Artist Biography

MICHAEL BECKURTS (b.2000)

“I always carry a sketchbook on me”

22 year old Cape Town artist Michael Beckurts is constantly on the lookout for a subject to paint which is why he always has a sketchbook at hand. Michael states that “every scene already has its own character and identity. What I attempt to achieve through my artwork is to understand the scene that I am painting by forming a connection to it. I engage with the scenes of my paintings by physically returning to the site repeatedly to intentionally observe or paint. In this way the scene becomes the sitter and my painting becomes a portrait.”
Michael has has been drawing and painting since his early childhood. Since graduating from the Cape Town Creative Academy in March 2022, Michael has been a full time artist. He has to date had 3 solo exhibitions. The first exhibition titled “Archives” was based on memory, and was held at the Test Kitchen, Woodstock in 2021. His second exhibition titled “Portraits of Nature, Portraits of Places”, was at MOK Gallery on the Muratie wine estate near Stellenbosch in 2022 and his third exhibition titled “Remember to Play” took place at Openwine, Wale Street Cape Town in 2023.

Michael is inspired by the textures, colours and structures found in nature. In his current body of artworks Michael paints portraits of nature like fynbos along a contour path. He also paints nature in the Cape Town urban environment like the palm trees in Wale Street and the sheltering presence of the mountain viewed from Orange Street. Fundamental to all Michael’s scenes is the genuine feeling of human connection. His artworks draw on memories of places, feelings and states of being. For him place is a condenser of memory and associations.

Michael’s latest series of artworks was drawn on his I-Pad and reinterpreted into intricate multicoloured screen prints.