Greg Norman

I was born an artist.

From as early as I can remember, I was passionate about drawing, painting, sculpting and imagining.

The earliest recognition of my work was when I was in grade 1. I was given a "Good Work" stamp for what I recently realised was my earliest piece of sculpture. I made a gingerbread man out of plasticine.

In grade 4, I started designing sets and artwork for our school plays and continued to do that until grade 7.

At high school my art teacher took me aside and told me that I was wasting my talent at the school I attended at the time. He arranged my audition at the National School of The Arts! The rest is history.

After art school I did my compulsory military service where I ended up running a specialised creative studio, designing training aids and video material for the military. It was while serving at this specialised unit that I was commissioned to sculpt my first life-sized statue for the new headquarters of the "Centre for Educational Technologies!" The statue was officially unveiled by the South African Minister of Defence in 1976.

In 2010, I started sculpting again and discovered the depth of an almost forgotten exuberance I last experienced at art school. Sculpture is my absolute. It is my core, my universe and my ultimate source of joy.

Someone once said that we love what we are good at. Creating form from wire and clay is something I love so much that I find myself feeling guilty. It is as though I taste the forbidden fruit or experience such incredible joy that no elixir, concoction or magical formulation could ever simulate the experience. And because only I experience it, it feels self-indulgent.

The bumper sticker that reads "Work is for people who can't play golf" pales into insignificance when compared to art and sculpting. My bumper sticker would read, "Drugs are for people who cannot sculpt - golf is for people who can't paint!"

After completing "The Exuberant Man", my first sculpture in 36 years, I then started sculpturing busts of Nelson Mandela. I have since branched out into a completely new application, combining sculpture with painting. My recent work "Flight of Fantasy" is the expression of this combination of visual art forms.

I hope you enjoy looking at my work and that you experience at least some of the incredible joy I experienced while creating it. Thank you for honouring me with your precious time by reading this.

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