Penny Siopis

Stevenson Gallery, Cape Town
Acquired from the above by the current owner in 2009

The work is stretched but unframed. The canvas appears to be unlined. The colours are pinker in tone than the catalogue illustration would suggest. There are some minor surface marks. Examination under ultraviolet light reveals no evidence of retouching or repair. Overall, the work appears to be in good original condition.
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Penny Siopis’s practice spans a variety of media including painting, photography, film and installation. Born in 1953 in Vryburg, South Africa, the artist explores themes such as violence, race, gender and sexuality, all under the umbrella of what Siopis calls the ‘poetics of vulnerability’. Penny Siopis has become particularly interested in the use of found objects within her work, the physicality of her materials and the politics surrounding the female body, the present work being exemplary of the latter two.

Using a mixture of ink and glue, Siopis pours and splatters her materials onto her canvas, gently manoeuvering and manipulating the mediums when necessary. The capillary action that inevitably occurs between the ink, water and glue, results in the creation of elegant, free flowing areas of colour. The present work by Siopis positions these formless areas of colour against the presence of the female form, often blurring the boundaries between the two. The porous boundaries within the work lend themselves to Siopis's exploration of the politics surrounding the female form, balancing the beauty of the female body with the violence and shame experienced by women around the world on a daily basis. In addition to being categorized as one of South Africa’s leading contemporary artists, Penny Siopis is also often celebrated as a feminist icon.

A professor at the Michaelis School of Fine Art, Siopis had a major retrospective entitled Time and Again at the Iziko South African National Gallery and the Witwatersrand Art Museum in 2014-15. The artist has also exhibited at the Kunsthaus Dresden, Museum of Contemporary Art in Oslo and the 2003 and 2013 Venice Biennale South Africa Pavilion, amongst others. Most recently the artist has exhibited with the Erg Gallery in Brussels, the Taipei Biennial and had a solo exhibition at the Institute of Contemporary Art Indian Ocean.