About

Biography:

David was born (1990) and raised in Bloemfontein. He completed his BA in Fine Arts at the University of The Free State in 2012. He has since then been a full time award winning artist and picture book illustrator.  He has exhibited at many commercial galleries and three museums in South Africa and also had an open studio / book launch in France during an art residency at Draw International, Caylus. His work is in private collections all over the world.

He is represented by Art@Africa in Cape Town and Julie Miller African Contemporary in Johannesburg. He is also co-owner of The Co-Op Gallery in Bloemfontein.

Inspiration:

My drawings may simply appear to be whimsical fantasy scenes, but in actuality the themes I attempt to visualise are often very serious and extremely personal:  My art walks the tightrope between playfulness and solemnity, whimsy and pensiveness.  Occasionally I use picture book illustration as an idiom to express my ideas.  Illustration in itself is not seen by many as forming part of the ‘Fine Arts’ family, but more as a bastard child spawned in a scandalous union between word and image.  My pictures are my own restless bastard children: They are not completely at home in fine art galleries but also not comfortable to be safely encased between the covers of a book - like their creator they feel safest in the periphery, the threshold and the boundary. 

Obviously there are themes, metaphors, symbols and concepts that recur throughout my work: The travelling nomad, displacement, alienation, destruction and melancholia are examples of these motifs.  Interspersed among my works are whimsical and often quite arbitrary references to literature that include, Franz Kafka, Nietzsche, Samuel Taylor Coleridge and T.S Elliot. I find equal amounts of inspiration in literature as I do in art history and I often employ a prominent (but also ambiguous) sense of narrative in my drawings.

In summation my art practise is an act of building a parallel universe, one drawing at a time. I call my alternative world, Duskland.

David Griessel’s exhibitions and awards

 2011

Winner in collaboration with Mine Kleynhans of Fractal Construct Your Skin competition.

2012

Part of Fractal Young Artist’s Exhibition, Penumbra at Oliewenhuis Art Museum

Regional finalist for Absa L’Atelier competition

Part of Group Exhibition, Portal at The Stegman Gallery, Bloemfontein

2013

Part of group exhibition, Prophecy at Grahamstown Art festival

Part of group exhibition, Prophecy at Two by Two studio in Johannesburg

Part of Fine Arts and Affiliated Artists group exhibition at The Vryfees

2014

Part of group exhibition, Bodhi at Gallery on Leviseur, Bloemfontein

Part of group exhibition, In transit at the Platteland Preview in Smithfield

Part of Fine Arts and Affiliated Artists group exhibition at The Vryfees in Bloemfontein

Solo exhibition, Nocturama at Gallery on Leviseur, Bloemfontein

Solo exhibition, Reveries at William Humphreys Gallery, Kimberley

2015

Collaborative exhibition, The Stargazer with Erick Strydom at Gallery on Leviseur

Group exhibition, Fop at the Platteland Preview in Smithfield

Solo exhibition, Night Aquarium at Gallery on Leviseur

Performed live drawing in the award winning play, Let's Eat Hair at The Free State Art Festival 

Night Aquarium exhibition travels and is exhibited at Luvey and Rose in Cape Town

Group exhibition, Heroes at Young Blood Gallery in Cape Town

Selection of works exhibited at The Amazing Pop up Shop in Bello Vista Studios at The Old Biscuit Mill, Cape Town

2016

Solo exhibition, Arboretum at Dylan Thomaz Studio in Cape Town

Group exhibition, Break The Spell at Oude Libertas Gallery in Stellenbosch

Group exhibition, Summer Saloon at The Drawing Room in Cape Town

Group exhibition, Esemble at Gallery on Leviseur in Bloemfontein

Group exhibition, Bestiary at Untitled Studio in Cape Town

Solo exhibition, Musings at The Eye in Cape Town

Dual exhibition with Linki Lutz, Zoologica Fantastica at PJ Olivier Art Centre in Stellenbosch

Solo exhibition, Sylvan at Youngblood Gallery, Cape Town. 

Part of Annual Art Fair of Bennet Contemporary, Roodebloem Studios, Cape Town 

2017

Dual exhibition, Zoologia Fantastica, with Linki Lutz at Haas Collective, Cape Town

Group exhibition, Mythology/Morphology at Diedericks/Faber Fine Art, Cape Town 

Group exhibition, Glimpses of Eden at Imibala Gallery, Somerset West 

Group exhibition, Red at Youngblood Gallery, Cape Town

Participated in the artist alley at Fancon Comic Convention at The CTICC, Cape Town 

Group exhibition, Nocturnal Meanderings at Youngblood Gallery, Cape Town. 

Group exhibition, Winter Art Exhibition at Gallery on Leviseur, Bloemfontein 

Group exhibition, A line is a dot that went for a walk at Youngblood Gallery, Cape Town 

Group exhibition, Studio Clowder's Inktober at PJ Olivier Art Centre, Stellenbosch 

Participated at The Comic Market, Open Book Festival at The Homecoming Center, Cape Town 

Group exhibition, Vanguard at Youngblood Gallery, Cape Town 

Group exhibition, Little Jewels at Gallery on Leviseur, Bloemfontein 

Group exhibition, Kleine Kunst Uitsalling at Kotze Art Gallery, Bloemfontein 

Solo exhibition/Book launch, The Little Books of Mystery at Haas, Cape Town 

2018

Group exhibition, Oneirica at Craft and Graft, Cape Town  

Solo exhibition/Book launch, The Little Books of Mystery at Gallery on Leviseur, Bloemfontein 

Pop up exhibition, Daily Drawings at Kenxt Space, Cape Town 

Group exhibition, Step into the shoes at Johann Van Heerden Gallery, Pretoria 

Open Studio exhibition at Draw International, Caylus (France)

Book launch / pop up exhibition at Le Tracteur Savant, Saint Antonin

Pop Culture group show at Rust and Vrede Gallery, Cape Town

Group exhibition, Indestructible at Trent Gallery, Pretoria

Group exhibition, Tiny Treasures at Art B Gallery, Cape Town

Group exhibition, Assumption at Trent Gallery, Pretoria

Pop up exhibition, Pictures of the Floating World at Gallery on Leviseur (Bloemfontein) and Knext Art Gallery (Cape Town)

Group exhibition, Studio Clowder’s Inktober at P.J Olivier Art Centre, Stellenbosch

Group exhibition, #paper at Art B Gallery, Cape Town

Group exhibition, Little Jewels at Gallery on Leviseur, Bloemfontein

Books Launch / Solo exhibition, Little Books of Mystery vol 5 - 7 at Haas Collective, Cape Town

2019

Group exhibition, Admin at Untitled Studios, Cape Town

Group exhibition, Nocturnal Meanderings II at Gallery on Leviseur, Bloemfontein

Group exhibition, Ludicrous Emporium at Youngblood Gallery, Cape Town

Group exhibition, Chui ta ka ma, Johann van Heerden’s Art Gallery, Pretoria

Solo exhibition, Journeys through Duskland, Craft and Graft, Cape Town

Group exhibition, Salt, Trent Gallery, Pretoria

Group exhibition, The Fantastic Four, Johann van Heerden Gallery, Pretoria

Group exhibition, Arbor Oneirica, Art@Africa, Cape Town

Turbine Art Fair, Johannesburg

Speaker and artist alley participant at Comic Con Africa, Johannesburg

Group exhibition, Women who run with wolves, Breytenbach Gallery, Wellington

Group exhibition, Die Tuin van Digters, Breytenbach Gallery, Wellington

2020

Solo exhibition, Postcards from Duskland, Rust-en-Vrede Gallery, Cape Town

Group exhibition, So much talent in our country, Art@Africa, Cape Town

Group exhibition, Holding our space, Art@Africa, Cape Town

Group exhibition, Blue Dot, Art@Africa, Cape Town

Group exhibition, Sculptures on the cliffs, Hermanus Fynarts, Hermanus, curated by Gavin Young

Group exhibition, Vertical Animal, Fynarts Gallery, Hermanus

Group exhibition, Home is where the art is, Zeitz Mocaa, Cape Town

Group exhibition, Arbor Oneirica, Julie Miller African Contemporary, Johannesburg

2021

Group exhibition, Whalesong, Art@Africa, Hermanus

Art Fair, Sculptx2021, Melrose Gallery, Johannesburg

Group exhibition, POP, Melrose Gallery, Johannesburg

Group exhibition, Through the Window, Gallery 2, Johannesburg

Art Fair, This is Art, Art@Africa, Cape Town

Illustration clients: 

Lapa Publishers

NB Publishers 

New Contrast Literary Journal 

Taalgenoot

Tulips and Chimneys

Goldilocks and The Bear Foundation

Other Experience: 

Artists Residency at Draw International. Caylus, France (2018)

Art Editor at New Contrast Literary Journal (2016 - ) 

Part of Collective, Studio Clowder (2016 - )

Part of non profit art organisation Fractal ( 2013 - 2015) 

Publications: 

Die Fynbos Fee. Self published (2018)

Ballpoint Art: From simplicity to complexity (Gincko Press) (2019)

All of these things are important to me (The Goldilocks Foundation) (2019)

The Geomancer (Sera Blu Publishing) (2019)

New Contrast issue 177 (2017) 

Die Beste Suid-Afrikaanse Spookstories (Lapa Uitgewers) (2014) 

Die swaeltjie wat nie kon vlieg nie (2014) 

Blou is nie n kleur nie (NB Uitgewers) (2017) 

Lowbrow Cats (Graffito Press) (2014) 

Spreek Die Woord / Break The Spell (2016) 

The Collectors Guide to Art and Artists in South Africa (2014)  

Little Books of Mystery. Vol 1 - 7 (Self Published) (2018 - )