Ina van Zyl

Ina van Zyl paints the human body, plants, flowers and everyday objects in muted tones. Those subdued colours give her canvases a remarkable density and power. She also writes graphic novels, and her work reflects the paradoxes of South Africa, her native country.

She was born in 1971 in Ceres and trained at the fine arts school of the University of Stellenbosch. Her first comic strips appeared in Bitterkomix, a South African comic launched in 1992. That underground background shows in her mix of drawing, painting and storytelling.

In 1995 she left for the Netherlands on the Thami Mnyele grant, which was funded by the Dutch Ministry of Culture. It gave her a studio at De Ateliers in Amsterdam from 1996 to 1998. She has stayed active since then, working in drawing, watercolour and painting, and collaborating with international magazines. The Onrust Gallery in Amsterdam has shown her work since 2004.

Dutch audiences now have a chance to see her work at scale at the SCHUNCK Museum in Heerlen. The museum presents the first major Dutch museum survey of her work. The exhibition is titled Where are you from. That question suits an artist whose work sits between South Africa and the Netherlands.

Her paintings are quiet and close-up. They focus on small details like a body part, a plant or an ordinary object, and the restrained palette makes them feel heavy and present. If you're in the south of the Netherlands, the Heerlen show is a good chance to see this in person.

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