Limited Edition – Robyn Penn, ‘Middle of Nowhere (Nauru)’

Robyn Penn was born in Pretoria, South Africa. Penns prolific printmaking career started in August 2011, when she began collaborating with David Krut Workshop – DKW – on a series of monotypes and gave a lecture to the DKW team on colour palettes. Penn had her first solo exhibition with David Krut Projects – DKP – in November 2011, titled Pretty World. Since then, she has had four solo shows with DKP, most recently Cloud of Unknowing in June 2016. Penns enduring fascination with cloud imagery is evident from her early shows to the present day. Initially, this took the form of an exploration of the sublime, but her clouds have since shifted from romanticized sky-scapes to beautiful but politically charged meditations on climate change denial. Penn has an honours degree, with distinction, in Fine arts from Canterbury University, New Zealand, and did a years training in Fine Arts at The University of the Witwatersrand -Wits, South Africa. She also has a BA in Psychology from Wits. In 1998, Penn was awarded the Bickerton – Widdowson Trust Memorial scholarship. That year, she completed her BAFA, majoring in painting. Since collaborating with DKW in 2011, Penn has produced numerous series’ of prints, ranging from mezzotints to sugarlifts, totalling twenty-two editioned works. In 2012 she had her first solo exhibition at David Krut Gallery in Johannesburg, as well as showing in group shows in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Italy, London and New York. In 2017 she had her first solo exhibition at Barnard Gallery in Cape Town. Her work is represented in private and corporate collections. Currently she works as an independent artist and teaches art classes privately.

The Middle of Nowhere Nauru refers to the dire situation in the Micronesian island, Nauru, where the population has been at the sharp end of climate change. According to the artist, Naurus tragic fate shows us the impact of the unchecked experiment we are conducting on this Earth. We are on a tipping point where the survival of our species on this planet is held in our own hands. Yet, we are functioning according to arrogant ideologies reminiscent of the Nazis scorched Earth policy and Mao Zedongs statement that man must conquer nature.

Robyn Penn, ‘Middle of Nowhere (Nauru)’, 2016, mezzotint, 57.7×57.5cm, Edition of 20.

WARNING. Keep out of direct sunlight. Handle with extreme care as works on paper are easily creased, bent or torn. Store in a dry, climate controlled facility.

This work is couriered rolled in a protective tube or flat on a protective backing board. Frame with non-acidic archival materials.