Tracy Payne

Exhibited

Irma Stern Museum, Cape Town, Post Tokyo, 4 to 22 May 2004.

Provenance

Property of a Gentleman.

Notes

The present lot, Blossoms, Bubbles and Bondage II, is a two-panel oil on canvas work which was produced during the artist's 'Post-Tokyo' period, in which she found inspiration from a trip to Japan in search of Sakura blossoms as well as the art of Kinbaku, the Japanese art of rope binding that emphasizes aesthetic form, tension, and emotional resonance.¹

In her 2004 presentation at the Irma Stern museum, Payne combined images of the nude figure in binding, a metaphor for the ties that shape human experience, with the ephemeral beauty of cherry blossoms, reflecting the cyclical nature of life, death, and renewal. In this work, the Sakura blossoms dominate the foreground, providing a visual focus while the figures behind them are partially revealed and layered to create tension and harmony.

The contrast between the dynamic forms of the bound figures and the stillness and innocence of the blossoms underscores Payne’s exploration of restraint and release, motion and repose, and vulnerability and serenity.

^1. Stevenson (2005) Michael Stevenson, Tracy Payne: Sacred Yin, online, accessed 22 January 2026.