STARING STRAIGHT TO THE FUTURE
SANELL AGGENBACH, Madre PietÁ
Bronze, 195 x 117 x 98 cm
Almost certainly the most iconic of Sanell Aggenbach’s work of the last few years is Madre Pietà, Aggenbach’s distinctive re-interpretation of Michelangelo’s marble sculpture. The original is a seminal Renaissance masterpiece, merging classical ideas of beauty, naturalism, youth and maternal affection. Instantly recognisable, it is also the only artwork which Michelangelo ever signed.
Aggenbach’s take is witty and slightly ironic, reimagining the two figures as stuffed rabbits gleaned from her children’s toy box. While there is a comical pop art element to the rabbits’ rounded extremities, the sculpture is also … touching and sympathetic. Aggenbach deftly contrasts a rigid medium saturated with masculine connotations (bronze) with plush figures that are fundamentally feminine and nurturing, accentuating the ideas of maternalism and youth in Michelangelo’s original.
- Tim Leibbrandt
Contact: info@everardlondon.com
Photo credit: Michael Hall
BEEZY BAILEY, Peaceman
Bronze, 118 x 16 x 49 cm
Beezy Bailey’s Peaceman (medium) cast in bronze with an indigo patina. One of South Africa’s leading artists, Bailey’s eclectic and effervescent approach to art has attracted a stellar list of collaborators, including David Bowie, Brian Eno and Dave Matthews. His is a storybook career that included early encounters with Andy Warhol, which was to inspire Bailey’s own Cape Town version of The Factory. Bailey aspires to create art as a balm for a mad world – a corrective for our most lamentable human qualities – and in this spirit his serene Peaceman, eyes closed and palm open, offers a symbol of peace to the world.
Contact: info@everardlondon.com
DEBORAH BELL, Sentinels (2020)
Bronze, 220 cm
ANGUS TAYLOR, Sit Maquette
Bronze and red jasper, 70 x 36 x 43 cm
Specialists in contemporary art from South Africa. Established in 1913. South African artists are part of the global conversation. We seek to make their voices heard.