Hendrik L. Coetzee

b.1984

Hendrik is a design-minded art maker whose practice navigates the fluid boundary between form and function, treating them as interchangeable and interdependent concepts. His work challenges conventional perceptions of materiality, interrogating notions of use, value, and process - while questioning the traditional hierarchies between craft and fine art.

After a decade immersed in Dutch visual culture, where conceptual thinking and material innovation intersect, Hendrik returned to South Africa and joined forces with Gerhard Swart at Ceramic Matters, a renowned ceramic and design studio based in The Swartland. Hendrik has found in clay a medium uniquely suited to his explorations - one that allows him to push the boundaries of both utility and expression across the disciplines of art and design.

Education  

BA in Fine Art, Stellenbosch University, South Africa (2005–2008)

Selected Exhibitions

2025

Poetry of the Earth, Knysna Fine Art, Knysna, South Africa.

AbstRacT – Synchrony Revealed, Jan Rupert Art Centre, Graaff-Reinet, South Africa. 2024

(Un)Earthed, Stellenbosch Museum Voorgelegen, Stellenbosch Triennale, Stellenbosch, South Africa.

2023

Terra Libera. Van Wie is het (Platte)land?, Rijksmuseum Twenthe, Enschede, The Netherlands.

2021

Food for Thought, Museum Rijswijk, Rijswijk, The Netherlands.

2020

1000 Vases, Galerie Joseph, Paris, France.

2009

Bad Forum, Jo’burg Art Fair, South Africa.

Stellenbosch Spring Art Fair, US Art Gallery, South Africa.

2008

Gradex’08, Stellenbosch University Visual Arts Department, Stellenbosch, South Africa. 2007

Timo Smuts, GUS Gallery, Stellenbosch, South Africa