Detail

2007
Bronze, steel, enamel paint, fabric
176 x 190 x 292cm
Edition of 5 + 2AP

This major new installation by Doreen Southwood follows on from her two previous painted bronze figures – Mother and Child (2000) and The Swimmer (2003) – both of which garnered widespread acclaim. The work also relates to her recent large-scale public sculpture, Sindroom, installed in Tilburg, the Netherlands, in March 2007, of a child standing beside a playground swing. In all these previous works a single figure stands vulnerably alone; in the instance of The Swimmer, teetering on the edge of a diving board. In The Dancer, a figure is poised in four different positions on an oval structure, appearing to defy gravity despite the weight of the solid bronze. Southwood’s passion for fashion – which finds expression in her shop MeMeMe – is evident in the tulle skirts that adorn these bronze figures, further accentuating their apparent weightlessness and making obvious reference to Edgar Degas’ bronze dancer which is also clothed in a fabric skirt.

Southwood notes that each figure represents a moment in one continuous movement, the title reinforcing the singularity of the subject. She says:

Of importance for me was to display a liquid state, a place where time loses its established value. In the public world of daily living, people seem to have reached a consensus on what is an acceptable timeframe within which daily schedules are structured. Only in the world of art making or performance is there more freedom to slow down time and draw the viewer’s attention to the myriad details – feelings and emotions – that make up each moment.

The Dancer is included on the upcoming exhibition .za: giovane arte dal Sudafrica at the Palazzo delle Papesse in Siena, Italy (2 February – 4 May 2008).

© 2007 Michael Stevenson. All rights reserved.