Strauss & co - 30 June 2014, Johannesburg

208 264 Penny (Penelope) SIOPIS south african 1953– Cake: Tapers mixedmediaoncanvas 100by 100cm R200000–300000 literature Smith, Kathryn (ed.) (2005) PennySiopis, Johannesburg: TheGoodmanGalleryEditions. Detail illustrated incolour onpage 14. PennySiopisemergedonto theSouthAfrican art scenewithhernowhighly sought-after ‘cake’ paintings. Born intoa familyof confectioners, her earliestwork largelycompriseddepictionsof cakes andotherbakedcomestibles traditionallyassociated with theprescribeddomainofwomen. Influenced by the social environment inSouthAfrica, Siopis wasparticularlyconcernedwith theway inwhich womenwere treatedand theirposition in society viewed throughouthistory, addressingwhat she considered the ‘poeticsof vulnerability’. 1 Siopis engages the seductiveandemotive qualitiesof paint andcolour. Inher early ‘cake’works, thepaint becomes ametaphor for thehumanbody –as the thickpaint dries rapidlyon the surface creatingahardenedfilm, the inner layers, protected from theelements, drymuchmore slowly. This is comparable to the reaction toemotional stresswhen superficial recovery ismore rapid than internal healing. The thickpaint also invites comparisonswithother organicmatter likeflesh which, over time, loses itsmalleability, becoming hardenedand inflexible. The three-dimensionality of thick impastopaint creates raisedareas and shadowson thepainting’s surface, adding to the overall tonal variationand theatricalityof thework. Asoneof theearliestexamplesof Siopis’s professional oeuvre, Cake:Tapers offers insights into thispainterlyvirtuosoofoneof SouthAfrica’smost celebratedcontemporarypainters. Ina reviewof theartist’s2009 Paintings exhibition,MarilynMartin observedhow ‘Siopis’career revealsextraordinary shiftsandchanges, but leitmotifshavepresented themselves since thebeginning: allegory, ritual, sexuality, vulnerability, estrangementand the uncanny’. 2 Theharbingersof all of thesecharacteristics areclearlyevident in thisearlypainting. 1 KathrynSmith. ‘PennySiopis’ inSophiePerryer. (ed.). (2004) 10Years, 100Artists: Art inaDemocraticSouthAfrica. CapeTown: Bell-Roberts Publishing. Page 346. 2 http://art-south-africa.com/archives/archived-reviews/213-main- archive/archived-reviews/1781-penny-siopis-7.html