SWAIN HOOGERVORST

(b. 1988 Cape Town, South Africa)

‘My paintings draw their inspiration from a photographic starting point. My intention though is not to recreate a photograph, but rather to allude to what is referenced. My work deals a lot with memory and the recollection of time and events or encounters passed. I try to paint in a way that evokes the unreliability of memory but also the dream-like feeling we give it, especially if that memory is positive. Hence I paint in a way that is vague or potentially non-descriptive but which leaves visual cues as to what may or may not be there.’ - Swain Hoogervorst, 2024

Swain Hoogervorst is based in Cape Town. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Arts from Vega (2010). He was selected as a top 100 finalist in the ABSA L’Atelier Competition in both 2013 and 2015. Residencies include Schildersweek in the Netherlands (2013), Arteles Creative Centre in Finland (2015), Mas des Graviers in France (2019) and Cité internationale des arts in Paris (2022). 

Hoogervorst has participated in exhibitions both nationally and internationally. His first solo exhibition Inside Out was at the AVA Gallery in Cape Town (2014). Searching Eudaimonia (2017) marked his solo debut at Everard Read in Cape Town, followed by In Between Spaces (2020) and Time is a Long Thin Hand (2022) at Everard Read in Franschhoek. Hoogervorst curated an international group show, The Invisible Thread (2023), at the AVA Gallery, Cape Town. Hoogervorst is represented by Everard Read in South Africa and in the UK. His work can be found in private collections (in the UAE, US, UK, Brazil, France, Australia, Germany and Belgium) and public collections, including the Spier Arts Trust in South Africa. 

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2024 Tomorrow, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

2022 Time is a Long Thin Hand, Evevard Read, Franschhoek, South Africa

2020 In Between Spaces, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

2018 Making Pictures, Cubicle Series, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

2017 Searching Eudaimonia, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

2014 Inside Out, AVA Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2024 Winter Collection, Everard Read, Franschhoek, South Africa

2024 Investec Cape Town Art Fair, with Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

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

2023 The Invisible Thread, curator, AVA gallery, Cape Town, South Africa 

        Horse, Under Projects, Cape Town, South Africa

        Collide, Feather Stone Centre for the Arts, Massachusetts, USA

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

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

        Seduction, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

2021 In Conversation, Everard Read Gallery, Cape Town

        Summer Show, Everard Read Gallery, Cape Town

2020 Proxies, Gallery Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa

        STILL, digital exhibition, Everard Read, UK & South Africa

2019 Summer Show, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

        Land and Sea, Art on Avenues, Somerset West, Cape Town, South Africa

        New Small Paintings, Pop Up Exhibition, Roodebloem Studios, Cape Town, South Africa

        Winter Show, Everard Read CIRCA, Cape Town, South Africa

2018 Summer Show, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

        Nano 1.2, Barnard Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa

        Making Pictures, Cubicle Series, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

        Winter Show, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

        In the forests of the night, Everard Read, Johannesburg, South Africa

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

2017 Nano 1.1, Barnard Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa

        Spectrum, Everard Read, Johannesburg, South Africa

2016 Liminal Geographies, Barnard Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa

         Line and Shadow, Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa

         Death of the old, Kalashnikovv Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa

         Stars and Tracks, The Project Room, Windhoek, Namibia

         For what it’s worth, No End Contemporary, Johannesburg, South Africa

         Pastoral Abstraction, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

2015 Defining the Narrative, Gallery MOMO, Cape Town, South Africa

        Homage, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

2014 Pool Party, Alma Martha Project Space, Cape Town, South Africa

        Golden Haze, Salon 91, Cape Town, South Africa

        /SCAPE, Salon 91, Cape Town, South Africa

2013 One in a Million, Salon 91, Cape Town, South Africa

        Absa l’Atelier, Best 100 exhibition, Johannesburg, South Africa

        Schildersweek, Domburg, Netherlands

2012 Summer Show, Salon91, Cape Town, South Africa

        {Impression; Sunset} Salon91, Cape Town, South Africa

RESIDENCIES

2022 Cité internationale des arts, Paris, France

2019 Mas des Graviers, Pourrières, France

2015 Arteles Creative Centre, Haukijärvi, Finland

2013 Schildersweek, Domburg, Netherlands