Deon “Villain” Venter and Madeleine Baumgarten. Photos: Facebook
Love and atonement are recurring themes in the lives of artists Madeleine Baumgarten and Deon “Villain” Venter. They live in remote Hondeklipbaai, a seaside village on the west coast of Namaqualand with a population of only 800 souls. Here they spend their days capturing coastal and inland scenes in lyrical paintings.
One of Deon’s landscapes.
Madeleine and Deon have not always lived here. Deon came here on his own 11 years ago. A recce told him to go to Hondeklipbaai if he wanted to turn his life around. And so he “free-wheeled into town with his last petrol,” Madeleine explains.
“From Bad news to writing good news by avoiding troublesome fools,” Deon writes on his Facebook page.
Deon was driven by a desire to change: he had served a prison sentence and had been unable to attend his mother’s funeral in 2001. Stung with remorse he adopted the name ‘Villain’ on the day of her death. He signs his paintings with this name to this day.
Hondeklipbaai/Dogstone Bay
In the process of atoning and changing Deon fell in love with Madeleine. They met on Facebook of all places. A photo of a caravan parked at the seaside started a conversation, which lead to friendship and grew into the realisation that they were soul mates. It was time for Madeleine to leave her old life behind and start a new chapter.
On 13 January 2013 Madeleine got off the bus in Garries, where Deon stood waiting for her. And the rest is history. Three years later on they know that they’ve done the right thing and they plan to marry.
Madeleine: “We paint on hardboard because the wind blows so hard, it would knock canvasses over!”
Paint, paint, paint
And though the couple’s story sounds utterly romantic a strong work ethic dominates their lives.
Madeleine says, “Deon is the early bird, and I’m the one who lies in. After we’ve breakfasted and cleaned the house (a one bedroom apartment) it’s time to paint, paint, paint. Sometimes we break for a coffee or a beer and then we continue painting. As they say: No rest for the poor or wicked!”
And though the couple are far from being rich they can say that their artworks sell like proverbial hot cakes. 41 Oil paintings sold during the Wild Flower season. Madeleine says it’s because their art is affordable and Deon has been blessed with the gift of the gab.
Madeleine painted this landscape. Deon taught her a lot but art was in her blood.
There is also no commission going to art galleries since the couple exhibit under the wide open skies of Hondeklipbaai, with Deon taking the paintings daily in the the old golf cart he calls his “Moer en soek kar” to their outdoor exhibition space.
The outdoor gallery.
Madeleine sets off for her new studio, which an unknown donor presented to her. It’s a good life; the more so because getting here involved travelling over such rocky patches.
For more information about Madeleine Baumgarten and Deon Venter visit their Facebook page Villain & Madz Art Hondeklipbaai or
http://www.honneklip.co.za/madz_art.htm
