South African landscapes in visual art, poetry and music
Title: “Populiere naby Kompasberg”, by Andries Bezuidenhout, oil on canvas, 51 x 61 cm
Poplar trees near Kompasberg – or “Compass Mountain”. Shortly after sunset on the road from Nieu Bethesda in South Africa’s Karoo region, past the Van Heerden farm, on to Kompasberg.
Price: R4 500
To buy this painting contact Alice-ka at the Hanover Hotel at (053) 643 0019 or reservations@hanoverhotel.co.za
Veelvuldige gebruike vir huishoudelike toestelle is Andries Bezuidenhout se tweede digbundel en is in 2014 deur Protea Boekhuis gepubliseer.
In Andries Bezuidenhout se tweede bundel word twee werklikhede wat op die oog af nie raakpunte het nie, naas mekaar geplaas. Aan die een kant is daar die groter ruimte van die Suid-Afrikaanse stad en platteland, en aan die ander kant die intieme ruimte van die huis, veral die kombuis, gevul met verskillende toestelle. In albei hierdie ruimtes is verandering aan die werk. Die slopende werking van die geskiedenis bring verval, afsondering en verlatenheid in stad en dorp mee; in die kombuis is die verandering geheimsinniger, soms meer sinister, en wonder die spreker oor die sameswerings van huishoudelike toestelle teen hulle gebruikers (“Kombuiskomplot”). In die gedig “Muizenberg, renovator’s dream” word die verandering wat die geskiedenis meebring, gesien as die “ewige ritme van bou en verval”, daarenteen is die prosesse in die huis, afkoeling, reiniging, en voorbereiding van maaltye iets baie meer basies, maar noodsaaklik, soos die digter in “You’ll always find me in the kitchen at parties” aanvoer: “Die geskiedenis, liewe vriende,/word selde in fabrieke vervaardig,/soos enige digter wat haar sous werd is weet:/In kombuise word dit opgekook.”
Andries Bezuidenhout is dosent in arbeidsosiologie aan die Universiteit van Pretoria, maar is ook bekend as rocksanger en visuele kunstenaar. Hy het in 2007 met Retoer as digter gedebuteer. Retoer was ’n baie goeie verkoper en hierdie bundel behoort ook by baie lesers aanklank te vind. PRYS: R150.00 (BTW ingesluit); ISBN: 978-1-4853-0072-4; FORMAAT: 213 x 137 mm; Sagteband; 76 pp; Protea Boekhuis, 2014.
Koop die bundel by Takealot (ook beskikbaar as e-boek) of by Amazon.
Lees Joan Hambidge se resensie van die bundel op Versindaba.
Lees Jaco Barnard-Naude se resensie-essay oor die bundel op LitNet Akademies.
Lees Rudolph Stehle se resensie in Beeld, asook ‘n onderhoud met Andries.
Lees Maggie Marx se resensie van die bundel in Rapport.
Lees ‘n onderhoud met Andries deur Louis Esterhuizen op Versindaba.
Kyk na ‘n onderhoud op YouTube met Andries op die ontbytprogram Dagbreek oor die bundel.
Lees ‘n onderhoud met Andries deur J.B. Roux oor die bundel in Die Burger, asook “Koelkas”, een van die gedigte in die bundel.
Series of 12 titled: “Huishoudelike patente”, ink, charcoal and acrylic on reproductions of sketches made to register patents, size A4, by Andries Bezuidenhout
Artist’s statement: “Working on my second book of poetry, titled ‘Veelvuldige gebruike vir huishoudelike toestelle’ [Tr: Multiple uses for domestic appliances], got me interested in sketches drawn for patent registrations. I downloaded a range of these sketches from the web – from very old patents for refrigerators and washing machines to more recent ones for computers and cellular phone applications. Since they were public record and therefore in the public domain, I wanted to use these as graphics for the poetry book. However, often the reproductions were of such poor quality that they pixelated terribly. I decided to work on them, mostly with ink and charcoal, and in one case (number XII), acrylic paint. I couldn’t help but chuckle at myself for manipulating sketches made by other people in order to protect their intellectual property. Patent sketches are not drawn as art, but I think the best ones lend themselves to the creation of art. The Afrikaans title for the series is ‘Huishoudelike patente’. I guess one could translate this as ‘Patently domestic’. The English translation actually works better than the original, I think. Maybe these sketches capture in some unintended way how I feel about the forthcoming book of poetry.”
Price: R10 000 for the series For sales contact admin[at]andriesbezuidenhout.co.za
More on the book of poetry Veelvuldige gebruike vir huishoudelike toestelle (in Afrikaans).
“Grondpad donderwolke”, by Andries Bezuidenhout, oil on canvas, 60 x 70 cm
Gravel road near Cullinan in South Africa’s Gauteng province. Late afternoon sunlight and clouds, after one of those Highveld thunder showers.
Price: Sold
Title: “Hoëveld skemer”, by Andries Bezuidenhout, oil on canvas, 41 x 51 cm
Highveld dusk, a farmstead near Standerton.
Price: Sold
“I don’t think I can face June”, 2013, series of sketches, ink and acrylic on paper, 14.5 x 10.4 cm each, by Andries Bezuidenhout
Price: R2500 for the series For sales contact admin[at]andriesbezuidenhout.co.za
“Dink aan”, 2012, ink on paper, by Andries Bezuidenhout. The title, translated from Afrikaans: “Think of”, or “Thinking of”.
Price: Sold
“War Fashion”, 2012, ink on paper, Andries Bezuidenhout
Price: Sold
Title: “Droë vlakte kafee, algemene handelaar en slaghuis naby Stilbaai”, by Andries Bezuidenhout, oil on canvas, 61 x 71 cm.
This title is a difficult one to translate. The following may be a possibility: “Dry plane, convenience store, general dealer and butchery near Stilbaai.” Stilbaai in translation would be “Quiet Bay”, or possibly “Bay of Tranquillity.” It doesn’t seem to work in translation. Hopefully the painting captures something more universal than language is able to in this case.
Price: Sold
Title: “Geloof, De Hoop en wasdag”, by Andries Bezuidenhout, oil on canvas, 71 x 61 cm.
The scene in this painting is of a church and a corregated iron house at De Hoop, near Oudtshoorn, in South Africa’s Western Cape Province. The settlement’s name means “The Hope”. Farmers in the area built the church in the painting, hoping that it would become a church town. The town never materialised and the settlement now consists only of a few buildings, including the corrugated iron house in the painting. A translation for the title would be something like “Faith, Hope and Washing Day”.
Price: Sold
Click here for a poem on the painting (in Afrikaans), as well as a conversation with, amongst others, Breyten Breytenbach, Johann de Lange and Desmond Painter on the poem and the painting (also in Afrikaans).
For sales contact: admin[at]andriesbezuidenhout.co.za Paintings can be viewed at the artist’s studio in Murrayfield, Pretoria by prior arrangement.