3. Deep Train Station - Music

NICOLAAS MARITZ SOUTH AFRICAN ARTIST AND MUSICIAN Nicolaas Maritz’s Artistic Roots Are Deeply Embedded In The Southern African Landscape And Cultural Diversity. Drawing Inspiration From Its Sounds Shapes Colours And Its Creatures He Has Over The Past Thirty Years Created A Unique Body Of Work Instantly Recognizable By Virtue Of The Idiosyncrasy Of His Vision And The Immediacy Of The Manner In Which It Is Realized. Curious Juxtapositions – Of The Real And The Fantastical The Natural And The Artificial The Simple And The Complex The Humorous And The Sinister – Are A Defining Characteristic Of Maritz’s Art. Many Writers Have Commented On This Aspect Of His Work And On The Creative Friction Generated By This Interplay Of Contradictory Elements Which Extends Also To His Stylistic Usage And Artistic Aims. In Describing His Paintings Hilary Prendini-Toffoli Writes “though Deceptively Naive In A Retro Technique Evocative Of The ‘30s And ‘40s These Multi-Levelled Paintings Manage At The Same Time To Be Both Meaningful And Decorative.” Maritz Is A Prolific Artist But Possesses An Almost Boundless Ability To Reinvent His Aesthetic Approach. He Is Particularly Known For His Paintings Of The South African And Namibian Landscape Especially For His Singular Portrayals Of Table Mountain But His Extensive Oeuvre Is By No Means Limited To This Genre. It Includes A Large Body Of Paintings As Well As Drawings And Prints With Occasional Excursions Into Graphic Design Ceramics Sculpture And Aural Media. Maritz Was Born Into An Artistic Family His Father An Architect And His Mother A Ceramic Artist. Early Influences Which Were To Inform His Work Were Derived From His Parents His Grandmother And Two Aunts. Their Watercolours Graphic Work Ceramics Drawings And Illustrations Inspired The Young Maritz And Helped To Form His Precocious Artistic Sensibility Long Before He Reached Art School. Art Books And Reproductions Featuring The Work Of The Fauvists Matisse And The Post-Impressionists Also Played An Important Part In His Formative Years And Were Supplemented By Encounters With Walter Battiss’s Playful Artistic Exuberance And The Dark And Colloquial Surrealist Approach Of Fred Page. THE MUSIC
“Did It Start With Piano Lessons In The 1960's? I Don't Know Really. Maybe Much Before Birds Singing In The Sub-Tropical Bushveld Near Thabazimbi. My Grandmother Singing To Me In The Bath. Some Singing In The School Choir And Then A Bit Of Oratorio Choir Later Guitar And Banjo Nights At The Four Winds Folk Club In Port Elizabeth. Oops! I Knew And Listened To Bach Before I Really Knew About The Bible Or TV Or Anything Grown-Up Like That. Of Course It Was The Seventies Then. David Bowie Came Next. New Musical Messiah I Suppose. Very Slinky. Then It Was Downhill All The Way To Yes I Will Admit Even Recently To The Trenches Of TRANCE Although I Reserve Judgment On That One Till Much Later. Now I've Got Garageband And FL And Acid And It Seems Endless FREE LOOPS So It's Very Much Bob's Yer Uncle. And I've Become Attuned To The Happy Accidents Those Incidental In-Between Acoustic Noises That Are So Elusive So Beautiful. All Those Labels Those Tags Those Tidy Descriptions...What's The Point? The World Is Now So Very Dense With Generic Club Music. It's All Got A Bit Degenerated A Bit Thin But Hey...We Kids Must Have Our Fun. For Me It's More Exciting Now To Find Individual Musicians Here And There Who Can Express Themselves Through Fascinating Patterns Of Rhythm And Sound Not Just Switch On Some Kind Of Canned Beat And Feel Wanted. It's A Whole New Language To Discover Every Time. I'ts Magic. It Keeps Me Young...And Tender...” read less