Strauss & co - 16 February 2019, Cape Town

90 1 Goodman Gallery. (2009) Francis Goodman: Morbid Appetites, [Online] Available: http:// www.goodman-gallery.com/exhibitions/122 [8 December 2018]. 70 Frances Goodman SOUTH AFRICAN 1975– Zoloft 2008 crystal beads, pins, needles, steel, polystyrene height: 70 cm R70 000 – 100 000 EXHIBITED Goodman Gallery, Cape Town, Frances Goodman: Morbid Appetites , 12 November to 12 December 2009. LITERATURE Frances Goodman. (2011) Frances Goodman: Selected Works 2007–2013 . Cape Town: WHATIFTHEWORLD Gallery. Illustrated on page 104. ITEM NOTES Mother’s Little Helper , a series of six sculptures of which the present lot Zoloft is one, are precise models of the molecular structures of the most over-prescribed prescription drugs on the market. The adornment of these unfamiliar forms in jewel-like pins and crystals is more than a matter of keeping up appearances. It’s a paradoxical reference to the absence of the packaging that would allow us to recognise these microscopic machines on our shelves. Historically seen as criminal, or sinful, the idea of dependency as an illness is a recent one. Frances Goodman’s exhibition Morbid Appetites takes its name from an antiquated term for addiction. Goodman examines how contem- porary society is able to transform harmless activities like eating, shopping and taking medicine into deadly vices. More critically, her works comment on the economic and cultural conditions that acceler- ate this perversion. 1