Skip to content

Marlise Keith

Marlise Keith [1971 -] | Cape Town, South Africa

Marlise KeithMarlise Keith’s style is identifiable in her idiosyncratic use of personal symbolism in a diverse body of work. Her wonderfully varied viewpoints are drawn from vast subject matter, including a personal medley of horrific news headlines, roadside memorials, colonial history, psychopathology, girlhood memories, dreams, friends’ dogs, Pinterest and her persistent, chronic migraines. 

The result is a richly layered body of work both violent and uncanny, surreal with a playful use of colour and humour. The latter draws in the viewer to a closer scrutiny of the darker complexities lurking beneath, which offer endless possibilities of meaning.

Questions of value are often explored through Keith’s choice of media, typically mixed media collage, large-scale drawings in pencil, ink and acrylics, and small sculptures of fabric, embroidery and found objects. In her assemblages she juxtaposes media of varying value to create creatures that seem to emerge directly from her self-labelled mental “soup”, creatures that are in equal parts cute, hideous, dark and witty.

Keith refers to all her creations, simply, as drawings. In some ways, the act of drawing is a coping mechanism for Keith. Subjects too daunting, too horrifying, too confusing or too subliminal to articulate in neat words are processed through mark-making; offering an alternative understanding of a world that often does not make sense in logical language. Even art itself – a subject known to intimidate with its elitism and loftiness – becomes more manageable through mark-making. 

Marlise Keith (b. 1972) is an award-winning artist with a list of accolades including 11 solo shows, numerous group exhibitions and a residency in Paris. She received a BA degree in Fine Arts at the University of Pretoria (1995) and completed her Master’s Degree in Fine arts at the University of Stellenbosch in 2000. 

Nando's Basingstoke
Nando's Basingstoke
Nando's Bromborough
Nando's Bromborough
Nando's Chelmsford
Nando's Chelmsford
Nando's Cork Academy
Nando's Cork Academy
Nando's Dublin Swords
Nando's Dublin Swords
Nando's Harlow
Nando's Harlow
Nando's Manchester The Fort
Nando's Manchester The Fort


 

More Artists

Patrick Bongoy

At first somewhat intimidating, Patrick Bongoy’s waste-rubber artworks are incredibly tactile, inviting one to have a closer look...

Zemba Luzamba

Born and raised in the conflict-ridden DRC, Luzamba witnessed politics playing out in the daily lives of ordinary people...

nomThunzi Mashalaba

nomThunzi Mashalaba’s uses delicate layering, vivid colour and seemingly random bits of text that add ambiguity and intrigue to her creations...

Norman O’Flynn

Norman O’Flynn’s Time Keeper series (2016, 2017) incorporates his trademark use of pop iconography, superheroes, explosions, religious symbols and graffiti-esque mantras...

Henk Serfontein

Henk Serfontein is an award-winning artist who came to prominence with his hyperreal paintings of ...

Shakes Tembani

Meshack [Shakes] Tembani portrays human figures recognisable by their group identity rather than their individual characteristics...

Our Events

Feast Your Eyes 2017

In July 2017 we turned our Soho restaurant into an art gallery, showcasing art from some of the brightest stars in Southern Africa. With guest appearances from the artists themselves, some special panelists, and - of course - plenty of PERi-PERi!

1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair 2017

1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair 2016

We partnered with 1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair in 2016 to tell the story of four talented artists who feature in our UK collection.