NZ & International Fine Art - Evening Sale Wednesday, 11 August 2021 - 6:00 PM start
Heather Straka (b 1972) - Honeytrap 7
Lot Details
Heather Straka (b 1972) Honeytrap 7 oil on cotton on board signed to label on reverse with original exhibition invite attached 68 x 56cm Provenance purchased Jonathan Smart Gallery, Christchurch, 2015 Private collection, Christchurch Exhibited Jonathan Smart Gallery, Christchurch 'The Honeytrap', 7-31 October 2015 The Honeytrap paintings are direct, intimate and sensual - befitting the bare backs and cameo-like oval format of the paintings. The feel is restrained, almost Victorian, but Straka is in her element relishing her (painterly) powers of suggestion, and playing with what she presents and what she denies. We see only shoulders, the nape of a neck and carefully rendered hair. Bra straps and labels bring contemporary cues to this visual field. But only on occasion do we catch a jaw line or the glimpse of an eyelash. Still, we read plenty into these works, from the confident poise of the dancer to the quietly lowered head of the dark-haired model alongside. We read subtle nuances of pose with aplomb - from the inclination of a cheek, to the drama of shoulder blades pulled taut or on the diagonal, rather than presented flat. We know what is assertive and what is demur, just as if we were the subjects. The palette is typically Straka - rosebud or fleshpink through grey to her curiously sallow green - as are the controlled thin layers of oil paint. Here, all is care with no responsibility. And everything is utterly beautiful. Jonathan Smart
