Notes

Penny Siopis has exhibited widely, both in South Africa and internationally and her work is held in many public and private collections including Wits Art Museum. In 2014, her retrospective exhibition, Time and Again, was held at the Iziko South African National Gallery in Cape Town. A selection of works from that exhibition is currently on view at the Wits Art Museum.

In her print Siestog, partially rendered figures with heart-shaped torsos and exposed rib cages, as if passing through an X-ray, fall in and out of the pictorial space in vibrant hues of orange, red and pink. A mixed-race couple is depicted in a passionate embrace, subjected to the gaze of the figures on the left. Related to Siopis’ Shame paintings, Siestog visualizes a psychological nakedness. The Afrikaans term ‘siestog’ is used colloquially as an utterance of sympathetic identification with others. Siopis interprets its meaning as deriving from two seemingly opposing root words – sies, a register of disgust, and tog, connoting a form of affection or sweetness – thus word and image registers empathetic aversion. This sentiment is ironically repeated by the word ‘shame,’ printed in sugary handwriting using a ready-made stamp.

Published by David Krut Print Workshop

Lot includes Penny Siopis: Time and Again, Collector’s Edition which has an ink, glue and collage drawing bound in before the title page, donated by the artist

Provenance

Donated by the artist