CARYN SCRIMGEOUR
(b. 1970, Johannesburg, South Africa)

Caryn Scrimgeour was born in Johannesburg in 1970 and has lived in Cape Town since 1972.  In 1991, she graduated from the University of Stellenbosch with a B.A in Fine Art. 

Scrimgeour’s subject matter is chosen from commonplace objects that surround her. Delicate chinaware, glassware and insects are combined with common trinkets and knick-knacks and portrayed against a backdrop of richly patterned fabric in a way that is reminiscent of 17th century Dutch still life painting.

Objects that are fragile and precious are juxtaposed with mundane items, which in turn are elevated to the same level of importance. Her works are filled with symbolism, and the place settings consequently ‘become representative of major events which have impacted my life over the past ten years, but which are also events that most women will experience during their lives, in one form or another.’ The objects in these paintings are easily recognizable, familiar and often nostalgic, making the images highly accessible to the viewer. Even the use of symbols and images drawn from other cultures and societies serve to entice rather than alienate the viewer

Caryn explains, ‘The constantly changing positions of the knives and forks are indicative of the inconsistency and fluctuation of what we see as sacred or fundamental to our core beliefs…For instance, an empty place setting, symbolizes a loss of self, emptiness and missed opportunities.’

The images are elevated from that of traditional still-life using aerial perspective which forces a shift in our viewpoint and the way in which we interpret the objects. At the same time, it creates an almost abstract interplay between the objects and the patterns, creating a contemporary context for a very traditional genre.

Caryn Scrimgeour’s paintings are obsessively immaculate.  Few artists can boast the fanatical attention to detail that she exhibits and the extraordinary command of her palette that enables her to wring out a crystal-clear luminosity from tubes of oil paint.  It is these qualities, coupled with her flair for fabric design and eye for curious bric-a-brac, that enable her to transform seemingly banal table settings into sweeping, post-modern, epic dramas that play out through the domestic debris of our lives.  The absence of humans, aside from the odd reflection in a knife (of the artist peering down),  makes these works all the more poignant, as do the unlikely  protagonists:  the harlequin collection of single pieces of china and cutlery ( the last remnants of grandma’s proud collection);  the lavishly painted cigarette butt; the  burnt match; the  half full glass of wine; the cocktail umbrella;  the Disney paper serviette…  These are Vanitas paintings, but not in the Catholic, finger-wagging manner of the 16th and 17th centuries,  but rather in  a way that seems apt for our age:  they hint gently at the fragility and transitoriness of the human construct.  Similarly, the fragments recorded are mini-monuments to the human desire to endure in the face of futility, and, the foolhardiness of trying.

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2024

Things I Lost Along the Way

2022
Hope is a Thing With Feathers, Everard Read, London, UK

2021
Entangled, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

2019
A Word is not a Sparrow, Everard Read, London, UK

2018
My Borrowed Life, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

2017
Flotsam, Everard Read, Johannesburg, South Africa

2016
Postcards from Chinatown, Everard Read, London, UK

2014
Breaking Point, Solo Exhibition Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa 

2012
Conundrum, Solo Exhibition, Everard Read, Johannesburg, South Africa 

2008
Fragile, Fertile Deceptions Solo Exhibition, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa 

2006
Solo Exhibition, Everard Read, Johannesburg, South Africa 

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITION 

2022
Seduction, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

2021
Spring Show, Everard Read, Johannesburg, South Africa

Summer, Everard Read, London, UK

2019
Birds, Rust-en-Vrede, Durbanville, South Africa

Winter, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

2018
Investec Cape Town Art Fair with Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

Winter, Everard Read London, UK

2017
Winter, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

Summer, Everard Read, London, UK

2016
Opening Gallery Exhibition, CIRCA Gallery, London, UK
Cape Town Art Fair, Everard Read Gallery Booth, Cape Town, South Africa 

2015
Homage, Group Exhibition Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa 
Winter, Group Exhibition Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa 

2014
Summer Season Group Exhibition, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa 

2013
100, Group Exhibition Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa 

2013
Centenary Group Exhibition, Everard Read, Johannesburg, South Africa 
Possessed Group Exhibition, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa 
Sydney Art Fair Group Exhibition with Everard Read, Johannesburg, Sydney, Australia

2012
Johannesburg Art Fair Group Exhibition with Everard Read, Johannesburg, South Africa 
Winter Group Exhibition, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa 
Small Works Group Exhibition, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa 
India Art Fair Group Exhibition with Everard Read, Johannesburg, New Delhi, India

2011
Johannesburg Art Fair Group Exhibition with Everard Read, Johannesburg
15th Anniversary Group Exhibition, Everard Read, Cape Town
Self Portrait Group Exhibition, Rust En Vrede, Durbanville

2010
Summer Group Exhibition, Everard Read, Cape Town
View from The South, Group Exhibition, Everard Read, Cape Town

2009
Sex, Power, Money Group Exhibition, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa 
Summer Group Exhibition, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa 

2008
The City Group Exhibition, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa 

2007
Artwords II Group Exhibition, Rust En Vrede, Durbanville, South Africa 

2006
Seven Deadly Sins Group Exhibition, Rust En Vrede, Durbanville, South Africa 

2004
Women's Day Group Exhibition, Rust En Vrede, Durbanville, South Africa