Sulette van Der Merwe South African, b. 1982

Sulette van der Merwe works as a multidisciplinary artist in Cape Town, South Africa. She holds a diploma in fine art and post graduate from the Tshwane University of Technology. Her interests in philosophy, art history and the cross hybridisation of images in the digital age is apparent in her art practice.

She approaches paintings in a collage style and reimagines digital compositions as sharp edged clean acrylic paintings. The hand painted skillful realism of rendered organic motifs and bodies are combined with flat planes of vibrant colour. Her acrylic paintings on board are reminiscent of dada collage, pop art and surrealism 

“I am attempting to find a path into painting that mines from the modernist and postmodern movements as well as integrates the immediacy of digital culture.“ The internet permeates the social climate we live in. It is through utilising internet media images and video animations that I map a trajectory towards resolving the compositions.”

“My art mirrors the visual saturation and hysteria of the times and playfully depicts the potential of integrating philosophical and conceptual modes of image making within contemporary art practice. There is a feedback loop between the art installations, video works and paintings I create. The artworks are pollinators of concepts I can engage with by cross translating between traditional and nontraditional art mediums. The vitality and surreal nature of my work is important to me as it is both a response to painting in current times and an alphabet to script my visceral experience while making the artworks.”