Lizanne du Preez

Painting
www.lizpoetryandart.ca
I find inspiration in nature, Africa, figures, the medical world, travelling, biomorphic shapes, intuitive movements, painting, music, and words. My life and work have also been touched by grief and loss. Recently, I've been working on process rather than outcome, challenging myself to work with only one type of material for several months. This has forced me to make deliberate choices and focus on growth.
For my current body of work, I start by having a conversation with the fabric in my hands and following where it guides me. My process involves taking articles of clothing that carry memories; and transforming them into soft biomorphic sculptures. I work with ripped bedsheets, cut articles of clothing, and one-meter cuts of crochet yarn, reassembling them into a singular unit that represents the continuum of my fractured life.
This ongoing spiral reminds me that events and seasons overlap, and our lives cannot be defined by a linear timeline from birth to death. When I die, I will be remembered by the things and people I leave behind, not a range of years. The goal of my work is to challenge traditional notions of linearity.
Bodies
I have always been attracted to the experience of the human figure, and humanity it its rawest form. In my twenties I completed a degree in nursing, midwifery and psychiatry, which influenced my thought process about the body. In my practice I find myself swerving towards the human body and biological, biomorphic shapes.
Working in oils remind me of blood, of fat, brains, skin, the operating theatre and emergency room. I think about the juicy texture of flesh being translated onto hard, unforgiving surfaces. I am drawn to distortion and death, fluidity of motion, the skyward motion of the soul towards heaven, tears running out of every orifice. Intuitive mark making leads to biomorphic shapes, some of them more human than others.
Earth Mom
Exploration of our relationship to the earth and other celestial beings. Earth Mom loves us and care for us -but we disappoint and anger her. She shows herself in many forms, we just need to take the time to stop and listen.
This series also explores creation stories.
Sad, in Happy colors
Grieving the loss of my father, my home, my marriage. I express my feelings using tears, angels, figurative gestures while disguising them using vivid splashes of colour. For the casual viewer the paintings seem happy, but those that spend time will see the undercurrent of sadness.
Becoming soft: Grief series
These pieces are the product of my process involving the reworking of articles of clothing that carry
memories; and transforming them into soft biomorphic sculptures.