Dr. Marco van der Westhuizen was born in 1976 in South Africa. He was raised in a family where expression through music, photography and painting was encouraged. After completing high school in 1994, he moved to Pretoria, where he commenced his studies at the University of Pretoria. It was whilst studying human anatomy during his second year, when his fascination for the human form, and the underlying structures that constitutes the whole, developed.

He started doing self studies about art techniques and started painting part time while he was completing his Bachelor of Dentistry degree. After graduating in 2001 he started his career as a dentist but continued to paint, sketch and study art in his private time. He entered a pencil drawing for his artwork “Proportions of Life” into the Sasol New Signatures competition in 2006 where it was chosen as one of the final pieces that were exhibited in the Pretoria Art Museum.

He discontinued working as a dentist in December 2007 and with the support of his life-partner, Carla, a psychiatrist, has been working towards his ultimate goal to be a full time artist. He draws inspiration from ancient literary works and the works of Leonardo da Vinci, Rembrandt van Rijn, Gustave Dore, Salvador Dali and H.R. Giger.