NEIL LOUW | Fine Artist

Exclusive Paintings for Collectors

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Discover the essence of South Africa.

A Brave New Winter

“A Brave New Winter” is a painterly study of the working class and the poor, offering an intimate look at their lives and living conditions. Through the use of oil on canvas, these works bare tedious labour – just as the subjects do, daily – and is designed as Trojan horses, exporting a raw reality into the awareness of the middle class and the wealthy by way of ‘beauty’ that ornament their walls and yet are haunting secrets.

This portfolio is a painterly study of the working class and the poor.

23cm X 34cm

African boy sitting on a car tyre in the street.
Boys sitting on a dusty sidewalk in bright winter daylight.
A yellow tent breaking through the mesh of wire fence, green shrubs and clothes drying in the wind; sandwiched between a small house and a iron sheet dwelling.
Dog resting alone, whilst staring into the distance outside a township backyard.
Boy lying on a steps playing scuba diver.
Man’s leather shoes beside child’s canvas sneaker in township setting.
Township backyard vibrant with colour.
Taxi and stacked tyres in an open field.
Closed corner shop decorated with territory graffiti
Children’s bicycle piercing through zinc rooftops in a dense township setting.
Intimate kitchen with coal stove in an old-fashioned house.
Township backyard with an outdoor toilet anchoring it.
An eavesdropper’s view into a neighbour’s yard.
Old red station wagon in dusty front yard.
Pop-up hair salon on the side of the road in contemporary South African.
Corrugated iron rooftop with TV antennae in South African township.
Khoisan girl holding umbrella in an unattended garden.
Clean and minimal township backyard in broad day light.
Two boys swinging on burglar bars.

61cm x 76cm

Children lined up in a township street scene with the referee and moderator in view.
An African woman with a spider-pattern umbrella walking down the street with her young son beside her.
A chilled firmament above rippling iron sheet roof.
Township fruit and vegetable stand in a typical township setting.
Clothes hanging on washing line during day time in a township backyard.
Young boy sitting on porch soaking up the day light.
Bright umbrella in muted winter township environment.
African woman walking through a spacious township backyard with a dilapidated shack haunting old memories.
Footwear of elder and youth symbolising mentorship in a South Africa.
African park landscape beneath heavy, roaring grey clouds.

The inner voice of South Africa is unveiled, each brush stroke is a testament to the glorified yet deeply human sagas of daily life, seen through an empathetic lens of unparalleled artistic reverence.

The inner voice of South Africa unveiled.

Heritage lives beyond brush strokes.

Quiet Erasure

“Quiet Erasure” takes a look at the still and unnoticed vanishing of a class of people that are growing evermore politically invisible. This is achieved by significantly increasing the canvas size from A Brave New Winter. The change in scale brings the viewer into a more direct and physical confrontation with the subjects, making their existence impossible to overlook.

This body of work takes a look at the subtle vanishing of lower classes of people.

Grandmother or old lady portrayed in a scene by a window with her face hallway covered by cigarette smoke, painted by Neil Louw.
Township children playing in a the street scene. A nostalgic South African scene.
Child climbing a fence captured in an almost sepia feel.
A child sitting on a car tyre by a street drain in a South African township – artwork.
This is a portrait of a Khoisan elder in an outdoor scene or township environment.
Portrait of a modern Khoisan boy exploring his identity in contemporary South Africa.
A boy sitting inside a large car tyre with his friend catching the viewers gaze.
A girl standing upside down with her legs bent in Lotus position.
An African woman, in an old kitchen, with her face down -in quiet prayer.
A boy pushing a wheelbarrow that is carrying two toddlers. This is another common and playful sight in a contemporary South Africa.
African traditional wedding scene illustrated in luxury township style.
An African woman selling vegetables on the side of a road.

The soul of legacy is permanence.

Crown

“Crown” is a visual ode to African women, adorning them with symbolic elements from the natural world. This series celebrates their strength and spirit, it is an ongoing succession, reflecting a commitment to a subject that is as admirable as the natural world.

“Crown” is an ode to African women.

African woman with five birds flying above her head, symbolic of ancestral spiritual visitation.
Elderly African woman with white swan in surreal portrait- expressive warmth.
Elderly African woman with butterflies above her head in surreal setting.
Traditional African woman with Jupiter’s above head.