Jan-Henri Booyens
Born in Durban, South Africa (1980), Jan-Henri Booyens’ works are focused on the study of non-objective idiosyncratic landscapes and are distinctly rendered on medium and large scale canvases. Booyens comments, “I rely on intuition in my working process and in the act of painting itself, with the outcome seldom being predetermined.” Disjunctive esoteric narratives contained within the work, are premised on personal social and geographic relationships – that in turn manifest an evolving visual shorthand.
Also a member of the visual art collective AVANT CAR GUARD, Booyens has exhibited collectively on a national and international level since 2000, including New Painting at the Johannesburg Art Gallery (JAG) in 2006 and a critically acclaimed solo exhibition titled The Matt Sparkle in 2008. His solo works are included in the collection of the prestigious Cartier Foundation for Contemporary Art in Paris.
Commenting on Booyens’ modernist approach to painting, Marilyn Martin (former Director of the SA National Gallery) writes: …’Booyens presented a microcosm of history and new possibilities. Some works harkened back to the approaches of the 1960’s and 1970’s, while others combined painterly brush strokes with hard-edged lines, floating shapes and calligraphic marks. He succeeds in challenging the two dimensionality of the surface and creating dynamic visual and spatial tensions.’
Excerpt from ‘At the threshold of seeing’ by Marilyn Martin (Art South Africa Magazine, Vol. 7, Issue 2)
Selected Exhibitions
2010
Tectonic, Whatiftheworld / Gallery, Cape Town
2008
The Matt Sparkle, Whatiftheworld / Gallery, Cape Town
The Matt Sparkle, The Premisis Gallery, Johannesburg
