CORNé WEIDEMAN

Corné Weideman was born in 1977 in Rustenburg in the North West Province of South Africa.

He started drawing at the age of three and has been creating ever since. He attended 11 different schools before matriculating in Robertson in the Western Cape.

He was influenced by the Great Masters, and especially by the South African Masters.

He was formerly based in the Hartbeespoort area, but recently settled in Pretoria after a stint in Ireland.  He says that he has always loved the works of the Great Masters and was always visiting art museums and art exhibitions, regardless of where he was living.

He spent hours studying the works and techniques of the masters of impressionism, including Monet, Degas and Renoir.  He was intrigued by their methods of composition and lighting as well as their use of broken colours to depict visual impressions.  Through keen observation and practice Corné was able to make some way to achieve his standard of competency. It was very frustrating for him to paint by trial and error, but his life changed greatly when he met Adriaan Boshoff, one of South Africa’s greatest exponents of impressionism in South Africa, in 2006.   Adriaan recognised his potential and became Corné’s mentor and his inspiration. Boshoff’s family rallied around Corné and gave him board and lodging until Adriaan sadly passed away in May 2007.

Corné says that no other artist has inspired him to such a great extent.  Adriaan Boshoff taught him the basic way of looking at colour and texture. Although Adriaan was his mentor, Corné still had to do the hard work of applying and implementing the principles taught by Adriaan. For Corné there is no easy way out. He paints every single day and realises that practice makes perfect.

Corné has developed his own style, and although influenced greatly by Adriaan Boshoff, other influences like those of Hugo Naude, Titta Fasciotti, Coetzee and Oldert are also apparent in his art.

Corné’s technique is generous with texture (impasto) and he combines the brush and palette knife to superb effect.

High prices have already been achieved for his work on the political exhibition circuit. An exhibition in Cape Town, June 2007, was a huge success. The Cape-tonians received him and his art with open arms. Twenty five of his paintings sold within hours after the opening speech by Dr Franklin Sonn. R60 000 was paid for a 915mm x 610mm scene. This makes Corné one of the youngest artists who have reached such a goal. Corné has become the best paid upcoming artist in South Africa.

Weideman’s art is displayed in some of the top South African art galleries.

 ARTWORK

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