Rina Stutzer

Rina Stutzer (born 1976) completed her BAFA at the University of Pretoria in 1999 and went on to complete her MAFA at the same university in 2007. After graduation, she started lecturing part-time in Painting and Drawing in the Department of Visual Arts at the University of Pretoria.

She works as a full-time artist, focusing on her own creative process and production, investigating both sculptural form and painting. In her recent paintings, she has been exploring ‘painting’ with acid as an ever-changing image on copper plate as well as on paper. These images are presented alongside digital prints of the painting at the time of ‘completion’ (from when they are no longer actively worked on). However, during the patina and subsequent oxidisation processes (due to the acid content and its reaction to the metal), the original images continue to be altered and thus change in appearance.

Stutzer has achieved a number of accolades, including The Bettie Cilliers-Barnard Bursary from the University of Pretoria for excellence in painting (1999) AND the SASOL New Signatures Art Competition: People’s Choice Award (1999). She was awarded the first prize in the Ekurhuleni Fine Arts Award Competition (2007) and achieved a distinction in Painting for her Master’s degree in Fine Arts from the University of Pretoria in the same year. In 2012, she was awarded the Rendezvous: Focus Painting bursary (also named after the late doyenne of painting in South Africa, Bettie Ciliers-Barnard).

This prestigious bursary afforded her the opportunity to attend a painting residency in France in 2013. In 2013, Stutzer also enjoyed a residency at Nirox and the following year she participated in the Sydney Art Fair and was a part of 20 Stellenbosch. In 2016, her work “Pinned transitory II” was exhibited at Reporting from the Front - Biennale Architettura 2016, South African Pavilion, Venice, Italy. She has participated in a number of group exhibitions since 2000 in South Africa as well as in Great Britain and in the Netherlands. When not preparing for a solo exhibition, Rina Stutzer spends her time between her home studio and that of DSW (Dionysus Sculpture Works).

She, along with her partner, manage the foundry and she is involved in all aspects of its running. Stutzer is represented by Everard Read Gallery, Johannesburg, Cape Town and London.