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) and, most recently, Mas des Graviers in France (2019) and, most recently, 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.

ACHIEVEMENTS

2015  Top 100 Barclays L’Atelier Competition, South Africa

2013  Top 40 finalist Absa L’Atelier Competition, South Africa

2013  Invited artist at Schildersweek, Domburg, the Netherlands

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

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