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Gabrielle Raaff (b.1970) is a painter who lives and works in Cape Town. Raaff's works begin with a photographic image,. And while this image serves as a jumping-off point only, it seems that we are repeatedly brought back to the photographic process. It's as if the medium of photography and its ability to fix an image is what piques her interest. The artist works with ethereality. She uses the media of ink, watercolour and water-based oil as a vehicle for alluding to the form, the function and the emotion of her subject. Landscape and its reference both to the actual place and places of the subconscious are what can be found lurking in her paintings. Raaff's most notable earlier works in water-colour and ink capturing beach and city figures and aerial Google satellite images of distinctly different South African neighbourhoods, rely on a cool relationship between herself and the subject and revel in the abstract qualities of the view. Recent works have seen a return to a more visceral use of water-based oil to help play out a more intimate painterly relationship with the subject.
Education
1994 Completed two short courses in Art Therapy and Colour at Central Saint Martins University in London.
1992 Bachelor of Fine Arts, Stellenbosch University
Higher Diploma in Education, Stellenbosch University
Solo Exhibitions
2019 Echoes form the South, SMITH, Cape Town
2017 Trail, SMITH, Cape Town
2015 Night Watch, Salon 91, Cape Town
2009 In Our Midst, Muti Gallery, Cape Town
Two-person Exhibitions
2011 Relation, with Kobus La Grange, Dorpstraat Gallery, Stellenbosch
2011 People, with Tom Cullberg at Chagan Contemporary, London
2011 Realm, with Lorenzo Nassimbeni, Salon 91 Cape Town
2008 Periphery, with Tamsyn Lancaster, These Four Walls Gallery, Observatory
1995 Gabrielle Raaff and Francois Van Reenen, The AVA Gallery, Cape Town
1991 Santam Scholarship Exhibition with Conrad Botes at The University Gallery, Stellenbosch
Group Exhibitions
2019 Emphatic Whispers, SMITH, Cape Town
2018 Close Encounters, SMITH, Cape Town
2018 Rendezvous, SMITH, Cape Town
2017 Nano 1.1, Barnard Gallery, Cape Town
2015 2, SMITH, Cape Town
2015 However, Arthub Gallery, London
2015 Kingdom, Equus Gallery, Cavalli Estate
2015 Stellar, Salon 91, Cape Town
2015 Empire, Everard Read Gallery, Cape Town
2014 Paper is You II, Salon 91, Cape Town
2014 Scintilla: An Alchemy Show, Commune 1, Cape Town
2011 Paper is You, Salon 91, Cape Town
2008 Spier Contemporary, The Johannesburg Art gallery, Johannesburg
1998 Unplugged, Rembrandt Van Rijn Gallery, Market Theatre, Johannesburg
1992 Absa Atelier Finalist Exhibition, AVA Gallery, church Street
1992 Group Student Exhibition, Grahamstown Festival
1992 Muratie Painting Award Exhibition, Muratie Wine Estate
Art Fairs
2018 Investec Cape Town Art Fair, SMITH, Cape Town
2015 Cape Town Art Fair, Salon 91
2014 Turbine Art Fair, Salon 91, Johannesburg
2013 Cape Town Art Fair, Salon 91
Experience
2018 Taught a first-year Life Drawing module at Michaelis School of Fine Art.
2014-2015 Lectured drawing and illustration at The Red and Yellow School of Advertising and Design
1994-2011 Lectured drawing, illustration and design at The Red and Yellow School of Advertising and Design
1993 Lectured first-year students in alternative printmaking methods at Stellenbosch University.
Awards
2007 Finalist Spier Contemporary
1992 Finalist Absa Atelier
1992 Santam Scholarship
1991 Muratie Painting Award