Schalk van der Merwe
“I paint emotions, not portraits. I express the world the way I experience and feel it, not the way I see it. These faces reveal themselves to me in blurred flashes where identity, likeness, and gender are neither clear nor important. These fleeting ghosts always illicit raw feelings and ifs; these visceral emotions that I try and capture. We can all see ourselves, or at least, parts of ourselves in portraits, and this coupled with the honest expression in my work, often triggers emotions that many people don’t want to acknowledge, face, or sometimes even knew existed within them. I am compelled and driven to explore this part of the human condition that is rarely acknowledged. I'm merely the vessel holding up a mirror to society. Sometimes these finished artworks can be gentle and beautiful, whereas other times, they're brutal, raw, and filled with utter despair. My work is an exploration of my Truth while trying to make sense of it all, create a balance, so to speak.” - SVDM Artist Statement
Schalk van der Merwe is a visual artist. Born and bred in Cape Town, he went on to study Graphic Design at CPUT. After his studies and fronting indie rock bands Heavy Petals and Polaroid, Schalk was headhunted to join advertising hot-shop, The Jupiter Drawing Room as a junior art director. He left the advertising industry 15 years later as an international award-winning Art Director and later Creative Director to pursuit his Art.
In 2013 Schalk started exhibiting in local galleries. His Visceral portraits have a directness about them, yet are underpinned with a tangible fragility. Ambiguous features can morph fromimmense beauty into utter despair, with hints of the eyes breaking the surface beneath layers of paint, turpentine, charcoal, expressive brush strokes, and often the physical ONA from the artist's fingertips. His work explores the concept of taking the mind out of the creative process to allow for a more honest expression. His art captures a vast range of emotions and often provokes a strong reaction from the viewer.
"My work is not reliant on a cognitive process. I believe over thinking can destroy originality. My portraits aren't about realism, perfection, gender or race. They explore and attempt to capture those qualities and emotions oftenhidden from view," says van der Merwe of his work and process.
Schalk's work is arresting, intriguing and oddly attractive. Each portrait has a delicate, almost melancholic expression with a coarse and visceral application of paint. Each face offers some deeply personal recognition of the subject even though the features sometimes are blurred to the point of anonymity.
In the short time that Schalk's been pursuing an art career, his work has been shown at group exhibitions, international art fairs and has made a significant impact on collectors globally, establishing a substantial following.