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Live Virtual Auction, 10 - 11 May 2020
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Paintings Day Sale
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About this Item
signed, numbered 2/4 and dated '06
Notes
Accompanied by a steel base with wheels; height: 62cm.
This work is a maquette modelled for a 2,6 meter sculpture cast in carbon steel. Plotted refers the process developed by the artist to upscale the work with a home-made device making use of the little holes in the sculpture and taking x, y and z coordinates to ‘plot’ the work. Of the four editions, one is in the artist’s personal collection.
The upscaled sculpture, Positive was discussed in South African media due to the nudity displayed once it was placed publicly at the foreshore in the Strand, Western Cape in 2006. The sculpture is intentionally endowed to a decent measure not to provoke but rather in reference to the representation of the phallus as apotropaic symbol of ancient Roman Italy. Exaggerated phallic images was widely displayed in private and public building, amulets, statues, etchings, and drinking cups to protect the wearer or passer-by from outside evil. South Africans seemed to be familiar with female nudity represented in art, but male nudity upsets them deeply. In the end the sculpture was moved by the owner to a quieter, less public space in the Karoo.
-Angus Taylor Studio, 2020