Dorothee Kreutzfeldt
Dorothee Kreutzfeldt (b. 1970) is a Namibian-born, South Africa-based painter and lecturer. Her artistic practice involves painting and collaborations, often working across different media and disciplines. The city ofJohannesburg and its social/politically constructed histories and spaces have been central throughout her work. Her interests lie in how the city continues to craft, undermine and explode the experience of time, space and subjectivity.
Dorothee Kreutzfeldt (b. 1970) was born in Nigeria, though moved with her family to Germany in 1982 when political unrest in the country intensified. She completed Abitur in Hamburg in 1990 and returned to Namibia in 199, later on she enrolled at the Michaelis School of Fine Art in 1993. Kreutzfeldt completed her undergraduate studies in 1996 (painting) and worked in Cape town for 4 years as artist and lecturer, freelancing in the film-industry and public art initiatives. She been based in Johannesburg since 2000. Kreutzfeldt completed her MA in Fine Arts at the University of the Witwatersrand in 2004, where she now works as a Lecturer at the Wits School of Art (WSOA).
Kreutzfeldt has a strong interest in painting and ‘urbanity - how we understand cities/space within an increasing nation conscious/globalised economy, mobility and imagination'. Most of her work has developed in direct relation to the context of Johannesburg – and South Africa. Of Kreutzfelt’s art, Sue Williamson has written: ‘Plugging into a universal unconscious, the artist works with images that are already there, that exist on a page in a magazine or newspaper, that already have a history. Kreutzveldt does not attempt to 'express', but sees her function as one of extrication, or laying bare, of setting up a drama - a drama which questions land, space, relationships and the relevance of [artmaking].’
Recent solo exhibitions include City Without a Sun (2018); EXTENSIONS TO THE LOT LINE (2017); Here We (2016); at present, (2015); and The Immanent Inauguration of the 5th Corner (2010). In 2013, she co-authored the artist book Not No Place, Johannesburg Fragments of Spaces and Times with Bettina Malcomess (published by Fanele, Jacana Media). Between 2000 and 2009 Kreutzfeldt was a founding member of the non-profit cultural platform, The Joubert Park Project, which ran public art projects, artists residency programs and the development of the historic Drill Hall in Central Johannesburg. Her work is represented in a number of private and public collections, including the Iziko South African National Gallery and Johannesburg Art Gallery.
