INGE DU PLESSIS
ARTIST
Inge du Plessis - Biography, About & Resumé
I am a figurative oil painter with work in collections throughout the world. I am originally from Cape Town, South Africa - where I Completed an Honours Degree in Fine Art at the University of Cape Town and have been painting professionally since 1999 after many years, working as a cabinet maker, running my own design and manufacturing business.
​
After three successful solo shows and regular participation in group shows, competitions and art events, I moved to the United Kingdom with My family in 2009. I have taken part in various group shows in Berkshire while creating a body of work for my first solo show in England.
In 2016 I was chosen to participate in Sky Portrait Artist of the Year, which aired in spring 2017 on Sky Arts. I entered again in 2019 and made it through to the Finals of Portrait Artist of the Year 2020 on Sky and Channel 4.
​
I continue to exhibit in Open Studio events, as well as group shows and, in the absence of gallery representation, have come to rely heavily on social media platforms such as Instagram @ingeartist, Saatchi Art and Facebook.
​
​
About my Painting
​
My paintings are figurative and some works play with the characteristics of portraiture - my figures are characters in a suggested narrative - akin to a film still. Something is about to happen or something just happened. The paintings invite the viewer to participate, to inquire.
My figures represent a 'simultaneousness' - a quiet affirmation of usually repressed power and fulfillment; a fragility - a condensed allegory or tale.
​
A recurring theme in my work of the last 19 years has been light within darkness. Emerging in 2000 was a series of paintings, The Light Bearers. These have recurred in various forms, currently in the series of paintings titled Light Husbandry.
The light is the source that drives me, the faith, even embodied in the work i produce. It is all the mystery and beauty of the unseen and unknown.
It is not good as opposed to darkness - even in dark matter imperceptible light may exist.
​
Resumé / Curriculum Vitae:
​
​
​
​
Contact:
​
Instagram: @ingeartist
​
Oil on Canvas 2005
Oil on Canvas 2005
Oil on Canvas, 2016