BRETT CHARLES SEILER
(b. 1994 Zimbabwe)

Through his paintings, Brett Charles Seiler creates an interior world which wavers between desire and anxiety. He explores the male body, domestic space, poetry, Queer history, Biblical symbolism, love and alienation, as well as the possibilities of painting as a medium. His experimentation with material, colour, and line has culminated in a unique and carefully honed style. In his search for materials which are both evocative and easily accessible, Seiler’s early paintings included found objects such as old black-and-white photographs and fabric. Though these objects have mostly been stripped away from his most recent paintings, they have been absorbed as visual strategy. The photographs are present in the snapshot-like, narrative atmosphere of the depicted scenes, and in the colour palette and tones. The interest in fabric can be seen in his treatment of the canvas as an important part of the finished work. The rawness of the surface and the sketched quality of the lines add to the feeling that we are witnessing a brief, urgent moment in time which has passed but been memorialised.

Even in the more conventional of Seiler’s painted scenes, the void-like backgrounds add an enticing ambiguity to the works. They become otherworldly. In some cases, they offer a vision of an untouched heaven, but more often they have the texture of a dream (or nightmare). You can see familiar objects – a houseplant, a thrifted mid-mod chair, a parquet floor – and yet the surroundings remain alien and unstable. Perspective is unsturdy, with flatness and depth being represented alongside each other. The most fascinating visual element is the male subjects. The lines of the figures feel fragile, as if they could be washed away into their surroundings at any moment. Their poses, and the way that they hold and touch each other, tell stories which are never fully revealed. In looking at Seiler’s bodies, I am reminded of Cezanne’s group and solo studies of nude, awkwardly-posed but still sensual men. However, the symbolic, narrative quality of Seiler’s paintings differs from Cezanne’s limited variations of bathers in front of bodies of water.

Seiler’s recent series of paintings are rich with visual references. The domestic space is destabilised by what appears to be an apocalyptic event. In one, a man kneels before another, like a sinner asking for Christ’s salvation, but also like a man seeking solace from his lover. There are also art historical references, such as a painting within a painting and reclining nudes. Words and poetry are another important aspect of Seiler’s practice. His works have included comic but tragic anecdotes, love letters, and references to Queer culture. He references the legendary Fire Island. The ‘Coke/cock bottle’ which appears often within the paintings and as a sculptural object allows for a moment of erotic humour.

All of these visual elements offer a sensitive navigation of his own experiences as a gay man who has lived through shame and alienation, as well as love – and the joy and anxiety that comes with it. As seen in works such as the Gay Alphabet series, Seiler is not afraid to engage directly with the political, but he makes the politics of gender and sexuality feel intimate and immediate. Beyond this personal/political lens, the works are an expression of his passion for artistic practice itself – through both the physical act of painting, and the history of art and culture.

– Khanya Mashabela

Seiler graduated from the Ruth Prowse School of Art in 2015. In addition to his solo shows, Seiler has been included in various group exhibitions and fairs, including a  performance piece with Luvuyo Nyawose titled ‘Reading Homophobia’ (2017) at the A4 Arts Foundation in Cape Town, curated by Kemang Wa Lehulere and Zipho Dayile, and the Cologne Art Fair with Galerie Eigen + Art in 2021.

EDUCATION

2015
Graduated from The Ruth Prowse School of Art

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2023
Luke, Warm, Everard Read, London, UK

2022
Oh, Christopher, M+B, Los Angeles, USA
Gallery Eigen+Art, Berlin, Germany
As yet untitled, Everard Read, Johannesburg, South Africa
At some point, I thought I was building a home, Investec Cape Town Art Fair, with Everard Read, South Africa

2021
Timber, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

2020
Closet, Goodman Gallery viewing room, Johannesburg, South Africa

2019
How I forgot the colours of the rainbow, SMITH, Cape Town, South Africa

2018
More Scared Of What Was In The Closet Than What Was Underneath My Bed, CIRCA Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa

2016
Macho Man, Tell It To My Heart, AVA Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa

SELECTED GROUP EXHITIONS
2022
Things I'd like to remember, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa
In Between Dreams, Gallery Eigen+Berlin, Cape Town, South Africa
Das Eigene im Fremden - Einblicke in die Sammlung Detlev Blenk, Museum Bensheim, Germany
Hothouse, Sixty Six, London, UK

2021
OASIS, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa
Summer 2021, Everard Read, London, UK
In Your Shadow, SMAC, Cape Town, South Africa
In Conversation, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa
Space and Place, curated by Khanya Mashabela, Galerie Eigen+Art, Liepzig, Germany
This room glows in the dark while we are asleep, curated by Jana Terblanche, The Vault, The Silo Hotel, Cape Town, South Africa
In Conversation, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

2020
ODYSSEY, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa
FNB Joburg Art Fair, online, solo booth curated by Jana Terblanche

2019
Emphatic Whispers, SMITH, Cape Town, South Africa
Winter 2019, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa
Home Affairs, Waterfront Docks, Cape Town, South Africa
OUTSIDE, Riebeek Kastel Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa

2018
One Straight Hour performed for The Main Complaint, Zeitz MOCCA, Cape Town, South Africa
Sunday Service, GUS, Stellenbosch, South Africa
Unfair, The Ruth Prowse School of Art, Cape Town, South Africa
The Edge of a Thread, Eclectica Contemporary, Cape Town, South Africa
Close Encounters, SMITH, Cape Town, South Africa
Not Really, Previously Known As, Cape Town, South Africa
Multiplicities Vol1: Continuous Unknowing, Assembly Room, NYC, USA

2017
Closer than Ever, Gallery MOMO, Cape Town, South Africa
Performance Night, Gallery MOMO, Cape Town, South Africa
One Week, AVA Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
Young Now, Hazard Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
Hold, The Ruth Prowse School of Art, Cape Town, South Africa
You and I, A4 Foundation, Cape Town, South Africa
Dislocation, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa
Salon Show, AVA Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
ABSA Atelier Top 100 finalists, ABSA Gallery, Pretoria, South Africa

2016
Falling Into One Another, Ruth Prowse School of Art, Cape Town, South Africa
New Monuments, Commune.1, Cape Town, South Africa
Winter Collection, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa
One Zero Seven, 107 Long Market Street, Cape Town, South Africa
The Ties That Bind, Bend, Break, Secret Dungeon, NYC, USA
Lip Service with Khanya Mashabela, Open Dialogue Box, Cape Town, South Africa
Sorry! Please Try Again, The Palms Center, Cape Town, South Africa
Reading Homophobia with Luvuyo Nyawose, performance, Gallery MOMO, Cape Town, South Africa

ART FAIRS
2022
SOLO Section, Investec Cape Town Art Fair, with Everard Read, South Africa
Investec Cape Town Art Fair, with Eigen+Art, Cape Town, South Africa

2021
Art Cologne, Cologne, Galerie Eigen+Art, Germany
Positions, Berlin, Galerie Eigen+Art, Germany

2019     
FNB Joburg Art Fair, online, solo booth curated by Jana Terblanche

2016       
Emerging Painters, Turbine Art Fair, Johannesburg

AWARDS AND COMPETITIONS
2017      
ABSA Atelier Top 100 finalists