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

Through her participatory environments, Liza Grobler explores the interactions between the physical presence of the viewer, the space in which the work is experienced and the constructed form. Her installations explore the relationship between inner and outer landscape as an experiential rather than a conceptual space. The viewer is encouraged to travel with her into an imaginary world where everything is in flux and anything is possible. The objects, images and installations are constructed through collaboration, interaction and exchange. Gallery exhibitions, projects and interventions are integrated components that cross-reference one another. She has attended residencies in Norway, Finland, the United States, Mexico, Switzerland, Belgium and France. Her work is included in numerous corporate and private collections, including the Francis Greenburger Collection (USA), Frans Masereel Centrum (Belgium), Benetton Collection (Italy) and Nando's International (UK, Australia and USA). To date, she has had a number of acclaimed solo exhibitions and initiated numerous site-specific and collaborative interventions in South Africa and abroad.  

QUALIFICATIONS

1999 Master’s Degree in Visual Arts (cum laude), Stellenbosch University, South Africa

1996 Bachelor’s Degree in Visual Arts, Stellenbosch University, South Africa

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2022

The Razor-Sharp Reasoning of Tinted Skies, Everard Read, Cape Town 

2021   

Voices from Deelfontein, Everard Read, Franschhoek, South Africa
Disobedient Landscapes, Uitstalling, Ghent, Belgium

2020   
Voices from a Divided Fountain, site-specific installation at 139 Albert, Woodstock, in association Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

2019
a rainbow in my pocket, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

2018
En die groen gras groei daar om, Aardklop Festival, Potchefstroom, South Africa  

2017
Ripples of Perception, CIRCA Gallery Johannesburg, South Africa 
Maybe Time Can Fold, CIRCA Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
Barbed Wire Paradise is exactly where you are, Investec Cape Town Art Fair (Unframed Section), with Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

2015
If you go down to the woods today, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa
 Playlist, Everard Read, Johannesburg, South Africa

2014 
Blindfolded Line, Dancing Through Time, a national touring exhibition: Oliewenhuis Museum, Bloemfontein; KZNSA, Durban;  Johannesburg            Art Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa

2013
Interrupted Daydreams, Spier, Stellenbosch, South Africa

2012
White Termite, Brundyn & Gonsalves, Cape Town, South Africa

2010
Visitor (The Square): a Solo Exhibition in Two Parts, iArt Wembley Project Space and iArt Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa

2009
Visitor, Irma Stern Museum, Cape Town, South Africa

2007
9 Chicks & a Dick, AVA, Cape Town, South Africa

2005
Groeisel #1, Outlet, Pretoria, South Africa

2004
Play with me, AVA, Cape Town, South Africa

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, South Africa

2002
Almost a Valentine, Chelsea Gallery, Wynberg, South Africa

2000
The Garbage men wear gloves, Chelsea Gallery, Wynberg, South Africa

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2021
Spring Show, Everard Read, Johannesburg, South Africa
Offering, Everard Read, Franschhoek, South Africa
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 in South Africa including Pretoria Art Museum,        currently at William Humphrey Museum in Kimberley
Conversations, at Everard Read Gallery, Cape Town
Transitory Terrain, Everard Read Galllery, Franschhoek
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, South Africa
TINY, Everard Read, Johannesburg, South Africa
On Being, Everard Read, Franschhoek, South Africa
STILL, Everard Read online exhibition, South Africa & UK
Matereality, IZIKO South African National Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
Hard, but Soft, curated by Pierre le Riche, Glen Carlou, Stellenbosch, South Africa

2019
hybrid narratives, hybrid histories, U10 Art Space, Belgrade, Serbia
Verf dit swart / Paint it Black, Modern Art Projects South Africa, Aardklop Festival, Potchefstroom, South Africa
Forward? Forward! Forward…., Stellenbosch University centenary exhibition, US Museum, Stellenbosch, South Africa
CONTEXT Art Miami, with Everard Read, Miami, USA
Winter, Everard Read Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa

2018    
Buffer Zone, video art night, Platform Project Space, Vaasa, Finland
Common Threads, international textile exhibition, 99 Juta, Johannesburg, South Africa
FLUX, Free State Festival, Bloemfontein, South Africa
In the Forest of the Night, Everard Read, Johannesburg, South Africa
Winter Show, Everard Read Cape Town, South Africa
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, South Africa

2017-8
Smokey Signals from the Groot Karoo, MAPSA Richmond and Everard Read, Cape Town, South AFrica
Romulus Rebus: Imaging Empires, Priest Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
African Abstraction, Everard Read Gallery, London, South Africa
SocialFabrics SA, finissage Cape Town, South Africa

2016
Coriolis Effect: Migration and Memory, KHOJ Studios, New Delhi
Women’s work, South African National Gallery, curated by Ernestine White Town, Cape Town, South Africa
Winter Collection, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa
The Space Between/The Noise Behind, a two person show with Norman O'Flynn, Fried Contemporary, Pretoria, South Africa
Ímago Mundi, Luciano Benetton Collection', New York, USA.
Investec Cape Town Art Fair, with Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa
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, South Africa
Ímago Mundi – Luciano Benetton Collection, Venice, Italy
Nando's Rites and Duties, Constitution Hill, Johannesburg, South Africa
Decor-Z, Spier Estate, Stellenbosch, South Africa
Constructions, GRID International Photography Biennial, Cape Town, South Africa
Empire, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa
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, South Africa

2014
Winter Sculpture Show, Nirox Foundation, Krugersdorp, South Africa
Open Studios at the Cite Internationale des Arts, Paris, France
International Union of Architecture World Congress, Durban, South Africa

2013
5 Years in Print, Warren Editions, Cape Town, South Africa
Chance favours the Connected Mind, with Barbara Wildenboer, Amelia Johnson Contemporary, Hong Kong
Stellenbosch Revisited, co-curated with Marna Hattingh for Die Woordfees, Stellenbosch, South Africa

2012
Tjorts/Cheers! drawings after a poem by Danie Marais, co-curated with Marna Hattingh, AVA, Cape Town, South Africa
Johannesburg Art Fair, Brundyn+, Johannesburg, South Africa

2011
Alptraum, Travelling drawing exhibition: Berlin, Los Angeles, Cape Town, South Africa
Open Books, iArt Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
Collection 13, SMAC Art Gallery Cape Town, South Africa

2010
Divisions: Aspects of South African Art (1948-2010), SMAC Gallery, Stellenbosch, South Africa
The Menippean Uprising, curated by Pierre Fouché and Hentie van der Merwe, Blank Projects, Cape Town, South Africa
Frans Masereel Centre Annual Printmaking Show, Kasterlee, Belgium
Twenty Years of South African Sculpture, curated by Andrew Lamprecht, Nirox Sculpture Park, South Africa

2009
Black: the antithesis of the fraudulent sensuality of culture's façade, Blank Projects, Cape Town, South Africa
Warren Editions, Monotypes and etchings, at Curious, Whetstone and Frankley, Cape Town, South Africa

2008
The Bijou Burns Again, UCA Gallery, Observatory, South Africa
Women in Craft, Spier Estate, Stellenbosch, South Africa

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, South Africa

2006
STEEK, a two-person exhibition with Barend de Wet, Blank Projects, Cape Town, South Africa
ROEM, curated by Sandra Hanekom, interactive sculptures for ‘Die Storm’, KKNK, Oudtshoorn, South Africa
Flesh! curated by Chris Diedericks, KKNK, Oudtshoorn, South Africa
the blank paper project as part of Cape 07, Blank Projects, Cape Town, South Africa
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, South Africa

2005
Of Want and Desire, João Ferreira Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
Cape Biennale at blank projects, curated by Andrew Lamprecht, Cape Town, South Africa
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, South Africa

2004
Stolen Affections, Goethe Institute, Bahai, Brazil
Artomi, New York, USA
The Art of Drawing, Durbanville Cultural Centre, Durbanville, South Africa

2002
Low Rider, Polvo Art Studio, Chicago, USA

2000
Majority Rules, Free Gallery, Glasgow, Scotland, UK
YEA-R 2000, Chelsea Gallery, Wynberg, South Africa

SELECTED SITE-SPECIFIC PROJECTS

2018
A place in the Sun; African Leaders Conference, Stellenbosch

2017
Seven Looms of Silence, commissioned by Trenery Group AW-17 at Keyes Art Mile, Johannesburg

2016
Barbed Wire Paradise, an immersive drawing, StudioGrob, Woodstock

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, South Africa

2013
Big Brother is Stunned, Woodstock Industrial Centre, Cape Town, South Africa

2012
From Mooi Uitsig to Mooiuitsig: an Artventure, commissioned by Lien Botha for Hangklip Art Week

2010
Cocoon, Nirox Sculpture Park, Cradle of Humankind, Johannesburg
Imagination: for humans – The Laboratory for Recycled Revolutions, curated by Isa Suarez, Greatmore, Cape Town, South Africa
Johannesburg Art Fair, SMAC, Johannesburg, South Africa

2009
The 1-day Residency project in conjunction with ‘Visitor’ with 14 visiting artists, Irma Stern Museum, Cape Town, South Africa
Gift, a picnic and lace making performance with Pierre Fouché, Cape Town

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, South Africa
Icarus project, in collaboration with Norman O’ Flynn, Cape Town, South Africa

2006
Soft Rock Project, Sunset Beach, Cape Town, South Africa
Teardrop Project, Solothurn, Switzerland, South Africa
Heritage Cache, a site-specific group project coordinated by Cobus van Bosch and Arlene Amaler-Raviv, Cape Town, South Africa

2005
Groeisel no. 2, a crocheting performance and installation at the Aardklop Arts Festival, curated by Abrie Fourie, Potchefstroom, South Africa

2004
D.I.E.N.S. in collaboration Pierre Fouché, Norman O’Flynn & Johan Thom, KKNK, Oudtshoorn, South Africa

2003
Excess: Proudly South African, in collaboration with Jesus Macarena-Avila, Cape Town, South Africa

2002
Momentary Monument, in collaboration with art students, Rauma, Finland 
Music Concrete-YDEsire Art Night, in collaboration with Jeanne Hoffman, the Cape of Good Hope Castle, Cape Town, South Africa
Fantastic Rubbish, a mixed media installation, World Summit on Sustainable Development, Johannesburg, South Africa

2001
R.I.P, in collaboration with Jeanne Hoffman, Durbanville, South Africa
Forest Cross, Dalsãsen forest, Norway

1999
Oos Wes, Tuis Bes, curated by Mark Coetzee and Leze Hugo, Oudtshoorn Arts Festival, Oudtshoorn, South Africa

AWARDS & RESIDENCIES

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

2018
Themes: Making, guest speaker, performance lecture for Iziko Museums group, South Africa

2017 
Women’s work public discussion panel, Iziko National Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa

2015
*imagetext* forum, Department of Visual Arts UP, Van Wouw Museum, Pretoria, South Africa
Regional judge for Barclays National Art Competition, Cape Town, South Africa

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), South Africa

2013-15
External examiner for postgraduate students: MPhil, MAFA and MFA –  Stellenbosch University & University of Cape Town, South Africa

2012
The Names We Give – conference, Gordon Institute for the Performing and Creative Arts, Cape Town

2009-10
Third year Drawing Lecturer, Visual Arts Department, University of Stellenbosch, South Africa

2008–13
Lecturer/coordinator for Representation 1, Architecture, Planning and the Built Environment, University of Cape Town, South Africa

2008
SASOL New Signatures Regional Adjudicator, Cape Town, South Africa

2007-8
Lecturer History of Fashion I-III Years, Haute Couture School of Fashion, Cape Town, South Africa

2006-09
Moderator, Visual Arts, College of Cape Town, South Africa

2006
External examiner, Diploma Dissertations, Ruth Prowse School of Art, Woodstock, South Africa

2005
Co-founder with Jonathan Garnham of Blank Projects visual arts space, Cape Town

2002-04
Art b. selection and managerial committee, Art b Gallery, Bellville, South Africa

2001, 09
Guest Lecturer: 1st year Visual Communication, Stellenbosch University

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.

PUBLICATIONS

2016 A. Jamal. ART AFRICA online  http://artsouthafrica.com/220-news-articles-2013/2588-the-space-between-the- noise-behind-liza-grobler-and-norman-o-flynn-at-fried-contemporary.html 

2015 L. Grobler. 'Mexican Pink', contributing article for Art Africa magazine, September 2015

2015 'L. Jolly. Íf 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