Kylie Wentzel -
SWEAT

30.11.2019 – 10.01.2020
Solo Exhibition at
Kalashnikovv Gallery,
Johannesburg

Kylie Wentzel graduated with a Bachelors of Fine Arts from the Michaelis School of Fine Art at the University of Cape Town in 2015. It was here that she found her love for the linocut as a tool for visual storytelling. Kylie currently lives and works in uMdloti, KwaZulu-Natal. She went on to receive training in relief and intaglio printmaking techniques while apprenticing at professional printmaking studio, Warren Editions – producing fine art prints for established artists under Master Printmaker, Zhané Warren, in Cape Town’s city centre.

Her desire to break away from formal artistic conditioning has lead her to explore mediums outside of her expertise. Now mostly conquering large canvases with acrylic paint, her style is graphic and naïve, often mimicking her loose lino-cutting techniques. She gathers her inspiration from the natural and constructed environments around her, kitsch prints, strong smells, imported goods for sale on a hot Durban city pavement, passing faces, and Tipp-Ex text scribbled on derelict alley walls.

SWEAT Exhibition Statement

SWEAT WASHES UP
PLASTIC BONES
FOLLOWING THE TRAILS
OF POLYPHONIC RINGTONES,
HOT FRUIT SITS
HIDDEN TO WHITE EYES
ROLLING IN PURSUIT
OF A TURNED GREEN LIGHT,
FLEA MARKET WITCHES
PIERCE LEATHER & FLESH
CHANTING THE SAME SONGS
OF CORNER ANGELS IN MESH,
LOVERS NAMES
IN PERMANENT MARKER
CLUTCH THE CRUMBLING WALLS
THEY VOWED TO CLING TO,
BETWEEN PIGEONS & PACKETS
PERCH SUN-SPOTTED PARIAHS
THAT COLLECT THE SPIT
OF PAVEMENT MESSIAHS,
WARM PISS POTIONS
IN BLANK BOTTLES
WINKING IN THE SUN
HOPING TO PASS AS PERFUME.