ERIN CHAPLIN

(b. 1988 Durban, South Africa)

‘I am emotional. I am sensitive. I take things too personally. I always feel guilty.I feel like I am living between worlds. Reality, fantasy and my own reality. And time is ticking on in the background. Still life resonates with me because it’s on the clock too. Flowers and fruit can be arranged and painted to live forever but they will die and rot. This comforts me. I don't want anything to be too perfect or too alive because that’s not realistic.’

Erin Chaplin’s work is a deeply personal and reflective. She draws her initial inspiration from her longstanding muse, nature, but reaches further – in reaction to Christian religious doctrine and in an exploration of human vulnerability – and into abstraction. Her range of subjection matter – from still lifes and portraits to geometric abstraction –  is a reflection of her insatiable fascination with every facet of life.

Chaplin studies the relationship between the natural and the artificial in her work, striving to capture the poignancy of youth as it fades – fresh fruit and flowers as they slowly rot. In response to the challenging nature of the genre, the still-life works are executed in a combination of muted tones and unexpected, contrived colours. The contrast of these tones creates a dynamism in the work that entices and surprises the viewer. In her impasto paintings, a metaphor grows to encapsulate the delicate rawness and vulnerability of the human condition as we grapple with life as it unfolds.

Chaplin was born in Durban, KwaZulu Natal, in 1988. She is a self-taught artist. She has exhibited both locally and internationally. In 2022 she attended a residency in Sintra, Portugal. She currently lives in Cape Town.

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS

2023 What I Feel When I Think About The Cosmos, group show,  Everard Read, Franschhoek, South Africa

2023 Investec Cape Town Art Fair, with Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

        We are a way for the cosmos to know itself, Bode Projects, Berlin, Germany

        Otomys, Melbourne, Australia

2022 Island, solo, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

        Playing Field, dual exhibition with Jade Paton, Kalashnikovv Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa

2021 Hand to Mouth: From the functional to the abstract, group exhibition, P72 Project Space, Johannesburg, South Africa

        Oasis, 25th anniversary group exhibition, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

        Winter, group exhibition, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

        An Enquiry into Pedagogy, group exhibition, Hotel Hernandez, Iziko South African National Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa

2020 Path Through Mountain, solo, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

        Still, group exhibition, Everard Read South Africa & UK

2019 Soft, solo, part of the Cubicle Series, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

        Works on Paper, group exhibition, RK Contemporary, Riebeek Kasteel, South Africa

2018 Nice For What, Voorkamer Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa

2017 Outgrowth, Voorkamer Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa