Christo Wolmarans

“Anything I create must be a celebration of the space it occupies”. The French cooking phrase “Mise en place” is engraved on one of my pallets. I always focus on having everything ready before I start and even think of the finished piece, where it could hang in an interior even how it could be framed. how to box it for postage. The mission for me is to have as much work hanging on walls, long after I’m gone. My approach is diverse, depending on mood - an abstract starting in one corner while in another a charcoal sketch would be growing. Pots of watercolour waiting to be reactivated somewhere.. Every day I have about 4 or 5 ideas running through my head. In the end I will get something done. I know that for the remaing years of my life I won’t get everything done. Currently I am focused a lot on oils, oil pastels and charcoal. Working in charcoal is instant gratification for me and releases the joy within me, trying to connect more with my higher self. In some of my latest work I try to avoid straight lines and focusing more on having a natural feel in my work. Human emotion is a great fascination and anatomical studies a great intrigue of how we are designed.
Some influences among many are Eduard Manet, Marc Chagall, William Turne...

National Diploma in Graphic Design 1985 Witwatersrand (University of Johannesburg)

Notable Exhibitions include The Standard Bank Gallery Johannesburg 1985
The Civic Theatre Johannesburg 1999
The Baxter Theatre Cape Town 2005