Clare Menck : Frauke by die piekniekdam, Kalahari - SOLD
Clare Menck (b 1969)
Frauke by die piekniekdam, Kalahari - 2012
Oil on wood panel
31,5 x 40 cm
Signed and dated bottom middle
Sold - 2012
Frauke is my en Johann Louw se dogter. Sy is hier 10 jaar oud (op die drumpel van vrou-word maar steeds kind). En sy is die hoof-karakter van my nuwe reeks, “Alice se Avonture in Afrika” of net “Alice in Afrika” (wat ook wel selfportrette insluit) omdat sy ‘n klein aktrisetjie is en dikwels ‘n ‘aliceband’ en ‘alice-skoene’ dra. En omdat ek haar tans in my skilderye vasvat soos fotografies gedokumenteer op ons familie-avonture saam op reis na die Kalahari en terug. Boonop fassineer my (en haar) Europese herkoms - maar gebore op Afrika-grond - my nog altyd, en geniet steeds ‘n deurlopende ondersoek in my skilderwerk
Frauke is my and Johann Louw’s daughter. In this painting she is, as yet, 10 years old (thus on the brink of womanhood but still very much a child also). And she is the lead character in my new series, “Alice’s Adventures in Africa”, or “Alice in Africa” for short, being a little actress and often sporting alicebands and ‘alice-shoes’. And I am at present portraying her as such in my paintings of her as captured photographically in sources taken during our family adventures together on our recent trip to the Kalahari and back. (The series includes self-portraits in South African landscapes as well). Above all, my (and her) European heritage – but born on African soil – never fails to fascinate me, and this concern of mine with my mixed heritage finds constant expression in my painting even now, as it has done in the past.
Clare Menck