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Wet

Werner Bronkhorst's 'Wet Series' is a 2025 collection of 20 original paintings in acrylic and acrylic gel on canvas, all set on or around water. Miniature figures swim and sail across sculptural blue surfaces, in works ranging from small canvases to the 183 x 183 cm 'Wet Dreams'.

All Wet Works By Werner Bronkhorst (14)

Significance & Analysis

'Wet' is the collection in which Bronkhorst turned his textured surfaces into water. He organises his work into collections themed by element or season: 'The Strokes' took on beach life, 'White Lines' snow and 'Forbidden Grass' sport and park life. 'Wet' made water the subject, and its 20 paintings were first shown together at a dedicated exhibition on Bondi Beach in Sydney, from 1 to 9 February 2025. Scale and surface Each painting is built from acrylic gel worked into ridges and swells, with the figures painted in hyperrealistic detail on top. The contrast in scale does the storytelling: a lone swimmer, or a yacht in 'Monaco', becomes the only fixed point in a field of moving paint. The collection runs from intimate 31 x 41 cm canvases such as 'Get Dripped' and 'Walk On Water' up to 'Blue Water High' at 144 x 144 cm. Before and after 'Wet' followed the beach, snow and park-life collections, and water stayed at the centre of his work afterwards. In August 2025 he painted 'Fish In Water' live at the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore, a competition pool of eight Olympic swimmers that sold for $372,600 at the World Aquatics Foundation's charity auction. He then pushed the material itself further in CRACK, embedding raw acrylic polymer and oxide pigments directly into the support.

Which works are in Werner Bronkhorst's Wet Series?

Twenty paintings, all from 2025: 'Get Dripped', 'Baby Blue', 'Mockney', 'Tip of the Iceberg', 'Walk on Water', 'Sea You Soon', 'Watercooled', 'Coast Is Clear', 'Wharf Talk', 'Feeling Free', 'D&M', 'Sail Away', 'N Side', 'Slippery When Wet', 'Diamond Sea', 'Monaco', 'Knot Four Sail', 'Stay In Your Lane', 'Blue Water High' and 'Wet Dreams'.

Are there prints of the Wet Series?

Yes. Several paintings were released as giclée prints on canvas, hand-signed and numbered: 'Wet Dreams', 'Diamond Sea' and 'Monaco' at 100 x 100 cm framed, and 'Slippery When Wet' at 80 x 60 cm, each in an edition of 69. Smaller 43 x 33 cm prints of 'Walk On Water' and 'Mockney' were also issued.

Are Werner Bronkhorst prints textured like his original paintings?

No. The prints are flat giclées on canvas, chosen to capture the detail of his sculpted surfaces photographically. Only the original paintings have real relief, built up in acrylic gel, which is why the originals and the prints are collected and priced as different objects.