Lionel Murcott was born in 1947 in a small rural town called Lemana (which was once known as the Northern Transvaal) and passed away on the 23rd of June 2021 in Johannesburg.

“I am drawn again, and again, to human figures and faces. To their substance, their flaws and their vulnerabilities. Acrylic paint responds in live marks, to my touch, my shove, my scribble. It responds to my desperation, to my play and to the energy that plays between the sitter and me. I restrict my palette to three primaries, usually, and white. Across the painting colours relate, call to each other, echo or challenge one another. Sometimes I work from life – looking and registering what comes up to my eye.

Other times I work from inside, from my darknesses, my memories and my desires. Many things go into a painting. All – seemingly opposite – must hang together. Being in the present – with an innocent eye, seeing, as if for the first time. Being present to the Master-painters, who have shown us what’s possible. Seeing the subject as a cluster of colour patches. Feeling the being – thought, strength and pain – in that subject.

Seeing the light, which is colour. Mixing pigments plus densities to give a painter’s equivalent. Painting is a crazy job. I’ve worked forty-five years at it (other jobs you’d be retiring, yes) and now I am watching it take off – my zest, new paint that talks…” – Lionel Murcott

Disclaimer:

Actual colours may vary slightly from the images shown, due to lighting when photographed, and colour variations in monitors and on phone screens.