Strauss & co - 2016 Review

Strauss & Co achieved a record price for Beezy Bailey at its Cape Town in October. In the Purple Forest , which sold well over its high estimate for R318 304, was painted in 2007 and features Bailey’s signature dancing figure. It is clear that painting remains the preferred medium among South African collectors. Zander Blom’s oil on linen Untitled [1.62] from 2011 was the pick of the crop from this popular abstract painter, who in March held a sell-out solo show at Stevenson. Blom’s work achieved R102 312, pipping the median estimate of R100 000. The sale price established a record for the artist. The South African collector market is not shy of difficult work, but there remains a noticeable lag between the primary and secondary markets – both in terms of media and collector demographics. The secondary market remains, for example, somewhat indifferent to contemporary photography. In May, however, Pieter Hugo’s 2007 portrait of a Nigerian man with a baboon, a work referenced by pop singer Beyoncé in her 2011 music video for Run the World (Girls) , fetched R125 048. The work had previously gone unsold in 2013. It is anticipated that this trend will change in the near future. Beezy Bailey In the Purple Forest Sold R318 304, 10 October 2016 RECORD FOR THE ARTIST Pieter Hugo Animal Handler with Ajusco, Lagos, Nigeria, 2007 Sold R125 048, 23 May 2016 44