About The Artist

Elzabe Malan was born end grew up in Johannesburg.

She studied art at the University of Pretoria and in 1975 completed her BA in Fine Arts at UNISA.

In 1985 Elzabe Malan reveived her HOD (Higher Education Diploma).

In 1987 to 2002 she had her own art school for children (ArtYard) that led to many of her students to become artists as adults.

Elzabe Malan still worked at her own painting and pottery at an artist studio but a big transformation came when she joined fellow artist Andre Naude in 2008 and under his guidance her work developed and gained new meaning.

She took part in group exhibitions, among them an exhibition at The Performer in Pretoria in 2013 and December 2016 in Pletternberg Bay. This was part of an exhibition of Andre Naude’s work and that of his students. This exhibition was a particular success for Elzabe as it paved the way for how her art would further evolve into what it is today.

Until the beginning of 2018 the Elzabe’s work focussed mainly on landscapes and portrait work. As she describes it: “my love of art has helped me in my journey to self discovery. My passion for landscapes takes me to places I love to visit as well as the places I dream of. I love to paint the people close to me, the joy I find in portrait work lies in my familiarity with the subject and being able to transfer my emotional ties with them on to canvas.”

In 2018 the artist came to know the work of Mimmo Paladino and this had a major impact on how she views her art and the process of creating. She quotes his words “Art is a slow process around a language of signs.”

Since then her work has focussed more to the abstract where pattern and colour form the main focus. This focus has given new life to her work and the freedom that it has wrought has as a result artwork that is more evocative and thought provoking.