Notes

TO BE OFFERED INDIVIDUALLY (LOTS 33 – 36) AND THEN AS A GROUP (LOT 37)

Joni Brenner’s Intimations of Continuity is a group of four bronze skulls that were created as maquettes for a larger installation at the 2014 Nirox winter sculpture fair. Building on the work for her 2011 Life of Bone exhibition, this series signals an important development in Brenner’s artistic practice, shifting her exploration of skulls from two-dimensional studies in watercolor to a more monumental, three-dimensional scale. However, the skulls are ultimately intimate and tactile artworks that invite the viewer to contemplate the transience of life in personal and meditative ways. Although made of heavy bronze, they evoke a sense of movement and discovery; piercing the vertical plane at unusual angles, the skulls appear to have only recently been unearthed. The heavily manipulated surfaces of each skull serve as testaments to Brenner’s skill as an artist and add to their archaic appearance that provokes a powerful play between absolutely contemporary and deep time, a continuum further reinforced by the title.

Brenner has a masters degree in Fine Arts from Wits University where she lectures in art history. She has exhibited her artwork in Johannesburg and London and is included in several important art collections, including Wits Art Museum and ­Johannesburg Art Gallery.