About Strijdom van der Merwe

Strijdom van der Merwe (b. 1961) is a full-time land artist who lives in Stellenbosch. He studied art at the Universities of Stellenbosch (South Africa), Hooge School Voor de Kunste (Utrecht, Holland), the Academy of Art and Architecture (Praque, the Czech Republic) and the Kent Institute of Art and Design (Canterbury, England).

Among the many decorations he received are the Jackson Pollock-Krasner Foundation grant, a medal of honour from the South African Academy of Arts and Science, the Prince Claus grant in Amsterdam and the Kanna award at the Oudtshoorn Arts Festival for best visual art projection in a musical collaboration. In 2008 he was also nominated for the Daimler Chrysler award for sculpture in public spaces.

He has held numerous exhibitions and commissions on invitation in South Korea, Turkey, Belgium, France, Sweden, Lithuania, Japan, Australia, Germany, England the Netherlands and Italy and his work has been bought by various private and public collectors locally and abroad.