Balloons by Portchie 3000pc

About the Artist

ABOUT THE ARTIST, PORTCHIE
Portchie was born on 23 November 1963 in Pietersburg. After living in Tweeling in the Freestate, as the son of a vegetable farmer and shop owner, Portchie matriculated at Paul Roos Gymnasium in Stellenbosch and also got his B-Com degree in Stellenbosch.

In 1991 he began painting as a hobby and later did some in-house art exhibitions. 1994 saw his big solo exhibition with 100 artworks and sold out within the first night of the exhibition. This is when he decided to become a full-time artist.

He opened an art studio in Stellenbosch in 1995. A lot of art galleries started buying art from him. New solo exhibitions soon followed after that. To date, Portchie has held 57 solo exhibitions and 39 exhibitions with other artists, local as well as international.

Portchie’s artworks have been collected by large private and corporate art collectors alike. He has made and sold more than 8 000 artworks thus far. He credits the success of his art on the unique character thereof. According to Portchie, his work is a mixture of impressionism and expressionism, portrayed in a naïve way.

“Personally I think that it is easier to begin a fresh style in the art without the influence of a bunch of teachers. I work with the concept of joy. Joy can be best described with colour – therefore, my art is very colourful. The trees in my landscapes I always do with different shades of blue, because I believe the sky filters through the trees and the sky is blue. If so much blue travel through trees, soon or later it will leave its mark on them.”

“I like to work with people that do a simple thing in paintings, such as people who read, rides bicycles or play with a skipping rope. At an exhibition, I usually work with a third of old stuff, a third of new stuff and a third of experimental stuff. I like to encourage young artists to always create fresh and new artwork, rather than trying to create a good imitation of other artists’ work. There is no right or wrong when it comes to art. The secret lies in the originality thereof.”