A Passion for Colour
Willie van Rensburg is a South African artist with a particularly bold style – even by local standards. His medium is predominantly oils and mixed media, and his signature style is the fearless use of vivid colours. When it comes to themes, he favours African-inspired motifs, though he does not limit himself to following one path. We spoke to the charismatic artist about his relationship with the art world. Here’s what we discovered.
Van Rensburg’s journey with art began when he was just a small boy in a traditional school environment. From there, he pursued further education in graphic design. Even during his conscripted military service, he worked in the art department. Van Rensburg became a full-time artist in
1995, participating in annual exhibitions and selling his works privately from his home studio.
He has always had a passion for art, and attributes this as the root of his inspiration. “I constantly have new ideas,” he says. “As I go along, I do not distort my subject matter but instead allow shapes, textures and lines to prompt my imagination and lead the way.” From this point, he prepares the canvas. He then ponders the emerging image before beginning with the base of the artwork. “This may take several days, but in most cases it takes weeks. I return to a painting weeks later to rework it, and often end up changing the composition,” he says about his creative process.
The artist elaborates on his process by describing it as a radical one. He uses linseed oil and turpentine for the base layer. “Then I build up the colours in layers,
first using washes of oil pigment thinned with turpentine, and later applying various glazes that contain oil. It creates a velvet translucency and deep richness,” he explains.
“I enjoy exhibitions, particularly the interaction between myself, the canvas and the art lovers at these exhibitions,” he adds. “Painting is an unspoken and largely unrecognised dialogue.
“Why should I not call my work ‘symphonies’, ‘arrangements’ and ‘harmonies’? As music is the poetry of instrumental sound, then painting is the poetry of sight. Art should be independent.
“I believe that painting is a wordless dialogue of widespread colour and the artist’s response to the atmosphere. I do not depict some preconceived subject matter but allow shapes, textures and lines to lead my imagination. My works with their
secure sense of tonal values bear the marks of intuition and artistic sensitivities.”
Though Van Rensburg trained in graphic design, he never incorporates that into his pieces. Instead, he relies on raw artistic strokes. His works are notably Impressionistic in character. “During my studies I admired the freedom of expression displayed by the Impressionists,” he explains. (Impressionism is a 19th century art movement, whereby works created during this period were characterised by small, thin brush strokes, focusing on light, movement, open composition and depicting the ordinary.)
He is currently creating Impressionistic portraits and large abstract artworks. Looking at his pieces, it is evident that the paint brush strokes are crafted to represent light, over which symbols are layered and woven into the canvas with bright, yet earthy and primal colours for a striking effect.
Van Rensburg also accepts commissions for his artworks as part of his offering. One of his most notable commissions to date is the piece he did for the Vodacom Head Office in Midrand, Gauteng.
Van Rensburg notes that his works are “a combination of texture and graphic elements. In some paintings I use the textures as a primary element and in others, I use texture as the background. I embark on a creative road unknown every time I pick up my materials and tools. For this process, my trained mind and hand collaborate. As this process is taking place, my eye observes, comprehends, and the left brain interrupts the right brain in a continuous rhythmic perpetuation. Painting employs several elements to construct this non-figurative world.”
Abstract V, oil on canvas, 30 x 24 cm, 2019.
He continues, “In a nutshell, colour, shape, form, line and texture are the elements of art that are used by all artists to create the original genesis of illusion on the surface. Implicit to abstract art is the notion that the work of art exists in its own right, and not necessarily as a mirror of reality. This collection [he’s working on] moves on various levels of interpretation. It is the viewer’s prerogative to look, see, perceive, observe, discover and identify the work.”
He leaves it up to the viewer to interpret his work, leaving us to figure out for ourselves what it all means.