Willem Boshoff (South African 1951 - ) BIFIDITY

Estimate

R20,000 - R30,000

Willem Boshoff (South African 1951 - ) BIFIDITY

More Information

signed, dated '08 and numbered 12/30
carved wood
35 by 28 by 7,5cm

PROVENANCE
Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg

Willem Boshoff’s interest in language, text and meaning is a fundamental aspect of his work. Boshoff’s works are a manifestation of his extensive efforts to uncover obscure words, obsolete languages, and/or study the relationship of newly recognized South African languages with their European-tinged counterparts. His works often mimic the form and function of dictionaries and explores the play between the verbal and the visual. Boshoff’s works are imbued with layers of symbolic meaning and often require the spectator’s interaction.

The design of BIFIDITY is based on an older, smaller sculpture that formed part of the “Blind Alphabet Project” in 1993. That original piece was made small enough so that it could be picked up and easily handled by a blind person. The original sculpture of 1993 consisted only of one piece of wood, cleft into two. The wood was so parted that it remained one solid piece with two members curving sideways from it. The new, 2009, piece is similar in shape, but a wedge-like shape was added to represent the outside force performing the cleaving act.

A bifurcated structure implies a main body that develops or ‘forks’ into two. A bifid structure, on the other hand, implies a knife, an axe, or any other outside force, bearing down on a main body and parting it in two.

Willem Boshoff, Bifidity. 2020. [O]. See: https://www.willemboshoff.com/product-page/bifidity