Strauss & co - 7 November 2016, Johannesburg

250 288 Norman Clive CATHERINE south african 1949– Bedlam signed and dated 2011 oil on canvas 120 by 149,5 cm R200 000 – 300 000 At the heart of the work of Norman Catherine is the notion of communication: people communicating with one another, or conversing with themselves or their alter egos, often in and through the monstrous images of their nightmares. Man and beast are clearly engaged in some conversation. ‘The topic’, Wilhelm van Rensburg has written, ‘is equally compelling: they seem to talk about their fears and aspirations, and about the world in which they live. They fear looming danger and imminent assault. Their world is one of zombies, mummies, amputees, multi-headed mutants, monsters with multiple mouths and eyes, suffering deathbed patients, robotic humans and thorny cactus-like creatures. In this regard, many critics inadvertently relegate these veritable ‘living dead’ types to Catherine’s resistance art under apartheid, which the argument goes, gave rise to such creatures’. 1 1 Wilhelm Van Rensburg. (2014) Norman Catherine: Print Editions 1968–2014, Johannesburg: Gallery Art on Paper. Page 1.