Janine Venter

"Working in oil, her deeply personal portraits explore the relationship between figure and ground, using colour, composition, and spatial interplay to evoke intimacy, vulnerability, and personal narratives. Colour is central to her practice, speaking to the emotional architecture of the work. Inspired by the people closest to her, Venter works intuitively, drawing on relationships, personal experiences, and a lucid expression of aesthetics. Her dream-like portraits seek to reveal the uncanny inner worlds of her sitters, with backgrounds and foregrounds conspiring to deepen the meaning and liminal ambience of each painting. Through this dialogue between subject and space, her work reflects the opaque emotional landscapes, connections, and stories that shape our lives."