Penny George obtained a B-Tech Degree in Fine Art (Cum Laude) from the Free State’s University of Technology in 1999, and has completed her Postgraduate Certificate in Education at the same institution in 2007.
Her work experience has centred around art education, commencing with student, and then lecturer’s assistant at the Central University of Technology. From 1999 until February 2005 she was Educational Officer at Oliewenhuis Art Museum, Bloemfontein. During this tenure, she was involved in various activities, including the Address Redress Print Collection ’99. Penny is an active member of the Friends of Oliewenhuis Art Museum, and the chairperson of Fractal ad-hoc committee, which aims to nurture a love of art in the future generation.
She has participated in numerous group exhibitions and art competitions since 1995. Had her first solo exhibition entitled ‘DK’ in 2006 at the University of the Free State, Stegmann Art Gallery. In 2007 the ‘DK’ exhibition was hosted at the Gordart Art Gallery in Melville Johannesburg and will be hosting an exhibition at ART.B in Belville in April this year.
ARTISTS STATEMENT
Rituals of death occupy a fundamental and sacrosanct place in human society. Diverse in practise, death rites have several things in common: they evolve over time and within a communal context; they acknowledge mystery or superstition; and they proffer concrete ways to make a transition.
Penny George’s visual repertory, spanning nine years, reflects her initial fascination with the rituals of death and burial practices. Her early works, completed for her B-Teach Degree in Fine Art at the Central University of Technology, Free State, were inspired by her examination in the material culture and imagery of Basotho rites and ceremonies and how these are influenced by Western tradition. Metaphors obtained from the annals of Basotho folklore on the subject of specific rituals before; during and after death occupy a central theme in these early visual images.
Working primarily as a printmaker, George is concerned with the development of image materialisation. Her etchings, adeptly created using established tonal aquatints, fine point and engravings convey sensitivity and solidity to the subject matter.
Her initial preoccupation with the subject of death extends to images reflecting the cycle of life and death. Imagery of the fly, larvae and pupae become clearly inspirational forces, where the projected death of life – still in progress – results in ambiguously infused composites. In many instances, these works suggest decay; the subjects undergoing the physical changes that occur with death.
George’s versatility is reflected in the images produced in 2004, which incorporate discarded and banal found objects, loaded with intimations of decay and degeneration. Redundant items, each at a different stage of decay, become the protagonists of death. In these works, the hypothesis of the formerly valuable item comes into play, another metaphor for the status of death.
George’s current work reveals a growing range of techniques and materials and a further development of her earlier subject matter. By coalescing life and death, beauty and corrosion, organic and the inorganic, Penny George brings us face to face with the essence of humanity.
by Sharon Crampton