New Art Exhibition at Benguela Cove: Floris van Zyl and Marittie de Villiers

A new art exhibition opens (November 28th) at Benguela Cove Lagoon Wine Estate, near Hermanus, featuring the expressionist work of contemporary South African artists Floris van Zyl and Marittie de Villiers

It is free to visit and open from Friday to Sunday each week. The estate also offers visitors wine tastings and pontoon tours on the lagoon, and restaurants and children’s entertainment.

The exhibition follows the successful residency at Benguela Cove of sculptor Anton Smit earlier in the year, who will now create a sculpture park at Leonardslee Lakes and Gardens in England. Both estates are owned by entrepreneur Penny Streeter OBE, a supporter of the arts and environmental protection in South Africa and the UK.

Penny Streeter OBE

Floris Van Zyl, Artist

Floris van Zyl is an expressionist painter who has created more than 600 oil paintings since he decided to paint full time in 2010. International sales of his work include landscapes, still life images, portraits, animals and figure studies.

Artist Floris van Zyl

His paintings are characterised by bold, symbolic colours, and dramatic, impulsive and expressive brushwork. One of the themes in Van Zyl’s work is to take apart the visual elements of a subject and create abstract forms with a palette knife, to extend the paint beyond the boundaries of each form as we would know it, he says:

“My exhibition is within the estate’s Moody Lagoon Restaurant - a beautiful light and airy space with large walls and natural light, in which the artworks’ bright colours glow. The pieces I selected are part of a collection of work completed during the Covid Lockdown. I wanted to explore a variety of techniques and approaches. The space really brings out the character of each painting, as they are mostly large artworks appreciated from a distance and further enjoyed from closeup.”

Light of Day by Foris van Zyl

“I use oil paint on various surfaces, on board, plexiglas and stretched canvas, as each has its own unique feel and lends itself to different themes and effects. I work on hard surfaces with a palette knife, and use brushes mostly on canvas. My process includes mixing up both the deliberate and planned with the unintentional and unexpected effects on the canvas to create the artwork; to control and let go of control, to let the magic happen.”

Marittie de Villiers, Artist

Marittie de Villiers’s exhibition is titled ‘See the Music’ and reflects influences as a trained pianist and an intense, multi-sensory engagement with her art: “Music plays constantly in the background when I paint. Sound, emotions and visual influences feed my imaginative energy; the rhythms, high and low notes are expressed in brush strokes; colours are felt and experienced emotionally.”

Artist Marittie de Villiers

Marittie has travelled extensively and absorbed the cultures of the many European and other countries visited, which has resulted in international commissions and exhibitions in Paris and Dubai.

She sailed around the world for four years from 1999 with her first husband. Only after having two daughters on board, and returning from sailing the Atlantic, Caribbean and Bahamian seas did she discover her passion for painting.

Never mind the chaos by Marittie de Villiers

Her chosen medium is acrylics because of the speed of the response she says:. “It’s quick drying. I think fast, and like to act on that. I use a variety of flat brushes up to 150mm wide, or sometimes palette knives and credit cards. I like large canvases as this allows lots of expression. I am full of emotion and like to use wide movements and big industrial brushes. I love the space and the freedom it gives to explore more.”

Left: Marittie de Villiers, Penny Streeter, Naomi Malgas, Gallery Manager and Floris van Zyl

For more information: www.benguelacove.co.za

Benguela Cove Lagoon Wine Estate is situated within the Unesco-designated Kogelberg Biosphere. The environmentally-protected area features one of the most diverse floral communities in southern Africa, with 1880 floral species over 100,000 hectares, as a well as biologically diverse marine communities and some 100 species of birds including owls, blue cranes, guinea fowl and flamingos.

Conservation is a priority for owner Penny Streeter and cellar master Johann Fourie, who oversees the 70 hectare planting of vineyards, which frame a residential estate with 124 plots. Half of these are now developed as luxury waterside properties. The estate is situated an hour’s drive from Cape Town International Airport, close to the popular resort of Hermanus on the Western Cape.

Benguela Cove offers a range of experiences for visitors of all ages to enjoy; from gourmet dining, lagoon wine tasting cruises, vineyard tours and private wine blending, through to children’s entertainment and a busy calendar of music and other events.