Post study I started my career in Johannesburg in 1982, doing a series of non-commissioned portraits of well-known South Africans from various walks of life.

 

My choice of personalities was: Danie Craven, Anneline Kriel, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Vladimir Tretchikoff, Marianne Fassler, Rian Malan, Frederik Willem de Klerk, Richard Haines, Nelson Mandela, Gary Player and Helen Suzman. With the exception of the two iconic leaders, Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu, the subjects were white. The project was a reflection of the zeitgeist and social milieu in the last days of Apartheid. If repeated now, it would look very different.

 

As a student I was inspired by the court painters Velasquez and Goya. I dreamt of being a court painter, of having a bona fide function in society, as opposed to the current alternative, being a one-man band selling self in a cut throat commercial world. This first project in my career was an attempt to fulfil my dream, of my own volition. My decade of study left me aware that the visual arts were splintering into multifarious directions. I was content to be on the fringe, in it for the long hall, intrigued to discover where my personal vision would lead.

 

As it turned out, this project served me well. I gained recognition towards the late ‘80s from exhibiting these works and subsequent exposure in the press, magazines and television. Through this project I had unwittingly found a gap in the market, or perhaps created it, as by the end of the ‘80s I became the favoured choice in the country for official commissions. These commissions became an extension of my labour of love, the Famous South Africans series.

 

After a decade and a half of painting I had midlife retrospective exhibitions at various state galleries throughout the country. Through these shows three works from the Famous South African Series were purchased for permanent collections: Danie Craven by the Tatham Art Gallery in Pietermaritzburg, Tretchikoff by the Pretoria Art Museum and Rian Malan by the William Humphreys Gallery in Kimberley.

 

The series of paintings of Mandela have been on show at the Apartheid Museum for many years. They are still owned by me, as are the other portraits. Due to lack of funding and often mismanagement, all exacerbated by COVID, many state galleries have changed direction while simultaneously falling into disarray, along with most museums in the country. Further retrospectives in these institutions, for me, are highly unlikely.