LEE-ANN HEATH

(b. 1975 Durban, South Africa)

Lee-Ann Heath’s love for impasto oil paint, nature and connection. Using her surroundings as a point of departure, Heath draws on inspiration both natural and relational. Lee-Ann Heath’s desire is to recreate, analyse and deconstruct sensation.

When working with such thick paint, the challenge of finding the right balance between confident brush and palette knife strokes and moments of vulnerability becomes integral to Heath’s process, with the continuous rearrangements of colours and forms lifting and enhancing each other, layer upon layer. The work reflects an obsessive urge to find the right combination of colour, line and shape. As Heath explains: “I find the elements of surprise and unexpected accidental moments exciting, and when the accidental meets the intentional it often leads to the identity of the work coming unto its own.”

The canvas has the noticeable touch of her hand, where the thickly layered paint has been moved around in a sensuous manner by her palms or fingers. This technique gives the images a three dimensional, nearly culinary quality, the paint with an appearance like icing on a cake… almost good enough to eat. This invitation to an intense sensory interaction is carried through all the pieces, making the artwork massively tactile and dynamic.

EDUCATION

1987     Matric, Awarded Artist of the Year Prize.

1994     Fine Arts National Diploma, Natal Technicon - Top Achievement Award: Painting.

EXHIBITIONS

2001     Wembley Rd Studio, group exhibition, Cape Town, South Africa.

2008     Debut solo exhibition VEO Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa.

2016     Solo exhibition Art.Space, Cape Town, South Africa

2018     See.Me finalist for Time Square Exhibition

             Summer, group exhibition, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

2019     Rearrangements, Cubicle Series, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

            Summer, group exhibition, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

COLLECTIONS

Port Natal High Collection, Durban.

Louise Knepscheld, collector Cape Town.

Glynis Coetzee, collector, Art Gallery Owner, Cape Town.

Adele van Vuuren, collector Singapore  (Vuuren Solo Artist )

Hanlo Fourie, collector Cape Town.

Naobie Noisette, collector Cape Town.