Dual nature or fantastic illusions, the stagings of the South African Lyndi Sales take us elsewhere. The third dimension is created with the most fragile of matters, paper. Her works remind us of the closed and defined world of puppet theatre or of huge lace works supported only with needles. The form is most often close to a monumental drawing where meticulously cut paper in reserve is light and the matter removed, the obscurity of the stroke – if it is not the opposite, as a subtle play of shadows adds to the discourse. Between true reality and a dream-like universe, each work carries a story where the symbolic element serves to transcend.

Starting from a great personal bereavement where the highly improbable became tragic reality, Lyndi Sales explores the notions of risk and chance in order to show the impermanence and transitory nature of human existence. Mixing conceptualism and cartographic precision figuration, the artist appropriates and dissects the factual and sensorial aspects of a plane crash: the ‘Helderberg’ where 159 people lost their lives in the Indian Ocean in 1987.
Much as flying is often considered an act of freedom, the flight which lies at the heart of Lyndi Sales work ended in an abyssal nightmare. Yet, the preoccupation of the artist is neither apocalyptic nor univocal but rather testifies to a vision where the personal gives way to a more universal questioning, or a powerful display of fatality and fragility. Far from all sentimental temptation, Sales’ universe captivates with its magnificence and undeniable beauty, then revealing its many fold meanings where the gentle and poetic coexists with the cruel and fearsome.
“159/295” a splendid Phoenix about to fly reveals its composition after closer examination: 159 kites in shapes taken from heraldic, religious iconography are suspended by red threads. On their surface holy cards, playing cards and Chinese jos paper make reference to the origins of the 159 people on board the South African Airline flight n°295. This work alludes to the commemorative ceremonies in Chinese tradition where kites are flown to symbolize the languid thoughts of the living for their mourned ones. Following this tradition, the kite flies off with sorrow whilst happiness and good omen replace grief.

This group of works is created mainly from recycled materials (paper, rubber). Their inherent fragility underlines the subject of the works as well as their original function carries meaning. Thus, “Shatter” is made up of 159 boarding passes glued together creating the drawing of a shattered window. Lungs meticulously cut into the plastic of a safety jacket entitled “How long can you hold your breath” bring frightful eloquence to the notion of security. The dreamlike vision of the ocean floor with its fauna and flora in the three “Aquarium Window” becomes more ambiguous as soon as one comprehends that the frame of the box is in fact an airplane porthole and our position not that of a diver.

in transit proposes a highly moving voyage between sky and depths; the result of an encounter between great freedom and rare mastery leading to a large panoply of emotions and thoughts.

Born in Johannesburg in 1973, Lyndi Sales already has a long career behind her. Widely exhibited for the last ten years (United States, Europe and South Africa) and winner of numerous prizes for her engravings and works on paper, her works are included in many prestigious collections: The National Gallery of Art, Washington; New York Public Library; Library of Congress, Washington DC; McGill University, Montreal; Arthur and Matta Jaffe Collection, Florida Atlantic University; Jack Ginsberg artist book collection, South Africa as well as Ernst & Young, ABSA, Telkom (South Africa) and Red Bull (Austria). The coming exhibition will be her first in France.

• From 17th January 2009 works by Lyndi Sales will be visible on www.marialund.com
  
• OPENING: Saturday 24th January 2009 from 5pm to 8pm in the presence of the artist.
  
• The exhibition ends on Saturday 7th March 2009.
  

For further information about the  availability of visuals, please contact :

GALERIE MARIA LUND     48 rue de Turenne     75003 Paris     Tuesday-Saturday 12-7 pm    
ph : (33) 01 42 76 00 33    cellphone : (33) 06 61 15 99 91    fax :(33) 01 42 76 00 10