Marcel Herholdt

Marcel Herholdt (b. 1980) lives and works in Greyton, a small town near Cape Town. He has no formal art education but has spent much of his adult life in the art departments of movie sets and on other creative projects.

His Afro-pop style protest paintings deal with his concern about the subtle intrusion of our personal space that the corporate world and governments pursue under the pretence of convenience and safety. CCTV cameras, algorithms, the war on cash and cell phone technology capture everything we do and is presented as convenience and safety. But can it be trusted? Can they be trusted?

For Herholdt the irony is that we’ll all end up in Club Cocomo, a fictional world he created that symbolises a paradise park. A place we all want to get in to, but the only thing we will find there is broken promises.

Many artists work in this style, but what sets Herholdt apart is the integrity in his work. A clear narrative, good compositions, clever colour combinations, the use of the best materials available and a perfectionist’s attitude to detail and finishing.

A guide to Herholdt’s iconography:

The skull: just like street/graffiti artists have use their art to “tag” certain places, Marcel uses the skull as his tag.

Fish: The fish refers to religion, but the fish he paints are dead. Have we lost faith in religion?

The Rose: The rose represents freedom and is often accompanied by a hand reaching out for it

The Key: The key refers to the choices we make.

Palm trees: Sometimes one positive and one negative and “…once you put them together you can rejoice because then you have conquered your shadow self, your ego, because we need to get rid of that shit, you know!”