Notes

Stanley Pinker was a painter of committed vision, bold technique and subtle statement. The present lot is characteristic of his later studio experiments when Pinker began working in a more sculptural way, collaging found elements onto his painterly compositions and disturbing the formal geometry of his frames. The five movements of this work originally formed one painting, which Pinker cut up and joined into a long horizontal format. The intermediate panels, which include found animal parts, heighten the tense relationship between the salivating dog and bug-eyed sheep. His interventionist method here might seem like a radical departure from the French-influenced landscapes that Pinker’s career was built on, but this lot is consistent with that earlier work. The sheep is a recurring motif. Inspired by Pinker’s veld rambles with artists like Erik Laubscher, they feature in geometric landscapes from the early 1970s like Death of a Shepherd, held in the collection of the South African National Gallery, and later pop-influenced allegorical paintings like The Wheel of Life, sold by Strauss & Co in 2010 for R2 450 800. The white surveyor’s flag suggests Pinker’s enduring interest in landscape. Pinker described this work as “about aggression”. His insight exceeds the animal life portrayed. Commenting on his allusive brand of socio-political commentary, Pinker in 2004 remarked: “If you want a devious insight into politics, look at a newspaper. Once again I recall Stravinsky: ‘Art is by essence constructive.’ You have to find a way of going beyond the immediate … my work takes a more oblique and reflective view of the situation.”¹ Sean O’Toole

1. Michael Stevenson, (2004) Stanley Pinker, Cape Town: Michael Stevenson. Page 44.

Provenance

BMD collection, Cape Town.

Literature

Michael Stevenson (2004). Stanley Pinker, Cape Town: Michael Stevenson. Illustrated in colour on page 44.