MEET GERHARD VAN ECK
Gerhard van Eck
(born 1977) hails from Cape Town, South Africa. He spent his childhood years in
George on the souther coast of South Africa. Surrounded by mountains and the
ocean, the beauty and power of nature has always inspired him. After
completing school Gerhard spent several years traveling the United Kingdom and
Africa. These experiences continue to influence his work today – in particular,
the vibrancy, energy, strength, mystery, quirks, and contentment discovered in
people along the journey.
THE EARLY YEARS
Gerhard’s career as a sculptor commenced in 2009. His early work was
exploratory by nature with limited detail. It focused on form and flow rather
than striving towards recognisable features.
APPROACH TO WORK
Since the beginning of his career Gerhard has devoted himself to
experimentation with different mediums and to gaining a greater knowledge and
understanding of the human anatomy. Although his work includes various
subjects, figure sculpting remains a key focus. He refrains from using live
models during his sculpting process in an attempt to avoid perfection and to
rather reveal the idiosyncrasies of people and to capture the unique energy
inherent to each sculpture. Gerhard is inspired by the renaissance sculptures
of Michelangelo, Bernini’s baroque creations, the cubism movement and the
grotesque nature of Callot’s work: “The
extreme expressions of Callot’s grotesque dwarfs reflects the almost unnatural
movements and muscular expressions found in my own work. I also learn from
Callot’s ability to capture extensive detail on small surfaces like in The
Fair at Impruneta etch (1620).”
CURRENT
WORK
Storytelling was always a
big part of Gerhard’s life as he believes that one cannot savour moments
without passing on the stories connected to them and in such way preserving
memories. Gerhard’s work currently centres around moments of social interaction
throughout history, the awkwardness often associated with such moments, the perceived
worlds created during these interactions and portrayals frequently selected by
people, and the overlap between space and time.
