Gabrielle Raaff works with ethereality. She uses the media of ink, watercolor, and water-based oil as a vehicle for alluding to the form, function, and emotion of her subject. Landscape and its reference both to the actual place and places of the subconscious are what can be found lurking in her paintings. The artist’s most notable earlier works in watercolor and ink capturing beach and city figures and aerial Google satellite images of distinctly different South African neighborhoods rely on a cool relationship between herself and the subject and revel in the abstract qualities of the view. Recent works have seen a return to a more visceral use of water-based oil to help play out a more intimate painterly relationship with the subject.

Raaff has had three solo exhibitions and participated in numerous group shows in South Africa. Her work has been shown at Art Fairs in New York, London, Amsterdam, Paris, and Cape Town.

– Paul Edmunds

Courtesy of the Artist