Wessel van Huyssteen is a full time practising artist based in the Free State. van Huyssteen matriculated in 1980 at Voortrekker High School, Bethelehem, Free State. In 1985 he graduated with a BA Fine Arts (Cum Laude for Painting & Drawing) from the Free State University, later graduating with a BA Honours in Art History at Johannesburg University (1990). In 2017 he received his Master of Arts in Fine Arts with distinction from Wits University.
Artist Statement
The exhibition consists of stitched textiles and water colour on paper collages. The stitched works mimic the painterly and explore the relationship between body and earth.
The materiality and the repetitive mark-making of the works should serve as keys to their reading.
Under the stress of the needle the elasticity of the textiles transforms expressionistically into marks, impossible to have foreseen.
These works are visual, but the artist would like to encourage the viewer to imagine the monotonous, persistent and ever changing tone and rhythm of the machine and punch as his hand guides it across textiles and paper.
Image: Courtesy of the artist
