KILMANY-JO LIVERSAGE

(b. 1973, South Africa)

Kilmany-Jo Liversage creates portraits that intentionally blur the boundary between fine art and street art. Her rendering of female subjects is inspired by Renaissance era portraiture and, by adopting the language of graffiti or urban art, she updates, renews and challenges the conventions of painting. Her work also references digitised mass production and a futuristic post-human world, populated by perfect-looking female cyborgs. The result is a series of vivid, large-format paintings, evoking the street, art history as well as a vision of the future.

Liversage explains further: “During the Machine Age, artists would reduce their compositions to its smallest constituent parts. With my current paintings I manufacture this deconstruction by combining the painting tradition of portraiture with idiosyncrasies from the urban culture of tagging. This enables me to explore the intersection between street art and fine art while reconstructing them into a new genre of portraiture.”

With a list of achievements that include a Sasol New Signatures Award in 2000 and a UNESCO bursary in 2005, as well as an artists’ residency in Colombia, Liversage has had the opportunity to explore and interpret the concept of street art in a distinctive and original way.

Liversage lives and works in Cape Town, South Africa. Her work is included in several public and private collections in South Africa and around the world.

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2018

Chroma718, Everead Read Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa

2016

Orda716, Worldart, Cape Town, South Africa

Orda716, Lizamore & Associates, South Africa

2015

Ordamental515, Hay Hill Gallery, London

2014

Obversa714, Worldart, Cape Town, South Africa

Obversa714, Lizamore & Associates, South Africa

2012

Portra, Source 53, Singapore, Singapore

Portra, Artspace gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa

Portra, Worldart gallery, Cape Town, South Africa

2011

Moniker. Worldart, Cape Town, South Africa

2010

Orda 2010, Erdmann Contemporary, South Africa

2009

Symbol of Tribute, Association for Visual Arts, Cape Town, South Africa

2006

Orda 2006, Blank Projects

2003

Orda 2003, Association for Visual Arts, Cape Town, South Africa

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2021

Summer 2021, Everard Read, London, UK

2020

Against Interpretation, Everard Read, London, UK

2019

Southern Aspect - A Group Exhibition, Everard Read, London, UK

2011

Tattoo Convention, Word of Art, Woodstock, Cape Town, South Africa

2010

Creative Context: A Group Show by Contemporary African Fine Artists, Singapore, Singapore

2010

World Aids Congress – Vienna, Brussels, Belgium

Matters Conceptually, Erdmann Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa

2005

Graffiti is Public Art, Jardin Botanical Garden, Medellin, Colombia

2004

Spier Outdoor Sculpture Biennale 2004, Stellenbosch, South Africa

EDUCATION

1997

B.Tech Fine Arts, Free State Technikon

1994

H.Dip Fine Arts. Free State Technikon. Received a distinction in Painting

COMPETITIONS & AWARDS

2013

Back 2 back to Biennale, 55th Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy

2005

UNESCO Aschberg Bursary, Paris, France

2004

Spier Arts Trust, Spier Sculpture Biennale, South Africa

2000

SASOL New Signatures Art Competition, Stellenbosch, South Africa

1995

Coca-Cola Bursary

1994

Distinction-H.Dip FA (Painting)

ARTIST RESIDENCY

2005

UNESCO Asch erg-Medellin, Colombia, South America WORKSHOPS (GRAFFITI)

Centro Colombo Americano. Paul Bardwell Contemporary Gallery of Modern Art – Medellin, Colombia

University of Bolivariana, Department of Graphic Design, Colombia

COLLECTIONS

Nando’s collection

Department of Science and Technology, Pretoria, South Africa

Absa Bank Art Collection, South Africa

Centro Colombo Americano. Paul Bardwell Contemporary Gallery of Modern Art – Medellin, South America

Comfandi Centre-Cali, Colombia