Lisa Brice

(South African, born 1968)

A2 (unframed)

Footnotes

Provenance
Acquired from the Goodman Gallery;
A private collection.

Exhibited
Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg, Lisa Brice: Night Vision, (21 January-11 February 2006)

Born in South Africa, Lisa Brice has become a formidable force in the visual arts. The present work, A2 was included in her first solo exhibition of paintings at the Goodman Gallery in Johannesburg in 2006. The synopsis of the show aimed to reflect the precariousness of Brice's own childhood impacted by the political upheaval in South Africa towards the end of the century. Since her first solo exhibition, the artist has gone on to have over twenty more solo shows and a highly acclaimed 2018 solo exhibition at the Tate Britain in London. Today, her work is held in museum collections in the High Commission of South Africa in London, Johannesburg Art Gallery, and the Smithsonian National Museum of African art, to name a few.

As a painting, A2 is informed by another side of Brice's work, that being her night photography taken in the years prior to the present paintings completion. Challenging herself with the distorted palette that the night-vision photography presents, Brice has created a series of works including A2 that display this somewhat green monochromatic palette. Via association with the night-vision photography practice, there is a sense that the female subject of the work does not know they are being looked at by the viewer. This heightens the viewers position, imbuing a sense of tension in this unauthorized surveillance.

With a stark and limited palette, it is the content of the work that has emphasised impact. This palette also allows for a level of ambiguity in her work and this technique would remain consistent throughout her career. In stripping back the character of the subject to a level of anonymity, a trait of self-possession is enabled to the model. Therefore, beyond a study of the female form, as traditional western figurative works were, Brice's works actually act to criticise these early notions of the male gaze. Indeed, works such as A2 are a study of the male gaze rather than a study of the female form. One could resonate this technique of anonymity with the coloured lithographs of the Blue Nudes series of Matisse in the 1950s. The flatness of Matisse's cut outs laid more emphasis to the exploration of form and how one might depict it. Given Brice's own singular-palette exploration, depth is presented in the layering and application of her paint, as is clearly demonstrated in the present lot.

Brice's expansive fascination with visual culture and image making has synthesised in A2. The work does not only uphold a concurrent philosophy of ownership within her oeuvre, but also incorporates two areas of image making that interest her. A2 can therefore by viewed with a lens of esteem and hybridity; a monumental display of the artist's capabilities. Brice continues to spearhead and challenge the traditional expectations of women in Western art, reclaiming the female form's ownership of the work. Re-telling the story of women, Brice's works such as the present lot, Brice gives agency to the model, eliminating any forms of hierarchy that the artist historically held in traditional Western paintings.