Shany Van Den Berg

 FULL NAME: Delene Roche Van Den Berg
(b. 31st October 1958 Riversdale, South Africa)

Shany van den Berg is mostly self-taught and has worked as a fulltime professional artist since 1992 and now resides in Stellenbosch,Western Cape, South Africa.

She is the mother of 4 children.

ARTIST STATEMENT

Shany van den Berg's artistic practice stems from her life as a woman, mother and professional artist.

Renowned for her technical acumen, subtle symbolism and agility in slipping between portraiture ,figurative, abstraction and sculptural, she investigates and interrogates the critical contemporary themes of womanhood, identity, family, and connectedness to mother earth. With subtle symbolism and technical agility, her artwork is diverse, ranging from portraiture, figuration  and mixed media , combined with abstraction and sculpture. 

She reconstitutes her stream of consciousness as both fable and history, binding together a layered ‘map’. This serves as both a solitary interior landscape of self-reflection and the more universal language of humanity's journey through one’s life.

Shany van den Berg’s  artworks poignantly reminds one that we are all unique and also inescapably part of one human race and planet.

Shany specialises in contemporary portraiture and figurative work with a strong central theme on womanhood, van den Berg works in oil paint on board and linen, mixed media on paper and perspex as well as sculpture. After a studying for a diploma in nursing for 3 years, she did a part time ceramic course under Ralph Johnson at Paarl College in the 1980s, after which she worked as a ceramist for 10 years. Van den Berg then studied life drawing and painting part-time at the Ruth Prowse School of Art in Cape Town in 1990.

Since then, van den Berg has been working  as a full time artist. She was a finalist in 2005 in Sasol New Signatures. Out of more than 2000 applicants, van den Berg was chosen as one of 50 finalist artists for the 2009 and 2010 BP Portrait Awards show at the National Portrait Gallery in London. Her 2010 oil on board painting,  Bloedlyn - Sannie en Leah , shows two woman at very different stages of their lives. 

Shany has had 12 solo exhibitions from 1999 to 2017, the most recent at the CIRCA Gallery in Cape Town. She also participates in many group exhibitions, both locally and internationally.

Among several projects , she was part of  10 , a collaborative workshop in 2004 with 9 other artists in the Castle of Good Hope, exploring the first 10 years of democracy, as well as an Art Exchange with the Hubei Institute of Art China in 2008, both through Everard Read, Cape Town. In March 2013, she was awarded a Fellowship from the Ampersand Foundation , to spend a month in their artist residence in New York. Van den Berg was one of ten women artists selected for the project  Femininity  curated by Eva Roer in Germany in October 2013. At the same time, van den Berg was part of the 100 Year Commemorative exhibition  Universal Suffering  at the War Museum of the Boer Republic in Bloemfontein. In December  2013, she was part of the Centenary exhibition of Everard Read Gallery in Cape Town. In January 2014, she took part in Cape Town s Suidoosterfees exhibition,  Cape Town Re-imagined , which formed part of the Design Capital 2014 project. In March 2014, she is part of  Magicus , a group exhibition at the D-Street Gallery in Stellenbosch which forms part of the annual   Woordfees. In 2015, Van den Berg held her following solo presentation at the Everard Read Gallery space at La Grande Provence in Franschoek.

Van den Berg's ethereal, sensitive oil paintings and artwork capture a mood reminiscent of contemporary mannerism and romanticism with a strong focus on womanhood. She succeeds in communicating the multi-layered emotions, ideas and modern concepts with a classical approach to portraiture and captures these ideas with a meticulous attention to detail, simplicity and subtle symbolism.

Shany van den Berg's body of works includes monumental oil paintings inspired by the Old Masters and many other art forms, such as music and poems. They are often portraits, primarily of women, whose features morph into a composite of the artist and her loved ones, serving as portals to an internal narrative of sacrifice, struggle and ultimately transcendence.

The references are delicate and ambiguous: a nude atop a gallery plinth is transposed from stone into flesh and blood, or vice versa; a sheet draped shroud-like across an ethereal form emerging from or entering an abyss; hands depicted in gestures of supplication, prayer, self-protection or release; a red scarf or fragile scarlet thread seeming almost to flutter across and beyond the canvas. In fact, the colour red serves as a recurring literal and symbolic refrain throughout this body of works. Alongside black and white, red is an archetypal hue, suggesting rites of passage, states of mind and in-between spaces.

A sense of layering pervades her works, both in terms of the imagery itself and van den Berg s painterly process. Despite their air-brushed appearance, the surfaces are built up of swathes, painted not onto the board but rather, absorbed into it. Shadows are imbued with texture and skins exude an almost viscous sheen. Although unmistakeably feminine, some of her forms evoke a sense of animalism through their attenuated bone structure, and an underlying sexuality pervades many of the forms. They suggest recognition, confirmation and the bitter-sweet knowledge of love, loss and letting go.

CURRENT EXHIBITIONS AND PROJECTS

Upcoming Solo ‘Garden of her Dreams’ at Everard Read Gallery in Johannesburg opening 22 June 2023

Residency at Cite Internationale des Arts in Paris, France for August and September 2023

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2023      Garden of Her Dreams, Everard Read, Johannesburg, South Africa

2022      Her Garden, Everard Read, London, UK

2021      nōs / ons, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

2019       Dreampond, Everard Read Gallery, London, UK

2018       Fluisteringe vanaf n Leliepoel/ Whispers from a Lily Pond, Everard Read, Franschhoek, South Africa

2017     (in)filtrationoftime, solo, CIRCA gallery, Cape Town, South Africa

2015     New works, solo, Everard Read gallery at La Grande Provence , Franschhoek, Western Cape, South Africa

2012     Hinterland , solo, Everard Read, Johannesburg, South Africa

2011     Siel van my Vel , solo, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

2010     Solo, IS Art at Le Quatier Francais, Franschhoek, South Africa

2008     in gesprek met , solo, Smellick &Stokking, Den Haag, Netherlands

2007     ..(h)erken...ken...en... , solo, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

            gedagtes wat reis , solo, My Own Choice Gallery, Amsterdam, Netherlands

2006     dwaaltuin , solo, Grande Provence Gallery, Franschhoek, South Africa

2003     construction site , solo, Limeline Design, Cape Town, , South Africa

2001     vlug in tyd , solo, Dorp Street Gallery, Stellenbosch, South Africa

1999     my shadow, my echo, me , solo, Bang the Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa 

2017     (in)filtration of time, solo, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2022      Spring, group show, Everard Read, Franschhoek, South Africa

              Things I’d like to remember, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

2021      Offering, Everard Read, Franschhoek, South Africa

2020      On Being, Everard Read, Franschhoek, South Africa

              Journeys of the Mind, Everard Read, Franschhoek, South Africa

              Toe ek 21 was, Toyota US Woordfees, Stellenbosch, South Africa

              STILL, Everard Read, UK & South Africa

2019    Selected Artists curated by Trent Read, Knysna Fine Art Gallery, Knysna, South Africa

            The Ampersand Foundation / 21 Year Celebration Exhibition/ A Vision of Jack Ginsberg,
             UJ Art Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa

             Southern Aspect, Everard Read, London, UK

             Winter, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

              Synchronous, Knysna Fine Art, Knysna, South Africa

2018    Winter, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

2017      Investec Cape Town Art Fair, with Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

              Winter, CIRCA, Cape Town, South Africa

              People and Portraiture, CIRCA, Cape Town, South Africa

              Summer, Everard Read, London, UK

               Winter, Everard Read, London, UK

2016     Opening Group Exhibition, CIRCA Gallery, London, UK 

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

2014     Summer Season , group exhibition, D-Street Gallery, Stellenbosch, South Africa
            Summer of Sculpture III , group exhibition, Mount Nelson Hotel, Cape Town, South Africa
            Magicus , group exhibition, D-Street Gallery, Stellenbosch, South Africa

2013     Cape Town Re-Imagined , group exhibition, Suidoosterfees, Cape Town, South Africa
            100 , group exhibition, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa
            Universal Suffering , group exhibition, War Museum, Bloemfontein, South Africa
            Femininity , group exhibition curated by Eva Roer, Germany
            SAADA Antique Fair, Pier Rabe Antiques, Franschhoek, South Africa
            Hiernamaals/Hereafter , group show, Slee Gallery, Stellenbosch, South Africa
            Binnehemels , group show, Red, Black & White, Stellenbosch, South Africa

2012     Small Works , group show, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa
            A Summer of Sculpture , group show, Mount Nelson, Cape Town, South Africa

2009     halfmens / heelmens , duo with Roche van den Berg, Red, Black & White Gallery, Pier Rabe
            Sex, Power, Money , group show, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

2008     Confluence , duo with Wang Qingli, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

2006     Small works, group show, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa
            Shany van den Berg / Strijdom van der Merwe, Grande Provence Gallery, Franschhoek Cape Town, South Africa

2005     Three , trio, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

2000-2002 Shany van den Berg/Alex Hamilton, Bang the Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa

2000     A Celebration of Art & Technology , group show in aid of the Nelson Mandela Children s Fund, sponsored by Hewlett             Packard

COMPETITIONS & PROJECTS

2022       Woordfees Stellenbosch, South Africa in conunction with Strauss & Co

2021        Sanlam Portrait Award Finalist: Rust en Vrede Gallery Cape Town SA

2019       Sanlam Portrait Top 40 Finalist ‘Leah se Water’ Rust-en-Vrede Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa

2016       BP Portrait Finalist, ’SELF’ Portrait Gallery, London

              BP Travel Award Shortlisted Finalist, Portrait Gallery, London

2013     Fellowship granted by the Ampersand Foundation, New York

2011     Bright Ideas  Ceramic art / Light from Africa Foundation, Cape Town, South Africa

2010     & 2009 BP Award Portrait Gallery London / finalist

2008     Art exchange / Hubei Institute of Art, China

2008     Artfair Utrecht / My Own Choice

2007     AAF Amsterdam / My Own Choice

2005     Sasol New Signatures / finalist

1990     Corobrick Ceramic Competition Cape Town / finalist

ARTIST RESIDENCIES

2023 Cite des Arts in Paris  / France in August and September 2023

2013 Fellowship to The Ampersand Foundation in New York USA

2007 Hubei Institute of Art / China

1998 Lauenberg, Germany

Works included in private collections in South Africa, Ghana, London, Portugal, India, France, Germany, Luxenburg, Caymen Islands and U.S.A