BIOGRAPHY
SWAIN HOOGERVORST
(b. 1988 Cape Town, South Africa)
‘My paintings draw their inspiration from a photographic starting point. My intention though is not to recreate a photograph, but rather to allude to what is referenced. My work deals a lot with memory and the recollection of time and events or encounters passed. I try to paint in a way that evokes the unreliability of memory but also the dream-like feeling we give it, especially if that memory is positive. Hence I paint in a way that is vague or potentially non-descriptive but which leaves visual cues as to what may or may not be there.’ - Swain Hoogervorst, 2024
Swain Hoogervorst is based in Cape Town. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Arts from Vega (2010). He was selected as a top 100 finalist in the ABSA L’Atelier Competition in both 2013 and 2015. Residencies include Schildersweek in the Netherlands (2013), Arteles Creative Centre in Finland (2015) and, most recently, Mas des Graviers in France (2019) and, most recently, Cité internationale des arts in Paris (2022).
Hoogervorst has participated in exhibitions both nationally and internationally. His first solo exhibition Inside Out was at the AVA Gallery in Cape Town (2014). Searching Eudaimonia (2017) marked his solo debut at Everard Read in Cape Town, followed by In Between Spaces (2020) and Time is a Long Thin Hand (2022) at Everard Read in Franschhoek. Hoogervorst curated an international group show, The Invisible Thread (2023), at the AVA Gallery, Cape Town. Hoogervorst is represented by Everard Read in South Africa and in the UK. His work can be found in private collections (in the UAE, US, UK, Brazil, France, Australia, Germany and Belgium) and public collections, including the Spier Arts Trust in South Africa.
ACHIEVEMENTS
2015 Top 100 Barclays L’Atelier Competition, South Africa
2013 Top 40 finalist Absa L’Atelier Competition, South Africa
2013 Invited artist at Schildersweek, Domburg, the Netherlands
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2024 Tomorrow, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa
2022 Time is a Long Thin Hand, Evevard Read, Franschhoek, South Africa
2020 In Between Spaces, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa
2018 Making Pictures, Cubicle Series, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa
2017 Searching Eudaimonia, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa
2014 Inside Out, AVA Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2024
Investec Cape Town Art Fair, with Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa
2023
What I Feel When I Think About The Cosmos, Everard Read, Franschhoek, South Africa
2023
The Invisible Thread, curator, AVA gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
Horse, Under Projects, Cape Town, South Africa
Collide, Feather Stone Centre for the Arts, Massachusetts, USA
2022
Spring, group show, Everard Read, Franschhoek, South Africa
Things I’d like to remember, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa
Seduction, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa
2021
In Conversation, Everard Read Gallery, Cape Town
Summer Show, Everard Read Gallery, Cape Town
2020
Proxies, Gallery Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
STILL, digital exhibition, Everard Read, UK & South Africa
2019
Summer Show, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa
Land and Sea, Art on Avenues, Somerset West, Cape Town, South Africa
New Small Paintings, Pop Up Exhibition, Roodebloem Studios, Cape Town, South Africa
Winter Show, Everard Read CIRCA, Cape Town, South Africa
2018
Summer Show, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa
Nano 1.2, Barnard Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
Making Pictures, Cubicle Series, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa
Winter Show, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa
In the forests of the night, Everard Read, Johannesburg, South Africa
Investec Cape Town Art Fair, with Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa
2017
Nano 1.1, Barnard Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
Spectrum, Everard Read, Johannesburg, South Africa
2016
Liminal Geographies, Barnard Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
Line and Shadow, Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
Death of the old, Kalashnikovv Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
Stars and Tracks, The Project Room, Windhoek, Namibia
For what it’s worth, No End Contemporary, Johannesburg, South Africa
Pastoral Abstraction, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa
2015
Defining the Narrative, Gallery MOMO, Cape Town, South Africa
Homage, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa
2014
Pool Party, Alma Martha Project Space, Cape Town, South Africa
Golden Haze, Salon 91, Cape Town, South Africa
/SCAPE, Salon 91, Cape Town, South Africa
2013
One in a Million, Salon 91, Cape Town, South Africa
Absa l’Atelier, Best 100 exhibition, Johannesburg, South Africa
Schildersweek, Domburg, Netherlands
2012
Summer Show, Salon91, Cape Town, South Africa
{Impression; Sunset} Salon91, Cape Town, South Africa
RESIDENCIES
2022 Cité internationale des arts, Paris, France
2019 Mas des Graviers, Pourrières, France
2015 Arteles Creative Centre, Haukijärvi, Finland
2013 Schildersweek, Domburg, Netherlands