SHANY VAN DEN BERG | A Place to Bloom

SHANY VAN DEN BERG, A bunch of joy

Oil on linen, 86 x 86 cm

Working with oil paint allows me to build layers of light and colour, striving to capture not just an image, but a feeling - the warmth of sun on skin, the delicate texture of a petal, the hushed atmosphere of a private sanctuary. This work is my personal refuge, an invitation to step away from the noise of the world and contemplate the quiet drama of nature's cycles.

- Shany van den Berg

SHANY VAN DEN BERG, A perfect bunch from the Western Cape

Oil on linen, 150 x 150 cm

SHANY VAN DEN BERG, Abundance

Oil on linen, 150 x 150 cm

The proliferation of birds encircling evokes the spiritual messaging between the heavens and the earth; the fluttering of wings is also ‘akin to the swirling of thought’. They tap into the responsibility an artist has to manifest their message through their work. In Van den Berg’s instance, this is the absolute necessity for growth, communion, rest, and self-reflection in order to preserve the beauty of the Earth 

SHANY VAN DEN BERG, Between heaven and earth

Oil on linen, 130 x 90 cm

Shany van den Berg's nudes are lush and vegetal and exemplify her profound connection to nature, womanhood and her place in the world. For the artist, motifs from the natural world centre on the cycles of changing seasons which are mirrored in family lines and individual lives.

SHANY VAN DEN BERG, Curls and swirls in yellow vase

Oil on linen, 100 x 100 cm

Shany van den Berg has arranged the curves and colours of flowers in oil paint, with a nod to Georgie O’Keefe. To capture a plant on canvas or in bronze is to stop time – to give it eternity. For Van den Berg, depicting plants is a matter of self-reflection. She is sharing the love, purity, passion, beauty, innocence, death and new life of the garden within.

SHANY VAN DEN BERG, Dream garden

Oil on linen, 90 x 130 cm

Shany van den Berg has arranged grown gardens over the skin of painted figures which reference the reclining nudes of Delacroix. To capture a plant on canvas or in bronze is to stop time – to give it eternity. For Van den Berg, depicting plants is a matter of self-reflection. She is sharing the love, purity, passion, beauty, innocence, death and new life of the garden within.

SHANY VAN DEN BERG, Embrace on a blue table

Oil on board, 60 x 40 cm

When I set about painting a floral still life, I don’t rely on a physical arrangement of flowers. The elements are conjured in my imagination and then I begin researching my fantasy flowers that quench my longing for nature, for joy and for a sense of freedom.

I think about war and insecurity that plagues our beautiful planet. I painted the pair of white poppies, embracing, as a symbol of the peace I yearn for.

- Shany van den Berg

SHANY VAN DEN BERG, He made beautiful vases .... an ode I

Oil on linen, 60 x 40 cm

Shany van den Berg's floral still lifes are lush and vegetal and exemplify her profound connection to nature, womanhood and her place in the world. For the artist, motifs from the natural world centre on the cycles of changing seasons which are mirrored in family lines and individual lives. The curves and palette of her florals might take inspiration from the likes of Georgie O’Keefe, but they are largely the vibrant inventions of her imagination. 

SHANY VAN DEN BERG, He made beautiful vases .... an ode II

Oil on linen, 60 x 40 cm

Shany van den Berg's floral still lifes are lush and vegetal and exemplify her profound connection to nature, womanhood and her place in the world. For the artist, motifs from the natural world centre on the cycles of changing seasons which are mirrored in family lines and individual lives. The curves and palette of her florals might take inspiration from the likes of Georgie O’Keefe, but they are largely the vibrant inventions of her imagination. 

SHANY VAN DEN BERG, I arranged her red roses for insomnia (After Louise Bourgeois ... Insomnia drawings of red roses)

Oil on board, 50 x 40 cm

In my practice, reference and reimagine the historical genres of the still life and the nude, placing them in a contemporary context that is intensely personal to my life and my particular state of mind......In my homage to Louise Bourgeois’ insomnia drawings, there are red roses in a vase with a woman staring back at me – awake, but peaceful to the rhythms of life.

- Shany van den Berg

SHANY VAN DEN BERG, Looking through the foliage (Female form after Diego Velazquez)

Oil on board, 40 x 60 cm

Shany van den Berg's paintings revel in the dialogue between the human form and the natural world.

I arrange flowers in vases and figures in gardens, with a similar eye for composition, exploring how the curve of a voluptuous vase echoes the sensuous curves of a human body. My intention is to create a sense of harmonious tension, where the cultivated and the wild, the temporary and the timeless, exist in a single, balanced frame. I think of my paintings as both a celebration of colour and form, but also a meditation on stillness and the ephemeral beauty to be found in the quiet, often-overlooked spaces between the domestic and the wild.

- Shany van den Berg

SHANY VAN DEN BERG, My vase het begin groei I (My vase has begun to grow I)

Bronze, 48 x 44 x 44 cm

To capture a plant on canvas or in bronze is to stop time – to give it eternity. For Shany van den Berg, depicting plants is a matter of self-reflection. She is sharing the love, purity, passion, beauty, innocence, death and new life of the garden within.

SHANY VAN DEN BERG, My vase het begin groei II (My vase has begun to grow II)

Bronze, 63 x 55 x 55 cm

To capture a plant on canvas or in bronze is to stop time – to give it eternity. For Shany van den Berg, depicting plants is a matter of self-reflection. She is sharing the love, purity, passion, beauty, innocence, death and new life of the garden within.

SHANY VAN DEN BERG, Oh! it's a sunny day

Oil on board, 80 x 60 cm

Shany van den Berg's paintings revel in the dialogue between the human form and the natural world.

I arrange flowers in vases and figures in gardens, with a similar eye for composition, exploring how the curve of a voluptuous vase echoes the sensuous curves of a human body. My intention is to create a sense of harmonious tension, where the cultivated and the wild, the temporary and the timeless, exist in a single, balanced frame. I think of my paintings as both a celebration of colour and form, but also a meditation on stillness and the ephemeral beauty to be found in the quiet, often-overlooked spaces between the domestic and the wild.

- Shany van den Berg

SHANY VAN DEN BERG, Pink hibiscus in wavy vase

Oil on linen, 60 x 80 cm

My work draws on my responses to the traditions of still life and landscape painting as well as my personal memories as a child, gardening with my mother. It is also nourished by my enduring love for gardens and walking in nature.

- Shany van den Berg

SHANY VAN DEN BERG, Red hibiscus in my orange vase

Oil on board, 80 x 60 cm

The curves and palette of Shany van den Berg's florals might take inspiration from the likes of Georgia O’Keefe, but they are largely the vibrant inventions of her imagination.

SHANY VAN DEN BERG, Remembrance

Oil on linen, 100 x 100 cm

When I set about painting a floral still life, I don’t rely on a physical arrangement of flowers. The elements are conjured in my imagination and then I begin researching my fantasy flowers that quench my longing for nature, for joy and for a sense of freedom.

I think about war and insecurity that plagues our beautiful planet. I painted the red, larger-than-life, open poppy for remembrance.

- Shany van den Berg

SHANY VAN DEN BERG, Rose's little black vase

Oil on board, 60 x 40 cm

When I set about painting a floral still life, I don’t rely on a physical arrangement of flowers. The elements are conjured in my imagination and then I begin researching my fantasy flowers that quench my longing for nature, for joy and for a sense of freedom.

- Shany van den Berg

SHANY VAN DEN BERG, Searching for their colour

Oil on linen, 90 x 130 cm

SHANY VAN DEN BERG, She brings rain and abundance

Oil on linen, 130 x 90 cm

Shany van den Berg's nudes are lush and vegetal and exemplify her profound connection to nature, womanhood and her place in the world. For the artist, motifs from the natural world centre on the cycles of changing seasons which are mirrored in family lines and individual lives.

SHANY VAN DEN BERG, She found her place to bloom

oil impasto on board, 30 x 25 cm

My process with oil paint is essential to this exploration. I need both the richness of layered brushwork and impasto to build a tangible sense of life and texture, but also delicate, thin glazes of paint to capture the ethereal, to evoke a sense of timelessness and stillness.

- Shany van den Berg

SHANY VAN DEN BERG, Textural arrangement

Oil on linen, 100 x 100 cm

Working with oil paint allows me to build layers of light and colour, striving to capture not just an image, but a feeling - the warmth of sun on skin, the delicate texture of a petal, the hushed atmosphere of a private sanctuary. This work is my personal refuge, an invitation to step away from the noise of the world and contemplate the quiet drama of nature's cycles.

- Shany van den Berg

SHANY VAN DEN BERG, The sleeping Venus (Female form after Giorgione)

Oil on board, 40 x 56 cm

Shany van den Berg's paintings revel in the dialogue between the human form and the natural world.

I arrange flowers in vases and figures in gardens, with a similar eye for composition, exploring how the curve of a voluptuous vase echoes the sensuous curves of a human body. My intention is to create a sense of harmonious tension, where the cultivated and the wild, the temporary and the timeless, exist in a single, balanced frame. I think of my paintings as both a celebration of colour and form, but also a meditation on stillness and the ephemeral beauty to be found in the quiet, often-overlooked spaces between the domestic and the wild.

- Shany van den Berg

SHANY VAN DEN BERG, We share this space

Oil on board, 30 x 30 cm

Shany van den Berg's paintings revel in the dialogue between the human form and the natural world.

I arrange flowers in vases and figures in gardens, with a similar eye for composition, exploring how the curve of a voluptuous vase echoes the sensuous curves of a human body. My intention is to create a sense of harmonious tension, where the cultivated and the wild, the temporary and the timeless, exist in a single, balanced frame. I think of my paintings as both a celebration of colour and form, but also a meditation on stillness and the ephemeral beauty to be found in the quiet, often-overlooked spaces between the domestic and the wild.

- Shany van den Berg

SHANY VAN DEN BERG, Who's there in my garden? (Female form after Ingres)

Oil on board, 40 x 60 cm

Shany van den Berg's reclining nudes trace their lineage to the Renaissance masters and the Neoclassical movement - most notably Giorgione, Titian and Ingres - and continue an intimate conversation across time.

SHANY VAN DEN BERG, Woman with pink hibiscus

Oil on linen, 40 x 72 cm

Shany van den Berg’s nudes and floral still lifes are lush and vegetal and exemplify her profound connection to nature, womanhood and her place in the world. For the artist, motifs from the natural world centre on the cycles of changing seasons which are mirrored in family lines and individual lives.