Werner Bronkhorst, a 22 year-old South African-born contemporary artist now based in Sydney, Australia is known for his distinctive artistic styles. Werner’s journey started when he decided to permanently stay in Australia, after only intending to travel there for a gap year. He initially worked as a bespoke furniture designer and craftsman, as he always loved working with raw materials and creating something beautiful with it. However, his artistic journey took a turn when he and his partner, Charli, got the exciting news that they would be parents to a little girl in 2022. The approaching parenthood made him realize that he wanted to create artworks again, and that’s exactly what he did. 

Werner is now a full-time artist, creating artworks and content entirely independently. He is passionate about shooting the behind-the-scenes and sharing this with his followers as he has always wanted them to feel as though they are part of the journey. 

Werner’s previous collections have been centered around miniature, realistic paintings of people doing various activities such as skiing, surfing, walking, and driving. These hyper-realistic paintings are painted on thick, textured backgrounds. In Werner’s latest collection, ‘White Lines’, he showcased his signature pieces that have become synonymous with his artistic identity. The collection highlights miniature skiers set against thick, textured white backgrounds, skilfully crafted to mimic the appearance of snow. 

‘Black Diamond’

‘Blue Bird’

‘Sunset Boulevard’

Recently, however, Werner ventured into a new artistic realm which was spurred by a touch of boredom. Throughout his high school years, Werner developed a fondness for charcoal, appreciating its speed and perceived use of ease as he followed the conventional approach and used it on paper only, but one day, with some extra canvas lying around, he decided to break from the norm and experiment with charcoal on canvas and discovered a newfound appreciation for the medium and its distinct results. Werner continued experimenting and further decided to overlay these drawings with textured text. This textured text serves a captivating element, adding depth to the pieces. The contrast of the raw, smudged aesthetic of charcoal with the textured text creates a multi-dimensional vision, much like his textured artworks.

The first artwork he created using this method  featured a 1970’s Porsche 911 and the text overlaying the drawing stated ‘I COULD NOT AFFORD IT YET SO I DREW IT INSTEAD’. Werner has always had a deep appreciation and love for Porsches and anti-art as he enjoys how paradoxical it can be – investing countless hours in creating something beautiful and highly detailed, only to “ruin” it by painting text over it. 

‘I COULD NOT AFFORD IT YET SO I DREW IT INSTEAD’

Werner then found himself drawn to the idea of creating a collection with this newfound discovery of using charcoal on canvas. The only dilemma was figuring out the theme for the collection. It was during this creative exploration that he came across the song “911, Mr. Lonely ” by Tyler The Creator. Intrigued by the title, he decided to name his collection “911, What’s Your Emergency?” even though he hadn’t quite figured out what the emergency would be yet. The inspiration for the “emergency” in Werner’s collection struck when he noticed a popular trend of people wearing T-shirts with the phrase “Need Money for Porsche ”. This relatable element sparked the realization that the central theme of his collection would revolve around the ironic “emergency” of needing money for luxury cars. 

911 What’s Your Emergency? will feature iconic car models meticulously drawn in charcoal on square canvases. Each piece will carry a distinct phrase painted over it, following the theme “NEED X FOR Y”. X will be a pop culture reference to money, and Y will correspond to the specific car drawn in the artwork. These phrases will be painted in a thick layer over the drawings which adds an extra layer of visual and conceptual depth to each piece.  The collection will include 9 distinct original paintings, each being 140 x 140cm in size and 11 prints of each original artwork measuring 1 x 1m, playfully aligning with the theme “911”. Merchandise will also be available to purchase and to stick to the theme, there will be limited availability of 911 t-shirts in three different designs. 

‘NEED PAPER FOR PORSCHE’

140cm x 140cm

Willow Charcoal and Acrylic Gel on Canvas

To stay in the loop, Werner will be announcing the release date to those subscribed to his mailing list via his website. Subscribers will also receive a catalog ahead of the release date and updates on the merch.  

Published by: Nelly Chavez