Louis van den Heever

Louis van den Heever was born in 1977 in Pretoria, where he grew up and matriculated in 1995. A stint in the SA Navy was followed by some happy days in the scuba diving industry in Simon's Town. After returning from a year spent working in the UK, he decided to pursue art as a career in 2003. Since moving to Hermanus in 2013, Louis has been working on further defining and refining his "voice" and his creative process.

Van den Heever draws inspiration from comic books, pictures on skateboard-underbellies, album-covers in record-stores, imagery in song-lyrics and book covers. His early pencil and pastel portraits eventually turned into comic-inspired paintings in acrylics on anything from canvas to roadside bricks.

Stylistically, his work can be described as pop-surrealism. Most of his paintings are snapshots from scenes, almost like single panels from a comic book. He frequently uses text and other comic book techniques. He has dabbled in sculpture and illustration and is currently exploring printmaking.

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