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Lot Essay
Zarina's minimalist body of work has constantly negotiated the divide between representation and abstraction, and her mastery of various print making processes illuminates the true versatility of the form.
Zarina’s “gestures are always spare, generally abstract, and yet richly allegorical. She uses elements that can be explained biographically [...] Yet her work is not restricted to autobiography, nor does its interpretation require that knowledge from the viewer. On the contrary, it is readily available for appropriation, for it engages the viewer through his/her own biography.” (R. Samantrai, ‘Cosmopolitan Cartographies: Art in a Divided World’, Meridians: feminism, race, transnationalism, Vol. 4, No. 2, Bloomington, 2004, p. 168)
This large woodcut is one of the most important early works by the artist to be offered at auction. Read as a fence or boundary, this monumental print also foreshadows the artist’s later work, which dwells on homelands, borders, and the arbitrary creation of territories.
Zarina’s “gestures are always spare, generally abstract, and yet richly allegorical. She uses elements that can be explained biographically [...] Yet her work is not restricted to autobiography, nor does its interpretation require that knowledge from the viewer. On the contrary, it is readily available for appropriation, for it engages the viewer through his/her own biography.” (R. Samantrai, ‘Cosmopolitan Cartographies: Art in a Divided World’, Meridians: feminism, race, transnationalism, Vol. 4, No. 2, Bloomington, 2004, p. 168)
This large woodcut is one of the most important early works by the artist to be offered at auction. Read as a fence or boundary, this monumental print also foreshadows the artist’s later work, which dwells on homelands, borders, and the arbitrary creation of territories.