AGAC 2023 Top 25 Finalist - Shoshana Waldbaum - Re-imagining The Sleepers

Top 25 Finalist in the AGAC 2023

- Artist: Shoshana Waldbaum

- Name: Re-imagining The Sleepers

- Size:  450 mm x 795 mm 

- Medium: Mixed media, oil and thread on canvas

- Unframed

- Price: R6,500

Shoshana is an emerging South African artist, and she has been awarded as a Top 25 Finalist in the ARTi Gallery Art Competition 2023!  

About this piece: 

This piece is inspired by Le Sommeil, painted by Gustave Courbet in 1866. it is also known as Les Deux amies, Paresse et Luxure and The Sleepers (in English). I chose this work because I was intrigued by how controversial this painting was in its day. In fact, it wasn't allowed to be shown publicly until 1988.

Not only does this painting predict eroticism in a straightforward manner without the aid of cupids or other mythological justification, but it also depicts lesbianism, making it vulgar to the average person of its day. It also made it very advanced and forward-thinking for its time.

I admire Gustave Courbet's boldness. My admiration for Courbet and my fascination with the controversial nature of his work (and the fact that I love to paint the female form) inspired me to create my own version of this work.

About the Artist:

Shani was born in Harrismith, South Africa in 1975. She knew from a very early age that she wanted to be involved in the arts. At the age of 4 she moved to Durban. It was here, influenced by her sister and her sister's friends, that she started cultivating her love of drawing and painting. In 1990 Shani moved to Johannesburg where she matriculated in 1992. She studied art at school but is mainly self-taught. After matriculating she moved back to Durban where she supported herself through her art. By 1995 – the year her daughter was born – Shani was well acquainted with the usual art forms such as drawing, painting, print-making, sculpture & mosaics. She became intrigued with living, moving art; so she added another medium to her repertoire by apprenticing in the art of tattooing & became a tattoo artist.

She went on to produce a collection of paintings inspired by different tattoo styles. In 2001 Shani moved back to Johannesburg where she currently resides. Her works have mainly featured around planetary awareness, her love of trees and her loathing of all forms of injustice and inequality. Fun & frivolity have also featured strongly; as well as abstract subjects- the likes of thought, emotion & philosophy. When her sister passed away in 2016, Shani’s work took on another dimension as it helped her to heal. Her understanding of the eternal cycle of life and coming to terms with loss started to feature in her work. She often uses her sister as the subject of these works