Colleen Bester, born1975 in Cape Town, delved into acrylic painting as a means to stave off boredom during the lockdown period and the distraction soon turned into an all-consuming passion and the boredom turned into therapy.
The self-taught artist uses the juxtaposition of light and dark and ugly and beautiful as a subject for most of her work, using everything around her as inspiration. Her past experiences and present mindset aims to evoke emotion, or spark conversation.
Her current focus is GBV, based on her own past and is aimed at exposing the many emotions victims endure and the triumph they can experience, as survivors with the right tools, knowledge and support base. Painting has thus become therapy and empowerment.
She is proactive in promoting her work and sold 2 paintings at her first group exhibition, which galvanized her to approach more avenues and has since become a member of Art. where she has also exhibited and The Emerging Artists Programme, where she has been involved in workshops and exhibitions. She has also taken part in various First Thursday exhibitions in Cape Town e.g. Kloof Street Hotel; Love is Burgers; House of Co, Fame Week Africa 2022 and has had a solo exhibition at Mullers Gallery, after only a few periods of promoting her work. Her work is currently on exhibit at Art Haus in Sea point and Youngblood Gallery in town.
She uses acrylic and texture in order to convey her feelings and messages onto canvas. That said, her paintings are best seen in person to experience the full effects of her emotions.
