Gerrie van Tonder is a contemporary impressionist working in oils. He started painting at a young age and has not stopped.

 He qualified as an architect in 1987 and had his own practice in Cape Town until becoming a full-time artist in 2010.

His work evokes a strong feeling of atmosphere. This is all the more remarkable when one realizes how little descriptive content is provided by the work, and that one’s response is almost exclusively the result of the simultaneously bold and sensitive application of light and colour.

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Artist Statement

"I work primarily from life. I try to restrain descriptive content in order to evoke the atmosphere, mood and introspection of abstract work. This delicate balance between the abstract and the representational is a continual challenge for me.

There is beauty in ordinary things – the mysteries in shadows, the curves of a teacup, a pattern on a tablecloth, the luminosity of sunlight on a wall – and oil paint captures this so well."

 

Artists CV here