When you write stories about the East Coast and the people in it, it’s easy to see how you get inspired to create from the beauty of this area. Kylie Wentzel is an artist, based here in Durban (you may know her from when she lived and worked in Umdloti!).
Kylie graduated from the Michaelis School of Fine Art at the University of Cape Town with a Fine Arts degree. “Art was always a part of my experience. I feel like I almost didn’t discover it, it was just inherently there from before I can remember,” Kylie recalls. Although she had her heart set on printmaking after art school, she shifted to painting when she felt like she needed a more flexible medium, “I felt a desire to create more loosely—printmaking is generally quite a meticulous form of expression,” she explains. She paints with acrylics on canvas and generally creates large artworks.
“Living and working in Durban heavily influences the work I make. I paint from my bank of observations,” she shares. Kylie recently showcased her work at the Investec Cape Town Art Fair, with 50ty/50ty prints. They create fine art prints with work from South African artists. Her work can be described as revisualising the people, creatures, objects, smells, sounds and scribbles she observes around Durban. “It’s always great to see such an incredible showcase at the art fair. I feel privileged to show my work alongside so many talented artists,” she reports.
With her art being showcased locally and internationally, Kylie’s journey is only getting more exciting. Painting in Durban and sending the art abroad, her work continues to capture the people, places, and moments that make life interesting. And with an artist’s residency in Majorca, Spain, on the horizon, there’s no doubt that more incredible creations are on the way.
https://www.instagram.com/k.vventzel/?hl=en
Words: Cristina Govender