Ann-Marie Tully 'Wolf in sheep's clothing'

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ann-marie tully WOLF IN SHEEP’S CLOTHING North West University Botanical Garden Gallery 27 March - 02 May 2014


First published March 2014 by Ann-Marie Tully in association with NIorth West University Galleries. This catalogue accompanies the Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing exhibition, 27 March - 02 May 2014 North West University Botanical Garden Gallery. Artist’s Walkabout 28 March 2014 @ 11:00am.

Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing was previously staged at NIROXprojects | ARTS ON MAIN | MABONENG PRECINCT | JOHANNESBURG I 249 Fox Street, cnr Main Rd. 9 June - 03 July 2013,. Opening speaker: Walter Oltmann. Artist’s Walkabout 23 June 2013. Design, photography, text and editorial by Ann-Marie Tully. http://ann-marietully.blogspot.com/ http://johannesburg.academia.edu/AnnMarieTully http://issuu.com/ann-marie.tully/docs/wolfinsheepsclothing_ nirox?e=8275276/2576301


al beings. im n a f o n io t ork inrepresenta w e t r h t a f d o n a y , d n o a b he non-hum nsidered in this visual t o t n a m u 1 is also co of the h ne 2013. u n J io t ) in , y la h g e r r p u a e b r s th al-autobiog MENT in, Johanne of animals, E im a s n T M e a ( v n A l li o a T e s h t S im t r n cts, A d with pose nonf the a je e o o r o n r r p p ARTIST e le s X c ic e n h O s o e e IR c v h l N t a t h is d Cartesian , debuted a he allegoric nd researc t n g a a h in e g h n t u a ic t li o lo r c e C t h a t r o t ’s p e Aris he self of animals. Sheep t h t lly’s art y s in u c — s T n lf h e t e r o r ie g p r a W x a a e , e e n M n h o io Ann creatures o as erased t he human t The Exhibit t h d . f s e d o r n ic e y a m c w , a n s o r e e p e d ic c m l pract d dise er is selfThe ten es and n a r il w a t u x ie d lt e v u e t c g , e s n h in t a g r f lf t in o s aint bedded itse the most e iosyncratic erspective p m id n e e e cluding oil p e h e s h t t b a e h g il in y n h d h lo e t e philosop s inequity. W r animal al is asser nimals hav ie e a c h im e y n r 2 This derisive ll p a o s f l ia r a is e u e t h v t a id . lo s iv ally and m 13) addres r of the ind n automata the artist’s 0 e a f t 2 h o c t a t 1 e r n e reduction r 1 a a h o 0 h t ic c Philosophic m (2 s if t d n s le s n t e ig t ie a r li s g e e g s s is c u a n s e tures oreal frailty ese works ping dogs li ), the sentie p h r e t g o f o le c d o s human crea f t g le o e it ’ in L t g p e e in ic h . This ‘figur the idiomat n such as t own at a sle , e io d y s it it o g r ib p e in h c k h x t o in e a s lo e e d h n is ly mimic a atured on t ertow to th r of a huma s e d f e u n n o s u n u k r a ic ig s provide o n m b e w o h t e m t ir r h a lo A t n c o a n ls h (i In a t ic . h s s omniscien of the dog nimal for w us works. ese portrait a o s h r t e n e r f a u o m t g.3 m u s s u t in n o reflexively h c e p in b e je l g h d b t a in u e s p it o im t e is n e s v a The sle ost part) th a theme re ents, speak haracter of m — c m e e d le h iv t e t e rendering. r k a r o ly a r r (f a lo e t n c e n in n s, who ar city in the u xtile and pa ice of huma li e v p t r e m g s o in c e y companion h lo ’s t y p o t m to humanit haracter in 2-2013), e im 1 h 0 g (2 in t s r ie le r a e of animal c , ’s clothing s naked body p e is h e h n s o p in u lf e o z ch as the W mused on his cat’s ga u s s k d terrain. r e o k w a r n n is o h t a Othe id in eneer. Derr g is staked v ress:89. in h in t h t lo c a h ’s University P . c s p 2 in e 0 k su 4 e p ): o h (2 H s 8 n y2 mber). Joh ritical Inquir ion, Wolf in Issue (Dece . D. Wills. C re s n tu ra ra e T it ). The exhibit L w mparative 73. ore to follo re I am (m 9, No. 5, Co uiry 28(2):3 that therefo MLN Vol. 10 ns. D. Wills. Critical Inq l . a d rl im o n a w l e a h 02. T on the anim follow). Tra 1 Derrida, J. 20 fterthoughts erefore I am (more to A . 4 9 9 1 . 2 Lippit, A. M imal that th 02. The an 3 Derrida, J. 20

Ann-Marie Tully, Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing (2013) installation view: of (R-L), Dumb valet (2013), Fleeced (2013),.


L y canthropic self - portraits The artworks She-wolf (2012), Wolf in sheep’s clothing (2012-13), Running with the hares and hunting with the hounds (2013) belong to a series that investigates lycanthropic self-portraiture. Amongst other mythic sources, these works are inspired by J. M. Coetzee’s fictional animal rights ‘warrior’, Elizabeth Costello’s discussion of the philosopher Thomas Nagal’s contemplation of what it might feel like to be a bat—an absolutely alien being.1 Elizabeth Costello notes that when pressed, human beings can imagine what it may feel like to be dead.2 This stretch of the imagination presents us with the terrifying existential contradiction of being conscious of the most unknown point of our lives: the cessation of life, the end of consciousness.3 Costello concludes, “if we are capable of thinking our own death, why on earth should we not be capable of thinking our way into the life of a bat?”4

These paintings enact an imaginative lycanthropic transformation (becoming animal) in self-portraits of the artist.5 In doing so, three dimensional elements such as faux and real fur are literally stitched onto the paper, forcing an interrupted, ruptured, and grafted rendering. The awkward pairing of real and representational elements results in a surface tension that gestures to the difficulty inherent in a project that seeks to deterritorialise and deconstruct the Cartesian human. Coetzee, J. M. 2004. The lives of animals: the philosophers and the animals. Elizabeth Costello: Eight Lessons. London: Vintage:76-77. 2 ibid. 3 ibid. 4 ibid. 5 Deleuze, G & Guattari, F. 1988. Becoming intense, becoming-animal, becoming imper1

ceptible. A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia. London: Continuum:253.


Ann-Marie Tully, Running with the hares and hunting with the hounds, (detail) 2013. Gesso, oil, faux fur, cotton

on 100% cotton Fabriano. 400mm x 350mm.


Ann-Marie Tully, She-wolf II (detail), 2012. Gesso, oil, faux fur, cotton on 100% cotton Fabriano. 200mm x 400mm.


Ann-Marie Tully, Icarus (detail), 2013. Gesso, oil, found fur shawl, cotton on 100% cotton Fabriano. 2300mm x 900mm. NIROXprojects collection.


Ann-Marie Tully, Wolf in sheep’s clothing I, 2012-2013. Gesso and oil on Fabriano, faux fur, dress, cotton thread. 2500 x 600mm. Private collection.


ANIMAL-ANIMETAPHOR The Let sleeping dogs lie- (2011-2013); Curl up and die- (2011-2012); Room to swing a cat- (2013); Fleeced- (2013); Lamb to the slaughter(2013); and Dog-eat-dog (2010-2013) series emerge from consideration of Derrida’s theorisation of the “animetaphor”, an anthropocentric rhetoric that reduces and exploits non-human creatures.1 He further argues for a related neologism, “l’animal autobiographique”: the analogous and aphoristic application
of animal character to the narrative dimension of human identity.2 The Let sleeping dogs lie and Curl up and die series explores the temporality of animal life in reciprocal companion species (human/ animal) relationships and experiences of loss. The agency of animal beings is asserted in these paintings that concentrate on the particularity of individual creatures, as seen through the human perspective. The animals depicted in this series are removed from a recognisable space in order to disrupt the dominant trope of animal representation, where the non-human creature is frequently reduced to an object within a narrative. The ironic titles of these works reference well known idioms that subsume animal characteristics in expressions of human experience; irreducibly trivialising the particularity of animal-beings. I employ these antithetical titles to point to the callous and reductive nature of human perception and language in the face of nonhuman sentience and individual animal redolence.

Lippit A.M. 1998. Magnetic animal: Derrida, wildlife, animetaphor. MLN 113(5) Comparative Literature Issue (December):1113. 2 ibid. 1

Ann-Marie Tully, Let sleeping dogs lie—Jessica (detail), 2012. Gesso and oil on 100% cotton Fabriano. 700mm x 1000mm.


Ann-Marie Tully, Let sleeping dogs lie— George (detail), 2011. Gesso and oil on 100% cotton Fabriano. 700mm x 1000mm. Johannesburg Art Gallery collection.


Ann-Marie Tully, Let sleeping dogs lie—Maximillion (detail), 2012. Gesso and oil on 100% cotton Fabriano. 700mm x 1000mm.


Ann-Marie Tully, Let sleeping dogs lie—Tessa (detail), 2011. Gesso and oil on 100% cotton Fabriano. 700mm x 1000mm.


Ann-Marie Tully, Let sleeping dogs lie窶認lying Poppit (detail), 2013. Gesso and oil on 100% cotton Fabriano. 700mm x 1000mm.


Ann-Marie Tully, Curl up and die—Joe (detail), 2011. Gesso and oil on 100% cotton Fabriano. 230mm x 300mm.


Ann-Marie Tully, Curl up and die—Tabby (detail), 2011. Gesso and oil on 100% cotton Fabriano. 230mm x 300mm.


Works such as Room to swing a cat (2013), Fleeced (2013), Lamb to the slaughter (2013), and Pussy (for Derrida & T. S. Eliot) address the linguistic reduction of the animal. As they do not depict sleeping animals, the intimacy of human/animal reciprocity, and affection is removed. The Room to swing a cat series, literally (and ironically) depicts the English expression used to describe a small space. This well worn idiom is sardonically employed to comment on the smallness or breadth of a space: ‘there is not even room to swing a cat in here’, or ‘there is ample room to swing a cat in here’. The expression conjures up the image of a swinging cat, drawing on the human conception of cat-like agility; while arousing little or no comprehension of the creature cat; or the trauma and injury that swinging a cat would inflict on the animal. In its cool detachment from the phenomena-cat-in-the-world, this idiom reveals the inherent dismissal of, and violence against non-human creatures that underpins the linguistic and cultural construction of human identity. The falling and swinging cats depicted in the Room to swing a cat

series are sourced from an internet search of the expression. The glut of ‘humorously’ framed photographs of falling and swung cats that emerge is disturbing; given that the photographs suggest (in the main) that the cats were deliberately swung or dropped for the purpose of obtaining the image. The paintings of these floating cat signifiers, suspended in white grounds, seek to arrest the viewers initial amused reaction, in contemplation of the troubling violence expressed in the act, the representation, and the expression. In a similar vein, the Fleeced and Lamb to the slaughter series reference idioms that rhetorically apply the sequestered lives of sheep and lambs to human experiences of victimisation; with little or no regard for the industrialised slaughter of the animals whose names and experiences are ó’offered up’ to enable these expedient expressions.


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Ann-Marie Tully, Fleeced (installation view), 2013. Cotton waste and thread on Fabriano. 430mm x 380mm.


Ann-Marie Tully, Fleeced VII (detail), 2013. Cotton waste and thread on Fabriano. 430mm x 380mm.


Ann-Marie Tully, Fleeced IV (detail), 2013. Cotton waste and thread on Fabriano. 430mm x 380mm.


Ann-Marie Tully, Lamb to the slaughter VIII (detail), 2013. Ink on Fabriano.170mm x 250mm.


The series Pussy (for Derrida & T. S. Eliot), consists of ‘textile drawings’ of silhouetted cats relating to a profane metaphor for a woman’s vagina, where the concept of both the ‘pussy cat’ and the vagina that the term references is reduced to a generic notion of ‘fur’; suggesting the shared insignificance of women, cats, and nature. In wry response to this profane animetaphor 1, these images of cats, drawn from illustrations of T.S Eliot’s feline poems Old possum’s book of practical cats (1939), are construced from upcycled womens underware. The underware in turn references the naked body that lies beneath, and relates to Derrida’s consideration of the human-animal that his cat looked upon on encountering him naked.2 Lippit, A. M. 1994. Afterthoughts on the animal world. MLN Vol. 109, No. 5, Comparative Literature Issue (December). John Hopkins University Press:89. Derrida, J. 2002. The animal that therefore I am (more to follow). Trans. D. Wills. Critical Inquiry 28(2):373.

1 2


Ann-Marie Tully, Pussy (for Derrida and T.S. Eliot) II & III (L-R previous page); VIII & V (L-R), 2014. underware & cotton on Fabriano.300mm x 250mm.m.


The Dog—eat—dog (2010-2013) series draws on narratives and idioms that parallel human culture wilth lupine and other animal attributes relating to predatorial and maternal instinct, ferociousness and stealthiness. Shakespeare’s Marcus Antonius invokes canine ferocity in preparation to strike against Julius Caesar’s assassins, linking notions of aggressive animality to the human practice of war. This aggressive rhetoric also conveniently absolves the ‘civilised’ qualities of human beings from complicity in the atrocities of war:

And Caesar’s spirit, raging for revenge ... Shall in these confines with a monarch’s voice Cry “Havoc!” and let slip the dogs of war That this foul deed shall smell above the earth With carrion men, groaning for burial. 1

William Shakespear’s Julius Caesar, Act 3, scene 1.

Ann-Marie Tully, Dog—eat—dog: centaur patrol, 2012. Gesso and oil on Fabriano.120mm x 195mm.


Ann-Marie Tully, Dog—eat—dog: gas mask I (L) & II (L) (details), 2012-2013. Gesso and oil on Fabriano. I: 250mm x 210mm & II: 300mm x 210mm.


I include the Bleek house in the Dog—eat—dog series, as this consequential research and human interaction took place despite overwhelming colonial indifference to San culture, based on the ideological animalisation of difference.

Ann-Marie Tully, Dog—eat—dog: The Bleek house (Lucy Lloyd), 2013, oil on canvas. 300mm x 150mm (L); & Ann-Marie Tully, Dog—eat—dog: The Bleek house (Dia!kwain and the jackel-man) 2013, oil on canvas. 400mm x 200mm (R). Both in private collections.

The Dog—eat—dog: Bleek house (2013) series is a title I employ ambiguously to play on the marginalisation of !Xam speakers, and the financial hardships of the Bleek family, who hosted a group of !Xam speakers incarcerated at the Breakwater prison. The Bleek family conducted research into the IXam and Korana language compiling detailed records of San folklore and cosmological beliefs.


The turn of instrumental reason (2014) series of altered sewing machines relates thematically to The Bleek house focus on the animalisation of difference. Similar to The Bleek house works these mechanical assemblages feature paintings on the palms of the mannequin hands of animal and therianthropic forms drawn from San rock paintings; coupled with images of individuals from the colonial African stage. Further to this narrative element the grafted together ‘machine arm’ and artificial hand evokes: the violent stitch of the sewing machine (with monstrous surgical inference); industrialisation (the product of enlightenment thinking); histories of western dominance and exploitation; the punitive violence perpetrated against Africans in the name of industry during colonial times. Also significant is the coupling of the feminine hands with the feminine ergonomics of the sewing machines. This is suggestive of the female hands that these well worn objects (haunted by the marks of past users) were designed to respond to and enspan. The presence of animal forms on the palms of the hands alludes to the rationalised binary opposition of nature and culture/industry; and the predjudical association of women with the ‘lesser’form of nature. The animal forms on the part of these mechanically driven hands that would be used to crush something alludes to the destruction and brutal exploitation of nature by the ‘wheels of industry’.

Ann-Marie Tully, The turn of instrumental reason: Stanley, Kalulu, and Leopold (keeping up with the Joneses), 2014, Antique Jones sewing machine, mannequin hand, & oil paint. (H) 350mm x (W) 500mm x (D) 250mm (R). Ann-Marie Tully, The turn of instrumental reason: harried work (Lucy Lloyd), 2014, Antique Swift sewing machine, mannequin hand, & oil paint.(H) 400mm x (W) 380mm x (D) 200mm.(L).


the decorative animal The Las Meninas [Ladies in Waiting] series (2010-2012) of cobalt oxide-painted ceramic frog sculptures further reflects on the obscuration of animal beings in human visual culture. The choice of frogs as an “animal-ground” to paint onto, is informed by human indifference and repulsion towards reptilian creatures; as well as the association of frogs with catastrophic biblical plagues, and sorcery. The frog sculpture that the works are based on is a decorative object created by my father, and is striking in its ‘benevolent’ anthropomorphic characteristics; considering the generally malign perception of frogs. This domestication of the animal is a phenomenon associated with ornamental and illustrative representations of animals; serving to obscure the real creature. The slip-casting seams are not removed from the sculptural forms, thereby interrupting a ‘smooth’ transition from the animal-in-the-world into the realm of human consumption. The decorative cobalt-painting on the frog-surfaces references the Willow, Oriental and Delft ceramic traditions, that frequently employ nature motifs. Diego VelàÃåàázquez’s Las Meninas (1656) serves as a motif in this context. Pablo Picasso’s association of the infanta and her maids with paintings he produced of pigeons is also referenced. These pigeon-maids are represented on the front of the frog sculptures, in dialogue with the VelàÃåàázquez figures (depicted on the rear), pointing to the fluid transfer of human narrative onto the animal vehicle. The transposition of VelàÃåàázquez’s human-maids into Picasso’s pigeon-maids, and now into frog-maids enacts the mutability of the human subjugation and assimilation of difference. The Furborough series (2013) of ceramic frog sculptures shares this intent, and employs a similar range of iconography, also including elements drawn from Gainsborough’s oeuvre. Of particular interest are Gainsborough’s artworks that position the human as a master over the “natural world”, such as Mr and Mrs Andrews (1750). Ann-Marie Tully, Las Meninas II (front view), 2013. Ceramic, cobalt oxide, mirror.(H) 120mm x (W) 130mm x (D) 100mm. Private collection.


Ann-Marie Tully, Las Meninas III (back view detail), 2013. Ceramic, cobalt oxide, mirror.(H) 120mm x (W) 130mm x (D) 100mm. Private collection.


Ann-Marie Tully, Furbourough: Mrs Siddons and the infanta of the hunt (front views), 2013. Ceramic, cobalt oxide, mirror, faux fur. (H) 120mm x (W) 130mm x (D) 100mm. Private collection.


Ann-Marie Tully, Dumb valet, 2013. Wood furniture, fox fur shawl, mirror. dimensions variable.


Artworks such as Dumb Valet (2013), Cat of nine lives (2013), and Heads you win, tails you loose (2014), employ real fur objects, such as toys and clothing; and decorative furnishings that mimic animal features, such as ball and claw furniture. These assemblages/installations reflect on the reduction of animal beings into objects in human material culture.

Ann-Marie Tully, Cat of nine lives (detail), 2012. Found fur object, cotton waste, wood. 230mm x 230mm.


Ann-Marie Tully, Heads you win, tails you loose (detail), 2014. Fox fur shawl & specimen box. 500mm x 250mm.


I nstallation views of the N I R O X p r o j e c t s E xhibition

Ann-Marie Tully, Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing (2013) installation view: of (L-R), Wolf in sheep’s clothing (2012-2013), and Icarus (2013).


Ann-Marie Tully, Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing (2013) installation view.


Ann-Marie Tully, Metamorphoses (L-R): Judas goat, Lion boy, Leda and the swan, 2013. Ink and cotton on paper. Private collection.


Ann-Marie Tully, Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing (2013) installation view.


Ann-Marie Tully, Brak I, 2013. Gesso and oil on Fabriano. 1500mm x 1500mm. Private collection.


Ann-Marie Tully, Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing (2013) installation view: of (L-R), Curl up and die (2011), Las Meninas IV (2013), She wolf I (2012). Shewolf I (detail) (R). Gesso, oil, faux fur, and cotton on Fabrian o. 700mm x 1000mm. Private collection.


), Lamb to t-dog (2013 a -e g o D ), urborough f (L-R sa (2011), F tion view: o s e lla -T ta s lie in s ) g 3 o 01 t sleeping d Clothing (2 in Sheep’s x (2012), Le a lf M o W , lie lly s u g T Ann-Marie sleeping do (2013), Let r te h g u la s the (2013).


BIOGRAPHY Ann-Marie Tully is an artist, curator and writer who obtained her Master of Fine Arts degree at the University of the Witwatersrand in 2003, receiving a distinction for her thesis. She is currently a Research Associate at the Research Centre, Visual Identities in Art and Design, at the Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture, University of Johannesburg. Ann-Marie has exhibited widely and is represented in prominent art collections. She practices as a painter, also working with textiles and ceramics. Ann-Marie has staged three previous solo exhibitions:Thimble Narratives (2003) at the Johannesburg Art Gallery, Non Facture (2007) at Gordart Gallery, and Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing at NIROXprojects (2013). Following the exhibition of Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing at the North West University Botanical Garden Gallery in March 2014, Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing travels to the Oliewenhuis Museum, Bloemfontein in February 2015. As a curator her most recent undertakings are the Pointure (2012) exhibition at the University of Johannesburg Gallery; and the Facing the Climate exhibitions (20122013) in association with the Swedish Institute and the Swedish Embassy of South Africa (Michaelis Galleries, NIROXprojects and the Oliewenhuis Museum). The Pointure exhibition was accompanied by a colloquium, convened by the Research Centre, Visual Identities in Art and Design, Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture, University of Johannesburg; followed by scholarly publications. Prior to this Ann-Marie curated the Urban Animal (2009) exhibition at the ABSA Gallery. Ann-Marie’s art-making and research is concerned with the rhetorical and material reduction of animals; and the disparate interface between human ‘culture’ and the ‘natural world’. Themes of mortality, the indexical character of things-in-the-world and photographic media are also themes revisited in her work.


Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing is dedicated to my beloved animal companions, past and present, who are not objects.

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A percentage of the sale of artworks goes to the Society for Animals in Distress.

AL R S I N DIS T


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