Welcome to the online catalogue for our latest exhibition A State of Grace featuring

paintings by Sela Brass and bronze sculpture and ceramics by Libbie Persico.

The exhibition runs until the 8th of February at Potocki Paterson, 41 Dixon St.

Open daily Tuesday to Friday 11.00am to 5.30pm and Saturday 11.00am to 3.00pm

Please make your enquiries to dylan@potockipaterson.co.nz or alternatively via

Facebook or Instagram.

Sela Brass

Down the Rabid Hole

Acrylics, Ash, Wood, Marble, Stone, Earth and Oils on canvas

102cm (h) x 76cm (w)

Pain and illness, judgement and stigma may distort and isolate causing one to feel

curiously apart from the ‘army of the upright’ (Virginia Woolf). The sick can find

themselves removed and alienated, much like falling down a rabid hole of judgement

and labelling.

$2,800

Libbie Persico

Introspection

Bronze

We’re often aware of our own imperfections unable to see the beauty in them, even

when it’s obvious to others. This work explores the idea of being able to literally see

inside. Our imperfect insides can be the best bit.

$4,900 1 of 3

Sela Brass

Stigmatised

Acrylics, Ash, Wood, Marble, Stone, Earth and Oils on board

60cm (h) x 87cm (w)

When a person is ‘living in diagnosis’ with a long-term illness, there is no service that

tells them what they can do to have a good life while they are ill, so it’s a personal choice

that can be difficult to achieve. Underlying messages such as ‘If you just got your

psychological shit together, you wouldn’t have pain’ or ‘This is your fault, you used

opiates’ can lead to blames the victim all over again causing even angels to be silenced

and stand speechless, their arms folded.

$ 2,200

Sela Brass

Inbetweenness

Acrylics, Ash, Wood, Marble, Stone, Earth and Oils

122cm (h) x 61cm (w)

When ‘I’ is replaced by ‘We’ even illness becomes wellness’! Malcolm X. Some people

run away from pain and suffering. Others dive deep into the problem and stand together

with hearts as one, facing up to pain together, refusing to go away.

$2,400

Sela Brass

Joined at the Hip

Acrylics, Ash, Wood, Marble, Stone, Earth and Oils on canvas

122cm (h) x 61cm (w)

‘I love you neither with my heart nor with my mind. My heart might stop my mind can

forget. I love you with my soul because my soul never stops or forgets’. - Rumi

$2,500

Sela Brass

Snowfield of the Mind

Acrylics, Pigment, Ash, Wood on canvas

102cm (h) x 61cm (w)

This painting was inspired by Virginia Woolf’s essay ‘On Being Ill’ where she describes

the isolation that may occur when one is sick. Over 100 layers of pigment, paint and ash

build a deliberate barrenness and isolation with the two figures on a journey forwards

both towards one another and into the solitude. While deliberately uncomfortable, the

snowfield is reflective and carries a lonely beauty. Accepting this beauty is a form of

grace.

$2,800

Sela Brass Faith Dichotomy Oils, Ash and Pigment on canvas 122cm (h) x 61cm (w)

Suffering throughout the ages has caused many to pause and wonder where God is and

why he seems so curiously silent and detached from our pain, literally sitting on his

hands (described in Jewish culture as tzimtzum). Holding faith in these times can feel

uncomfortably dichotomous – from dark, anguished questions shouted out to the silence

to the quiet whisper acknowledging the hope that carrying faith brings.

$2,200

Sela Brass

The Hollow Cross

Acrylics, Ash, Wood, Marble, Stone, Earth and Oils

122cm (h) x 61cm (w)

When the cross feels hollow and God seems far away it is the presence, heart, and

grasp of others that reaches out and grabs me back, restoring and reassuring me.

There’s a sense of rescue there. As we get engaged in each other’s lives, we can be

truly spiritual or truly graceful. The figures that are less detailed are less involved. Some

have their back turned. We can be any one of the figures – and maybe through our

lifetimes, we all are.

$2,400

Sela Brass

The Others

Acrylics, Pigment, Ash, Wood on canvas

61cm (h) x 81cm (w)

When people are ill, they can be stigmatised and made other. This process of ‘othering’

involves judgement and standing back, deliberately withdrawing from connectedness or

intimacy with the other. Grace, central in this painting, defies such alienation.

$2,200

Libbie Persico

Revelation

Bronze

This Limited-Edition Series of bronze faces makes a spectrum between nearly all there

and nearly all gone, intended to confront people with ideas of nothingness and being

only partially here in this world, raising questions of where we begin and end.

12. $3,200

13. $2,900

14. $2,200

15. $1,500

16. $700

Libbie Persico

Into Grace

Bronze

There is an element of sacrifice in love, life and grief. The idea of putting the figure on

the cross shows grace can arise from love and sacrifice. In this case, it is used to show

the female experience.

The more you love, the harder you grieve.

$900 Limited Edition Series of 10

Sela Brass

Clinging

Acrylics, Ash, Wood, Marble, Stone, Earth and Oils on canvas

77cm (h) x 122cm (w)

The scholar-poet Rumi tells us that joy lies concealed in grief. Clinging to faith and

gratitude in the crucible of pain, suffering and fear calls humanity to exercise grace and

to hold on to hope no matter what.

$2,200

Sela Brass

Exploring the Graces

Acrylics, Ash, Wood, Marble, Stone, Earth and Oils on canvas

61cm (h) x 122cm (w)

The concept of Grace is found in old wisdom's such as in Greek Mythology and sacred

texts. Here the Greek graces Aglaia, Thalia, and Euphrosyne are portrayed, alongside

the five graces of sight, sound, touch, smell, and taste as seen in the East and grace

from the Bible. Ash denotes adversity while vibrant yellows depict the power of grace.

$2,800

Libbie Persico

Gratitude

Ceramic

With continuous pressure, cracks open up and become fissures letting out the light from

within. The gold radiates out surrounding ourselves.

$480

Libbie Persico

Guardian

Ceramic

The snake provokes a primal response, yet the figure remains serene and graceful. The

snake is the urn, so once the urn is in use, the snake becomes the guardian of what lies

within.

$480

Libbie Persico

The Vessel

Ceramic

This heart-shaped vessel represents thoughts of the afterlife. The snake could represent

danger and captivity or healing and protection. Heaven or Hell?

$480

Sela Brass

The Choice (black landscape)

Acrylics, Ash, Wood, Marble, Stone, Earth and Oils on board

86cm (h) x 60cm (w)

Viktor Frankl identified that between stimulus and response there is a space in which lies

the power to choose our comeback. The endeavour to find grace in the midst of

adversity requires bloody-minded attention to the positive that lies hidden within the

negative.

$2,200

Libbie Persico

Released

Bronze

Sometimes there’s nothing left. But then we can be truly free and leave what we’ve

known behind. The figures are about to ascend from standing on scorched earth, while

rejoicing in being released from their earthly bounds.

$2,800

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