'Evelyn Within' - Oil on Canvas - Palette Knife - Impasto Painting

"Art is the window to man's soul. Without it, he would never be able to see beyond his immediate world; nor could the world see the man within." ~Claudia Johnson Nature and surrealistic emotive artist -fine art photography, oil on canvas impasto paintings - South Africa... Nico van der Merwe: In 1977 on a rainy overcast day he opened his eyes and as the years passed spent an ever increasing amount of time perusing his fathers vast amount of photographic books and guides to finally be confident enough to pursue his self-taught and growing love for emotive, surrealistic and nature photography. Having endless appreciation for any form of art he finds photography to be his link to reality and this medium in itself relies in totality on something which he cannot fathom to exist nor dream without; light - no haunting shadow will manifest itself or be driven away without it... 14 September 2010 marks his anniversary of packing up his artistic dreams and ambitions to settle in the Little Karoo town of Calitzdorp which now serves as his foundation and escape from city existence to pursue, find and live life in this region. Being more than happy to spend countless days in the rain with a broken red umbrella and capture the awe-inspiring heavens over this magical regions landscape; blistering hot sunny days with no cloud cover makes him appreciate the joy of living under Gods glory and gives him much pleasure in showing the world a different perspective of his country on a daily basis. As enigmatic as the Little Karoo may be; there is a lonely yearning cry from both present and past generations of inhabitants that he feels needs to be heard, dreams and high hopes that should not fade with time and be forgotten - Thus, he has taken his signature style a step further to fully explore and showcase the emotional interaction between persons near to him and those who he finds to interconnect with his journey through life.