Jan van der Merwe
‘As an artist, Jan van der Merwe matured on the South African scrap heap of Apartheid and has become the archaeologist and anthropologist of its varying states of decay. If there is a shred of evidence on a forsaken rubbish dump, he will find it.’
- Willem Boshoff
In speaking of his own work, Van der Merwe describes his process as ‘incorporat[ing] found objects and junk materials that have been discarded…I work with artefacts of our time and try to transform them into archaeological relics, revealing human pathos and weakness.’
Jan van der Merwe was born in the Orange Free State in 1958. After spending many years in the employ of the South African Government - first for the Railways and then the Defence Force - before turning to academia as a lecturer at Technikon Pretoria (Tshwane University of Technology). Van der Merwe has been the recipient of many prestigious art awards and his work can be found in numerous private and public collections both locally and abroad.
Jan van der Merwe: It’s Cold Outside
Joburg Art Fair 2009
The Mechanics and Mysteries of Perception
