Cape Town-based Georgina Gratrix is one of the most exciting and innovative artists on the South African contemporary art scene. Part mocking, part criticism, part play, Gratrix’s work offers an inverted visual take on the world. Instilled with her youthful energy and personal experience, her work is refreshing, entertaining and complex.

Gratrix’s provocative works are heavily imbued with a fun aesthetic and a sense of deprecating laughter. Extending from the grandeur and sacrosanct icons of traditional art canons, contemporary pop-culture and the artist herself, no social hierarchies are absolved as subjects. A thick, almost obscenely excessive application of oil paint forms the layers of make-up and decoration on her subjects’ faces and bodies. Portraiture is a favourite genre, explored primarily in painting, but also in drawing, printmaking, collage and assemblage.

With numerous successful group and solo exhibitions both locally and internationally, Gratrix continues to garner impressive recognition.