Through miniature figures adrift in textured, oceanic terrains, Bronkhorst interrogates themes of existential navigation, ecological precarity, and the tension between intimacy and immensity.
Born in Pretoria in 2001, Bronkhorst’s early career as a furniture craftsman profoundly shaped his artistic language. His transition from constructing functional objects to creating art emerged from what he describes as a desire to “make finer things and paint in small little details.” After relocating to Sydney in 2020, he began repurposing industrial materials—volcanic rock, marble dust, and acrylic gels—into textured canvases that evoke geological time.
Bronkhorst’s works operate at the intersection of Romantic sublimity and post-internet alienation. Each piece layers thick, sculptural grounds—crafted from mixed media—with hyperrealist figures no larger than a fingernail. This duality creates a visual metaphor for the individual’s struggle within overwhelming systems, both natural and societal.
The artist's practice emerges within a broader cultural moment defined by the Anthropocene—the geological epoch marked by human impact on Earth’s systems. His aquatic terrains function as visual metaphors for climate anxiety, where rising sea levels and environmental degradation create existential uncertainty. Miniature figures, often depicted as surfers, swimmers, or solitary walkers, embody humanity’s precarious relationship with natural forces that have become increasingly unpredictable and hostile.
The works also reflect the psychological landscape of digital nativity, where individuals navigate virtual environments that mirror the vast, abstract spaces Bronkhorst creates. His textured surfaces, built from volcanic rock and marble dust, evoke both geological time and digital pixelation, suggesting a convergence between natural and technological sublime. This duality speaks to a generation that experiences nature primarily through screens while simultaneously confronting its physical reality through the climate crisis.
His process begins with intuitive mark-making: “I pour layers of gel, then wait for landscapes to emerge—mountains, waves, ice. Only then do I add the figures,” he explains. This method echoes the Romantic tradition of sublime landscapes, yet his miniaturist approach subverts their grandeur, emphasising human vulnerability.
Bronkhorst’s work has been positioned within a revised canon that weaves J.M.W. Turner’s tempestuous seascapes to David Hockney’s poolscapes, yet his focus on ecological entropy and digital duality distinguishes him. Art critic Eleanor Hughes observes, “Bronkhorst’s figures, often turned from the viewer, mirror our screen-mediated isolation—we’re simultaneously connected and adrift.”
These artworks contribute to broader conversations about the “post-digital condition,” where the boundaries between physical and virtual experiences have become increasingly blurred. Bronkorst's practice aligns with theorist Hito Steyerl’s concept of “poor images”—low-resolution digital files that circulate endlessly online—yet inverts this through his emphasis on material density and tactile presence. Where digital images dematerialise, Bronkhorst’s works insist on their physical weight and geological permanence. His exploration of scale relationships is connected to contemporary discourse around the “overview effect”—the cognitive shift astronauts experience when viewing the Earth from space. The aerial perspectives on his miniature figures create similar disorientation, forcing viewers to confront their insignificance within planetary systems and inspiring a sense of awe and wonder.
Werner Bronkhorst’s art serves as tactile anchors, urging us to consider our place within vast, indifferent systems. The artist presents a visual lexicon for navigating the uncertainties of the Anthropocene. As his miniature voyagers drift through abstract voids, they whisper a question: How do we find meaning in the face of the infinite? The answer, Bronkhorst suggests, lies not in scale but in the delicate act of attention, inviting us to consider our place within the world and to reflect on the balance between presence and absence, action and observation.