Paul Du Toit - Early Years

Early Years

Paul Du Toit was born on 31 October 1965 in Johannesburg. Paul grew up in Mayfair Johannesburg and his time was spent between his artist aunt, Elizabeth van der Sandt and his father’s workshop, where he used to create sculptures out of electrical gadgets while his aunt tutored him in oil painting techniques. His mother spent hours with him at the library fuelling his hunger for knowledge.

In 1976 Paul du Toit contracted juvenile rheumatoid arthritis at the age of 11 and spent the next three years in and out of hospital. This experience was to play a pivotal role in his artistic conceptualisation and his ability to persevere. His illness persisted for some time but during his hospital confinement he was given books about Miró and Picasso which played a key role in his style and artistic development.

In 1984 Paul du Toit matriculated and in 1985 he was conscripted to the South African Air Force where he used the time to do some carpentry, make his first bronze work of an airplane and study computer science part time through Pretoria Technikon. When he left the army he worked as a computer programmer In 1988 Paul du Toit married his childhood sweetheart, Lorette Olivier. Their first years of marriage were tough. The company Paul du Toit worked for went into liquidation and he worked in a boring job at the bank to make ends meet. All this time he painted at night to keep his artistic flair alive.

In 1992, during Paul du Toit and Lorette’s first overseas trip, their visit to Florence in Italy was to be a turning point in Paul’s artistic career. So inspired was he by Michelangelo’s David, that he returned fired with commitment to make his art work. This influence was further fuelled by their trip to Paris two years later, where the exposure to a group of sculptures made from polyurethane foam metal drums and plastic at the back of the Louvre, really resonated with him. He returned to South Africa and started making sculptures in his garage, from discarded materials. One of these won him the ‘Best Artist with No Formal Training’ at the Association of Arts in Bellville Cape.

Paul and Lorette decided to move the Cape Town where their first child Danielle is born in 1995 and in 1996 the family moved to Hout Bay with Lorette supporting them while Paul windsurfed and created his art. In his Hout Bay studio Paul started using an impasto technique (thick industrial paste into which he scratched lines and images) which was to become intrinsic to his style of automatic scribbling. At this stage he also used his computer know-how to optimise his use of the internet and connect to the international art scene.