ERIN CHAPLIN
(b. 1988 Durban, South Africa)

Erin Chaplin’s work is a deeply personal and reflective. She draws her initial inspiration from her longstanding muse - nature, but reaches further – in reaction to Christian religious doctrine and in an exploration of human vulnerability – and into abstraction.

Chaplin studies the relationship between the natural and the artificial in her work, striving to capture the poignancy of youth as it fades – fresh fruit and flowers as they slowly rot. In response to the challenging nature of the genre, the floral still-life works are executed in a combination of muted tones and unexpected, contrived colours. The contrast of these tones creates a dynamism in the work that entices and surprises the viewer. In her impasto paintings, a metaphor grows to encapsulate the delicate rawness and vulnerability of the human condition as we grapple with life as it unfolds.

Chaplin is a self-taught artist who has exhibited at the Irma Stern Museum in Cape Town and at commercial galleries in London, Australia and South Africa. 

I feel as though I am living between worlds. Reality, fantasy and my own reality. And time is ticking on in the background. Still life resonates with me because it’s on the clock too. Flowers and fruit can be arranged and painted to live forever ... but they will die and rot. This comforts me. I don't want anything to be too perfect or too alive because that’s not realistic.        _{ERIN CHAPLIN}           

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2024
Red and Green Work, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

2022
Island, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

2020
Path Through Mountain, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2025
Investec Cape Town Art Fair, with Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa
Internal Species, Otomys, Melbourne, Australia
10 Years | Summer 2025, Everard Read, London, UK

2024
Investec Cape Town Art Fair, with Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa
Southern Light, Everard Read, London, UK

2023
What I Feel When I Think About The Cosmos, Everard Read, Franschhoek, South Africa
Investec Cape Town Art Fair, with Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa
We are a way for the cosmos to know itself, Bode Projects, Berlin, Germany
Otomys, Melbourne, Australia

2022
Playing Field, dual exhibition with Jade Paton, Kalashnikovv, Johannesburg, South Africa

2021
Hand to Mouth: From the functional to the abstract, P72 Project Space, Johannesburg, South Africa
Oasis, 25th anniversary exhibition, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa
Winter, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa
An Enquiry into Pedagogy, Hotel Hernandez, Iziko South African National Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa

2020
Still, Everard Read South Africa & UK

2019
Soft, solo, part of the Cubicle Series, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa
Works on Paper, RK Contemporary, Riebeek Kasteel, South Africa

2018
Nice For What, Voorkamer Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa

2017
Outgrowth, Voorkamer Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa