Zaan Claassens
Zaan Claassens
King Street Gallery in Niagara-on-the-Lake is proud to represent Zaan Claassens, a
South African–Canadian artist whose deeply emotive paintings have found homes in
collections around the world.
Zaan was born in South Africa in 1970 and raised across a mosaic of Southern African
landscapes, from Pietermaritzburg and Pretoria to Jeffreys Bay and Cape Town, with
formative years also spent in Zimbabwe and the United States. Her early exposure to diverse
cultures, light conditions, and natural environments laid the foundation for a creative life
shaped by movement, reflection, and beauty. After earning a BA in Graphic Design from
Stellenbosch University, Zaan’s journey continued across continents: from Northern Alberta
to the island of Saipan, to Ireland, South Africa and finally to Canada, where she now calls
home Halfmoon Bay on the Pacific Coast of British Columbia.
She describes herself as both formally trained and self-taught. With early studies in graphic
design, drawing, and textile design, Zaan continued to expand her practice through life
drawing classes, sculpture workshops, and art business courses wherever she lived. Her
artistic education is a lifelong process of curiosity and experimentation spanning media such
as oil paint, bronze, wax, textiles, and photography.
Zaan’s work is deeply rooted in nature, particularly water. For over a decade, she has focused
on large-scale oil paintings of water surfaces captured in a language she calls "Abstracted
Realism." In these works, reflections of light, sky, and movement transform water into
layered visual metaphors. The interplay of shadow and brilliance, surface and depth, above
and below, creates immersive experiences that shift with the viewer’s gaze and time of day.
“I paint water because it holds everything: reflection, emotion, memory, transformation,” she
says. “Through water, we see the world abstracted and anew.”
Her paintings are not reproductions but reinterpretations drawn from photographs she takes
herself while swimming, paddling, or observing from shore. Each composition is digitally
refined before she begins painting, using techniques that build up shimmering layers of
colour and texture. The resulting surfaces are alive with subtle light, fine detail, and
emotional resonance.
Across all her work, Zaan maintains a focus on craftsmanship, beauty, and emotional
elevation. In her words, “There is enough hardship in the world. Our homes and sanctuaries
should be filled with beauty.”
Her work has been exhibited and collected internationally, with paintings in private
collections across Canada, the United States, Europe, Australia, South Africa, South America
and beyond. She has also created commissions for cruise ships, corporate spaces, wellness
centres, and discerning private collectors who seek something more than a view - a visual
experience that lingers, uplifts, and transforms.
Zaan Claassens invites viewers into a world of flowing light, subtle movement, and
emotional depth. Through her work, we are asked to reflect not only on water but also on ourselves.
Over a decade ago, I painted a series of The Four Elements: earth, air, fire, and water; however, in recent years, I have gravitated to the specific element of water. I spend much time in, on, or near it, and the Indian and Atlantic Oceans in South Africa, and the many beautiful rivers and Great Lakes in Canada, inspire me. I observe the interplays between light and water, and water and sky, and find them mesmerizing. The ebb and flow of water provides me with a continuously changing picture: the constant movement of the water combined with the ever-changing light and its reflections results in renewed and limitlesssources of creativity and perceptions. Are we looking at water or sky? Are we seeing what is above or below? Whatever appears in the water is no longer what it originally was (a fish, a tree, sky), but has become something weird and wonderful. In other words it has become re-contextualized. It is this re-contextualization that can make us aware of nature’s majesty.
I make use of natural reflection to abstract reality. Through the water, light transmutes recognizable objects, and this transformation creates the appearance of new objects and shapes that, when seen together, is greater than the sum of its parts. I call this approach Abstracted Realism --- Abstracted because the work is not merely an attempt to replicate a real life object, and, Realism, because the work always makes reference to the natural world.Within this approach, I consider myself a formalist artist, as my main concern always lies with the use of colours, lines, shapes, and rhythms that, together, form the essence of thework. I want to use these artistic elements in beautifully-crafted and highly-detailed ways, in order to stimulate an awareness of different levels of reality and of being, ultimately eliciting in viewers an elevated emotional response.
In its totality, my art is a celebration of life. Please celebrate with me and enjoy the show.