Heidi Fourie

Heidi Fourie (b. 1990) uses oil painting to explore the relationship between people and the spaces they occupy. She takes inspiration from the medium’s natural tendency to represent organic lines and shapes. Curiosity motivates her practice, as demonstrated by her gestural representation, muted palette, and unique angular perspective. By emphasizing the natural world through washed texture and depth, Fourie explores intuition and relativity.

Fourie studies how the results of figurative representation and the intrinsic qualities of paint are pursued simultaneously. Her subject matter is simple – everyday scenes of figures and familiar objects – the simplicity frees her to practice and constantly refine her balancing act between restraint and excess, between gestural and polished mark-making.

Fourie has collaborated with the David Krut Workshop (DKW) since 2017, when she first came in to create a series of watercolour monotypes. She has since created an impressive body of works with DKW, and her work – both prints and paintings – has been presented at art fairs and included in many group exhibitions at David Krut Projects in Johannesburg and New York.

Fourie was born in Pretoria, where she currently lives and works. She completed her Bachelor of Fine Arts, specialising in painting, in 2012 at the University of Pretoria, for which she received the Bettie Cilliers Barnard Bursary for Fine Arts. Her first solo exhibition, Islands, was produced under the mentorship of Frikkie Eksteen and presented in 2015 at Lizamore & Associates Gallery in Johannesburg. Since then she has had multiple solo exhibitions, and she has been shown in group exhibitions countrywide Heidi Fourie has been collaborating with the David Krut Workshop (DKW) since 2017, when she first came in to create a series of watercolour monotypes. She has since created a number of works with DKW, and her work – both prints and paintings – has been presented at art fairs and included in many group exhibitions at David Krut Projects in Johannesburg. In 2021, David Krut Projects presented a solo show of Fourie’s work Grass You Can Swim In. The exhibition included etchings and monotypes made in collaboration with David Krut Workshop, as well as paintings. In 2022, Fourie participated in a three week residency at the workshop where she explored mark-making in drawing with pastels and began a new series of etchings using soft-ground. During and after this residency she created a body of work for her solo exhibition that same year titled On Soft Ground. In the beginning of 2023, Fourie once again collaborated with the David Krut Workshop to create a series of monotypes that were shown at the 2023 Latitudes Art fair. Fourie’s work was also shown in the DKP booth at the 2024 Latitudes art fair, she was also one of the featured artists of the fair. Her latest show with DKP, Unfurling, took place from 25 May to July of 2024. Heidi Fourie is one of the artist featured as part of South African Artist in New York, DKP’s ongoing initiative to showcase South African talent at our New York Gallery.