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The Four Painters are Moray Slabbert, Deon van Heerden, Gerhard Jansen van Rensburg and Dawid van Deventer. These four men were from all walks of life who met each other through circumstance and the grace of God, all with a deep love for art. Each of them had had their own challenges in life, and found comradeship and support amongst each other. They all live in Gauteng, South Africa.
In 1999, at their children`s nursery school, Moray Slabbert and Gerhard Jansen van Rensburg met for the first time. At first their only interaction consisted of the usual greetings between parents while dropping of their children, until the fateful day that the nursery school requested volunteers from the parents to assist in painting and decorating their walls. These walls were the first art collaboration between these two artists. Five years later they meet again ~ at their children`s primary school. For the second time they paint together, and a strong friendship is born.
In 2006 Moray, who works for the South African Police, attends to a call by a man called Dawid van Deventer ~ his workers had fought. Within five minutes of having met Moray had confessed his love of painting to Dawid, who requested permission to make a drawing of Moray to commemorate the moment, impressing Moray. It was while Dawid was busy with his painting, Mona Lisa. After this Moray began to take art classes from Dawid and soon friendship blossoms between the two. At the opening of Art Arc Moray introduced Dawid and Gerhard, and strong bonds formed between the three artists.
In 1995 Deon van Heerden did his first oil painting in an art class given by Deon van Rensburg. Then, for 17 years, he did not paint again. In 2010 Deon met Gerhard at their Fellowship, and a friendship forms between the two. Gerhard continuously encouraged Deon to paint, even though his spouse and children had been doing the same for the past 17 years. Finally, in January 2011, Deon suffered severe burnout after physical overtraining. Placing further training on hold, Deon finally began to paint again, and with the support of Gerhard and his family, his talent began to blossom again and a great variety of paintings were born. Finally, through Gerhard, Deon met Moray, and they too became friends, and finally Dawid.
Apart they were men. Together, they`re brothers.
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