An Artist by the Sea
The Villain is a local artist who paints ‘oils, portraits, seascapes, landscapes, flowers, animals, and others’. His real name is Dion and he describes himself as an adrenaline junkie. Unfortunately, this penchant for excitement got him involved in armed robbery and he was sent to jail for 10 years.
In prison, he started painting as a hobby and, when he got out, he and his wife packed everything they owned into an old Ford Sapphire station wagon and travelled around the country, looking for a place they could call home. One day, they arrived at Hondeklip Bay and decided to stay.
Now, the self-effacing ‘villain’ lives in a tiny shack in what he calls the ‘plakkerkamp’ (squatter camp) on the outskirts of town. An adjacent caravan serves as his studio where he paints compulsively, either from memory or by copying images from the pages of magazines and newspapers. It must be a very meagre and difficult life, but he has embraced his destiny with honesty and enthusiasm that is quite inspiring.
Valuable Part of the Community
So, as you drive along the dusty road on the edge of town, keep an eye out for the rows of brightly-coloured paintings that are neatly displayed on the sandy ground in front of his home, and propped up on the fence. The Villain’s subjects range from attractive flower-themed landscape to wildlife scenes to gothic hard-rock icons to portraits of celebrities, which include an eclectic collection of luminaries such as Cher, Sophia Loren, Katherine Zeta-Jones and Amor Vittone. Oh, and he also paints nude women who pose provocatively, as they gaze out into the veld around his house.
The residents of Hondeklip Bay seem quite bemused by the Villain and his art, especially his nudes. Some of the people I spoke to said that he doesn’t cause any trouble and has become a valuable part of the community. This is certainly true as he is becoming something of a local celebrity who attracts tourists to this out-of-the-way town.
Passionate About His Work
And, in return, the Villain loves Hondeklip Bay. He said he could live here for 20 years and still see new things. He loves the sunrises, he loves the landscape, and he loves the flowers that bloom every spring. So, drop in on the unlikely art gallery and pick up a painting or two.
I was fascinated by the Villain. He is so open, passionate and positive about his work and his life that it made my prosaic neuroses seem petty and irrelevant by comparison. Incidentally, he calls himself the Villain not because of his jail sentence per se, but because he wasn’t allowed out for his mother’s funeral. This, he says, made him feel like a real criminal and his pseudonym is intended as a tribute to his departed mum. But it’s a tangible sense of pride that makes him so profound a character. Living in his tiny shack, painting in his little dark studio, the Villain doesn’t have it easy, but he’s happy with his considerable accomplishments.