Sally Smart is among Australia’s leading contemporary artists. Described as illusory and uncanny, her work is in a constant process of unfurling meaning, employing collage as a metaphor to trouble history, identity, and femininity.

‘Skirting (Nature)’ is layered in more ways than one. In it, a pair of collaged legs wearing jeans and a calico skirt, walk across a snapping branch. Femininity and masculinity, what is “natural” and constructed are caught in a fraught balance. As Helen McDonald has written, Smart revels in “The free association of images” celebrating “the play element in art.” In this whimsy however, lie canny observations.

Smart is represented across public collections nationally, and has exhibited in New York, Jakarta and Singapore. She was included in the National Gallery of Australias major exhibition Know My Name, as well as the National Portrait Gallery’s PORTRAIT23 survey of contemporary portraiture.

For collectors of important contemporary art and those interested in feminism, ‘Skirting Nature’ is a smart find.
 

Sally SMART (1960 - )
'Skirting (Nature)' 2010
screenprint and assemblage elements (including calico skirt) on paper
Edition of 35
Image Size: 76 x 56 cm
Dimensions: 76 x 56 cm
Signed: signed, titled, dated and editioned verso
Comes with Letter of Provenance
  
Condition: Very Good: Describes a work of art's image as Excellent, but may show some small signs of surrounding wear to paper or frame. There are no tears to paper margin or disruption to the paint surface.
 
(c) Sally Smart / Copyright Agency 2024