David Krut Projects | On Soft Ground by Heidi Fourie

David Krut Projects Presents ‘On Soft Ground’: Heidi Fourie’s DKW Residency

This exhibition showcases work by Heidi Fourie, chronicling her artistic journey during a recent residency at the David Krut Workshop (DKW). In 2019, Fourie collaborated with DKW on ‘Grass you can swim in,’ inspired by historic and contemporary print-makers like Rembrandt and Käthe Kollwitz. However, she later felt drawn to shift her practice, taking her sketchbooks into nature and drawing from life.

The 2022 residency offered the opportunity to explore larger formats. Fourie experimented with translating the multi-coloured pencil marks from her sketchbooks into grander pieces. Inspired by her sketches, she chose soft pastels to replicate the drawn lines.

Alongside these impressive pastel works and personal notebook sketches, the exhibition unveils Fourie first foray into soft-ground etching - a print medium echoing her delicate drawing style. Created in collaboration with printer Kim-Lee Loggenberg between working on mixed media pieces, the etchings boast an earthly palette, injecting colour into a traditionally monochromatic medium. These limited-edition prints, born from initial sketches, possess a captivating looseness and movement, perfectly capturing Fourie’s lyrical touch.

Fourie delves deeper into her renowned theme: exploring the natural world and our immersion within it. This body of work draws inspiration from secluded scenes of crevices and rocky gorges, imbued with a unique light impossible to capture with a camera, as Fourie herself states. Ghostly forms resembling tree branches, fallen bolulders, and floating buoys emerge from the landscapes, human and otherwise.