KIRSTEN BEETS
(b.1983 South Africa)

Kirsten Beets was born in Cape Town, South Africa in 1983. She works predominantly with oil paint on paper. Her main subjects and themes are how people interact with nature in a recreational way, usually observing things from a high vantage point and neatly rendering them in minute detail. Observations of people, places and objects (and sometimes the imaginative thoughts that were produced by them) thus recorded, transfer a fleeting moment into a physical object; elevating their significance and making them touchstones of memory.

Kirsten completed a Bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts from Stellenbosch University in 2005 and subsequently went on to study 3D animation at The Animation School. She worked as a texture artist for a post-production company in Cape Town before pursuing further postgraduate education at Stellenbosch University. There she gained a BPhil in illustration. Kirsten has participated in several group shows in South Africa at: Salon91, Everard Read, Grahamstown National arts festival, Sasol art museum, University of Stellenbosch museum, Ron Belling Gallery and Underculture Contemporary Gallery. She was also selected for a residency at the Scuola Internazionale di Grafica in Venice in 2012. She has exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition 2014 in London.

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS:

2020
Souvenirs from another summer, solo exhibition, Salon91, Cape Town, South Africa
Summer, a group exhibition, Everard Read, London, UK
Investec Cape Town Art Fair Solo & Group exhibition with Salon91, Cape Town, South Africa
Things Behind the Sun, group exhibition, Salon91, Cape Town, South Africa
A Hazy Shade of Winter, group exhibition, Salon91, Cape Town, South Africa

2019
Sydney Contemporary Art Fair with Salon91, Sydney, Australia
Wildflowers, end-of-year group salon in aid of Ilitha Labantu, Salon91, Cape Town, South Africa
Helios, solo exhibition, Salon91, Cape Town, South Africa
Regarding Winter, group exhibition, Salon91, Cape Town, South Africa
Investec Cape Town Art Fair with Salon91, Cape Town, South Africa
The Distance from Afar, group exhibition, Glen Carlou gallery, Paarl

2018
Dreamland, solo exhibition, Salon91, Cape Town, South Africa
Folklore, end-of-year group exhibition in aid of True North, Salon91, Cape Town, South Africa
Investec Cape Town Art Fair with Salon91, Cape Town, South Africa
FNB Joburg Art Fair with Salon91, Johannesburg, South Africa
Turbine Art Fair with Salon91, Sandton, South Africa

2017
Trees Make Forests, end-of-year group exhibition, Salon91, Cape Town, South Africa
Field, group exhibition, Salon91, Cape Town, South Africa
FNB Joburg Art Fair with Salon91, Johannesburg, South Africa
Mirage, solo exhibition, Salon91, Cape Town, South Africa
Turbine Art Fair with Salon91, Sandton, South Africa
Cape Town Art Fair with Salon91, Cape Town, South Africa

2016
Cape Town Art Fair, Cape Town, South Africa
Paper Is You II , Group Show Salon 91, Cape Town
Oracle, year-end group exhibition, Salon91
Turbine Art Fair with Salon91; Cape Town Art Fair with Salon91

2015
Cape Town Art Fair , Represented by Salon91, Cape Town
Fine print, Underculture Contemporary Gallery in association with the National Arts Festival Fringe Programme, Port Elizabeth, South Africa
Everyday Eden, salon91, Cape Town
The Turbine Art Fair, Johannesburg, South Africa
Stellar, Salon91, Cape Town, South Africa

2014
Cape Town Art Fair, Represented by Salon91, Cape Town
Cape Town Design Indaba, selected as an Emerging Creative, Cape Town
Sundays child, Salon91, Cape Town
The Winter Exhibition, Everard Read Gallery, Cape Town,
The Summer Season, Everard Read Gallery, Cape Town
The Royal Academy of Arts Summer Show, The Royal Academy of Arts, London
Golden haze, Salon91, Cape Town, South Africa

2013
Aurora, Salon91, Cape Town
One in a Million, Salon91, Cape Town
Animal Advance, CFI Gallery, Port Elizabeth
Possessed, Everard Read Gallery, Cape Town
For Play, Underculture Contemporary Gallery, Port Elizabeth
Modern Miniatures, ART Gallery, Port Elizabeth
ART4U, Affordable Art Fair Cape Town, Salon91, Cape Town, South Africa
Home Is Whenever I’m With You, Salon 91, Cape Town, South Africa

2012
I’d Rather be Swimming, Salon 91, Cape Town, South Africa

2011
First Editions, Salon 91, Cape Town
Handbound, Sasol Art Museum, Stellenbosch, South Africa
Becomings, US Art Gallery, South Africa
If You Let Yourself Love A Wild Thing, Salon 91, Cape Town

RESIDENCIES:

2017
Artist Residency, Foundation OBRAS, Netherlands

2012
1 month artist’s residency at the Scuola Internazionale di Grafica, Venice, Italy