Lot
17
Untitled
Steel and enamel, 2011
50,8 x 50,8 cm
Estimate
$4 200
Venus I (Self Portrait) is based on Botticelli’s Venus and is part of a series of works based on the art-historical image. The work, made from torch-cut steel and painted in shades of blue, depicts the well-known art-historical figure. The source image has been warped and pulled, transforming the figure into something different and new, a translation of the source.
Biographical note
Margot Klingender begins each work with a found image. Gathered over the course of several years, images arrive by chance and others are sought after. She draws these images repeatedly, transforming them from something in flux to something in-between: objects that hold their own autonomy.
With a vast index of images, symbols, and referents, Klingender’s work tends toward the hieroglyphic. The objects she creates out of noble materials, such as bronze and leather, and in luxurious hues contrast with the grittiness and wobbliness of her lines, giving them a naïveté that makes them both appealing and dangerous. They exist in a form of duality, open and closed, individual and collective, becoming entry points to knowledge and imagining, acting as a sort of portal.
Born in Edmonton in 1991, Klingender holds a BFA from Concordia University (2014). She presented a solo exhibition at Projet Pangée in 2019 and participated in Art Toronto (2019) and Material Art Fair in Mexico City (2020). Residencies attended include a partnership between the Slade Research Institute and the Camden Arts Centre in London, England, and the Banff Centre for the Arts. Her work can be found in private collections throughout North and South America.