Notes

The curious and quirky title, Black Shadow of Red Bird on Blue Water, intimates the playful nature of Walter Battiss’ famous Fook Island, a protracted Happening, or piece of performance art throughout the 1970s. The participants of these performances were frequently gifted with such paintings as the present lot, in addition to being issued with delightful watercolour certificates, declaring them worthy Fookians. Norman Catherine was Norman King Norman, Linda Givon, Queen Asteroa, Walter Sauders, the Fook linguist, and Esmé Berman the official Fook historian. Berman went on to compose an epic poem, The Invisible Book of Fook, lyrically describing all the Fookian antics, complete with commentary and detailed ‘fook’ notes, explaining the extent of her poem.¹ The picture plane of the present lot teems with little black calligraphic motifs, typically gleaned from Battiss’ interest in Southern African Rock Art. The black, red, and blue colours of the title appear to be a series of palimpsests erasing the rock art figures in the background. Battiss then fills the refreshed surfaces with cryptic messages in Fook script. The ‘black shadow’ is perhaps the most curious, as the viewer can hardly decipher any shape of a bird in the black shadow; the white circle with two black semi-circles could possibly be the bird’s eyes, and the arrow below them its beak or its feet. Only Fook knows!

^1. Karin Skawran and Michael Mcnamara (eds) (1985) Walter Battiss. Johannesburg: AD Donker Publisher, pages 103 to 148.

Literature

Karin Skawran (ed.) (2005) Walter Battiss: Gentle Anarchist, Johannesburg: Standard Bank Gallery, illustrated in colour on page 71.

Karin Skawran & Michael Macnamara, (eds.) (1895) Walter Battiss, Johannesburg: AD Donker, illustrated on page 118, plate 27 and 28.