Sanell Aggenbach

About
Sanell Aggenbach (b. 1975 Cape Town, South Africa) currently lives and works in Woodstock, Cape Town. Aggenbach’s work deals primarily with the intersection of history and private narratives by considering the process of recall and interpretation. Her work displays an accomplished virtuosity as she moves comfortably between the various disciplines of painting, printmaking and sculpture.
Since 2003, Aggenbach has focused mainly on subverted feminine tropes and feminist themes. Her sculptural work, primarily in bronze, parody Western masterpieces from Michelangelo, Henry Moore, and Warhol to Pierneef and take a refreshing look at these pivotal references from a woman’s perspective.
“My earlier works relied heavily on processing found imagery, rethinking associations and creating new fictions. These works were often an amalgamation of historic references with private narratives and forms part of a process of investigating pathologies and deconstructing the past. My primary intention is to construct subtle paradoxes by introducing a quiet humour, either formally or materially.”
Her explorative work has secured her many achievements including winning the Absa L’Atelier Award. Her work is represented in numerous public and private collections, including Sasol, Absa, Spier, SABC, Red Bull (Austria), the South African National Gallery, 21C Museum in Kentucky (USA) and Anglo Gold.
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2023 | Nightshade - WHATIFTHEWORLD, Cape Town |
2021 | The Great Lulllllll - WHATIFTHEWORLD, Cape Town |
2019 | The Heart Has Many Rooms, Everard Read Gallery, Johannesburg |
2017 | Bend to Her Will - WHATIFTHEWORLD, Cape Town |
Bend To Her Will - WHATIFTHEWORLD, Johannesburg | |
2015 | Atopia, NWU Gallery, Potchefstroom |
2013 | Famila Obscura, Brundyn+, Cape Town |
2011 | Some Dance to Remember Some Dance to Forget, Blank Projects, Cape Town |
2009 | Graceland, Gallery AOP, Johannesburg |
2008 | Sub Rosa, Joäo Ferreira Gallery, Cape Town |
2007 | Perfectly Still, ABSA Gallery, Johannesburg |
2006 | Blues and Greys, Art on Paper Gallery, Johannesburg |
2005 | Fools Gold, Bell Roberts Contemporary, Cape Town |
Hoogwater/High Tide, KKNK, Oudtshoorn | |
2003 | Blank, AVA Gallery, Cape Town |
2001 | From a Netherworld, Bell-Roberts Gallery, Cape Town |
2000 | Northern Ladies, Art Konsult, New Delhi, India |
Selected Group Exhibitions
2023 | If You Look Hard Enough, You Can See Our Future, African American Museum, Dallas |
Bitches Brew, Everard Read, Johannesburg | |
2022 | Seeds of the Fig - WHATIFTHEWORLD X Krone, Twee Jonge Gezellen, Tulbagh |
2021 | Between Strangers, Nuweland Gallery, Netherlands |
RESTUDIO, Cunningham Contemporary, Johannesburg | |
HOUSE PARTY, THE FOURTH, Cape Town | |
2020 | Over the Rainbow, Hangar-7 (Red Bull), Salzburg, Austria |
2019 | MERDELAMERDELAMERDELAMERDELAMERDELAMER, curated by Kendell Geers, Mario Mauroner Contemporary Art, Vienna |
2017 | Cape Town Art Fair 2017, Cape Town |
The Future is Female, 21C Musem Hotels, Louisville, USA | |
2016 | Transformation, Southern Guild, Cape Town |
Nano, Barnard Gallery, Cape Town | |
2015 | Foreign Bodies - WHATIFTHEWORLD, Cape Town |
2014 | 20 Years of Democracy, Appalachian State University, North Carolina |
2012 | Positive Tension - WHATIFTHEWORLD, Cape Town |
Seeing Eye, Brundyn +, Cape Town | |
Paint I, SMAC Gallery, Cape Town | |
2011 | Alptraum, Deutscher Kuenstlerbund, Berlin, Germany |
2010 | Twenty, Contemporary Public Sculpture, Nirox, Johannesburg |
2008 | Print ’08: Myth, Memory and Archive, Bell-Roberts Gallery, Cape Town |
2007 | Arcadia, AVA Gallery, Cape Town |
Turbulence, Hangar-7, Salzburg, Austria | |
2006 | 20 Artists 06, Contemporary Printing, Bell-Roberts Gallery, Cape Town |
2005 | Sweet Nothings, New Photographic Work, Bell-Roberts Gallery, Cape Town |
2004 | 40 Years, University of Stellenbosch, Sasol Art Museum |
2nd Spier Outdoor Sculpture Biennial, Stellenbosch | |
2003 | Picnic, Bell-Roberts Gallery, Cape Town |
Brett Kebble Art Awards, Cape Town | |
ABSA L'Atelier, Johannesburg | |
YDESIRE, Castle of Good Hope, Cape Town | |
2002 | Autogeographie, Millennium Gallery, Johannesburg |
Spier Outdoor Sculpture Biennial, Jan Marais Nature Reserve, Stellenbosch | |
2001 | Micro/Macro, South African Printmakers at Xchanges Gallery, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada |
ABSA L'Atelier, Johannesburg | |
Aarsel/Waver, KKNK, Oudtshoorn |
Awards
2013 ABSA L’Atelier
Permanent Collections
Iziko South African National Gallery, Cape Town
Absa Collection
Anglo Gold South Africa
Hollard Collection
Sasol Collection
Spier Collection
Didata
SABC
Labour 24 Pty Ltd
Red Bull Collection, Salzburg, Austria
New Church Museum
21C Museum in Kentucky
Selected Publications
2013 Familia Obscura
2009 Graceland Catalogue
2007 Turbulence, Hangar-7, Austria
2007 Sanell Aggenbach Catalogue
2007 Artinvestor, Germany
2007 Art South Africa: Vol. 5, Issue 04; Page 82 (Review)
2005 Cape Town Month of Photography
2004 2nd Spier Sculpture Biennale Catalogue
2004 Sasol Art Museum, University of Stellenbosch
2003 ABSA L’Atelier
2003 Art South Africa: Vol. 02, Issue 01; Page 14 (Review)
2002 Spier Sculpture Biennale Catalogue