Episode 11: Schalk van der Merwe (South Africa) - "Scratching the Surface"
02/12/20 • 107 min
In this episode, I talk with Cape Town artist Schalk van der Merwe about growing up in South Africa, his journey to full-time artist, process and scale in his works and much more.
From his website: "Schalk van der Merwe is a multidiscipline, 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. Schalk’s visceral portraits have a directness about them, yet are underpinned with a tangible fragility. Ambiguous features can morph from immense beauty into utter despair, with hints of the eyes breaking the surface beneath layers of paint, charcoal, turpentine, expressive brush strokes and often the physical DNA from the artists' fingertips. His work explores the concept of taking the mind out of the creative process to allow for 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 overthinking can destroy originality."
IG: @svandermerwe
Find us on all your favorite platforms including:
Apple https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast...
Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/7oz5s3N...
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/lofipod
IG: @lofipod https://www.instagram.com/lofipod
This episode is sponsored by https://www.nohwaveacademy.com/
For a limited time:
- 20% off on all online workshops
- Ending: Sunday Feb 16th @ 11:59pm PST
- Discount Code: NOH-FEBRUARY20
In this episode, I talk with Cape Town artist Schalk van der Merwe about growing up in South Africa, his journey to full-time artist, process and scale in his works and much more.
From his website: "Schalk van der Merwe is a multidiscipline, 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. Schalk’s visceral portraits have a directness about them, yet are underpinned with a tangible fragility. Ambiguous features can morph from immense beauty into utter despair, with hints of the eyes breaking the surface beneath layers of paint, charcoal, turpentine, expressive brush strokes and often the physical DNA from the artists' fingertips. His work explores the concept of taking the mind out of the creative process to allow for 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 overthinking can destroy originality."
IG: @svandermerwe
Find us on all your favorite platforms including:
Apple https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast...
Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/7oz5s3N...
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/lofipod
IG: @lofipod https://www.instagram.com/lofipod
This episode is sponsored by https://www.nohwaveacademy.com/
For a limited time:
- 20% off on all online workshops
- Ending: Sunday Feb 16th @ 11:59pm PST
- Discount Code: NOH-FEBRUARY20
Previous Episode
Episode 10: Archan Nair (Berlin) - "Surrender to the Unknown"
In this episode, I talk with Berlin, Germany based Illustrator and Digital Artist Archan Nair. We discuss his leap from a family business to the arts, digital vs. traditional art, meditation, having no regrets in life and much more.
From his website:
"Archan Nair is a self- taught visual artist, illustrator and Digital Artist, specializing in mixed media, illustration, and digital art based out of Berlin, Germany. Archan's visual expressions are part of a journey which is really influenced by the mysteries of our existence and how every action, emotion, and our interconnectedness in a universal scale sets of a chain of reactions.. which we experience from the micro to the macro scale."
Find us on all your favorite platforms including:
Apple https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast...
Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/7oz5s3N...
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/lofipod)**
YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCl77vkRu1S9HpdRxLA6gZvQ
IG: @lofipod https://www.instagram.com/lofipod/)**
Next Episode
Episode 12: Chris Leib (SF-Berlin) - "Archetypes, Cosmonauts & Too Much Caffeine"
In this episode, I talk with now Berlin-based painter Chris Leib. We chat about being ex-pats in Europe, the meaning of art today, archetypes, religion and much more.
From his website: Chris Leib is an American fine-artist and graduate of anthropology, renowned for his iconography of Bonobo chimps and astronauts and cosmonauts, often juxtaposed, with exquisite technique and scrupulous attention to detail. Transcending whimsy, his paintings are laden with meaning and intellectual contemplation. Chris’ work explores themes of heroism, human endeavor and the sensitivity of human hopes and ambitions to possible realities of science-fact. His work challenges us to contemplate a collision of science-fiction, reality, and religion, this three-car pile-up viewed from the vantage point of our evolutionary ancestors who have quietly continued to evolve themselves. -Luke Barrett
Instagram: @chrisleibart
https://www.chrisleib.com/
Find us on all your favorite platforms including:
IG: @lofipod
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