Antoine de Villiers

One of life’s travelers and blessed with an artist’s soul, Antoine de Villiers works in many mediums, in many styles, yet there is always something quintessentially of her through the core of her work, like a wick through a candle drawing her creations out.

Originally from a small town in the northern part of South Africa called Potchefstroom, she got stuck into art at an early age making colourful messes in preschool. She remembers, “Even today I get excited all over again at just the mere memory and all those hours happily covered from head to toe in paint, glue, sticky paper and clay under my fingernails.” Despite idyllic beginnings, Antoine didn’t plan on becoming an artist; however, she continued to enjoy art classes at school, even though she found them a challenge to begin with.

It was two profound events at the age of 17 which compelled Antoine to really begin to express herself through art. Surviving a head on collision with a car at 80mph while traveling as a passenger on a motorcycle and escaping with only cuts and bruises and an injured right hand, must have seemed like a miracle to the 17-year-old Antoine, encouraging deep introspection. Although left with permanent problems with her hand, Antoine was amazed she got off so lightly compared with her driver.

Then, just days after this accident, the diary she had kept from the age of 12, was stolen prompting Antoine to turn to brush and canvas as an outlet for her feelings and frustrations, instead of her now tainted diary. She said, “I started articulating my thoughts, ideas and feelings visually.”

After studying graphic and web design at the Potchefstroom University and Boston Business College, she gained international recognition as a painter at the age of twenty three and had her first solo exhibition in Notting Hill, London two years later.

Today Antoine has been devoted to fine arts for over fifteen years exhibiting throughout South Africa, Europe and is currently based in the United States. She works in a variety of mediums including oil painting, charcoal drawing, marble and metal sculpture as well as photography to explore the human form from an ‘honest and serene’ perspective.

Antoine is a veteran of over sixty exhibitions across the globe. Her work has received numerous awards including best figurative artist by the Richmond Art Museum 2008 as well as best Solo Artist by at the New York Art Expo in 2009 awarded by Eric Smith. Antoine’s originals can be found in a great number of public and private collections as well as in the sixteen galleries that represent her.