Salt for many of us is a household ingredient used for cooking, but for Percy Maimela, a 33 year old from Winterveldt in Pretoria, salt is an appliance he uses for expressing his art.
Mr Maimela, who is an unconventional artist that dares to be different, uses salt for his art creations unlike most art creators. He says he never went to school for his talent, he is a self-taught artist who began drawing while still in primary school.
His discovery of using salt to draw came as a mistake while working at a supermarket where he accidentally spilled salt on the floor and as they say, the rest is history.
Maimela describes himself as creative, happy, disciplined, humble and an open minded person. He says he is inspired by those close to him like friends and family and gets his inspiration for his art from human behaviour and people’s characteristics.
As a creative individual in a very competitive industry, he always strives to produce better work than his previous work. As an artist, he says getting a proper market to sell is always a challenge as he does his own marketing.
As an inventive being, he is inspired by knowing that one can make a living out of anything they see. “People should know that in life there are no limits to creativity, we are only limited by our mind,” he said.
He is currently venturing into professional tattooing and together with his team, they are planning on a gallery and workshop.
Recently they have been invited to do an exhibition by Africa Fashion Alive in Virginia in the United States of America in July 2018, as a group of more than 20 artists with different displays.
“We are now looking and applying for funding and we will be fund raising through a gala dinner in April 2018 where we will showcase the art that we will be displaying in the US,” said Mr Maimela.
