About Carel

Carel de Beer is an artist based in Pretoria, South Africa. His work is characterised by the impactful use of bold colours and strong lines, where the essence of beauty is captured in a minimalistic way. “Devolution gets rid of the complexity of evolution. When you look at my art, it’s less about what or who it is - more about what it represents and the feeling evoked in the observer - much like looking at a zen garden.”

He was inspired from an early age by rock paintings, the Post-Impressionists, specifically Vincent van Gogh and Paul Gauguin, 20th century architecture and also LP covers. His style offers the viewer an idealised perspective, distilled to its essence where only the essential remains. His faceless women remind us of the statues of Aphrodite. Her worshipers would come to the temple and imagine the face of their beloved on her faceless body in prayer.

Growing up with an artistic mother and the encouragement of a primary school art teacher, Carel quickly developed his unique style and technique by enhancing fluidity in form and transcending the obvious or expected. He likes to call it Simplexity. It’s the complex process you go through to arrive at the simplest solution. He rids the artwork of detail to capture the essence of the subject in line and colours without ornamentation or distraction. That is also evident in how he signs his works. His signature is intentionally stripped of all ornament to the point of becoming childlike. Picasso would be proud.

Oil on canvas has been his preferred medium for most of his adult life and will remain so. More recently he has taken to digital painting using an iPad Pro and stylus. It was a natural progression because it allowed him to draw on his many years of experience as a graphic designer.

“There are many liberating factors to working with pixels instead of oil and analogue pigments. There are Undo’s, billions of colours, layers and the ability to create incredible hand-crafted textures. As with any medium, digital art also has restrictions that the artist must understand and navigate, making it a unique medium. I don’t see it as inferior to oil painting in the same way I don’t see rock art as inferior to modern art. We will always find ways to incorporate new technology into our art. I like to think of digital painting as a form of etching. The artist sells signed editions like they would with etching and linocut. I glaze the canvas giclée prints by hand, making each one unique in how the surface plays with light. The original artwork exists as a digital asset that can be sold and traded as an NFT. The true value of digital assets is still an abstract concept to most people, but that will change over time. It’s inevitable. It’s the digital revolution, baby.”

“It doesn’t mean I love painting with oil on canvas any less. It’s not just the nostalgia of it. It’s that smell of fresh oil drying. ;¬ )”