Cullinan artist submerges himself in his art
Hardus Koekemoer dives head-on into his gallery and creating art.
Hardus Koekemoer decided after 30 years of lecturing in the department of performing arts technology at the Tshwane University of Technology, to emerge himself wholly in his art career and the running of his gallery on Oak Avenue, Cullinan.
Koekemoer, a well-known South African artist specialises in sculpture and paintings. He uses a variety of mixed media such as enamel-based paints, oils, encaustic wax, and fire and smoke burn.
He mainly makes his sculptures of found objects such as books, canvas, metal and cement, but some of his paintings also employ these techniques.
This father of two grew up in Polokwane and obtained a national diploma in lighting, sound and décor painting from the Technikon Pretoria in 1985. Hardus also holds a BTech degree and an MTech degree on the subject of lighting design in an African context.
In his earlier years, he owned a gallery in Antwerpen, Belgium and travelling alone to execute this, was also one of his scariest moments, he confessed.
The themes he enjoys exploring are fairy tales, mythologies and current events.
“The artist is a barometer of the thought processes in society, must mostly comment on the current social environment and must question, entertain and decorate,” said Koekemoer.
It is also of utmost importance for him as an artist to project his personality, thought concepts, mood and content to an audience. Before starting a new series, Koekemoer does extensive research on the topic to fully submerge and understand it.
Koekemoer identifies with contemporary and outsider art movements and believes that every artist must be fearless in their work.
His favourite artworks are The cut-outs by Henri Matisse and his all-time best inspiring moment was visiting the Free State for a couple of months to paint a landscape.
“I still use those images today in artworks.”
As an artist, his most embarrassing moment was when he was standing in a lift, going up, and someone in the lift recognised him as an artist but got his name completely wrong.
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“I ended up being a different artist for the entire lift trip,” he chuckled.
What is next in store for this self-proclaimed coffee addict who strongly dislikes racist, decorative- and thrift shop art, you might wonder?
A private art museum in Cullinan perhaps?
“Art lovers, watch this space,” Koekemoer concluded.
