the wondering artist; diana page
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Walking on a rim of lightDiana Page
The w ndering artist . . . .a o
Diana Pagendering artist . . . . 1965
Bor
n D
urba
n, S
outh
Afri
ca
1967
Fam
ily m
oved
to G
raha
mst
own
DrawingPainting Performance Video
Drawing is the touchstone, the playground and the laboratory of all my work.
I paint layered images inspired by my thoughts, experiences and memories.
1975
Vis
ited
UK,
Fra
nce,
Max
Ern
st e
xhib
ition
Dis
cove
red
Jam
es J
oyce
, W.B
Yea
ts
G
reek
myt
holo
gy a
nd a
pas
sion
for a
ctin
g.
1984
Met
Mar
k M
ulle
r;
th
e be
ginn
ing
of a
life
of r
oadt
rips
1986
Bac
helo
r of F
ine
Arts
, Hon
ours
Cum
Lau
de
Dis
cove
red
pain
ters
How
ard
Hod
gkin
,
R
icha
rd D
iebe
nkor
n an
d Fr
ank
Auer
bach
1983
Sta
rted
Fine
Arts
and
Per
form
ing
Arts
at
Uni
vers
ity o
f Pie
term
aritz
burg
Stud
io V
iew
, Bey
oglu
, Ist
anbu
l 200
8
17.3
0 Le
vent
200
8. O
il on
can
vas,
100
x120
1987
Vis
ited
art c
entre
s of
Eur
ope
Pa
ris, L
ondo
n, A
mst
erda
m, D
usse
ldor
ff, V
ienn
a:
Bo
nnar
d, K
ieffe
r, D
e Ko
onin
g,
G
oya,
Deb
uffe
t, H
ockn
ey, B
euys
1989
Ret
urne
d to
Gra
ham
stow
n
to
do
a M
aste
rs in
Fin
e Ar
t
I returned to my home town, Grahamstown to do my Masters in Painting. In a small town you see the same streets, the same buildings and the same faces and in this way recurrent symbols of everyday life become more intimate.
1991
Mas
ter o
f Art
exhi
bitio
n,
aw
arde
d di
stin
ctio
n
NET
TIN
G R
EALI
TY
And there’s that sense of catching something, a glimmer of light, a fish which could get away.
It goes beyond the world of appearances but also refers back to it.
1992
Mas
ters
thes
is
unde
r sup
ervi
sion
of p
oet D
on M
acLe
nnan
“Net
ting
real
ity”
:
Th
e im
agin
ativ
e tra
nsfo
rmat
ion
of
quot
idia
n ex
perie
nce
in th
e pa
intin
gs
of B
onna
rd a
nd V
uilla
rd,
with
refe
renc
e to
asp
ects
of t
he n
ovel
s of
Virg
inia
Woo
lf.”
‘Listen to the silences,’ he said, pointing to the mystery of what can scarce be touched let alone understood.It was his way of saying he had chosen to live in us as the colours of a Vuillard painting come from an insistent emptiness that begs, “fill me with the reality of light.”
Maclennan
Catc
h 20
08. O
il on
can
vas,
2 x
(120
x 1
20 c
m)
Myt
h, O
il on
can
vas
2009
100
x 1
20 c
m
1993
Ret
urne
d to
Cap
e To
wn
to te
ach
1995
Firs
t Cap
e To
wn
solo
exh
ibiti
on:
“Pilg
rims”
Che
lsea
Gal
lery
, New
land
s
Fo
unde
d ar
tist’s
gro
up th
e “B
oudo
ir Bi
scui
ts”
with
Jen
ny P
arso
ns a
nd M
ary
Viss
er
1997
Vis
ited
Bonn
ard
retro
spec
tive
at T
ate
Gal
lery
, Lon
don
1999
Trav
elle
d w
ith M
ark
Mul
ler t
o
Lo
ndon
, Am
ster
dam
and
Bar
celo
na.
Fath
er d
ied
whi
le in
Bar
celo
na.
Gau
di, M
iro, e
xhib
ition
of l
ate
Pica
sso
TRAV
ELLI
NG
EAS
TPassage and Journey
Home and Identity Transience and Permanence
History and Modernity
Travelling to Gaziantep and Urfa, Aleppo and Damascus (Syria) and in my books, the Zeugma mosaics; mosques and ruins; profiles of cities, men, women and children emerge.But what remains back in the studio is less easily deciphered: a particular feeling of space and light; a line drawn by an ancient hand.
Ista
nbee
ld, O
il on
can
vas
120
x120
cm
2001
Kar
en M
cKer
ron
Gal
lery
, Joh
anne
sbur
g: e
xhib
ition
with
J
ane
Youn
g ce
ram
icis
t.
Bar
celo
na in
spire
d pa
intin
gs a
nd th
e be
ginn
ing
of th
e
com
posi
te s
erie
s “
Anot
her V
iew
”
Son
Tem
bor
n 6
July
A
ssoc
iatio
n of
Vis
ual A
rts s
olo
exhi
bitio
n,Ca
pe T
own
Istanbul in its rich borek stuffed layers, in its often jarring contrasts: therein lies the beauty that interests me as a painter of contemporary cities.
Trav
ellin
g Ea
st II
, Oil
on c
anva
s 1
20x1
20 c
m
I have always been interested in the layers of paintings and the layers of cities: how the surface, or the skin of both continues to register what lies beneath.
2002
Mov
ed in
to A
ll St
ars
Stud
io ru
n by
Sou
th A
frica
n ar
tist,
Sue
Will
iam
son
Vi
site
d U
SA a
nd fi
rst t
rip to
New
Yor
k
2005
“N
ew W
ork”
(Dia
na P
age
and
Jane
You
ng) I
rma
Ster
n Ar
t Mus
eum
,
Ca
pe T
own
Im
prin
ts: W
orks
on
pape
r. (g
roup
exh
ibiti
on) A
xis
Gal
lery
New
Yor
k
D
esig
n of
sta
ined
gla
ss w
indo
ws
for S
t Jos
eph’
s Co
llege
, Ca
pe T
own
As th
e Ci
ty W
akes
200
5. O
il on
can
vas,
129
x 1
61 c
m
2003
Car
pet d
esig
n co
mm
issi
on fo
r
So
uth
Afric
a’s
New
Con
stitu
tiona
l Cou
rt (B
oudo
ir Bi
scui
ts)
Jazz
City
III 2
004.
Oil
on c
anva
s, 1
95 x
140
cm
ISTA
NBU
L IM
PRO
VISA
TIO
NS
In Istanbul I have become interested in exploring the frontiers of space: city and water, surface and depth, noise and silence - and by extension, history and modernity as I experience them in the city.
‘Galata Improvisation’, was a celebration of my initial love for the city. Perhaps beauty or its discovery, like memory, is not something passive but is actually part of an active process of discovery and rediscovery.
2006
Mov
ed to
Ista
nbul
the Bosphoros all lit up and vast in the early morning
across a puzzle of rooves and satellite dishes
Gal
ata
Impr
ovis
atio
n 20
08. O
il on
can
vas,
2x
(120
x12
0 cm
)
Ros
emar
y’s
View
, 200
9. O
il on
can
vas,
120
x120
cm
SHIP
S AN
D D
REA
MS
I never thought of myself as a “water painter”. But I suppose it has a lot to do with where l have lived and worked. Istanbul and Cape Town are both harbour cities, also strategic passageways geographically and historically.
To us, in the dawn, ships, slipping quietly through the
freight cargo, it seems they carry the whole city
city, transport our dreams. Or sometimes, in their
out on their decks to disappear into the Black Sea.
To us, in the dawn, ships, slipping quietly through the
freight cargo, it seems they carry the whole city
city, transport our dreams. Or sometimes, in their
out on their decks to disappear into the Black Sea.
Swim
mer
Frie
ze 2
009.
Oil
on c
anva
s, 1
00 x
120
cm
Wav
e 20
10. O
il on
can
vas,
120
x 1
20 c
m
Bozc
aada
Shi
p 20
09. O
il on
can
vas,
100
x 1
00 c
m
The ship steals across the dawn,suspended on stalks of light, a tight rope walker -
Yeats’s “long legged fly upon the stream”.
Daw
n, 2
009.
Oil
on c
anva
s, 1
20x1
20 c
m
2006
Unk
now
n ci
ties,
Woo
dsto
ck, C
ape
Tow
n.
Solo
exh
ibiti
on d
esig
ned
and
cura
ted
in
colla
bora
tion
with
Kat
herin
e M
ann.
2007
Nig
ht F
ishi
ng: i
nsta
llatio
n an
d ex
hibi
tion,
36
0 Is
tanb
ul, B
eyog
lu
NIG
HT
FISH
ING The small paintings particularly,
are collected or netted moments of my experiences here in Istanbul, but always in constant collision with traces of thoughts, memories, imaginings perhaps rooted in other places
Red
Fre
ight
er, 2
007.
Oil
and
enam
el h
ouse
pai
nt o
n bo
ard,
31
x 45
cm
Night Fishing 360: Collected Moments
In the#360 installation the modernist concerns of surface and depth are extended into the city environment. The paintings operate electrically as moments in time, extracted from the sweeping views in front of which they hang. The viewer’s eye constantly shifts between the glossy, gestural surface of the paint itself, and the immense distant views through the glass windows.Similarly the viewer’s search for, and finding of recognizable reference points, spire, bridge, satellite dish, in the paintings, is echoed in the views beyond. The installation operates around the idea of illusion; it questions how and what we see, and asserts the importance of imagination as we each seek to construct our own reality. 20
07 “
Kadi
nin
Sesl
eri”
sou
nd p
erfo
rman
ce a
nd v
ideo
,
G
alat
a, Is
tanb
ul
2008
###
Am
pers
and
Fello
wsh
ip“P
itch
Blue
”
so
und
perfo
rman
ce a
nd v
ideo
, Red
Hoo
k, B
rook
lyn
New
Yor
k ci
ty.
Inde
pend
ent V
isito
r, Pl
atfo
rmga
rant
i, Is
tanb
ul
MO
RE
THAN
BLA
CK A
ND
WH
ITE
Cinematic moments in the city, the modern and the gritty,
the ancient and the mysterious.
I discovered charcoal doing my Masters.I have loved it since then - it’s like drawing with velvet.
Tim
es S
quar
e, 2
004.
Cha
rcoa
l on
pape
r, 5
0 x
70 c
m
Pass
age,
200
7. C
harc
oal o
n pa
per,
34 x
50
cm
Tara
bya
Nig
ht, 2
008.
Cha
rcoa
l on
pape
r, 3
4 x
50 c
m
Kadi
nin
Sesl
eri
& P
itch
Blue
Performance &
Video
“Kadinin Sesleri” (Istanbul) and “Pitch Blue” (New York)
Diana Page, the director of “Kadinin Sesleri’’, is an artist from Cape Town South Africa, who has lived in Istanbul for the past three years.
She is currently moving between countries, and between media, having recently returned from New York where she collaborated with New York performers, producing and documenting a sound performance on a Brooklyn rooftop entitled “Pitch Blue”. The piece explores the concepts of home and exile, longing and belonging. Kadinin Sesleri performed and documented in November 2007 was the touchstone for Pitch Blue. For Page, the work emerges out of a global consciousness and her current nomadism, as a citizen of South Africa and as a resident, artist, and traveler between cities.
“The drop that forms in the evening is round, many coloured....”
The sister piece “Kadinin Sesleri” was produced on two rooftops in Galata during 2007 as part of a one day art event, “The Visibility Project” organized by Galataperform.
Kadinin Sesleri was inspired by the resonant sound environment of Istanbul but sought to bring the voices of women into the public sound space. The piece uses megaphones to project the voices of the women across the city, but also to create a particular quality of vocals ubiquitous in the public soundscape of Istanbul.
The gentleness of the women’s voices also acts in opposition to the megaphone, an instrument often used for aggressive persuasion. The performers in Kadinin Sesleri were all women Diana Page had met in her wanderings, as a newcomer to the city.
The piece brings together the journeys of five women, including that of the artist, all currently living in Istanbul but hailing from different cultural contexts.
The evolution of both the works is integral to their meaning: connecting with people, physically or through the Web, then meeting with the performers and finding suitable rooftops. The piece has as its backdrop, the city of Istanbul itself, a visual and evocative presence as it appears on each different rooftop.
Equally important, is the performers’ momentary awareness in responding to one another and to the city environment into which they perform, building an intimacy.
2008
Arti
st’s
resi
denc
y, D
atca
S
outh
Med
itera
nean
coa
st o
f Tur
key
WAT
ERCO
LOU
R The watercolours I did in Datca have taken me into a new space on the canvas.
I want to drip paint, saturate with it, splurge it, let it run free
Sea
Life
, 200
8. O
il on
can
vas,
23
x 27
cm
2009
Vis
ited
York
shire
, Eng
land
(b
irthp
lace
of g
rand
mot
her)
Beyl
erbe
yi P
alac
e ex
hibi
tion
of
inte
rnat
iona
l arti
sts
Jour
neye
d to
Ale
ppo
and
Dam
ascu
s, S
yria
I grew up in a small university town in South Africa called Grahamstown, whose lineaments became as familiar to me as the lines on my own hand. I have grown to cherish my childhood in this slow-change town which provided an altogether different experience of space, time, and light. I also longed to leave its close familiarity, enticed by unknown cities like Cape Town, Paris, New York.
My father, a research psychologist, nurtured within me a far reaching curiosity and a healthy distrust of authority.
My mother, the artist Lindsay Page, immersed me in art. She showed me Henry Moore sculptures, and introduced me to the work of Pierre Bonnard. I remember a magnificent painting of women in a sauna she did. It made Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d’Avignon look tame.
There was also my grandmother, Constance Little, who, not only sang, acted and wrote stories for the length of her 95 years, she also did fine silk embroideries of birds. As a child I would watch her laying out her skeins of silk in carefully gradated Cezanne greys. Then slowly her birds would emerge out of the floating world of the silk ground.
Perhaps it was the childhood allure of unknown cities that found me recently on a rooftop in Red Hook Brooklyn, NYC directing the filming of ‘Pitch Blue’.
From Cape Town to New York, from London to Istanbul I have walked and painted the city. Traversing the city, I am a free agent, observing and thinking, drawing and dreaming.
Back in the solitude of the studio, forging a visual language to express my thoughts and observations about cities has become my life’s quest.Th
e ar
tist i
n he
r ow
n w
ords
Thro
ugh
the
eyes
of o
ther
sPage has given herself licence to explore the very ‘citiness’ of cities.Her fascination is kept alive by the freedom she has given herself.
Her paintings are modern, tough, bright and brimming with energy.
LIZZA LITTLEWORT artthrob.co.za 2005
‘Her spirited mixed media contribution is full of light and movement.
It’s a joyful celebration - an explosion of colour, line and loose shapes. Here’s a ‘landscape’ that’s not a view of the ‘real’ world but a lifeaffirming viewpoint that issues from sensory and emotional experience.’ -
CAPE TIMES 2001 ‘
painterly types like Page seem effortlessly to allow their paints to take on a life of their own with the most delicious results.’ -
ARGUS TONIGHT 1995
She appears to be unassuming and self-contained: but don’t let appearances mislead you. She listens. The seemingly mild demeanor hides a passionate pilgrim’s soul full of steely determination.
Her energetic strokes emerge on canvas in a myriad of colours. Be they brash and loud, or soft and dreamy, they create a harmony of coexistence, without imposing a fixed point of view.
Diana does not preach her love for Istanbul: instead, she extends an invitation, leaves a door ajar. Enter this space and you’ll discover the profound secrets of place, where the ugly and mundane have a purpose, where there is solitude, reflection, dream.
Her work is a visual mosaic of our lives in the big city: complex, unpredictable, sometimes full of colour, sometimes black and white - always exciting.
LUCY BOSCHER Istanbul 2010
Cont
act i
nfor
mat
ion
Kadinin SesleriDirector: Diana PageCameraman: Erdem AyvazogluPhotography: Elio MontinariPerformers: Songul Can, Uma Fusun, Lisa Meyer, Joanna Wulfsberg
Pitch Blue:Director: Diana Page1st Cameraman: Helen Tschudi, Klara Palotoi2nd Cameraman: Lisa Van WykPhotography: Gary van Wyk; Diana PagePerformers: Tammy Hall; Sharla Meese;Carmen Santos; Sayda Trujillo; Saori Tsudaki
Hosted by Axis Gallery, New York City in conjunction with the Ampersand Foundation, Johannesburg.
BookDesign & Art direction: Laura van ErkelensPhotography: Nuray UysalSpecial thanks to Lucy BoscherCr
edits
Cape Town: +27 21 7884591Istanbul: +90 5366765245
diana@artbeat.co.zawww.dianapage.co.zawww.dianapage.blogspot.com
Cape Town/ Istanbul/ New York
Wal
king
on
a rim
of l
ight
, Cha
rcoa
l on
pap
er, 3
5 x
50 c
m
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