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Carcoal sketches of famous portrait paintings, done by Annari van der Merwe Photograph of Annari van der Merwe Carcoal sketches of famous portrait paintings, done by Annari van der Merwe Carcoal sketches of famous portrait paintings, done by Annari van der Merwe Carcoal sketches of famous portrait paintings, done by Annari van der Merwe Carcoal sketches of famous portrait paintings, done by Annari van der Merwe Carcoal sketches of famous portrait paintings, done by Annari van der Merwe Carcoal sketches of famous portrait paintings, done by Annari van der Merwe Photograph of Annari van der Merwe Carcoal sketches of famous portrait paintings, done by Annari van der Merwe Carcoal sketches of famous portrait paintings, done by Annari van der Merwe Carcoal sketches of famous portrait paintings, done by Annari van der Merwe Carcoal sketches of famous portrait paintings, done by Annari van der Merwe Carcoal sketches of famous portrait paintings, done by Annari van der Merwe Carcoal sketches of famous portrait paintings, done by Annari van der Merwe Carcoal sketches of famous portrait paintings, done by Annari van der Merwe

Annari van der Merwe is an artist who lives in Cape Town. Her paintings are figurative with a narrative undertone. Oil is her favourite medium and she usually works on canvas. To achieve certain effects she will, however, use mixed media, including charcoal or pencil for drawing and acrylics for underpainting.

Her style is realistic, but her work cannot be described as realism as she has a penchant for composite images using diverse visual elements, sometimes giving her work an ironic or humorous, even surreal, twist. She tends to explore the same theme in series of paintings.

Her work speaks of rigorous craftsmanship and is characterised by fine detail and an interest in spatial phenomena.

Annari grew up on a wool farm in the Karoo. After matriculating in Cape Town, she spent a year in the USA as an exchange student. Subsequently she studied languages and literature at the universities of Port Elizabeth (now NMMU) and Rhodes and the Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht in the Netherlands.

Her professional career in general publishing started as children’s book editor at Tafelberg. She is, however, perhaps better known as founding publisher of Kwela, an imprint of NB Publishers, and, later still, of Umuzi, now an imprint of Penguin Random House South Africa.

She started painting in 2014, under the tutelage of Greg Kerr. Her first solo exhibition was presented by The Cape Gallery in 2018. Her second exbition will run at Die Breytenbach-Galery in Wellington in the Western Cape from 13 March to 24 April 2021.

Annari van der Merwe is ’n Kaapse kunstenaar. Haar skilderye is figuratief met ’n narratiewe ondertoon. Olie is haar gunsteling-medium en sy werk gewoonlik op doek. Om sekere effekte te verkry, maak sy egter gebruik van gemengde media, onder meer houtskool of potlood om mee te skets, en akriel vir onderlae.

Haar styl is realisties maar haar werk kan nie as realisme beskryf word nie, aangesien sy ’n voorliefde het vir komposisies wat uit diverse visuele elemente opgebou word – iets wat haar werk soms ’n ironiese of humoristiese, selfs surrealistiese, inslag gee. Sy is geneig om dieselfde tema in reekse skilderye te verken.

Haar werk, wat gekenmerk word deur fyn detail en nougesette vakmanskap, getuig van ’n belangstelling in mensgemaakte ruimtes.

Annari het op ’n wolplaas in die Karoo grootgeword. Ná sy in Kaapstad gematrikuleer het, het sy ’n jaar as uitruilstudent in die VSA deurgebring. Daarna het sy tale en literatuur aan die universiteite van Port Elizabeth (nou NMMU) en Rhodes en die Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht in Nederland bestudeer.

Haar professionele loopbaan in die algemene uitgewery het as kinderboekredakteur by Tafelberg begin. Sy is egter waarskynlik meer bekend as stigter-uitgewer van Kwela, ’n druknaam van NB-Uitgewers, en nog later van Umuzi, nou ’n druknaam van Penguin Random House Suid-Afrika.

Sy het in 2014 onder leiding van Greg Kerr begin skilder. In 2018 is haar eerste solo-uitstalling deur The Cape Gallery aangebied. Haar tweede solo-uitstalling sal van 13 Maart tot 24 April 2021 by Die Breytenbach-Galery in Wellington te sien wees.