About this Item
Published by Michael Stevenson in Cape Town in 2016. Signed and limited to 100 copies only.
Two books , both signed, in a linen slipcase. Both books are in fine clean tight as new condition and the slipcase is in Near Fine condition with minimal wear. A beautiful set, limited to an edition of 100. Penny Siopis' Shame paintings, produced between 2002 and 2005, are brought together in monographic form as a companion to her new series of Notes, collectively titled Grief. Grief: Penny Siopis' Grief brings together a series of small glue and ink paintings on paper - occasionally with the addition of oil and collage elements - produced over a period of two years following the experience of devastating personal loss. The 'Notes' are bought together for the first time, accompanied by a poetic text by the artist that draws on writings by the likes of Mahmoud Darwish, Roland Barthes and Joan Didion on grief, concluding with Emily Dickinson: 'After great pain, a formal feeling comes ' Shame: For the first time, Penny Siopis' Shame paintings, produced between 2002 and 2005, are brought together in monographic form as a companion to her new series of Notes, collectively titled Grief. These small mixed media paintings (including mirror paint, oil, enamel, glue, watercolour, paper varnish and found objects) are 'intimate imaginings of childhood sexuality and dread'. In her introductory text, Siopis describes their genesis: I can t remember when I first started thinking about shame as fertile ground for empathy. But I do know when I first put thoughts to paper. It was 2000 in Amsterdam, where I was working on an exhibition about South African family history. One day I went to see Long Night s Journey into Day. A documentary about the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, it told the shameful story of families torn apart under apartheid. On the way back to my room I went into a shop that made rubber stamps, wrote down shame , and asked the assistant to craft my script. My first impulse was to stamp shame all over my naked body, in glow-in-the-dark ink, and film myself with the lights out. Shame, that all-embracing psycho-sexual, psycho-social thing! Back in South Africa, in the children s section of the craft shop, I found readymade rubber stamps, hard curlicues of sentimental sayings: I m sorry , Get well soon , Hug me , Hush little baby , Forgive as you hope to be forgiven . I also discovered paint for decorating mirrors, little plastic scars, eyes of baby dolls, stuff for kids scrapbooks. I thought how so much childhood hurt, real or imagined, grows with us, over and over again, as shame. This is a heavy set so sending it overseas could attract an extra charge. DHL Express takes about one week to most places in the world.
Seller Inventory # 88065
