BASIE GEERDTS – The Fine Artist

My first memory of wanting to do art was how I admired a watercolour seascape my parents had hanging above the fireplace. All I wanted was to also create art like that. I spent a lot of time as a youngster doing pencil drawings – especially when needed for my history, biology and science projects – and also had a great desire to do pencil drawings of Formula 1 cars and portraits of drivers like Jim Clark, Graham Hill, Jodi Scheckter and actors like Clint Eastwood and John Wayne. When I turned thirteen, my dad, Sonny Geerdts, thought it would be a good idea to buy me a paint-by-numbers set. He was right, what a great idea! After painting the two paint–by–number landscape scenes though, I went to my dad and asked him if it would be possible for me to get my own art material so I can do my own thing. So my dad summarily took me to Herbert Evans Art and bought me my first set of oil paints.

One day I saw a black and white photograph of Dr Chris Barnard, the South African cardiac surgeon who performed the world’s first successful human-to-human heart transplant on Louis Washkansky, in the newspaper. Now, having my own set off oil paints, all I wanted to do was paint a portrait of him – in colour! I didn’t know whether it was good or not, but it certainly impressed my dad enough for him to come up with a comment that, to this day, still inspires him. He asked me to show him my hands and after seeing and touching them, he said “You must really look after your hands Baas. You’ve got gold in them.”

As a result, whenever my dad had the opportunity to promote my talent, he did. No matter what the expense, he made sure I used only the best paints, best brushes, best canvases, best paper – in short – best everything. He was so enthusiastic about my art that he would constantly sit and watch me. When my name appeared in the newspaper to say that I passed matric, my dad said it was a misprint. When asked why, he said that he never saw me do any homework and all I ever did was listen to music while doing art or participating in different kinds of sport – so how could I have passed? I responded by jokingly saying that I didn’t need to study because I was simply a born ‘genius’.

After doing that full colour portrait of Dr Barnard, doing portraits became one of my greatest passions. I think it’s because I get a kick out of attempting to capture the uniqueness of every individual – the way we smile, the way we frown, the way we express our emotions – all those little things that make us who we really are. Throughout our lives our feelings flow in torrents. A smorgasbord of feelings borne out of witnessing the vitality and energy of the people we as artists observe. I thinks it’s wonderful that artists can capture those feelings and have them displayed where people can relive them whenever they desire to.

 

Over the years I have mentally stored up an enormous range of subjects and images which I’m now busy capturing and expressing on a variety of surfaces. So I have no idea where my art is going to take me, but I does know that wherever that may be, the journey itself is turning out to be an incredible adventure!