BIOGRAPHY
Cathy Layzell (born 1972) is a South African / British artist currently living and working in Cape Town.
Her practice spans more than twenty-five years and is grounded in painting as a study of perception, colour, and material transformation. Working primarily in oil, she constructs layered surfaces where image and structure shift between emergence and dissolution.
Layzell’s work engages landscape as a perceptual field rather than a fixed subject, drawing on water, light, vegetation, and atmospheric conditions. Her paintings develop through accumulation and interruption, producing unstable spatial conditions that move between observation and abstraction.
She has exhibited widely in South Africa and internationally, including at the Irma Stern Museum, Barnard Gallery, and in exhibitions in the UK and Europe. Her work is held in public and private collections including the Spier Arts Trust (South Africa), Mount Nelson Hotel (Cape Town), Werksmans Attorneys (Cape Town), and Cranemere Inc. (New York).
CV (Selected)
Education and training
2013 Postgraduate Diploma in Fine Art, Michaelis school of fine art,
University of Cape Town
2003 – 08 The Painting School of Montmirail, France.
1994 BA Fine Art, Rhodes University, South Africa
Solo Exhibitions
2025 Valley of the Red Gods, Eclectica Contemporary, Cape Town
2024 Dark Forest, Eclectica Contemporary, Cape Town
2019 Ravine, Salon91, Cape Town
2017 Reserve, Salon91, Cape Town
2016 Wilderness, Salon91, Cape Town
2014 Connect the Dots, Casa Labia, Cape Town
2013 Scratching the Surface, Luvey ’n Rose, Cape Town
2012 Expulsion from the Garden, Graduation exhibition,
Michaelis School of Fine Art, UCT
2009 Duende, Irma Stern Museum, Cape Town
2008 Nuit du Midi: After Matisse, Louise Dear Gallery, UK
Group Exhibitions
2026 Reframing visibility, Eclectica Contemporary, Cape Town
2025 Lech Kołodziejczyk and His Guests, Varisella Art, Poland
What was, what is, what if?, Eclectica Contemporary, Cape Town
2023 Transcience, GalleryOne11, Loop Street, Cape Town
2022 Painter, Painter, Barnard Gallery, Cape Town
2020 Rites of Passage, GalleryOne11, Cape Town, curated by Lloyd Pollack
2017 Fluid, Perspectives in Paint, Barnard Gallery, Cape Town
2016 Sewing Paradise, Irma Stern Museum, Cape Town
Between Stars and Tracks, The Project Room, Windhoek, Namibia
Spectra, Johans Borman Fine Art, Cape Town
Kingdom, Equus Gallery, Cavalli Estate, Somerset West
2015 Polynesia, with Paul Senyol, Salon91, Cape Town
2014 Seeking Eden, Casa Labia Cultural Centre, Cape Town
What Lies Beneath, Equus Gallery, Cavalli Estate, Somerset West
2009 Decade, Carol Lee Fine Art, Johannesburg
Still Reflections, Regatta Fine Art, Norfolk, UK
2008 High Water, Regatta Fine Art, Norfolk, UK
2005 Landscapes of East Anglia, Grapevine Gallery, Norwich, UK
2004 The JZ School of Painting & Drawing, curated by Francis Pratt,
Norfolk, UK
Art fairs (selected)
2024 Johannesburg Art Fair, Eclectica Contemporary
2019 Cape Town Art Fair, Salon91
2018 Turbine Art Fair, Johannesburg, Salon91
Cape Town Art Fair, Salon91
2017 Johannesburg Art Fair, Salon91
Turbine Art Fair, Johannesburg, Salon91
Cape Town Art Fair, Salon91
2016 Cape Town Art Fair, Salon91
Turbine Art Fair, Johannesburg, Salon91
Residencies and independent study
2014 Luvey ’n Rose Residency, Bo-Kaap, Cape Town
2008 Gary Wragg Workshop, Villa La Rêve, Vence, France
2006 Brunswick Studio Residency, Melbourne, Australi
Professional activities
2018 – 19 Painting lecturer, Michaelis School of Fine Art, UCT
1995–2000 Designer and Art Director in book publishing, London
Press (selected)
2025 Artsy weekly Spotlight feature: “Work of exceptional quality”.
2017 Cape Times, ‘Strokes of nature’. Review by Danny Shorkend
2017 Art Africa, ‘The garden metaphor – Reserve’, Q&A
2015 Cape Times, ‘Celebrate colour”. Review by Danny Shorkend
Collections
Spier Arts collective, South Africa
Yellowwoods Arts, South Africa
Mount Nelson Hotel, Cape Town
Werksmans Attorneys, Cape Town
Cranemere Inc., New York
