Strauss & co - 12 October 2015, Cape Town

materials available in an unfamiliar context’. He observes that they reflect her ‘passionate concern with critical forms of femininity, already present in her early cake painting’and how this passion ‘has the energy and persistence of both drive and disposition’. The title Hunting and Nature Scene reflects Siopis’ interest in the conventions of representation in art historical paintings where women are unproblematically depicted as nature alongside animals and plants. Siopis challenged these ideas by subtly disrupting the naturalistic form of their depiction through an emphasis on artifice; exaggerated Baroque perspective with strong diagonals, highly charged colour and a theatrical staging of figures and objects. Commenting on her pastels from this period SueWilliamson remarks on their play with high art conventions. ‘Many of her pieces are set in an artificial interior world… everything is artfully arranged to create a certain effect, and each object and piece of flesh has its own place and significance. Empty frames, statues, lavishly draped curtains emphasize the artifice of the setting.’ Although Siopis challenges these representations she also recognises her own part in them and reflects this through the inclusion of two self-portraits set in the middle ground of the highly complex composition. In the panel on the left she stands and gestures towards a strong light that is broken by the presence of an easel. In the last panel she reclines holding a baby. It is not uncommon for Siopis to include her own image as one of the ‘actors’in her artwork. Her self-portrait in a mirror in Melancholia is a well- known example.