South African visual artist Lisette Forsyth

Lisette Forsyth

Cape Town | 37 artworks for sale

  • Rokken - Painting by Lisette Forsyth Rokken
    34 x 47 cm
    R16 500
  • Port Nolloth - Painting by Lisette Forsyth Port Nolloth
    34 x 47 cm
    R16 500
  • Open Road - Painting by Lisette Forsyth Open Road
    34 x 47 cm
    R16 500
  • African Life - Painting by Lisette Forsyth African Life
    57 x 76 cm
    R38 000
  • Family Ties - Painting by Lisette Forsyth Family Ties
    110 x 82 cm
    R55 000
  • And The Tide Will Tern - Painting by Lisette Forsyth And The Tide Will Tern
    112 x 79 cm
    R55 000
  • Tuck Shop - Painting by Lisette Forsyth Tuck Shop
    82 x 105 cm
    R55 000
  • Seveweeksportpas - Painting by Lisette Forsyth Seveweeksportpas
    89 x 68 cm
    R50 000
  • Hope - Painting by Lisette Forsyth Hope
    111 x 92 cm
    R55 000
  • One Side Of A Square ed.3/5 - Giclée Print by Lisette Forsyth One Side Of A Square ed.3/5
    140 x 106 cm
    R25 000
  • Eva - Giclée Print by Lisette Forsyth Eva
    30 x 42 cm
    R4 000
  • Outside Prince Albert - Painting by Lisette Forsyth Outside Prince Albert
    125 x 80 cm
    R59 500
  • Harbour Lights - Painting by Lisette Forsyth Harbour Lights
    42 x 30 cm
    R9 750
  • Social & Personal Intimacy - Giclée Print by Lisette Forsyth Social & Personal Intimacy
    51 x 67 cm
    R9 000
  • Staking A Claim - Giclée Print by Lisette Forsyth Staking A Claim
    30 x 42 cm
    R4 000
  • Bär and Ivy - Giclée Print by Lisette Forsyth Bär and Ivy
    107 x 77 cm
    R18 400
  • Bird Island - Hand Finished Print by Lisette Forsyth Bird Island
    107 x 77 cm
    R25 000
  • Trade With Mozambique - Giclée Print by Lisette Forsyth Trade With Mozambique
    52 x 38 cm
    R6 000
  • Famous Amateurs - Giclée Print by Lisette Forsyth Famous Amateurs
    52 x 72 cm
    R9 000
  • Dream Work - Giclée Print by Lisette Forsyth Dream Work
    110 x 76 cm
    R18 400
  • Homeland - Giclée Print by Lisette Forsyth Homeland
    105 x 75 cm
    R18 400
  • World Games - Giclée Print by Lisette Forsyth World Games
    110 x 76 cm
    R18 400
  • Fun - Giclée Print by Lisette Forsyth Fun
    106 x 77 cm
    R18 400
  • Cuba - Giclée Print by Lisette Forsyth Cuba
    120 x 75 cm
    R18 400
  • Clothing - Giclée Print by Lisette Forsyth Clothing
    30 x 42 cm
    R4 000
  • Chamais Bay To Port Nolloth - Giclée Print by Lisette Forsyth Chamais Bay To Port Nolloth
    104 x 80 cm
    R18 400
  • A Piece Of Ground - Giclée Print by Lisette Forsyth A Piece Of Ground
    29 x 42 cm
    R4 000
  • Official Handbook - Giclée Print by Lisette Forsyth Official Handbook
    29 x 42 cm
    R4 000
  • Cellphone Banking - Giclée Print by Lisette Forsyth Cellphone Banking
    29 x 42 cm
    R4 000
  • Dog Tickets - Giclée Print by Lisette Forsyth Dog Tickets
    29 x 42 cm
    R4 000
  • A Sentiment Of Sorrow - Giclée Print by Lisette Forsyth A Sentiment Of Sorrow
    51 x 62 cm
    R8 000
  • Bachelors & Spinsters - Giclée Print by Lisette Forsyth Bachelors & Spinsters
    59 x 74 cm
    R9 000
  • Milk Mad - Giclée Print by Lisette Forsyth Milk Mad
    52 x 72 cm
    R9 000
  • Trader - Giclée Print by Lisette Forsyth Trader
    30 x 42 cm
    R4 000
  • Port St. John - Giclée Print by Lisette Forsyth Port St. John
    30 x 42 cm
    R4 000
  • Entrance - Original Sketch by Lisette Forsyth Entrance
    91 x 59 cm
    R6 000
  • Crime And Punishment - Giclée Print by Lisette Forsyth Crime And Punishment
    52 x 72 cm
    R11 000
  • Polcadot - Painting by Lisette Forsyth
    Polcadot
    88 x 64 cm
  • Lockdown Blues - Painting by Lisette Forsyth
    Lockdown Blues
    25 x 32 cm
  • Stripes - Giclée Print by Lisette Forsyth
    Stripes
    101 x 76 cm
  • Lopende Wegen - Painting by Lisette Forsyth
    Lopende Wegen
    34 x 47 cm
  • Irrespective Of Age - Giclée Print by Lisette Forsyth
    Irrespective Of Age
    30 x 42 cm
  • Heavy Goods - Painting by Lisette Forsyth
    Heavy Goods
    34 x 47 cm
  • Electric Telegraph - Painting by Lisette Forsyth
    Electric Telegraph
    34 x 47 cm
  • Moon Change - Painting by Lisette Forsyth
    Moon Change
    34 x 47 cm
  • Two Parcels - Painting by Lisette Forsyth
    Two Parcels
    34 x 47 cm
  • Brothers In Arms - Painting by Lisette Forsyth
    Brothers In Arms
    34 x 47 cm
  • Griqua Town - Painting by Lisette Forsyth
    Griqua Town
    34 x 47 cm
  • Karoo Poppy - Painting by Lisette Forsyth
    Karoo Poppy
    34 x 47 cm
  • Trading - Giclée Print by Lisette Forsyth
    Trading
    30 x 42 cm
  • Water Supply - Giclée Print by Lisette Forsyth
    Water Supply
    29 x 42 cm
  • Game - Giclée Print by Lisette Forsyth
    Game
    30 x 42 cm
  • Black Gold - Painting by Lisette Forsyth
    Black Gold
    119 x 95 cm
  • Waiting Room - Giclée Print by Lisette Forsyth
    Waiting Room
    30 x 42 cm
  • Mule - Painting by Lisette Forsyth
    Mule
    34 x 47 cm
  • Mule Or Ass - Painting by Lisette Forsyth
    Mule Or Ass
    34 x 47 cm
  • Lwandle - Painting by Lisette Forsyth
    Lwandle
    70 x 101 cm
  • Smoke - Painting by Lisette Forsyth
    Smoke
    34 x 47 cm
  • Coach - Painting by Lisette Forsyth
    Coach
    108 x 78 cm
  • Camps Bay - Painting by Lisette Forsyth
    Camps Bay
    59 x 77 cm
  • Highest Spot - Painting by Lisette Forsyth
    Highest Spot
    64 x 84 cm
  • Cape Agulhas Light - Painting by Lisette Forsyth
    Cape Agulhas Light
    34 x 47 cm
  • Sitting On A Cloud - Drawing by Lisette Forsyth
    Sitting On A Cloud
    38 x 29 cm
  • Loving Subjects - Painting by Lisette Forsyth
    Loving Subjects
    34 x 47 cm
  • Lovely Llandudno - Painting by Lisette Forsyth
    Lovely Llandudno
    61 x 76 cm
  • Kei Mouth River - Painting by Lisette Forsyth
    Kei Mouth River
    33 x 46 cm
  • H2 Ous - Painting by Lisette Forsyth
    H2 Ous
    33 x 46 cm
  • Zone R - Original Painting by Lisette Forsyth
    Zone R
    69 x 73 cm
  • Across Africa - Painting by Lisette Forsyth
    Across Africa
    105 x 137 cm
  • Four-Wheeled Vehicle - Original Painting by Lisette Forsyth
    Four-Wheeled Vehicle
    33 x 46 cm
  • Be Kind - Painting by Lisette Forsyth
    Be Kind
    34 x 37 cm
  • Rivers - Painting by Lisette Forsyth
    Rivers
    34 x 47 cm
  • Building The Future - Painting by Lisette Forsyth
    Building The Future
    115 x 92 cm
  • Kei Mouth - Original Painting by Lisette Forsyth
    Kei Mouth
    34 x 47 cm
  • Under My Hand - Painting by Lisette Forsyth
    Under My Hand
    34 x 48 cm
  • Sunlight - Original Painting by Lisette Forsyth
    Sunlight
    57 x 76 cm
  • Essential Worker - Painting by Lisette Forsyth
    Essential Worker
    34 x 46 cm
  • Native Curios - Painting by Lisette Forsyth
    Native Curios
    57 x 75 cm
  • King - Original Painting by Lisette Forsyth
    King
    34 x 47 cm
  • Essence - Painting by Lisette Forsyth
    Essence
    63 x 78 cm
  • 12 Year Old - Original Painting by Lisette Forsyth
    12 Year Old
    35 x 48 cm
  • Kings Will Dream - Original Painting by Lisette Forsyth
    Kings Will Dream
    35 x 48 cm
  • Dark Eyes - Original Painting by Lisette Forsyth
    Dark Eyes
    35 x 48 cm
  • Wheeling - Original Painting by Lisette Forsyth
    Wheeling
    35 x 48 cm
  • Fire Wood - Original Painting by Lisette Forsyth
    Fire Wood
    35 x 48 cm
  • Piece Of Africa  - Hand-Finished Print by Lisette Forsyth
    Piece Of Africa
    119 x 94 cm
  • Prepare - Original Painting by Lisette Forsyth
    Prepare
    56 x 76 cm
  • Deep Low - Original Artwork by Lisette Forsyth
    Deep Low
    39 x 30 cm
  • Interior - Original Painting by Lisette Forsyth
    Interior
    39 x 30 cm
  • Formally Separated - Original Painting by Lisette Forsyth
    Formally Separated
    35 x 48 cm
  • Ist Day - Original Painting by Lisette Forsyth
    Ist Day
    35 x 48 cm
  • Mother's Love - Original Painting by Lisette Forsyth
    Mother's Love
    35 x 48 cm
  • Snell - Original Painting by Lisette Forsyth
    Snell
    35 x 48 cm
  • Lady Atlas - Painting by Lisette Forsyth
    Lady Atlas
    122 x 205 cm
  • BAZAAR - Original Painting by Lisette Forsyth
    BAZAAR
    35 x 48 cm
  • Religious Communication - Original Painting by Lisette Forsyth
    Religious Communication
    35 x 48 cm
  • Forgive - Original Painting by Lisette Forsyth
    Forgive
    35 x 48 cm
  • Guardian - Original Painting by Lisette Forsyth
    Guardian
    35 x 48 cm
  • Trade With Mozambique - Original Painting by Lisette Forsyth
    Trade With Mozambique
    57 x 42 cm
  • Other Vehicle - Original Painting by Lisette Forsyth
    Other Vehicle
    35 x 48 cm
  • Payday (Betaal) - Original Painting by Lisette Forsyth
    Payday (Betaal)
    35 x 48 cm
  • Purity - Original Painting by Lisette Forsyth
    Purity
    59 x 78 cm
  • Homeland - Original Painting by Lisette Forsyth
    Homeland
    110 x 80 cm
  • Schulphoek/The Deal - Painting by Lisette Forsyth
    Schulphoek/The Deal
    145 x 87 cm
  • One Side Of A Square - Painting by Lisette Forsyth
    One Side Of A Square
    145 x 109 cm
  • Wheat Free - Painting by Lisette Forsyth
    Wheat Free
    33 x 46 cm
  • Africa My Love - Painting by Lisette Forsyth
    Africa My Love
    120 x 96 cm
“I paint to fill the need to create. Constantly experimenting with media and subject matter. The compulsion to recycle pushes me towards mixed media. Cape Town and it’s people provide contradictions and contrasts to work from. Every day is an inspiration . The need to revel and reflect life’s beauty drives me to create. To share the delight in the seemingly ordinary.” – Lisette Forsyth

Drawing inspiration on a daily basis through her deeply personal as well as public life she is able to bring to life the nuances of the human experience on her mixed media canvases. Harnessing the world around her in every aspect imaginable, she works primarily on recycled materials such as rusted steal, drift wood, historic newspapers and maps, as well as old books and construction plans, giving a second life to these once discarded and disregarded surfaces. But creativity does not stop there. Once a surface has been carefully selected from the rejected “waste materials” of our society, it may take days, weeks, months or even years for inspiration to strike. Taking lessons from her early education in graphic design and print making, Lisette understands the importance of paying homage to her canvases by marrying the correct surface with the correct subject matter. The result of such patience and imaginative couplings between surface and subject is both visually spectacular and deeply thought provoking. One speaks to the other, enriching the subjective value and meaning to be found in each and every piece by opening up a dialogue between surface and subject, between artist and art, observer and observed. In this way, Lisette aims to create works that speak not only to the intellectual art connoisseur, but to the ordinary man women and child; not only of the spectacular and sensational, but of the ordinary and often overlooked details of the endlessly inspiring world that naturally surrounds us all.
Lisette Bambine Forsyth (b. 1968) is a Cape Town based artist. The city and its residents, the people as well as the fauna and flora, are the inspiration for the artworks she creates.
Between 1992 and 1994, she completed an internship at Mechanical Graphics at the Bayerische Rundfunk, Germany - she then studied graphic design at the Cape Technicon, majoring in photography and printing in 1999. Lisette has exhibited nationally and internationally and was a Vuleka finalist in 2007. The artist’s national as well as  international recognition and success are a testament to her ruthless dedication and boundless imaginative capacity.
 
Lisette has exhibited across Southern Africa and internationally with galleries in New York, Portugal and Munich. Her work is ever changing and adapting to the social, political and cultural climate of the time, and is perhaps the reason why she is able to not only reach, but touch such a vast audience.
 
In February 2022, Lisette and StateoftheART took part in the International Public Art Festival (or IPAF) in Cape Town, with the artist painting a temporary mural on the Gallery windows.
 

Selected Exhibitions:

 
2019
Solo exhibition LAND, at StateoftheART Cape Town

2018
Harlem Fine Arts Show (HFAS) in New York

2017
SAADA art show with Holden Manz
Group Exhibition: 'UNITLED|SPRING' at StateoftheART Gallery, Cape Town

2016

SAADA art show with Holden Manz
Group Exhibition: 'Poudly South African' at Studio Dylan Thomas, Cape Town
Group Exhibition with East Side Studios, Cape Town
BRKLYN Spring Exhibition, Cape Town

2015
Solo Exhibition: ‘Nothing in India’ at Studio Dylan Thomas, Cape Town
Solo Exhibition: ‘Love they Neighbour’ at StateoftheART Gallery, Cape Town
Art and antique expo at the Look Out, W&A Waterfront

2014
Group Exhibition: ‘Ladies First’, Galerie von Braunbehrens, Munich, Germany
Solo Exhibition: 'A Reflection Of Us' at StateoftheART Gallery, Cape Town
Solo Exhibition: ‘Who’s looking at who’ at Rust and Vrede Gallery
Group Exhibition: ‘Music and Lyrics’ at Rust and Vrede

Works donated for Ukuthemba Child foundation are auctioned by Graham Norton, resulting in sales to Mr Norton.

2013

Solo exhibition: An honest day’s work, Studio Tonic, Cape Town

2012

Part of the Art week in Observatory and Woodstock , resulting in an ongoing relationship with the Jeanneta Blignaut Art Consultancy, Spier.

2011
Group exhibition: Pin Hole at Haas, Cape Town

 

What is your favourite film of all time?
Each decade has it’s own film: the 80s The Outsiders; 90s Jesus of Motreal; 00s Little Miss Sunshine; and 2010 District 9.

What music are you currently listening to and why?
Bon Ivor because its easy listening and beautiful. When I am in the studio I listen to Fine Music radio, it is relaxing , undemanding has very little advertising. The long pieces help sustain a train of thought and it is also a way to keep in touch with what is going on culturally.
Most recently Listening to YO YO MAR and LP .

Which living artists do you most admire and why?
Paul Edmunds, his work is clever and original.

Which deceased artist do you most admire and why?
Brett Whitely because of his loose style and innovative use of materials.

Which exhibition that you have visited made the greatest impact on you and why?
Harry Wichat at the Smelik Stokking Galleries in Amsterdam. I loved his loose brush stroke and use of colour – it could also have been the hash chocolate.
Most recent exhibition that made an impact was work of Lynette Yiadom-Boakye in Munich, her use of colour. Stone cold sober.

What is the question you get asked most frequently about your work and how do you answer it?
Question I get asked most is where do I find my surfaces. I scavenge.

What/ who inspired you to be an artist?
My Father, when I asked what I should do after leaving school he suggested I do what makes me happy.

Can you tell us about where you make your art and what, if any, the significance this location has.
I have a studio in Woodstock, an industrial part of Cape Town. I feel a sense of productivity in the air. I also find the people that live and work here have a style and grace despite their limited resources,every move languid and rhythmic. The weathered and graffitied buildings are also an ever changing inspiration.

What do you like most about being an artist?
To have an outlet for my creative energy.

What is your greatest achievement as an artist to date?
Seeing a commission piece bring tears of joy.