53
photorealism
& fiction
Between the ages of 7 and 17, Pieter van der Merwe attended private art classes
with Celestie Bailey, a Fine Arts and Graphic Design Graduate from the University
of Johannesburg. During these younger years he built up a reputation for his artistic
abilities in his local town, but towards his final years at high school, he completely
lost interest in fine art and moved his focus to Industrial Design as a field of study and
eventually a career. At the age of 27, he started experimenting with graphite pencils. In
this article, he describes his process for creating his large scale hyperrealistic works.
Above: Honesterious
540 x 790 mm
Graphite on PaperRight: Fallen
900 x 600 mm
Graphite on Paper