Van Schalkwyk, Jaco

Jaco van Schalkwyk (b. 1981) is a Johannesburg-based contemporary artist working across painting, sculpture, installation, assemblage, and film. His meticulously realized paintings, reminiscent of 19th-century Romanticism, explore the troubled relationship between humanity and the natural world, often depicting desolate, uninhabited landscapes.

Van Schalkwyk is preoccupied with illusionism, constantly attempting to capture reality in paint. His work investigates representation, drawing on historical cabinets of curiosities and modern digital tools like smartphones to explore how humans collect and mediate experiences. He has received numerous awards, including a Merit Award in the 2013 Absa L’Atelier competition, and completed residencies in Germany and Myanmar.