ERIN CHAPLIN
(b. 1988 Durban, South Africa)

Erin Chaplin’s work is a deeply personal and reflective. She draws her initial inspiration from her longstanding muse - nature, but reaches further – in reaction to Christian religious doctrine and in an exploration of human vulnerability – and into abstraction.

Chaplin studies the relationship between the natural and the artificial in her work, striving to capture the poignancy of youth as it fades – fresh fruit and flowers as they slowly rot. In response to the challenging nature of the genre, the floral still-life works are executed in a combination of muted tones and unexpected, contrived colours. The contrast of these tones creates a dynamism in the work that entices and surprises the viewer. In her impasto paintings, a metaphor grows to encapsulate the delicate rawness and vulnerability of the human condition as we grapple with life as it unfolds.

Chaplin is a self-taught artist who has exhibited at the Irma Stern Museum in Cape Town and at commercial galleries in London, Australia and South Africa. 

I feel as though I am living between worlds. Reality, fantasy and my own reality. And time is ticking on in the background. Still life resonates with me because it’s on the clock too. Flowers and fruit can be arranged and painted to live forever ... but they will die and rot. This comforts me. I don't want anything to be too perfect or too alive because that’s not realistic.        _{ERIN CHAPLIN}           

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS

2025
Investec Cape Town Art Fair, with Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa
Internal Species, group exhibition, Otomys, Melbourne, Australia
10 Years | Summer 2025, group exhibition, Everard Read, London, UK

2024
Investec Cape Town Art Fair, with Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa
Southern Light, group exhibition, Everard Read, London, UK
Red and Green Work, solo exhibition, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

2023
What I Feel When I Think About The Cosmos, group exhibition, Everard Read, Franschhoek, South Africa
Investec Cape Town Art Fair, with Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa
We are a way for the cosmos to know itself, group exhibition, Bode Projects, Berlin, Germany
Group exhibition, Otomys, Melbourne, Australia

2022
Island, solo exhibition, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa
Playing Field, dual exhibition with Jade Paton, Kalashnikovv, Johannesburg, South Africa

2021  
Hand to Mouth: From the functional to the abstract, group exhibition, P72 Project Space, Johannesburg, South Africa
Oasis, group exhibition, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa
Winter, group exhibition, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

2020  
Path Through Mountain, solo exhibition, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa
Still, group exhibition, Everard Read South Africa & UK

2019  
Soft, solo exhibition, part of the Cubicle Series, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa
Works on Paper, group exhibition, RK Contemporary, Riebeek Kasteel, South Africa

2018  
Nice For What, Voorkamer Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa

2017  
Outgrowth, Voorkamer Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa