association of Bellville
April 2017 “Pniel” Group show as part of Pniel cultural day, Pniel art gallery, Pniel
March 2017 'Die Kruisiging', multidisciplinary production for Woordfees, Endler hall, Stellenbosch
Nov 2016 'Impressions", Installation and discussion of a conceptual artwork at Echo community house Blouberg
Oct 2016 “Art, food and wine pairing”, Loaves on Long, Longstreet, Cape Town
Sept 2016, 'The Grand’ annual exhibition, Rust-en-Vrede Gallery, Durbanville
Sept 2016 ' Mono/lino printmaking exhibition with Clare Menck and friends', The arts association of Bellville
August 2016 ‘Landscapes’, pop-up art exhibition at Stellenbosch Gemeente
July 2016 '30 x 30 under 30', Rust-en-Vrede Gallery, Durbanville
June 2016 'Tiny Treasures', Art-b Gallery, The arts association of Bellville
April 2016 'Evanescence/Verduistering, The Tank Gallery, Stellenbosch Hills
March 2016 ‘Barclays L’Atelier Regional Entries, Rust-en-Vrede Gallery, Durbanville
Sept 2015 ‘Studio exhibition’ at “Remnants of Place”, D-Street Gallery, Stellenbosch
Aug 2015 Sasol New Signatures National Exhibition, Pretoria Art Museum
March 2015 'Art (de)code –(re)phrase', D-Street Gallery, Stellenbosch
July 2015 'Tiny Treasures', Art-b Gallery, The arts association of Bellville
April 2015 'Selfportret', The Tank Gallery, Stellenbosch Hills (solo)
Jan 2015 'Romantic Landscapes', MA exhibition, US Gallery, Stellenbosch (solo)
Dec 2014 'Art and Wine', Bernard Boyes wine tasting, Somerset-West
Aug 2014 'Stories and spaces', MA group show, US Gallery, Stellenbosch
May 2013 '60 years - Alumni exhibition', PJ Olivier art centre, Stellenbosch
Jan 2011 'Noli Procrastinare' collaborative art project, Laingsburg
Dec 2020 "Subsurface scattering", curated by Clare Menck, Gallery One 11, Cape Town
Dec 2020 "A subtle skill", Knysna Fine Arts, Knysna
Nov 2020 "Subsurface scattering" Porterville museum, Pure Porterville arts festival
Nov 2020 "Apart/A part", Art-b gallery, Bellville
Oct 2020 Open studios, Rustenburg farm, Stellenbosch
July 2020 "Committee's choice exhibition", Art-b gallery, Bellville
June 2020 "Art in isolation" Imibala gallery, Graaff-Reinet
May 2020 "The Grand", Rust-en-vrede-gallery, Durbanville
March2020 "Unleavened", Dyman contemporary, Stellenbosch
March 2020 Imibala gallery, Somerset-West
Jan 2020 D-street contemporary art gallery, Stellenbosch
Dec 2019 Rust-en-vrede-gallery summer sale, Durbanville
Dec 2019 Liebrecht gallery summer salon, Somerset-West
Nov 2019 Knysna Fine arts summer salon, Knysna
July 2019 "Soma", 40 Stones in a wall group show, Graham's town
June 2019 "Seeing the light", Hofmeyer hall, Stellenbosch
June 2010 "Not a portrait", Rust-en-vrede-gallery, Durbanville
April 2019 "Palette/plate/palet", Rust-en-vrede-gallery, Durbanville
April 2019 "Home Moods", Liebrecht gallery, Somerset-West
April 2019 "Narratives of place", Mullers gallery, Cape Town
March 2019 "Ek sien jou ek is hier", Stellenbosch University Woordfees
Dec 2018 Group show, D-street kunskamer, Stellenbosch
Dec 2018 Pictures at an exhibition, Liebrecht Art Gallery, Somerset West
Dec 2018 Forward? Forward! Forward... Stellenbosch University Museum, Stellenbosch
July 2018 The Grand, group show Rust-en-vrede-gallery, Durbanville
June 2018 40 Stones in a wall group show, Graham's town
June 2018 Magritte group show, Liebrecht Art Gallery, Somerset West
May 2018 60 x 60, member's exhibition, Art-b Gallery, The arts association of Bellville
April 2018 "Water", Group show, Liebrecht Art Gallery, Somerset West
April 2018 ResCape, pop-up exhibition. First Thursdays, Long Street, Cape Town
March 2018 Bly/Stay SOLO, Rust-en-vrede-gallery, Durbanville
August 2017 Sanlam Portrait Awards, top 40 exhibition, Rust-en-vrede-gallery, Durbanville
August 2017 Vuleka competition exhibition, Art-b Gallery, The arts association of Bellville
June 2017 'Tiny Treasures annual fundraiser exhibition', Art-b Gallery, The arts association of Bellville
April 2017 “Pniel” Group show as part of Pniel cultural day, Pniel art gallery, Pniel
March 2017 'Die Kruisiging', multidisciplinary production for Woordfees, Endler hall, Stellenbosch
Nov 2016 'Impressions", Installation and discussion of a conceptual artwork at Echo community house Blouberg
Oct 2016 “Art, food and wine pairing”, Loaves on Long, Longstreet, Cape Town
Sept 2016, 'The Grand’ annual exhibition, Rust-en-Vrede Gallery, Durbanville
Sept 2016 ' Mono/lino printmaking exhibition with Clare Menck and friends', The arts association of Bellville
August 2016 ‘Landscapes’, pop-up art exhibition at Stellenbosch Gemeente
July 2016 '30 x 30 under 30', Rust-en-Vrede Gallery, Durbanville
June 2016 'Tiny Treasures', Art-b Gallery, The arts association of Bellville
April 2016 'Evanescence/Verduistering, The Tank Gallery, Stellenbosch Hills
March 2016 ‘Barclays L’Atelier Regional Entries, Rust-en-Vrede Gallery, Durbanville
Sept 2015 ‘Studio exhibition’ at “Remnants of Place”, D-Street Gallery, Stellenbosch
Aug 2015 Sasol New Signatures National Exhibition, Pretoria Art Museum
March 2015 'Art (de)code –(re)phrase', D-Street Gallery, Stellenbosch
July 2015 'Tiny Treasures', Art-b Gallery, The arts association of Bellville
April 2015 'Selfportret', The Tank Gallery, Stellenbosch Hills (solo)
Jan 2015 'Romantic Landscapes', MA exhibition, US Gallery, Stellenbosch (solo)
Dec 2014 'Art and Wine', Bernard Boyes wine tasting, Somerset-West
Aug 2014 'Stories and spaces', MA group show, US Gallery, Stellenbosch
May 2013 '60 years - Alumni exhibition', PJ Olivier art centre, Stellenbosch
Jan 2011 'Noli Procrastinare' collaborative art project, Laingsburg
