Born in Pretoria in 1973, MJ Lourens is a South African multidisciplinary artist whose practice encompasses painting, sculpture and film. He studied Fine Art Sculpture at the University of Pretoria from 1992 to 1996, and in 1995 was awarded the Sasol New Signatures Competition at the Pretoria Art Gallery.

Now based in Cape Town, Lourens has exhibited extensively in South Africa and abroad, with a career spanning three decades. His work is held in notable public and private collections, including the South African Reserve Bank, Rand Merchant Bank, Pretoria Art Museum, Telkom SA, Unisa, Nando’s UK and De Grendel.

His paintings transform the landscape into something more than a place. Through atmospheric light, cinematic skies and quiet, surreal interventions, Lourens explores memory, belonging and the uneasy relationship between the familiar and the unknown. His landscapes are at once beautiful and contemplative — places where the external world becomes an emotional terrain.

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die oORDE van Woorde
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This exhibition presents a new body of ten paintings and ten limited edition prints each, inspired by the evocative vocabulary of Afrikaans. Each work considers a word as a landscape of its own: shaped by history, memory and the possibilities of meaning.

The exhibition was held during Woordfees 2026 at the Stellenbosch Book shop, and in collaboration with Kleinood Farm wines.

For collectors, Die Oorde van Woorde offers the opportunity to acquire an original painting by MJ Lourens, or a limited edition print of one of the ten works.

Ten paintings. Ten words. A new chapter in the landscape of MJ Lourens.