Marius Lourens
Marius Lourens: Art, a Spiritual Impulse
“Only creativity brings us close to heaven:
Only those who think and live creatively will survive this life and thereafter. The colourful, the abundant, and the manifold are always better than mediocrity and uniformity. When I take my pencil on an excursion some of the images become paintings, others laser cut steel sculptures, and others just a moment in time. I hope you will enjoy the joyride.”
Marius’s work is now handled by his estate. To enquire about a piece, contact Mariana Lourens or Axis Art Gallery in Cape Town.
Artist bio
For Marius, a Dutch Reformed Church minister, art was a way of living, and it came very easily. He regarded the creative process as a spiritual calling, a meditation on reality and on what defines life. He believed that artists are equipped with antennae that intercept the signals of time and reproduce them in their work. The work of the artist, therefore, could not be done through power, diligence or intelligence, but through a spiritual impulse which guides the hands, or does not guide them.
In his own words:
“Life consists of different rhythms, patterns, moments, emotions, encounters and meanings. I therefore like to take my pencil and brush on an excursion and draw and paint what I feel, not what I see, in a playful manner! The world is serious enough. It is about the subject you paint, but going beyond: not what the eye sees, but what life means to you, and catching the moment. Your work will then depict feelings and emotions that help people look more closely and think.
The process of art requires experience, dedication, boredom, excitement, dissatisfaction and an eye for possibilities. You have to enjoy the process, playing with its variety.”
Marius Lourens died on 4 December 2021.