Walking on a rim of lightDiana Page

The w ndering artist . . . .a o

Diana Pagendering artist . . . . 1965

Bor

n D

urba

n, S

outh

Afri

ca

1967

Fam

ily m

oved

to G

raha

mst

own

DrawingPainting Performance Video

Drawing is the touchstone, the playground and the laboratory of all my work.

I paint layered images inspired by my thoughts, experiences and memories.

1975

Vis

ited

UK,

Fra

nce,

Max

Ern

st e

xhib

ition

Dis

cove

red

Jam

es J

oyce

, W.B

Yea

ts

G

reek

myt

holo

gy a

nd a

pas

sion

for a

ctin

g.

1984

Met

Mar

k M

ulle

r;

th

e be

ginn

ing

of a

life

of r

oadt

rips

1986

Bac

helo

r of F

ine

Arts

, Hon

ours

Cum

Lau

de

Dis

cove

red

pain

ters

How

ard

Hod

gkin

,

R

icha

rd D

iebe

nkor

n an

d Fr

ank

Auer

bach

1983

Sta

rted

Fine

Arts

and

Per

form

ing

Arts

at

Uni

vers

ity o

f Pie

term

aritz

burg

Stud

io V

iew

, Bey

oglu

, Ist

anbu

l 200

8

17.3

0 Le

vent

200

8. O

il on

can

vas,

100

x120

1987

Vis

ited

art c

entre

s of

Eur

ope

Pa

ris, L

ondo

n, A

mst

erda

m, D

usse

ldor

ff, V

ienn

a:

Bo

nnar

d, K

ieffe

r, D

e Ko

onin

g,

G

oya,

Deb

uffe

t, H

ockn

ey, B

euys

1989

Ret

urne

d to

Gra

ham

stow

n

to

do

a M

aste

rs in

Fin

e Ar

t

I returned to my home town, Grahamstown to do my Masters in Painting. In a small town you see the same streets, the same buildings and the same faces and in this way recurrent symbols of everyday life become more intimate.

1991

Mas

ter o

f Art

exhi

bitio

n,

aw

arde

d di

stin

ctio

n

NET

TIN

G R

EALI

TY

And there’s that sense of catching something, a glimmer of light, a fish which could get away.

It goes beyond the world of appearances but also refers back to it.

1992

Mas

ters

thes

is

unde

r sup

ervi

sion

of p

oet D

on M

acLe

nnan

“Net

ting

real

ity”

:

Th

e im

agin

ativ

e tra

nsfo

rmat

ion

of

quot

idia

n ex

perie

nce

in th

e pa

intin

gs

of B

onna

rd a

nd V

uilla

rd,

with

refe

renc

e to

asp

ects

of t

he n

ovel

s of

Virg

inia

Woo

lf.”

‘Listen to the silences,’ he said, pointing to the mystery of what can scarce be touched let alone understood.It was his way of saying he had chosen to live in us as the colours of a Vuillard painting come from an insistent emptiness that begs, “fill me with the reality of light.”

Maclennan

Catc

h 20

08. O

il on

can

vas,

2 x

(120

x 1

20 c

m)

Myt

h, O

il on

can

vas

2009

100

x 1

20 c

m

1993

Ret

urne

d to

Cap

e To

wn

to te

ach

1995

Firs

t Cap

e To

wn

solo

exh

ibiti

on:

“Pilg

rims”

Che

lsea

Gal

lery

, New

land

s

Fo

unde

d ar

tist’s

gro

up th

e “B

oudo

ir Bi

scui

ts”

with

Jen

ny P

arso

ns a

nd M

ary

Viss

er

1997

Vis

ited

Bonn

ard

retro

spec

tive

at T

ate

Gal

lery

, Lon

don

1999

Trav

elle

d w

ith M

ark

Mul

ler t

o

Lo

ndon

, Am

ster

dam

and

Bar

celo

na.

Fath

er d

ied

whi

le in

Bar

celo

na.

Gau

di, M

iro, e

xhib

ition

of l

ate

Pica

sso

TRAV

ELLI

NG

EAS

TPassage and Journey

Home and Identity Transience and Permanence

History and Modernity

Travelling to Gaziantep and Urfa, Aleppo and Damascus (Syria) and in my books, the Zeugma mosaics; mosques and ruins; profiles of cities, men, women and children emerge.But what remains back in the studio is less easily deciphered: a particular feeling of space and light; a line drawn by an ancient hand.

Ista

nbee

ld, O

il on

can

vas

120

x120

cm

2001

Kar

en M

cKer

ron

Gal

lery

, Joh

anne

sbur

g: e

xhib

ition

with

J

ane

Youn

g ce

ram

icis

t.

Bar

celo

na in

spire

d pa

intin

gs a

nd th

e be

ginn

ing

of th

e

com

posi

te s

erie

s “

Anot

her V

iew

”

Son

Tem

bor

n 6

July

A

ssoc

iatio

n of

Vis

ual A

rts s

olo

exhi

bitio

n,Ca

pe T

own

Istanbul in its rich borek stuffed layers, in its often jarring contrasts: therein lies the beauty that interests me as a painter of contemporary cities.

Trav

ellin

g Ea

st II

, Oil

on c

anva

s 1

20x1

20 c

m

I have always been interested in the layers of paintings and the layers of cities: how the surface, or the skin of both continues to register what lies beneath.

2002

Mov

ed in

to A

ll St

ars

Stud

io ru

n by

Sou

th A

frica

n ar

tist,

Sue

Will

iam

son

Vi

site

d U

SA a

nd fi

rst t

rip to

New

Yor

k

2005

“N

ew W

ork”

(Dia

na P

age

and

Jane

You

ng) I

rma

Ster

n Ar

t Mus

eum

,

Ca

pe T

own

Im

prin

ts: W

orks

on

pape

r. (g

roup

exh

ibiti

on) A

xis

Gal

lery

New

Yor

k

D

esig

n of

sta

ined

gla

ss w

indo

ws

for S

t Jos

eph’

s Co

llege

, Ca

pe T

own

As th

e Ci

ty W

akes

200

5. O

il on

can

vas,

129

x 1

61 c

m

2003

Car

pet d

esig

n co

mm

issi

on fo

r

So

uth

Afric

a’s

New

Con

stitu

tiona

l Cou

rt (B

oudo

ir Bi

scui

ts)

Jazz

City

III 2

004.

Oil

on c

anva

s, 1

95 x

140

cm

ISTA

NBU

L IM

PRO

VISA

TIO

NS

In Istanbul I have become interested in exploring the frontiers of space: city and water, surface and depth, noise and silence - and by extension, history and modernity as I experience them in the city.

‘Galata Improvisation’, was a celebration of my initial love for the city. Perhaps beauty or its discovery, like memory, is not something passive but is actually part of an active process of discovery and rediscovery.

2006

Mov

ed to

Ista

nbul

the Bosphoros all lit up and vast in the early morning

across a puzzle of rooves and satellite dishes

Gal

ata

Impr

ovis

atio

n 20

08. O

il on

can

vas,

2x

(120

x12

0 cm

)

Ros

emar

y’s

View

, 200

9. O

il on

can

vas,

120

x120

cm

SHIP

S AN

D D

REA

MS

I never thought of myself as a “water painter”. But I suppose it has a lot to do with where l have lived and worked. Istanbul and Cape Town are both harbour cities, also strategic passageways geographically and historically.

To us, in the dawn, ships, slipping quietly through the

freight cargo, it seems they carry the whole city

city, transport our dreams. Or sometimes, in their

out on their decks to disappear into the Black Sea.

To us, in the dawn, ships, slipping quietly through the

freight cargo, it seems they carry the whole city

city, transport our dreams. Or sometimes, in their

out on their decks to disappear into the Black Sea.

Swim

mer

Frie

ze 2

009.

Oil

on c

anva

s, 1

00 x

120

cm

Wav

e 20

10. O

il on

can

vas,

120

x 1

20 c

m

Bozc

aada

Shi

p 20

09. O

il on

can

vas,

100

x 1

00 c

m

The ship steals across the dawn,suspended on stalks of light, a tight rope walker -

Yeats’s “long legged fly upon the stream”.

Daw

n, 2

009.

Oil

on c

anva

s, 1

20x1

20 c

m

2006

Unk

now

n ci

ties,

Woo

dsto

ck, C

ape

Tow

n.

Solo

exh

ibiti

on d

esig

ned

and

cura

ted

in

colla

bora

tion

with

Kat

herin

e M

ann.

2007

Nig

ht F

ishi

ng: i

nsta

llatio

n an

d ex

hibi

tion,

36

0 Is

tanb

ul, B

eyog

lu

NIG

HT

FISH

ING The small paintings particularly,

are collected or netted moments of my experiences here in Istanbul, but always in constant collision with traces of thoughts, memories, imaginings perhaps rooted in other places

Red

Fre

ight

er, 2

007.

Oil

and

enam

el h

ouse

pai

nt o

n bo

ard,

31

x 45

cm

Night Fishing 360: Collected Moments

In the#360 installation the modernist concerns of surface and depth are extended into the city environment. The paintings operate electrically as moments in time, extracted from the sweeping views in front of which they hang. The viewer’s eye constantly shifts between the glossy, gestural surface of the paint itself, and the immense distant views through the glass windows.Similarly the viewer’s search for, and finding of recognizable reference points, spire, bridge, satellite dish, in the paintings, is echoed in the views beyond. The installation operates around the idea of illusion; it questions how and what we see, and asserts the importance of imagination as we each seek to construct our own reality. 20

07 “

Kadi

nin

Sesl

eri”

sou

nd p

erfo

rman

ce a

nd v

ideo

,

G

alat

a, Is

tanb

ul

2008

###

Am

pers

and

Fello

wsh

ip“P

itch

Blue

”

so

und

perfo

rman

ce a

nd v

ideo

, Red

Hoo

k, B

rook

lyn

New

Yor

k ci

ty.

Inde

pend

ent V

isito

r, Pl

atfo

rmga

rant

i, Is

tanb

ul

MO

RE

THAN

BLA

CK A

ND

WH

ITE

Cinematic moments in the city, the modern and the gritty,

the ancient and the mysterious.

I discovered charcoal doing my Masters.I have loved it since then - it’s like drawing with velvet.

Tim

es S

quar

e, 2

004.

Cha

rcoa

l on

pape

r, 5

0 x

70 c

m

Pass

age,

200

7. C

harc

oal o

n pa

per,

34 x

50

cm

Tara

bya

Nig

ht, 2

008.

Cha

rcoa

l on

pape

r, 3

4 x

50 c

m

Kadi

nin

Sesl

eri

& P

itch

Blue

Performance &

Video

“Kadinin Sesleri” (Istanbul) and “Pitch Blue” (New York)

Diana Page, the director of “Kadinin Sesleri’’, is an artist from Cape Town South Africa, who has lived in Istanbul for the past three years.

She is currently moving between countries, and between media, having recently returned from New York where she collaborated with New York performers, producing and documenting a sound performance on a Brooklyn rooftop entitled “Pitch Blue”. The piece explores the concepts of home and exile, longing and belonging. Kadinin Sesleri performed and documented in November 2007 was the touchstone for Pitch Blue. For Page, the work emerges out of a global consciousness and her current nomadism, as a citizen of South Africa and as a resident, artist, and traveler between cities.

“The drop that forms in the evening is round, many coloured....”

The sister piece “Kadinin Sesleri” was produced on two rooftops in Galata during 2007 as part of a one day art event, “The Visibility Project” organized by Galataperform.

Kadinin Sesleri was inspired by the resonant sound environment of Istanbul but sought to bring the voices of women into the public sound space. The piece uses megaphones to project the voices of the women across the city, but also to create a particular quality of vocals ubiquitous in the public soundscape of Istanbul.

The gentleness of the women’s voices also acts in opposition to the megaphone, an instrument often used for aggressive persuasion. The performers in Kadinin Sesleri were all women Diana Page had met in her wanderings, as a newcomer to the city.

The piece brings together the journeys of five women, including that of the artist, all currently living in Istanbul but hailing from different cultural contexts.

The evolution of both the works is integral to their meaning: connecting with people, physically or through the Web, then meeting with the performers and finding suitable rooftops. The piece has as its backdrop, the city of Istanbul itself, a visual and evocative presence as it appears on each different rooftop.

Equally important, is the performers’ momentary awareness in responding to one another and to the city environment into which they perform, building an intimacy.

2008

Arti

st’s

resi

denc

y, D

atca

S

outh

Med

itera

nean

coa

st o

f Tur

key

WAT

ERCO

LOU

R The watercolours I did in Datca have taken me into a new space on the canvas.

I want to drip paint, saturate with it, splurge it, let it run free

Sea

Life

, 200

8. O

il on

can

vas,

23

x 27

cm

2009

Vis

ited

York

shire

, Eng

land

(b

irthp

lace

of g

rand

mot

her)

Beyl

erbe

yi P

alac

e ex

hibi

tion

of

inte

rnat

iona

l arti

sts

Jour

neye

d to

Ale

ppo

and

Dam

ascu

s, S

yria

I grew up in a small university town in South Africa called Grahamstown, whose lineaments became as familiar to me as the lines on my own hand. I have grown to cherish my childhood in this slow-change town which provided an altogether different experience of space, time, and light. I also longed to leave its close familiarity, enticed by unknown cities like Cape Town, Paris, New York.

My father, a research psychologist, nurtured within me a far reaching curiosity and a healthy distrust of authority.

My mother, the artist Lindsay Page, immersed me in art. She showed me Henry Moore sculptures, and introduced me to the work of Pierre Bonnard. I remember a magnificent painting of women in a sauna she did. It made Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d’Avignon look tame.

There was also my grandmother, Constance Little, who, not only sang, acted and wrote stories for the length of her 95 years, she also did fine silk embroideries of birds. As a child I would watch her laying out her skeins of silk in carefully gradated Cezanne greys. Then slowly her birds would emerge out of the floating world of the silk ground.

Perhaps it was the childhood allure of unknown cities that found me recently on a rooftop in Red Hook Brooklyn, NYC directing the filming of ‘Pitch Blue’.

From Cape Town to New York, from London to Istanbul I have walked and painted the city. Traversing the city, I am a free agent, observing and thinking, drawing and dreaming.

Back in the solitude of the studio, forging a visual language to express my thoughts and observations about cities has become my life’s quest.Th

e ar

tist i

n he

r ow

n w

ords

Thro

ugh

the

eyes

of o

ther

sPage has given herself licence to explore the very ‘citiness’ of cities.Her fascination is kept alive by the freedom she has given herself.

Her paintings are modern, tough, bright and brimming with energy.

LIZZA LITTLEWORT artthrob.co.za 2005

‘Her spirited mixed media contribution is full of light and movement.

It’s a joyful celebration - an explosion of colour, line and loose shapes. Here’s a ‘landscape’ that’s not a view of the ‘real’ world but a lifeaffirming viewpoint that issues from sensory and emotional experience.’ -

CAPE TIMES 2001 ‘

painterly types like Page seem effortlessly to allow their paints to take on a life of their own with the most delicious results.’ -

ARGUS TONIGHT 1995

She appears to be unassuming and self-contained: but don’t let appearances mislead you. She listens. The seemingly mild demeanor hides a passionate pilgrim’s soul full of steely determination.

Her energetic strokes emerge on canvas in a myriad of colours. Be they brash and loud, or soft and dreamy, they create a harmony of coexistence, without imposing a fixed point of view.

Diana does not preach her love for Istanbul: instead, she extends an invitation, leaves a door ajar. Enter this space and you’ll discover the profound secrets of place, where the ugly and mundane have a purpose, where there is solitude, reflection, dream.

Her work is a visual mosaic of our lives in the big city: complex, unpredictable, sometimes full of colour, sometimes black and white - always exciting.

LUCY BOSCHER Istanbul 2010

Cont

act i

nfor

mat

ion

Kadinin SesleriDirector: Diana PageCameraman: Erdem AyvazogluPhotography: Elio MontinariPerformers: Songul Can, Uma Fusun, Lisa Meyer, Joanna Wulfsberg

Pitch Blue:Director: Diana Page1st Cameraman: Helen Tschudi, Klara Palotoi2nd Cameraman: Lisa Van WykPhotography: Gary van Wyk; Diana PagePerformers: Tammy Hall; Sharla Meese;Carmen Santos; Sayda Trujillo; Saori Tsudaki

Hosted by Axis Gallery, New York City in conjunction with the Ampersand Foundation, Johannesburg.

BookDesign & Art direction: Laura van ErkelensPhotography: Nuray UysalSpecial thanks to Lucy BoscherCr

edits

Cape Town: +27 21 7884591Istanbul: +90 5366765245

diana@artbeat.co.zawww.dianapage.co.zawww.dianapage.blogspot.com

Cape Town/ Istanbul/ New York

Wal

king

on

a rim

of l

ight

, Cha

rcoa

l on

pap

er, 3

5 x

50 c

m