Notes

This bronze forms part of a series of preliminary models presented on wooden pedestals. The work evidences Wim Botha’s remarkable aptitude for anatomical modelling and is the outcome of a studio process involving the use of polystyrene for fluid, expressive carving. Wings and winged creatures are a recurring presence in Botha’s epically scaled sculptural installations. More often than not based on detailed process drawings and preparatory models, Botha has produced a number of installations accenting disembodied winged presences. They include Leda and the Swan (2005), which interprets the classical Greek myth in bone meal and epoxy resin, also Time Machine (2008) and Solipsis (2011), made respectively from wood and polystyrene. An untitled 2014 installation from his exhibition Linear Perspectives at Stevenson, Cape Town, included a dramatic installation of black, wing-like figures made from corrugated cardboard and mounted on wooden posts. These powerful works, of which this delicate lot is a family member, engage ideas of line and volume, classicism and disruption and, unavoidably, flight and arrest.