My name is Morné Venter. I am an emerging artist from South Africa.

Greetings Steemit!

I recently started using this platform. I thought I would take the time to introduce myself and my work.

My name is Morné Venter. I live and work as an emerging artist and lecturer in Pretoria, South Africa. I work primarily in ink, acrylic paints and charcoal. This is me:

As you can see I love wine almost as much as I love making art!

I won't bore you with enigmatic details and laborious descriptions of my art-making practice but I will try and give you a small taste of my art and the philosophy that informs it.

My primary artistic philosophy is centered around the idea of the “mess”. This idea is an apt description of both my views on the human condition and my personal artistic process. I try and evoke visceral and emotionally charged imagery through the use of messes in my art. My work is generally characterised by horror, existentialism, emotion and abstraction. The titles of my pieces play a very important role in defining their character and allows the viewers to gain an emotional entry point into the pieces beyond the visuals. I always include an emotional word in my mediums as I believe my emotional state at the time of creating has a big impact on the character of each piece.

Here is a selection of pieces from my most recent solo exhibition titled "A Flesh Coloured Mess":

This was the poster for the show.

A photo of the installation. As you can see I produced too many pieces and some had to be stacked against the wall.

Title: Tread lightly lest you lose a piece
Year: 2017
Medium: Ink, Gouache, Acrylic, Caution
Size: 90 x 64 cm

Title: I have searched the inside and the outside and I am not there anymore.
Year: 2017
Medium: Ink, Gouache, Acrylic, Charcoal, Neglect
Size: 90 x 64 cm

Title: The things I understand are worse than the things I don’t understand
Year: 2017
Medium: Ink, Gouache, Acrylic, Charcoal, Dread
Size: 45 x 32 cm

Title: The thing I do is the thing I do because that’s the thing I do
Year: 2017
Medium: Ink, Gouache, Acrylic, Oil Pastels, Provocation
Size: 90 x 64 cm

Title: Perpetually in the act of getting up
Year: 2017
Medium: Ink on paper, Disorientation
Size: 90 x 64 cm

This is such a small selection from the show but hopefully it will give you a good idea of the type of work I produce. Most of these pieces were made on paper and I recently shifted to working on canvas which is very exciting!

If you like this you can follow me on my instagram which is dedicated to showcasing new pieces and progress:

https://www.instagram.com/velvetventer/

I look forward to reading your comments (if there are any)! I would also happily post new work if there is interest. Thanks for reading!

UPDATE: I made a second post showcasing more pieces from the exhibition here

Photo Credits: Bernard Brand