Ari Hersch

Ari Hersch is a self taught artist born in Johannesburg, South Africa. Hersch creates pop style contemporary portraiture works using charcoal, acrylic and pencil. Hersch’s work has gained a lot of exposure utilizing various forms of marketing and his portraits are fast becoming familiar to many. His Art started to make appearances on the art scene from 2013 at Arts on Main, Johannesburg.

Being inspired by pop culture he is the artist behind works of movie stars, fashion designers, supermodels, artists and rock stars including  some well known South African influencers. Hersch has been passionate about art since a very young age, and has worked hard on honing and refining his skills over the last decade.

His most recent series of work, the R.S.A Playing Card Co series, highlights prominent South African influencers from music, media to art and entertainment. The series features drawings of world-renowned DJ Black Coffee, TV presenter Bonang Matheba, Actress Nomzamo Mbatha, Olympic gold medalist Caster Semenya, Singer Bongeziwe Mabandla, Artist Nelson Makamo and many others.

Commenting on the inspiration behind the series, Ari says, “THE R.S.A PLAYING CARD CO aims to create a feeling of pride for some of South Africa’s most treasured artists, singers, entertainers and sportsmen and women, who are making significant waves across the globe in their respective professions.”Hersch’s passion extends his commitment to giving back to the others and the community. His works have appeared in charity auctions to raise money for various causes in which he donates the full amounts raised to help and support the organizations .