MARITHA VAN AMEROM
Maritha van Amerom is a South African born artist with European roots.
‘My earliest memories as young artist transport me back to my German Grandmother, a Fine Art Graduate from the University of Graz, Austria. Apart from input from numerous well-known artists throughout my career, my grandmother’s passion for art can still be singled out as one of the biggest influences in my art career.’ Having her Master’s degree in Psychology, Maritha practiced as Psychologist for many years.
After enrolling as an art student for three years, she made a dramatic career change and started working as full-time artist in 2009.
Her fascination with the human body, its form, shape, reaction to elements like gravity or age is the basis from which she works. The most intriguing is the underlying, often invisible emotion inside that body, which translates and becomes alive through hands, posture, eyes and movement. Often the challenge lies in the ability to see the emotional and the imperceptible and to give it form, life and a sense of tangibility.
Maritha van Amerom has participated in numerous exhibitions in South Africa and her work forms part of collections world wide, including Australia, New Zealand, Dubai, Netherlands, Ireland. Maritha has been a finalist in the Thami Mnyele Fine Art Awards (2014) and SPI Portrait Awards (top 150, 2015). She has also been selected as one of the Gold list Top 60 emerging international artists of today (March 2017, Art Market).
“Are you OK?” is probably the most important question you’ll ever have to answer. Because right now – whether you’re aware of it or not – all the relationships with the most important people in your life are strongly influenced by a combination of how you feel about yourself (OK or not OK) and what you think of them (again, OK or not OK)
– Transactional Analysis – Dr. Eric Berne, Dr. Thomas Harris
I believe our decisions and ultimately our life, are directly linked to the way we see ourselves as well as the way we see others and the way they see us. I find that my work often reverts back to the human race and our constant need of approval, rather than just ‘being’ who we are and being OK with that. The viewer is therefore mostly presented with various elements from which they can draw their own conclusions or internal dialogue.
MARITHA VAN AMEROM
Website: maritha.net
email: maritha.art@gmail.com
