19/08/2024
Good evening all.
Hope you all are warm and safe.
Would like to share the story of -
Jan Hendrik Viljoen aka Portchie
Artist
Born 23 November 1963 in Pietersburg.
After living in Tweeling in the Freestate as the son of a vegetable farmer and shop owner, Portchie matriculated at Paul Roos Gymnasium in Stellenbosch and also got his B-Com degree in Stellenbosch.
In 1991 he began painting as a hobby and later did some in house art exhibitions. In 1994 he did a big solo exhibition with 100 artworks and sold out within the first night of the exhibition, this is when he decided to become a full time artist. In 1995 he opened an art studio in Stellenbosch where a lot of art galleries started buying art from him. New solo exhibitions soon followed after that. Up until now, Portchie has held 57 solo exhibitions and 39 exhibitions with other artists, local as well as international. His works has been collected by big private as well as corporate art collections. More than 8 000 artworks has been made and sold by Portchie thus far. He blames the success of his art on the unique character thereof. According to Portchie, his work is a mixture of impressionism and expressionism, portrayed in a naïve way.
“I personally think that it is easier to begin a fresh style in art without the influence of a bunch of teachers. I work with a concept of joy and joy can be best described with colour – therefore, my art is very colourful. I always do the trees in my landscapes with different shades of blue, because I believe the sky filters through the trees and the sky is blue. If so much blue travel through trees, soon or later it will leave its mark on them.”
“I like to work with people that does simple thing in paintings, such as people who read, rides bicycles or plays with a skipping rope. At an exhibition I usually work with a third of old stuff, a third of new stuff and a third of experimental stuff. I like to encourage young artists to always create fresh and new artwork, rather than trying to create a good imitation of other artists’ work. There is no right or wrong when it comes to art. The secret lies in the originality thereof.”
