Based in Hong Kong, the Scottish sculptor Kirsteen Pieterse draws on an enduring interest in the landscape and the structures that man builds within it. In her architectural pieces and drawings the artist considers the natural world and the effect this power can have upon built environments. Her works are intended to evoke nostalgia, fear and unease and to lead to a questioning of our regard for and relationship to the landscape.
The sculptures are deliberately meant to refer to architectural models, but they represent not something about to be undertaken, but structures in a state of disrepair. The stainless steel and acrylic sculptures often appear as unstable remnants of past constructions, braced on the brink of collapse or abandoned and left to be reclaimed by the forces of nature. In her work the artist often makes reference to iconic buildings and sites such as the old Brighton Pier on the south coast of England.
In her latest works Pieterse makes specific reference to the Hong Kong environment, using the city’s iconic bamboo and also transparent acrylic to evoke wet weather. The artist’s work displays a powerful duality between something which is physically sound but which appears fragile or ruinous. In essence, the precariously leaning works speak of time and erosion and seek to demonstrate the romance and enduring might of the natural world.
Pieterse studied at the Glasgow School of Art and completed an MA in Art in Architecture. The artist now lives and works in Hong Kong, having moved from Australia where she exhibited widely and lectured in Media and Design at Macquarie University and the University of Western Sydney. In 2009 Pieterse had shows in Hong Kong and at Martin Browne Fine Arts in Australia. In 2008 the artist won the Helen Lempiere Sculpture Award, in 2004 she won the Peoples’ Choice Award at the Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize, and in 2005 she was a finalist in the National Sculpture Prize & Exhibition at the National Gallery of Australia.
