Strauss & co - 12 October 2015, Cape Town

Ideas of fertility and wildness are reflected in the objects, including food and taxidermy that are strewn across the space in the middle ground. Their positioning accentuates the dramatic spatial recession of the scene. The yellow tone becomes darker as it approaches the deeper recesses of the space that are partially obscured by the white curtain above. A studio setting filled with easels and tables is barely visible. The curtain occupies the upper section of the composition and leads the viewer’s eyes along its cascading and dramatic form across the whole drawing. Curtains are a common motif in Siopis’work used to ‘set the scene’, create drama and to suggest that this is the stage for all the characters in the drawing to act out their role. The bright blues in the crevices and folds of the drapery suggest shadows but also complement the vibrant yellow of the ground beneath it. The curtain or fabric is drawn into a large knot. This knot suggests suppressed emotions, evidence of an undertone of tension and control throughout the drawing. The foreground comprises a strong white diagonal, a table which extends across all three panels. It displays organic objects and a baroque sculpture that is dramatically centred, its upper part obscured by the curtain. On the table in front of the man is a dead rabbit, a reference Siopis has used in many works, the primary drawing being made in Paris. There is a mention of this rabbit in her interview withWilliam Kentridge in Time and Again in which Kentridge remembers visiting Siopis at the Cité and his daughter being intrigued by the specimen that she kept in the fridge.