Duvet | Mixed media on canvas 70cm x 90cm 2023
BASTIAAN VAN STENIS
Bastiaan van Stenis (b. 1981) lives and works near Cape Town, South Africa.
He is of half Dutch, half South African descent and grew up in Cape Town. He is a descendant of the renowned 19th Century English painter Thomas Baines.
Van Stenis is primarily a self-taught artist but he received private art tutoring and guidance from a young age. After his schooling in 2000, he dedicated himself to painting full-time.
It is said that a good painter is good at solving problems on the canvas – a challenge that Van Stenis enjoys. He veers toward the unexpected then carefully steers it back to somewhere slightly more sensible. The result leaves the viewer intrigued and with a sense of adventure.
Bastiaan van Stenis is a masterful painter who creates abstract artworks with a leaning towards the surreal. This presents opportunity for the viewer to explore many interpretations while reveling in his free and fearless technique.
The manner in which he weaves his mediums together represents the stitching together of the self in a dreamlike portrayal of reality. The childlike brutality refers to a narrative of growing up and surviving as an individual amidst the complexities of social codes, expectations and definitions of being. “We carry memories like marks that define us. We collect emotions and they shape our form,” he says.
Bastiaan van Stenis works mainly with oil paint on canvas but on occasion uses acrylic paint, glue and found objects in his paintings. Other projects include taxidermy and sculpture.
EDUCATION
1993 -1999 Private tutoring in art since the age of twelve
EXHIBITIONS & ART FAIRS
2019 – Sydney Contemporary, Australia
2019 – Solo exhibition, WORLDART, Cape Town, South Africa
2018 – Solo exhibition, Dawid Ras Gallery, Johannesburg
2017 – Solo exhibition, WORLDART, Cape Town, South Africa
2013 – Solo exhibition, Gallery Dejavu, Son, Netherlands
2010 – Solo exhibition, Rossouw Modern Gallery, Groot Contantia, South Africa
For more information, contact Charl Bezuidenhout at info@worldart.co.za or on +27 (0)21 423 3075 or visit www.worldart.co.za