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South African visual artist Tanya Sternberg

Tanya Sternberg

Cape Town | 0 artworks for sale

Tanya Sternberg's artworks explore human natures pursuit to be whole.

From afar the fragments of x-ray float and journey through space in some random but contradictory organized fluid movement. Ink organic wash represents a freedom of space, transience and a balanced environment.

Meshed within this is the intricate landscape of architectural planes. Geometric shapes originally start in an organized fashion building layers upon each other until there is a dense overlapping of structures. Obvious reflections of our cities, population and inner chaotic state.

Floating ethereally are fragments of x-rays (now obsolete). The x-rays are transparent, windows into ourselves. They float, intersect, overlap in joyous movement, navigating planes in a pursuit to be whole and in harmony with structures and our natural environment. The abstract angular forms indicative of the various planes, realities and alternate dimensions we may explore.

The overall fragmentation in this pursuit appears fruitless, however viewed holistically, the dance and journey of all these expansive elements is perhaps the beauty, and ultimate wholeness we are seeking.

Tanya Sternberg was born in East London in 1977. She lives and works in Cape Town as an artist and graphic designer. She graduated from the Ogilvy and Mather School of Advertising and started her own graphic design company, Ink Design in 2005.

She has worked across numerous magazine publications including Sports Illustrated, InStyle and Time Inc Australia. She has created a separate commercial range of artworks nationally through Weylandts Home Stores.

Tanya draws inspiration from connected moments between people, her family and the inner pursuit of space in our natural and urban landscapes.  

Selected Exhibitions:

2021
Solo exhibition Chasing Space, Candice Berman Gallery, Johannesburg

2020
Turbine Art Fair,  Candice Berman Gallery, Johannesburg

2018
Group Exhibition - UNDERCURRENTS at StateoftheART Gallery, Cape Town
Group Exhibition - ABANDONED GARDEN at Eclectica Gallery, Cape Town

2017
Solo exhibition - PATHWAYS at StateoftheART Gallery, Cape Town

Which new trends or South African artists do you find inspiring at the moment?
Paul Senyol, Io Makandal, Pascale Chandler.

Which South African deceased artist do you most admire and why?
Andrew Verster. His use of colour and abstraction is inspiring. His earliest series of Mangrove Swamp paintings is powerful moving.

If you could only have one piece of art in your life, what would it be?
Any works by the one and only, Julie Mehretu.

Pick three artists who you would be honored to exhibit with – and why
Paul Senyol, Io Makandal, Pascale Chandler.

How did you get started? Did you always want to be an artist?
I have always painted. I started as a graphic designer and moved between creating visually on screen to canvas.

?What are some of the key themes you explore in your work?
Stillness.?The journey through space and time.?Nature vs urban.

What should people know about your art that they can’t tell from looking at it?
Behind the abstraction of the works there is a conversation about the key themes above.

Tell us more about your creative process.
At the moments I am working with ink, pins and x-rays. The work is layered and starts of with washes of paint. This is loose and free. It ends with the opposite of very intricate detailed lines and pins. I enjoy and need both processes -  spontaneous and free vs slow and complex.

Do you believe an artist should use their platform to influence society? Why?
I think as human beings we should influence society in some way. Whether this is done through your art or rather privately is up to the individual. There are many ways to influence society and some are more subtle, others are more vocal.

Do you have a favourite or most meaningful work?
A painting I did of my daughter age 3. It captured a moment in time for me that I relish.

What is your greatest achievement as an artist to date? ?
Moments of being able to do what I love in balance with the rest of my life.

What are your aspirations for the future??
To continue to create pieces of art that move me and the viewer. To create artworks that are honest converstaions with myself.