//Artist Biography

Andrew Kayser (b. 1975) Born in East London, South Africa, Kayser graduated from the Koninklijke Academie van Beeldende Kunsten (Royal Academy of Art), Den Haag, Netherlands in 2001 and went on to participate in several exhibitions in and around the Netherlands before returning to South Africa in 2005. After a lengthy struggle with alcoholism, Kayser regained sobriety, resuming his professional practice of art in 2014. In 2017, Kayser held his first solo exhibition, ‘At Home After Dark’ at Kalashnikovv Gallery in Johannesburg. The year 2020 marked a shift from his previous mixed media works and drawings to a more singular focus on oil painting. In 2023 this shift was consolidated with his fifth solo exhibition, ‘Fragments of Longer Stories’ at Graham Contemporary, Johannesburg.

Kayser has participated in numerous group exhibitions and his work has been shown at a number of art fairs including Untitled Art Miami Beach; Enter Art Fair, Copenhagen; Cologne Fine Art and Design; AKAA Art and Design Fair, Paris; 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair, London; Investec Cape Town Art Fair and Contemporary Istanbul Art Fair. His work is collected nationally and internationally.

Kayser lives and works in Johannesburg, South Africa.

//Artist Statement

It is challenging to write an artist statement when shifts and transitions in the work begin to appear. It is not a matter of throwing the baby out with the bathwater but rather trying to interpret the subtle changes in mood, tone and setting that the process is revealing to me. Meaning, for me, emerges through the process, and upon reflection on the work. This builds over time, what has come before feeds into it, all the thoughts and considerations, the themes, the evidence of completed works are present, but never static. They must evolve and grow. My work is rooted in figuration and a deep appreciation of the European tradition of painting, not so much in specifics of technique, but through love and observation. Tenuous is our linear interpretation of history and it is important that the work be brought into the contemporary milieu, acknowledging the specificity of the time and context in which it is produced. It is a matter of looking both forward and back.

Expanding on this the work explores the tension between nostalgia and dislocation. Familiar settings of suburban South Africa—swimming pools, gardens, and domestic architecture have expanded to include open vistas with an increased focus on the interplay of figure and environment as sites of psychological inquiry. The human form as both subject and cipher, capturing moments of quiet unease, fleeting intimacy, and the subtle dissonance between past and present. I am concerned with the fluid nature of memory and belonging, the uncertain boundaries between interior and exterior, self and other. Drawing from South Africa’s complex socio-historical landscape, the visual language is informed by both personal experience and collective memory. While rooted in specificity, the paintings resist easy legibility, inviting viewers to navigate their own associations and emotional registers. They present intuited worlds, as normal as they are utterly strange and estranging.

//Artist CV

Education/training:

1998-2001: BA Fine Arts, Koninklijke Academie van Beeldende Kunsten (Royal Academy of Art), The Hague, Netherlands

Solo and duo exhibitions:

2023 - Fragments of Longer Stories, Graham Contemporary, Johannesburg, South Africa
A Line Around Your Thoughts, duo show with Rhett Martyn, Gallery2, Johannesburg, South Africa
2021 - Not Enough Time to Do Nothing, THK Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
2019 - A Moderate Bliss, THK Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
Christ Haus!!, Kalashnikovv Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
Studio Show with Jake Michael Singer, August House, Johannesburg, South Africa
2018 - Dark Dogs and Candy Floss, duo show with Manuela Karin Knaut, Graham’s Fine Art Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
2017 - At Home After Dark, Kalashnikovv Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
2016 - No Lack of Void/The Gulag Rim, duo show Jason Bronkhorst, Kalashnikovv Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa

Selected group exhibitions:

2025 - Solitude, 131A Gallery, Cape Town, ZA
Wanderlust, The Finch Project, London, UK 2024 - The Un-Turning Wheel, Kalashnikovv Gallery in collaboration with Latitudes Centre for the Arts, Johannesburg, ZASEED II, SAFFCA, Villa Arcadia, Johannesburg, ZA
Winter Group Exhibition, Everard Read Franschhoek, Cape Town, ZA
Let the Story Begin, Knysna Fine Art, Knysna, ZA
2023 - 25th Anniversary Exhibition, Knysna Fine Art, Knysna, ZA
Collide, Featherstone Center for the Arts, Martha’s Vineyard, MA
Optimal Vibration, Graham Contemporary, Johannesburg, ZA
Sunny Side Up, Graham Contemporary, Johannesburg, ZA
2022 - A New Day, Graham Contemporary, Johannesburg, ZA
Africa Now, THK Gallery, Cologne, DE
The Tower and the Tide, Dawid Ras Gallery, Johannesburg, ZA
True Fall, Gallery at Grande Provence, Franschhoek, ZA
TODO ES DE COLOR, The Curator’s Room, Amsterdam, NL
FEVER, Boschendal x Norval Art Gallery, Cape Town, ZA
2021 - TransForm, THK Gallery, Cologne, DE
2020 - Cubicle Series January 2020, CIRCA Gallery, Cape Town, ZA
2018 - The Cat Show, David Krut Projects, Johannesburg, ZA
Kalashnikovvgallery 3.0, Kalashnikovv Gallery, Johannesburg, ZA
Memento Mori, Kalashnikovv Gallery, Johannesburg, ZA
A Contemporary Showcase, Graham’s Fine Art Gallery in collaboration with Kalashnikovv Gallery, Johannesburg, ZA
2017 - The Invisible Exhibition, Centre for the Less Good Idea, Johannesburg, ZA
Super Salon II, Kalashnikovv Gallery, Johannesburg, ZA
Magiciens d’Afrique, ODA Fine Art Gallery, Franschhoek, ZA
Another Antipodes/Urban Axis, PS Art Space, Perth, AU
UntitledBerlin, Kalashnikovv Gallery, Berlin, DE
2016 - Super Salon, Kalashnikovv Gallery, Johannesburg, ZA
The Scramble for Africa, Kalashnikovv Gallery, Berlin, DE
#ULTRACONTEMPORARY #EMERGENTART #AFRICA, MOAD, Johannesburg,ZA
From Whence They Came, Smith Gallery x Kalashnikovv Gallery, Cape Town, ZA
August House, Hazard Gallery, Johannesburg, ZA
2015 - Cross-Sections, Kalashnikovv Gallery, Johannesburg, ZA
Transitions, Kalashnikovv Gallery, Old Transvaal Post Office, Johannesburg, ZA
Young Collectors, Kalashnikovv Gallery, Johannesburg, ZA

Art fairs:

2025 - RMB Latitudes, presented Kalashnikovv Gallery, Johannesburg, ZA
Investec Cape Town Art Fair, presented by Suburbia Contemporary, Cape Town, ZA
London Art Fair,  presented by The Finch Project, London, UK
2024 - Untitled Art Miami Beach, presented by Kalashnikovv Gallery, Miami, FL
2022 - Enter Art Fair, presented by THK Gallery, Copenhagen, DK
2021 - Cologne Fine Art and Design, presented by THK Gallery, Cologne, DE
2020 - Cologne Fine Art and Design, presented by THK Gallery, Online
1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair, presented by THK Gallery, London, UK
Investec Cape Town Art Fair, presented by THK Gallery, Cape Town, ZA
2019 - Cologne Fine Art and Design, presented by THK Gallery, Cologne, DE
Also Known As Africa (AKAA) Art and Design Fair, presented by THK Gallery, Paris, FR
FNB Joburg Art Fair, presented Kalashnikovv Gallery, Johannesburg, ZA
Contemporary Istanbul Art Fair, presented by THK Gallery, Istanbul, TR
Investec Cape Town Art Fair, presented by Kalashnikovv Gallery, Cape Town, ZA
2018 - Turbine Art Fair, presented Kalashnikovv Gallery, Johannesburg, ZA
Investec Cape Town Art Fair, presented Kalashnikovv Gallery, Johannesburg, ZA
2017 - FNB Joburg Art Fair, presented Kalashnikovv Gallery, Johannesburg, ZA
Turbine Art Fair, presented Kalashnikovv Gallery, Johannesburg, ZA
Investec Cape Town Art Fair, presented Kalashnikovv Gallery, Cape Town, ZA
2016 - Berliner Liste Art Fair, presented Kalashnikovv Gallery, Berlin, DE
FNB Joburg Art Fair, presented Kalashnikovv Gallery, Johannesburg, ZA
Turbine Art Fair, presented Kalashnikovv Gallery, Johannesburg, ZA
Investec Cape Town Art Fair, presented Kalashnikovv Gallery, Cape Town, ZA
2015 - FNB Joburg Art Fair, presented Kalashnikovv Gallery, Johannesburg, ZA
Turbine Art Fair, presented Kalashnikovv Gallery, Johannesburg, ZA

Selected collections:

Andrew Kayser features in various national and international private collections including in Germany, The Netherlands and Australia.

Awards:

2021 - Thami Mnele Fine Art Award, Top 20 Finalist, South Africa
2021 - Foundwork Artist Prize, Top 50 Finalist, International

Residencies:

2021 - Quartier Am Hafen, Cologne, DE