BIOGRAPHY
LIZA GROBLER
(b. 1974 Cape Town, South Africa)
‘Reality is always shifting and, as an attempt to make sense of it, so am I.’ – Liza Grobler
After many years of living in Cape Town city centre, Liza Grobler now resides in Oudtshoorn in the Klein Karoo. As a compulsive constructor of alternative landscapes and realities, she explores ideas that bring together physical and psychological spaces and historical and ecological scapes. Her practice is built around process; creating a tension between the materiality and ephemerality of media. She invites the viewer to take a leap of faith and step into these constructive worlds alongside her.
Grobler is the recipient of a KANNA Award for her Visual Contribution to the Klein Karoo National Arts Festival (2023). In 2022, she was awarded the Centre Luigi di Sarro VAA Award (Italy) for her short film ‘Voices from a Divided Fountain’. In 2016, she was a recipient of the Africa Centre Award and Iziko Museums commissioned a site-specific work for the exhibition ‘Women’s Work’ at the South African National Gallery.
Other career highlights include: a solo exhibition at Rauma Art Museum, Finland (2024), a solo project for Cape Town International Art Fair (2017), a commissioned public artwork for Cape Town International Design Capital (2015) and the screening of her short film ‘Voices from a Divided Fountain’ as part of a travelling exhibition in Serbia (2019). Two other films, ‘21st Century Family Portrait’ and ‘Diary of a Nanosatellite’, were respectively screened at the ADDIS International Video Arts Festival (Ethiopia & Cape Town) and at MOFO for Forever Now (Tasmania and Deep Space, 2015). She was nominated for The Norval Sovereign African Art Prize (2021+22), Helgaard Steyn National Award for Contemporary Painting (2015), as well as short-listed for the Commonwealth Arts and Craft Award (2006). She has attended residencies in Norway, Finland, Switzerland, Serbia, Belgium, France, Mexico, India, the United States and initiated an interdisciplinary international residency in Cape Town and Richmond, South Africa (2017).
Grobler has been invited to the Asian international Art Biennial in Bangladesh which will take place in 2025, and she is Festival Curator for the KKNK for 2025 - 2027. Exhibitions include solo exhibitions in South Africa, Finland and Belgium and various international art fairs, site-specific projects and group exhibitions. She is represented by Everard Read (Cape Town, Johannesburg, Franschhoek, London).
QUALIFICATIONS
1999 Master’s Degree in Visual Arts (cum laude), Stellenbosch University, SA
1996 Bachelor’s Degree in Visual Arts, Stellenbosch University, SA
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2024 An Aloe Swallowed My Drone, Rauma Art Museum, Finland
An Elephant Stepped on My Phone, Everard Read Leeu Estate, Franschhoek
2023 Inkommers, laatkommers & laatlammers, KKNK Festival, Oudtshoorn, SA
2022 The razor-sharp reasoning of tinted skies, Everard Read, Cape Town
2021 Voices from Deelfontein, Everard Read, Franschhoek, SA
Disobedient Landscapes, Uitstalling, Ghent, Belgium
2020 Voices from a Divided Fountain, site-specific installation at 139 Albert, Woodstock, in association Everard Read, Cape Town, SA
2019 a rainbow in my pocket, Everard Read, Cape Town, SA
2018 En die groen gras groei daar om, Aardklop Festival, Potchefstroom, SA
2017 Ripples of Perception, CIRCA Gallery Johannesburg, SA
Maybe Time Can Fold, CIRCA Cape Town, Cape Town, SA
Barbed Wire Paradise is exactly where you are, Investec Cape Town Art Fair (Unframed Section), with Everard Read, Cape Town, SA
2015 If you go down to the woods today, Everard Read, Cape Town, SA
Playlist, Everard Read, Johannesburg, SA
2014 Blindfolded Line, Dancing Through Time, a national touring exhibition: Oliewenhuis Museum, Bloemfontein; KZNSA, Durban; Johannesburg Art Gallery, Johannesburg, SA
2013 Interrupted Daydreams, Spier, Stellenbosch, SA
2012 White Termite, Brundyn & Gonsalves, Cape Town, SA
2010 Visitor (The Square): a Solo Exhibition in Two Parts, iArt Wembley Project Space and iArt Gallery, Cape Town, SA
2009 Visitor, Irma Stern Museum, Cape Town, SA
2007 9 Chicks & a Dick, AVA, Cape Town, SA
2005 Groeisel #1, Outlet, Pretoria, SA
2004 Play with me, AVA, Cape Town, SA
2003 I can't see the wood for the trees, so I'm taking a line for a very long walk, João Ferreira, Cape Town, SA
2002 Almost a Valentine, Chelsea Gallery, Wynberg, SA
2000 The garbage men wear gloves, Chelsea Gallery, Cape Town, SA
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2024 Inner Sanctum, Everard Read, Johannesburg, SA
2023 25 Years Knysna Fine Art Anniversary Exhibition, Knysna Fine Art, Knysna
What I Feel When I Think About The Cosmos, Everard Read, Franschhoek, SA
Investec Cape Town Art Fair, with Everard Read, Cape Town, SA
Collide, Featherstone Centre for the Arts, Massachusetts, USA
2022 Things I’d like to remember, Everard Read, Cape Town, SA
2021 Spring Show, Everard Read, Johannesburg, SA
Offering, Everard Read, Franschhoek, SA
Transitory Terrain, Everard Read, London, UK
The side-effects of summer, Art Bureau Collective, Woodstock
Paint it Black, curated by Harrie Siertsema for Aardklop Festival (2019), travelling to museums including Pretoria Art Museum, at William Humphrey Museum, Kimberley, SA
Conversations, Everard Read, Cape Town, SA
Transitory Terrain, Everard Read, Franschhoek, SA
The Troubled Archive, The Labyrinth Project, curated by Wayne Matthews and Alison Shaw, Johannesburg
2020 Investec Cape Town Art Fair, with Everard Read, Cape Town, SA
TINY, Everard Read, Johannesburg, SA
On Being, Everard Read, Franschhoek, SA
STILL, Everard Read online exhibition, SA & UK
Matereality, IZIKO South African National Gallery, Cape Town, SA
Hard, but Soft, curated by Pierre le Riche, Glen Carlou, Stellenbosch, SA
2019 hybrid narratives, hybrid histories, U10 Art Space, Belgrade, Serbia
Verf dit swart / Paint it Black, Modern Art Projects SA, Aardklop Festival, Potchefstroom, SA
Forward? Forward! Forward…., Stellenbosch University centenary exhibition, US Museum, Stellenbosch, SA
CONTEXT Art Miami, with Everard Read, Miami, USA
Winter, Everard Read, Cape Town, SA
2018 Buffer Zone, video art night, Platform Project Space, Vaasa, Finland
Common Threads, international textile exhibition, 99 Juta, Johannesburg, SA
FLUX, Free State Festival, Bloemfontein, SA
In the Forest of the Night, Everard Read, Johannesburg, SA
Winter Show, Everard Read Cape Town, SA
100, AIUD, Romania
INC Art Collection Celebrate 10 years, Haitian American Museum of Chicago, Chicago, USA
Investec Cape Town Art Fair, with Everard Read, Cape Town, SA
2017-8 Smokey Signals from the Groot Karoo, MAPSA Richmond and Everard Read, Cape Town, SA
Romulus Rebus: Imaging Empires, Priest Gallery, Johannesburg, SA
African Abstraction, Everard Read, London, SA
SocialFabrics SA, finissage Cape Town, SA
2016 Coriolis Effect: Migration and Memory, KHOJ Studios, New Delhi
Women’s work, South African National Gallery, curated by Ernestine White Town, Cape Town, SA
Winter Collection, Everard Read, Cape Town, SA
The Space Between/The Noise Behind, a two person show with Norman O'Flynn, Fried Contemporary, Pretoria, SA
Ímago Mundi, Luciano Benetton Collection', New York, USA.
Investec Cape Town Art Fair, with Everard Read, Cape Town, SA
AKAA Art Fair, Paris, France
Den Fair, with Otomys Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
2015 ADDIS Video Art Festival, Ethiopia
San Juanita Project: Re-examining borders, Haitian American Museum of Chicago, Chicago, USA
Homage, Everard Read, Cape Town, SA
Ímago Mundi – Luciano Benetton Collection, Venice, Italy
Nando's Rites and Duties, Constitution Hill, Johannesburg, SA
Decor-Z, Spier Estate, Stellenbosch, SA
Constructions, GRID International Photography Biennial, Cape Town, SA
Empire, Everard Read, Cape Town, SA
Forever Now, at MOMA FOMA, New Media Festival, Tasmania
1:54 African Art Fair, work in association Qubeka Bead Studio, Spier Arts Trust, London, UK
Turbine Art Fair, with Everard Read, Johannesburg, SA
2014 Winter Sculpture Show, Nirox Foundation, Krugersdorp, SA
Open Studios at the Cite Internationale des Arts, Paris, France
International Union of Architecture World Congress, Durban, SA
2013 5 Years in Print, Warren Editions, Cape Town, SA
Chance favours the Connected Mind, with Barbara Wildenboer, Amelia Johnson Contemporary, Hong Kong
Stellenbosch Revisited, co-curated with Marna Hattingh for Die Woordfees, Stellenbosch, SA
2012 Tjorts/Cheers! drawings after a poem by Danie Marais, co-curated with Marna Hattingh, AVA, Cape Town, SA
Johannesburg Art Fair, Brundyn+, Johannesburg, SA
2011 Alptraum, Travelling drawing exhibition: Berlin, Los Angeles, Cape Town, SA
Open Books, iArt Gallery, Cape Town, SA
Collection 13, SMAC Art Gallery Cape Town, SA
2010 Divisions: Aspects of SAn Art (1948-2010), SMAC Gallery, Stellenbosch, SA
The Menippean Uprising, curated by Pierre Fouché and Hentie van der Merwe, Blank Projects, Cape Town, SA
Frans Masereel Centre Annual Printmaking Show, Kasterlee, Belgium
Twenty Years of South African Sculpture, curated by Andrew Lamprecht, Nirox Sculpture Park, SA
2009 Black: the antithesis of the fraudulent sensuality of culture's façade, Blank Projects, Cape Town, SA
Warren Editions, Monotypes and etchings, at Curious, Whetstone and Frankley, Cape Town, SA
2008 The Bijou Burns Again, UCA Gallery, Observatory, SA
Women in Craft, Spier Estate, Stellenbosch, SA
2007 Common Ground, Lönnstrom Contemporary Art Museum in collaboration with Jeanne Hoffman, Rauma, Finland
South African Art on Paper, Gallery Barry Keldoulis, Sydney, Australia
TACT, Artspace, Pretoria, SA
2006 STEEK, a two-person exhibition with Barend de Wet, Blank Projects, Cape Town, SA
ROEM, curated by Sandra Hanekom, interactive sculptures for ‘Die Storm’, KKNK, Oudtshoorn, SA
Flesh! curated by Chris Diedericks, KKNK, Oudtshoorn, SA
the blank paper project as part of Cape 07, Blank Projects, Cape Town, SA
Just like home in collaboration with Norman O’ Flynn, Solothurn, Switzerland
2006 travelling exhibition, coordinated by Norman O’Flynn, Bell-Roberts Contemporary, Cape Town & Art on Paper, Johannesburg, SA
2005 Of Want and Desire, João Ferreira Gallery, Cape Town, SA
Cape Biennale at blank projects, curated by Andrew Lamprecht, Cape Town, SA
The 5th International Florence Biennial for Contemporary Art, Fortezza da Basilica, Florence, Italy
Synergy, Michaelis Collection contemporary beaded designs- a history of beads in Africa, Iziko Museum, Cape Town, SA
2004 The Art of Drawing, Durbanville Cultural Centre, Durbanville, SA
2002 Low Rider, Polvo Art Studio, Chicago, USA
2000 Majority Rules, Free Gallery, Glasgow, Scotland, UK
YEA-R 2000, Chelsea Gallery, Wynberg, SA
SELECTED SITE-SPECIFIC PROJECTS
2023 DROOM, with the ReWOLusie Crochet Project, KKNK Festival, Oudtshoorn, SA
2022 Desert Dictionary, contributor, a project by Boris Baltschun. Richmond, SA
2020 Voices from a Divided Fountain, vacant industrial building in Woodstock, in association Everard Read Gallery
Barbed Wire Paradise, die Woordfees, Stellenbosch
Dance Dialogue, a series of responsive drawing and marimba performances with musician Magdalena de Vries, Woodstock, online and as part of Woordfees on KykNET TV
2018 Portal at a divided fountain, immersive installation in dialogue with percussionist Heinrich Kruse, RU, New York
Rose Window, commissioned by the Spier Collection for the Material Gains exhibition, US Museum, Stellenbosch
A place in the Sun; African Leaders Conference, Stellenbosch, SA
2017 Seven Looms of Silence, commissioned by Trenery Group, Keyes Art Mile, Johannesburg, SA
2016 Barbed Wire Paradise, an immersive drawing, StudioGrob, Woodstock, SA
2015 Mexican Pink, Maravatio, Mexico
Diary of a Nanosatellite video included in Forever Now - launch of the Golden Record into Deep Space
2014 Cape Town World Design Capital 'Accidental Art' Public artwork for Nando's on Kloof Street, SA
2013 Big Brother is Stunned, Woodstock Industrial Centre, Cape Town, SA
2012 From Mooi Uitsig to Mooiuitsig: an Artventure, commissioned by Lien Botha for Hangklip Art Week, SA
2010 Cocoon, Nirox Sculpture Park, Cradle of Humankind, Johannesburg, SA
Imagination: for humans, The Laboratory for Recycled Revolutions, curated by Isa Suarez, Greatmore, Cape Town, SA
Johannesburg Art Fair, SMAC, Johannesburg, SA
2009 The 1-day Residency project in conjunction with ‘Visitor’ with 14 visiting artists, Irma Stern Museum, Cape Town, SA
Gift, a picnic and lace making performance with Pierre Fouché, Cape Town, SA
2007 Afrikan Tähti/ Star of Africa - public intervention after a Finnish board game, in collaboration Jeanne Hoffman, Rauma, Finland
C-Units, in collaboration with Jeanne Hoffman, Big Bay, SA
Icarus project, in collaboration with Norman O’ Flynn, Cape Town, SA
2006 Soft Rock Project, Sunset Beach, Cape Town, SA
Teardrop Project, Solothurn, Switzerland, SA
Heritage Cache, a site-specific group project coordinated by Cobus van Bosch and Arlene Amaler-Raviv, Cape Town, SA
2005 Groeisel no. 2, a crocheting performance and installation at the Aardklop Arts Festival, curated by Abrie Fourie, Potchefstroom, SA
2004 D.I.E.N.S. in collaboration Pierre Fouché, Norman O’Flynn & Johan Thom, KKNK, Oudtshoorn, SA
2003 Excess: Proudly South African, in collaboration with Jesus Macarena-Avila, Cape Town, SA
2002 Momentary Monument, in collaboration with art students, Rauma, Finland
Music Concrete, YDEsire, in collaboration with Jeanne Hoffman, the Cape of Good Hope Castle, Cape Town, SA
Fantastic Rubbish, a mixed media installation, World Summit on Sustainable Development, Johannesburg, SA
2001 R.I.P, in collaboration with Jeanne Hoffman, Durbanville, SA
Forest Cross, Dalsãsen forest, Norway
1999 Oos Wes, Tuis Bes, curated by Mark Coetzee and Leze Hugo, Oudtshoorn Arts Festival, Oudtshoorn, SA
AWARDS & RESIDENCIES
2024 Shortlisted for Fiësta Award, best Visual Art contribution
2023 Best Visual Arts Contribution, KKNK Festival, Oudtshoorn, SA
2022 Winner, Video Art Award, Centro Luigi Di Sarro, Rome, Italy
2018 Residency Unlimited, New York, New York
2017 Smokey Signals from the Groot Karoo; project coordinator and collaborator
2016 Laureate of AIR African Centre Residency, Khoj International Artists' Association, New Delhi, India
2015 Nominated for Helgaard Steyn National Award for contemporary painting
Short-listed for Headlands Centre Residency, San Francisco
Residency at Guapamacátaro Center for Art & Ecology, Maravatio, Mexico
Site-specific commission for Nando's US, Chicago
Social Fabric SA Residency in Port Elizabeth, SAMIL
2014 Selected Artist for World Design Capital Cape Town, project #522 for public art
Cité des Arts Residency, Paris
2013 Shortlisted for Woordfees Visual Arts Award, Stellenbosch
2010 ABSA Atelier top 100 (also 2001, -5, -6, -8. -9)
2009 Frans Masereel Printmaking Residency, Kastelee, Belgium
2006 Pro-Helvetia Residency, Altes Spital, Solothurn, Switzerland
Short-listed for Commonwealth Arts and Craft Award
2005 Selected for AVA Public Sculpture Competition
Selected for 3rd Brett Kebble Art Competition
2004 ARTOMI International Artists' Residency, Hudson, New York, USA
2003-4 Artist-in-residence, Greatmore Art Studios, Cape Town
2002 Rauma Artists' in Residence, Finland
2001 Recipient of UNESCO Ashberg Bursary: Nordic Artists' Centre Dale, Norway
SELECTED PANELS, FORUMS, TEACHING, CURATION
2025 Klein Karoo Nasionale Kunstefees curator
2020 Selection panel for Joburg Fringe, Johannesburg
2019 ‘Forward’ round table discussion, art and the future of education, Stellenbosch University Museum
2018 Themes: Making, guest speaker, performance lecture for Iziko Museums, SA
2017 Women’s work, public discussion panel, Iziko National Gallery, Cape Town, SA
2015 *imagetext* forum, Department of Visual Arts UP, Van Wouw Museum, Pretoria, SA
Regional judge for Barclays National Art Competition, Cape Town, SA
2005-15 Opening speaker for numerous exhibitions, including GRADEX (2008, Stellenbosch University), CRISP Fresh Talent Competition (2007, ArtB) and World Design Capital project #522 (2014), SA
2013-15 External examiner for postgraduate students: MPhil, MAFA and MFA – Stellenbosch University & University of Cape Town, SA
2012 The Names We Give – conference, Gordon Institute for the Performing and Creative Arts, Cape Town, SA
2009-10 Third year Drawing Lecturer, Visual Arts Department, University of Stellenbosch, SA
2008–13 Lecturer/coordinator for Representation 1, Architecture, Planning and the Built Environment, University of Cape Town, SA
2008 SASOL New Signatures Regional Adjudicator, Cape Town, SA
2007-8 Lecturer History of Fashion I-III Years, Haute Couture School of Fashion, Cape Town, SA
2006-09 Moderator, Visual Arts, College of Cape Town, SA
2006 External examiner, Diploma Dissertations, Ruth Prowse School of Art, Woodstock, SA
2005 Co-founder with Jonathan Garnham of Blank Projects, Cape Town, South Arica
2002-04 Art b. selection and managerial committee, Art b Gallery, Bellville, SA
2001, 09 Guest Lecturer: 1st year Visual Communication, Stellenbosch University, SA
COLLECTIONS
Work included in the following corporate collections: Hollard (Insurance), Nando's UK, Nando's US , Nando's SA, Spier (South Africa), Frans Masereel Centre (Belgium), Francis Greenberger Collection US, City of Cape Town, Luciano Benetton Collection (Italy) and in private collections in South Africa, France, Switzerland, America, Mexico, Spain, Germany, England and Norway.
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
2023 never a full stop... , monograph published in association Everard Read Gallery for the Main Festival artist at the Klein Karoo National Arts Festival
2022 M. Minnaar. Sy toor met weef, brei, vleg en toue, Die Burger, 24 May 2022.
2021 New Glass Review 41, p.59; Corning Museum of Glass, New York
2020 T. Leibrandt. Ghost in the Hotel: on James Webb, Guy Tillem and Liza Grobler
2019 M. Krynauw. Moments, Movement and Memory, ARTTHROB, October 2019
2017 MAPSA. Smokey Signals from the Groot Karoo catalogue
2016 L. Grobler. ART AFRICA The Coriolis Effect: Migration, Memory and the 2016 Khoj International Artists’ Association, September 2016
2016 J. Graham, SLOW MAGAZINE, edition 32 (p. 31-35) 2016
- Jamal. ART AFRICA online
2015 L. Grobler. ‘Mexican Pink’, contributing article for Art Africa magazine, September 2015
- Jolly. ‘If you Go Down to The Wood Today’, Cape Times, 20 April 2015
2014 ‘Blindfolded Line, Dancing Through Time’, a limited-edition book on the work of Liza Grobler with contributions by Amanda Botha, Andrew Lamprecht and Jeanetta Blignaut, download:
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