René Snyman
South Africa
René Snyman is an internationally acclaimed South African artist living and working from her studio in Sir Lowry’s Pass in the Western Cape, South Africa.
Her paintings explore the effects of light on various surfaces. The artist draws her inspiration from nature, her childhood and her daily life experiences. Often it is just the way the light falls and plays on a certain object that excites her. René describes the essence of her artwork as intimacy: “this would really be the one word to describe my paintings – intimacy with the landscape, figures and the animals I portray. ” Her aim is to draw attention to the beauty of creation with “in-your-face” compositions, never depicting nature as something distant. René had poor eye sight since she was a little girl; it was only discovered when she was about 11 years old. So growing up in the Kalahari Desert close to the earth she imagined worlds on the sand and between the grasses. She learned to see the world from ground level and in detail. That which was far away never registered or meant anything to her because it was completely out of focus. This disability had a major influence on her career as an artist. “Until this day this is how I perceive and relate to things around me. I love them to tower above me and be right up front”. “Communication, as well as intimate and personal stories, also happen in a close-by environment – the further something is removed from one in space, the more impersonal it becomes; the same with painting.” Her work is more interpersonal and interactive and less “distant” or removed from the viewer/observer.
As an artist she always looks for the underlying message locked up in the created world around us. On finishing a work of art, René distances herself from it so that it may fulfill its purpose. “The purpose
of my work is to bless others, to feed their hunger for beauty and to communicate something of God that could change their lives.”
* This statement has been provided directly by the artist in association to their 15th International ARC Salon entries. This content has not been edited for typos or grammatical errors and has not been vetted for accuracy.
