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Denise Penfold

Visual Artist

Projects

Into The Night

Paintings

These works explore a personal response, to living in Apartheid-era South Africa.

Table Collection

Sculptures, paintings and drawings

The spatial conventions of pictorial and sculptural space are set into a dialectical play of forms and imagery in these sculptures, paintings and drawings.

Mirror Foot (Jelutong, Oil Paint, Aluminium Sheets and Bolts, Marine-ply and brass screws)
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Charm Collection

Cast resin sculptures

My recollection of charms goes back to the ubiquitous plastic charms that was available in 1960's South Africa, but which originated from American popular culture. Here I've re-imagined them in an elevated scale to become wall sculptures that can be collected and arranged according to each collector's preference. I've re-designed the charms from my original childhood collection and created new ones drawing on images from popular African culture.

Postcard Collection

Chalk Pastel Drawings

I approach postcards as found objects which carry an image. In these works I examine the physicality of the image, emphasising the textural marks of chalk pastel and exaggerating the three dimensionality of the art object, by making Perspex frames with mirror screws, which literally pierce the drawing paper. In the small Acrylic paintings I've miniaturised the image, thereby bringing the expressiveness of the brushstrokes to the fore.

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Commissions

Carrol Boyes Studio

The designer, Carrol Boyes,  commissioned the Charm Collection cast in clear resin and installed at her studio in Cape Town.

Projects
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Info
Bio

ACADEMIC QUALIFICATIONS

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1994                      Master of Fine Art (Awarded with Distinction), UCT, South Africa

1982                      Bachelor of Fine Art (Awarded with Distinction in History of Art)

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SELECTED EXHIBITIONS

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1999                      "Public Eye", Rhodes Memorial, Cape Town

1997                      "Common Objects", AVA Gallery, Cape Town

                              "Die Ses", District Six, Cape Town

1996                      "Space to Breathe", Pretoria Art Museum, Pretoria

1995                      "Denise Penfold", The Thompson Gallery, Johannesburg

1986                      "Cape Town Triennial 1985", South African National Gallery, Cape Town

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ART RELATED WRITING

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2023                      "Conversation in Absentia", "Bruce Murray Arnott: Into the Megatext", Eds. Mari Lecanides-                                 Arnott and Sven Christian. Cape Town, The Villa-Legodi Centre for Sculpture in association

                               with Print Matters Heritage. 2023

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2008                      "Essay", Kevin Brand: Mercedes-Benz Award for Art: Projects in Public Space 2008", Ed. 

                               Renate Wiehager. Cologne, Stieppel Verlag. 2008

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APPERANCE IN PUBLICATIONS

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2009                       "Signature Pieces - The Standard Bank Corporate Collection", The Standard Bank of

                                South Africa, Johannesburg. 2009

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1998                       "The District Six Public Sculpture Project". BASA, The District Six Museum Foundation, Arts 

                                and Culture Trust, The Royal Netherlands Embassy. 1998

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1989                       "Resistance Art in South Africa", Sue Williamson. Cape Town, David Phillip. 1989

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1987                       "Directory of Contemporary South African Art". Johannesburg, Africus. 1987

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1985                       "The Triennial 1985". Cape Town, The South African National Gallery. 1985

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Contact Info
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