Eight questions for the interested and interesting: Sanell Aggenbach

Woodstock, Cape Town-based Sanell Aggenbach has a permanent spot on our “favourite artists list”. She’s technically accomplished, conceptually rigorous, and refreshingly human about it all. Her practise moves fluently between painting, printmaking and sculpture, and circles questions of history, memory and power, with a feminist edge and a shot of humour. Her work is widely exhibited and collected, but just as importantly, she’s the sort of artist you want to go for a drink with – funny, sharp and deeply engaged with the world beyond the studio.

Best book you’ve read recently?

Four Seasons in Rome by Anthony Doerr. It’s quite a departure from my usual dark reading list, which is probably why I find it so endearing. It almost reads like magical realism – loaded with historical facts, self-deprecating humour and the joy of appreciating simple sensory pleasures (and surviving raising twin babies in a foreign city).

How do you keep fit?

I’m waving my healthy oestrogen levels goodbye, one dumbbell at a time. Strength training, baby. Minimum twice a week.

Your ideal low-key weeknight dinner?

Our local Korean restaurant, In the Meantime, on Sir Lowry Road. Understated, delicious and intimate.

One artwork you’ll always love?

Michelangelo’s Pietà. It was his first major sculpture, finished in 1500 when he was just 23, carved from a single block of Carrara marble. The composition, the extraordinary technical mastery, the human scale. I only wish I could touch it and view it from all angles (well played, Vatican City).

Best piece of advice you’ve been given?

Follow your talent and not your passion. My work is my hobby and my hobby is my work.

One unusual object you can’t live without?

Masking tape.

High-school celebrity crush?

Morrissey. Until I read his autobiography. Now he’s just a moaning old right-wing bigot. The Smiths had their moment, though.

Three songs you love right now?

When I used to run, I’d always start with 54-46 Was My Number by Toots and the Maytals. I love ska, and it starts like a gospel revival. A powerful anthem about injustice and resilience.

Currently, while driving my teens, we sing along to Fit But You Know It by The Streets. It’s banging and funny.

Texas Sun by Khruangbin and Leon Bridges. It reminds me of long, lazy, hot holidays with my three Murrays (Ed’s note: that’s her husband Brett Murray and their offspring).

ALSO READ:

• Art of the week: Gerhard Marx’s ‘Landscape Would Be the Wrong Word’
• Unlock your inner collector: Flexible payments for South African art lovers
• Eight questions for the interested and interesting: Brett Murray

_{Top image: supplied.}