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Lisette Forsyth

Lisette Forsyth

Cape Town | 37 artworks for sale

Lisette Forsyth is a contemporary visual artist based in Cape Town, South Africa.
"I take the discarded materials of modern work and transmute their surfaces into artifacts with a powerful appeal to current artistic sensibilities. Scarred wood, rusted steel, battered metal and builder’s planks are all grist to my grinder, saw, and paintbrush. The story of each piece is transmutation, the outcome, I hope, is enchantment.

I believe that the dialogue I initiate in my work starts a chain reaction between my thoughts and the subject matter; between the elements in the work – the images, the objects and the background – all integrated and reinforced by the strong binding shadows I invariably include. Crucial to it all is the satisfying dialogue between my art and the viewer, because I believe that our experience of a piece of art is enhanced by our understanding of the values it signifies." - Lisette Forsyth.

Lisette studied Graphic Design at The Cape Technikon from 1989 – 1991 and graduated with a Diploma, majoring in photography and printmaking. She has worked in many fields all over Europe and Australia before coming home and setting up her own studio in Woodstock.

Lisette has exhibited widely with solo and group shows across South Africa as well as internationally: she was a 2007 Vuleka finalist.

Selected Exhibitions:

2019
Solo exhibition LAND, at StateoftheART Cape Town

2018
Harlem Fine Arts Show (HFAS) in New York

2017
SAADA art show with Holden Manz
Group Exhibition: 'UNITLED|SPRING' at StateoftheART Gallery, Cape Town

2016
SAADA art show with Holden Manz
Group Exhibition: 'Poudly South African' at Studio Dylan Thomas, Cape Town
Group Exhibition with East Side Studios, Cape Town
BRKLYN Spring Exhibition, Cape Town

2015
Solo Exhibition: ‘Nothing in India’ at Studio Dylan Thomas, Cape Town
Solo Exhibition: ‘Love they Neighbour’ at StateoftheART Gallery, Cape Town
Art and antique expo at the Look Out, W&A Waterfront

2014
Group Exhibition: ‘Ladies First’, Galerie von Braunbehrens, Munich, Germany
Solo Exhibition: 'A Reflection Of Us' at StateoftheART Gallery, Cape Town
Solo Exhibition: ‘Who’s looking at who’ at Rust and Vrede Gallery
Group Exhibition: ‘Music and Lyrics’ at Rust and Vrede

Works donated for Ukuthemba Child foundation are auctioned by Graham Norton, resulting in sales to Mr Norton.

2013
Solo exhibition: An honest day’s work, Studio Tonic, Cape Town

2012
Part of the art walk ,Art week in Observatory  and Woodstock , resulting in an ongoing relationship with the Jeanneta Blignaut Art Consultancy, Spier.

2011
Group exhibition: Pin Hole at Haas, Cape Town

What is your favourite film of all time?
Each decade has it’s own film: the 80s The Outsiders; 90s Jesus of Motreal; 00s Little Miss Sunshine; and 2010 District 9.

What music are you currently listening to and why?
Bon Ivor because its easy listening and beautiful. When I am in the studio I listen to Fine Music radio, it is relaxing , undemanding has very little advertising. The long pieces help sustain a train of thought and it is also a way to keep in touch with what is going on culturally.
Most recently Listening to YO YO MAR and LP .

Which living artists do you most admire and why?
Paul Edmunds, his work is clever and original.

Which deceased artist do you most admire and why?
Brett Whitely because of his loose style and innovative use of materials.

Which exhibition that you have visited made the greatest impact on you and why?
Harry Wichat at the Smelik Stokking Galleries in Amsterdam. I loved his loose brush stroke and use of colour – it could also have been the hash chocolate.
Most recent exhibition that made an impact was work of Lynette Yiadom-Boakye in Munich, her use of colour. Stone cold sober.

What is the question you get asked most frequently about your work and how do you answer it?
Question I get asked most is where do I find my surfaces. I scavenge.

What/ who inspired you to be an artist?
My Father, when I asked what I should do after leaving school he suggested I do what makes me happy.

Can you tell us about where you make your art and what, if any, the significance this location has.
I have a studio in Woodstock, an industrial part of Cape Town. I feel a sense of productivity in the air. I also find the people that live and work here have a style and grace despite their limited resources,every move languid and rhythmic. The weathered and graffitied buildings are also an ever changing inspiration.

What do you like most about being an artist?
To have an outlet for my creative energy.

What is your greatest achievement as an artist to date?
Seeing a commission piece bring tears of joy.

What are your plans for the coming year?
I am working on an exhibition called LAND for February at StateoftheART. An exhibition in Portugal on a series I did there. Also to continue experimenting.