SA couple’s quirky artwork copies
Their recreations of famous masterpieces have earned this Cape Town couple a worldwide following
PEOPLE have been recreating famous paintings for decades. A piece of canvas, a dab of paint, a dollop of creativity and voila! Job done. Yet a Cape Town couple gave the art of reproducing art a bit of a batty twist – and it’s all lockdown’s fault.
Frans Marais (52) and his wife, Karen Germishuys (48), take whatever they can find – black bags, foil, old wigs, pegs, toilet paper, dishcloths, brooms, even a vuvuzela – and use them to emulate masterpieces that hang in the hallowed halls of some of the world’s finest museums.
And they’re amassing quite a following. “It was just supposed to be a fun project, something to take our minds off things,” Karen says. But posts on Instagram can take on a life of their own.
They uploaded their first re-enactment, Edouard Manet’s The Tragic Actor, on their account on 8 April for a laugh.
“We were only going to do one painting,” Frans says. But friends and family loved it so much they were inspired to do more – and before long their pictures zoomed around the globe.
They were approached by a French magazine and NBC News in New York to tell their story and two of their pics are posted on billboards in Los Angeles.
Now the pressure is on for Frans and Karen to produce a new piece every day to keep their fans happy. Talk about drawing a crowd.
THE couple, who live in Plumstead in the Mother City, were feeling positive when lockdown started. Frans, a videographer, and Karen, a chemical engineer, saw it as a time to do all the things around their home they’d always been too busy for.
But when President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the lockdown would be extended, everything on their to-do list had already been ticked off. And slowly but surely they felt their spirits sag. “Everywhere the news was bad,” Frans says.
Covid-19 had ruined their plans to visit the Netherlands this year and they had to find a way to stay positive – see the bigger picture, so to speak, and not spend every day mooching around in their pyjamas.
“We came across the Instagram account Tussen Kunst & Quarantine [Between Art & Quarantine], where people pick an artwork and recreate it using
only things they have in their home. Participants aren’t allowed to photoshop the image,” Frans explains.
Soon after they posted pics they were getting messages from people as far afield as the US, Russia, Lithuania, France and the Maldives thanking them for their positive vibes.
Their home is their studio and they use every nook and cranny for their “paintings”, including the bathroom and garage. They even converted their garden shed into a “train compartment” for the Berthold Woltze creation Der Lästige Kavalier (The Irritating Gentleman).
Sometimes they rope in their fur babies – miniature Schnauzers Lulu-Belle, Leo and Milo – if the work needs an animal.
Before lockdown, the couple ran a videography business so they now use their lighting equipment to create the right atmosphere. When they both need to be in the pic they use the camera’s self-timer.
At the time of going to print, they’d produced 50 recreations of artworks by the likes of Vincent van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, William Kentridge, Maggie Laubser, Edgar Degas and Marc Chagall.
THEIR LA billboard appearance is part of a campaign to highlight the real-life art re-enactment challenge. “We never expected all this interest,” Frans says. “It’s been humbling. We only got involved as a way for us to preserve our sanity. But it’s just proof again that art touches lives.”
The couple celebrate their 16th anniversary this year and say this project has reignited the spark between them.
“I’m actually a very shy person,” Karen says. “The only way I’d ever have done something like this is with Frans in our home. Then I don’t care if I look fat or about my double chin.”
Frans says every moment he spends with his wife making their “art” is incredible.
“Seeing how she leaves her comfort zone and transforms into a different character every day is wonderful.
“We’re a match made in heaven.”