KAREL NEL: Close and Far

165pp., 4to., b/w & colour illus., hardback, slipcase, Palimpsest International, Singapore, 2024

ISBN: 9789819404025

Foreword by Frederico Freschi.

This monograph is based on a survey exhibition of Karel Nel's work held at Wits Art Museum, 30 May to 3 August 2024.

The book explores Karel Nel’s wide-ranging interests and how he uses drawing as a form of notation to investigate thought, consciousness, and the mechanisms of perception. Known for his integration of art and science, his career spans multiple disciplines.

Karel Nel was born in 1955 in Pietermaritzburg. He studied Fine Art at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, St Martin’s School of Art, London and the University of California, Berkeley (Fulbright Placement 1988-89). Until 2017, he was Associate Professor at the School of Arts, University of the Witwatersrand. In 2018, he became Senior Advising Curator at the Norval Foundation in Cape Town. Since 2004, Nel has served as the resident artist with the COSMOS astronomical project, collaborating with global scientists to explore universal phenomena. He is also a respected collector of African, Asian, and Oceanic art.