Points for Departure, Dina Prinsloo, David Krut Distribution, 2007, R295

Before coming across this sumptuously illustrated soft cover, I confess to never having heard of Dina Prinsloo, so this book, exploring the evolution of her sculptural signature, inspired by indigenous plants in their natural setting, was something of a delicious revelation for me. An intimate, earthy and sensuous book, it features a deeply considered and quite poetic text by the artist herself, in which she distills 35 years of hard work ‘which touched ground amidst evolving statements of space-making encompassing the magnificent South African scenery – immensely variable and immeasurably rich in all its criteria’. The content of her work has stemmed from the ‘observance of the growing patterns of flora, especially our indigenous flora’ and yet it comes as no surprise that she cites Bruncusi’s Bird sculptures and Le Corbusier’s Chapel of Notre Dame au Haut in Ronchamp as early influences. This book is fiercely faithful to the spirit of ‘individualistic modernism’ she so reveres, and documents her collaboration with prominent South African architects. It will no doubt inspire the reader to look upon the botanical richness that surrounds us, not least those juicy and strange indigenous succulents, with a more searching eye.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With thanks to Alex Dodd and Business Day Art Suppliment

Keywords: Arts-and-Culture, Bookstore, News, Reading, review, South-African