South African artist Louise De Wet was born on 27 July 1957 in Benoni.
Louise attended high school at Hoërskool Brandwag in Benoni, South Africa, and graduated from the University of Stellenbosch (US) with a BA and a Hons B Journalism degree in 1978, followed in 1985 by a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree (also from US).
Prior to evolving into an artist, Louise spent 22 years in advertising. After selling her business in 2002, she took up her childhood passion for drawing by attending an adult education class under the guidance of Alex Downes at the Frank Joubert Art Centre. She followed this with a year at the Ruth Prowse School of Art in Cape Town. Further tuition has come from local artists Julia Teale, Jill Trappler and Paul Birchall.
Louise has taken part in four group exhibitions in Cape Town and has works in private collections in Canada, Belgium and Australia as well as in Johannesburg, Port Elizabeth, Stellenbosch and Cape Town.
Her most recent solo exhibition, PUSSYFOOTING, (Nov 2010, Cape Town) represented a significant departure from her previous style and methods and is the expression of her choice to create through tuning in to her own inner experience of contemporary issues and situations.
What is your favourite film of all time?!
As It Is In Heaven
What music are you currently listening to and why?
SONS OF LEON (because I love these boys and their new album); BEETHOVEN (always!!! because he is the musical love of my life); CHOPIN (because he is great to paint to and reminds me of my fabulous Gran); MUSE (GREAT to paint to – they inspire me and take me to a place beyond); LEONARD COHEN’s Live in London album (at 74 this is probably the best I’ve heard the Master) VIVALDI (when my energy flags – great for animated brush-stroke) soundtrack from the movie AMELIE (I LOVE painting to this); RADIOHEAD’s Pablo Honey – (for their agro) and whatever else takes my fancy on any particular day – from JUST JINGER and THE PARLOTONES to MOZART and MENDELSSOHN, THEUNS JORDAAN to JIMMY EAT WORLD
Which living artists do you most admire and why?
MARLENE DUMAS (her work haunts me); CHUCK CLOSE (I admire the scale, obsession and amazing technique of his portraits), YAN-PEI MING (the virtuosity he extracts from only one or two colours makes for astounding portraiture), WILLIAM KENTRIDGE (for his energy, his amazing draughtmanship and his incisive comment on society)
Which deceased artist do you most admire and why?
If I have to choose only one, it will be VAN GOGH(EVERYTHING about him inspires me – completely). But there are so many, many others: MATISSE (for his love of women that is so clear in his work), CHAGALL (for his magnificent, large, mystical, love- and colour-filled canvasses, stained-glass windows and mosaics) , MONET (for the sheer beauty and joy of his NYMPHAEA), GIACOMETTI (for the elegant sketchy beauty of his drawings and sculptures ) KANDINSKY (for the sophistication of his colour and form), KLEE (for the sheer joy that emanates from his work and colour usage), ESCHER (for his obsessive, mystical, artistic/geometric/mathematical brilliance) LEONARDO DA VINCI (for his all-round genius) IRMA STERN (for her boldness), ALEXIS PRELLER (for his colour),and so many, many more…
Which exhibition that you have visited made the greatest impact on you and why?
MARLENE DUMAS’s Intimate Relations, because it opened a whole new way of expressing what I am feeling, and the entire VAN GOGH MUSEUM in Amsterdam, because it is astounding how his work pulls and pulls the crowds, yet he never experienced the fruits of his own tortured brilliance.
What is the question you get asked most frequently about your work and how do you answer it?
What is your medium? It is constantly expanding, but I mostly paint in oil and acrylic and recently ink on canvas, I draw (love charcoal) and have tried my hand at print-making (which I would love to do more of)
What/ who inspired you to be an artist?
MYSELF
Can you tell us about where you make your art and what if any, the significance of this location is
I work from my studio at Unit 25, Prosperity Park in Milnerton. It is in a semi-industrial park only 4.5 km from home. I love the complete cocoon-like solitude and freedom I enjoy here while at the same time feeling as if I am at work (hearing and seeing all my “neighbours”, who have various businesses, come and go). I am infinitely grateful for having such a lovely studio all to myself.
What do you like most about being an artist?
The freedom
What is your greatest achievement as an artist to date?
My recent solo exhibition, PUSSYFOOTING (about prostitution as embodied by the sex-for-sale ads in the Classifieds of our daily newspapers.) The work came from a place very deep inside of me and took me to a space of grace and compassion for myself, sex workers and most of humanity who, at one time or another, physically and/or energetically prostitute the Self to access the resources and the attention we think we want: whether it be love, money, support, fame, position, political and social acceptance or gain, spiritual correctness, winning, etc, etc,… It was magnificent to follow my heart so completely, and to give myself the permission to create without a “what will sell” agenda.
What are your plans for the coming year?
For 2011: Two to three new bodies of work (for solo exhibitions); taking PUSSYFOOTING further into South Africa and hopefully abroad. And lots and lots of experimentation, exploration, expansion and travel and learning new skills sculpting, lithography) and brushing up on others (print-making).