Strauss & co - 8 - 11 November 2020

128 T O P L A C E A B I D C L I C K O N T H E R E D L O T N U M B E R 677 Beezy Bailey SOUTH AFRICAN 1962– In the Purple Forest signed and dated ‘07; inscribed with the title on the stretcher, and with the artist’s name, title and medium on an Everard Read, Cape Town, label adhered to the reverse mixed media on canvas 170,5 by 250,5 by 3 cm R250 000 – 350 000 PROVENANCE Strauss & Co, Cape Town, 10 October 2016, lot 635. Private Collection. ‘I tend not to plan what I paint ahead of my creations and, at times, I write poems that illustrate the images after I have painted them. In the Purple Forest is a typical ‘Beezy’painting. It has components which often feature in my works, a surreal figurative subject set in an open landscape. The landscape here is based on the Namibian desert; I use my own photographs as reference. The pyramid was an image I used a lot in my earlier work. The main subject of the crazy woman in an extended unreal pose is inspired by the Egyptian goddess, Nut, who has fascinated me for many years. Her extraordinary shape, almost childlike, illustrates her all-encompassing command of the heavens, yet appears here as a modern woman, complete with handbag, as if out shopping.’ Beezy Bailey, September 2016