(b. Benoni, Johannesburg)

CURRENT WORK

Liberty Battson is inspired by Modernism, more specifically the Modernist theories around abstraction and the pursuit for ‘truth’ and ‘true art’. The artist uses statistics as an everyday way of representing ‘the truth’. For almost two years, Battson has focused her research on Google, statistically the most used search engine, and tracked what users wanted to know the numbers of/ truth about. The data reflects current affairs and is constantly changing. Statistics are not only the subject matter of her work but also govern the abstraction – the colours and lines that represent these search patterns on the internet.

Battson takes her notion of tracking data into stripes one step further as viewers are now encouraged to decode the paintings by simply looking at the art and responding to how it makes them feel. Inspired by the notion of the physical effects of standing before colours much like Rothko, Kelly and Newland were investigating, Battson translated the searched truths onto the canvas using the theory of the physical effects of colour. Before decoding the paintings viewers can now theoretically stand before these high-gloss stripes and feel emotional ties to the art. Viewers are able to decode the painting via matching the colours of a video projection on display to the same colours on the artworks.

More recently Battson used Dadaism as her source of inspiration, producing ready-mades and using unconventional ways of transferring paint to canvas. Battson focused on celebrating abstraction and the century since the birth of the idea. Battson focuses on the aesthetic of abstraction to conceptually address bigger issues. It is in the audience’s interest to decode the artwork through the playful engagement.

BIOGRAPHY

Liberty Battson is a conceptual artist born and raised in Benoni, South Africa. She matriculated from St. Dunstan's College in 2009 and obtained her BA(FA) with distinction for her work with automotive paint on canvas in 2013 from the University of Pretoria.

Battson has most notably won the 2014 Absa L’Atelier competition, is a 2013 Sasol New Signatures Merit Award winner and a merit award recipient for painting in the 2012 Thami Mnyele Fine Arts competition.

Battson was a featured artist at the 2015, 2017 KKNK National Arts Festival- Oudtshoorn and 2016 Clover Aardklop National Arts Festival- Potchefstroom. Battson featured as part of the Cool Capital initiative at the 2016 Venice Architecture Biennale, has participated in numerous group exhibitions and is solely represented by Everard Read/CIRCA since 2016 where her debuted solo traveled from The Absa Gallery to CIRCA Cape Town.

Battson's artworks are in the Telkom, Sasol, Ellerman House, Absa, University of Pretoria, Nando’s Corporate collection (London),

Imago Mundi Luciano Benetton collection (Italy) as well as numerous private collections. She participated in a two-month residency in Paris at the Cité Internationale des Arts (2013) awarded by the University of Pretoria and returned for an additional seven months as part of her Absa L’Atelier award in 2015. Battson curated a three-week residency at Mas de Gravieres, Provence, France 2019 awarded by the organization.

QUALIFICATIONS

Tertiary Education: BA Fine Arts University of Pretoria 2013 (distinction)

Standox Qualified spray painter 2013 (Level 2)

NOTABLE EXHIBITIONS AND  AWARDS 

2019

Art’s OK, solo, Everard Read, Franschhoek

TRIPE, collaborative installation, Absa Gallery, Johannesburg

Don’t ask me where I am from, Aga Khan Museum (Toronto) in collaboration with the Benetton Foundation/Imago Mundi (Italy), Galleria delle Prigioni, Treviso, Italy

2018

Cape Town art fair, Everard Read

Solo exhibition: Dada Data -  Everard Read Cape Town

FNB Art Fair – Everard Read, Johannesburg

Iniboss national arts festival

Winter exhibition, Everard Read/ CIRCA, Cape town

Summer exhibition, Everard Read, London

2017

Cape Town art fair, Everard Read, Johannesburg

southern abstract, Everard Read, London

Inside out Two man solo, KKNK Oudtshoorn

Curator of The Confessional, Absa Gallery and KKNK National Arts Fest.

Spectrum – group exhibition at CIRCA Gallery, Johannesburg

Solo exhibition: Truth Sleuth – CIRCA, Johannesburg

FNB Art Fair – Everard Read 

2016

Solo exhibition: I bet you wish you did this - Absa Gallery

Venice Architecture Biennale (Cool Capital)

Solo exhibition: I bet you wish you did this – CIRCA, Cape Town

FNB Art Fair

Turbine Art Fair, Everard Read, Johannesburg

2015

Solo exhibition at Absa KKNK National arts festival

Nominee for Absa KANA Award

Solo Exhibition at Clover Aardklop National Art Festival

The Summer Exhibition, Knysna Fine Art Gallery

2014

Absa L’Atelier overall winner

Cool Capital Biennale

2013

PPC young concrete sculpting awards 2012 Fans Favourite winner

Turbine Art Fair

SASOL New Signatures 2013 merit award winner

Thami Mnyele Fine Arts painting merit award winner

RESIDENCIES

Two-Month residency at the Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris 2013-2014, awarded by the University of Pretoria.

Seven-month return to Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris 2015 in conjunction with the Absa L’Atelier first prize.

Two-week residency at Mas de Gravieres, Provence, France 2018.

Curator of a three-week residency at Mas de Gravieres, Provence, France 2019 awarded by the organization.

COLLECTIONS

Numerous private collections

Telkom Corporate Art Collection

Sasol Corporate Art collection

Ellerman House Private collection

University of Pretoria collection

Absa Corporate collection

Nando’s Corporate collection (London)

Imago Mundi Luciano Benetton collection (Italy)