B.A. in Fine Arts from the University of British Columbia.
Exhibited paintings and mix-media work in various galleries and art venues in Vancouver, Canada.
Established an art and antique gallery Maison V [now defunct] in Vancouver, exhibiting the works of contemporary Canadian and European artists, artisans and designers.
Conducted art and antique buying tours in France.
Published a collection of photo essays and poetics based on my travel adventures on my various blogs and in books.
2007:: Completed a series of paintings "Vespertine Views", inspired by travels in France [exhibited at the Chinese Cultural Centre Museum in Vancouver].
2008:: Series of paintings "Architectural Bondage" in progress.
All images and paintings on this site are copyrighted 2008-2016 GINA VERSTER ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Contact
ggverster@gmail.com
Exhibitions
2008Vespertine Views Solo exhibition at the Chinese Cultural Centre Museum, Vancouver [a cross-cultural presentation by Alliance Française Vancouver and the Chinese Cultural Centre of Greater Vancouver]
[To view images from this series, please check in ZYGOSPHERE:: www.zy-xin.blogspot.comunder the painting designation]
Statement
on this series:: architectural bondage
The earlier paintings feature buildings from the modernist era, some in France and some in S.E. Asia, where my father had designed many in a small town on the northern coast of the island of Borneo in the 1960's-70's. The portrayals combine my appreciation for the modern movement in architecture in Europe with its obvious influence on the work of a far removed architect practicing on an isolated island in the South China Sea. I grew up in my father's architectural studio and in the house of his design. It was all I ever knew of a certain profession and all I believed that I would become - an architect. Eventually distracted by paint, the unrealized architect in me still prefers to render structural entities. This is my bondage to the art of architecture and in essence, it is also my homage to my father's modest creative and professional legacy. The series has been progressing in alternate depictions from the two main sources [I work mostly from my own photographs], thereby also alternating a temperate palette with a tropical one. My natural inclination is to paint in moodier colours well-suited for the french sub-set, but it is also a refreshing change to work in the brighter hues of the world I had spent my childhood in. These edifices began to float on the blue ground, as ethereal as they had become in my memory, and always the image of my father the architect hovers over me while I paint.
The more recent paintings reflect my continuing interest in the house/structure as a distilled manifesto of a particular architect, designer or artist. I am painting more intuitively - drawn as it were to designs that appeal to me on a psycho-potent level, beyond the mere architectural significance of the subjects. The canvases are smaller - quicker studies - and may convey various versions of the same house.