Grant Oxche

Grant Oxche was born in 1977 on the Cape Flats in Cape Town, South Africa. After he matriculated, he studied Graphic Design at The Cape College. The reason Grant chooses African portraits as his subject matter, is because for him they represent a deeper sense of hurt and sorrow because of apartheid in South Africa. Human sadness is also significant to him because he feels that he can relate to it because of experiences in his life. His paintings show an interest of light and color which is why he was influenced by artists such as Vermeer, Caravaggio, Rembrandt, Turner, van Gogh and Monet. He is influenced by the principles of Chiaroscuro because it gives the paintings a greater emotional intensity. For him the utmost important thing is to capture the essence of a human being in his paintings. He feels that his paintings must transcend just being a picture and become something more than that. He wants his subjects to seem alive and breathing. This is why he pays particular attention to the eyes in a portrait, because it is the eyes that are the window to the soul, which must have a fire of life in them to show that the subject is alive. Grant is working exclusively for The African Portrait Art Gallery. This allows him to concentrate on developing his artistic skills which in turn creates financial stability and exposes his work locally, nationally and internationally.