42 KIRSTEN BEETS Helios, Salon 91

KIRSTEN BEETS Helios, at Salon Ninety One By Natasha Norman Photos: Zan Wimberley, Salon Ninety One, Kirsten Beets and Bryan Viljoen

There are no clouds on the horizon for Kirsten Beets. She has wowed Australian and international audiences with a sell-out exhibition at the fifth Sydney Contemporary Art Fair and is set to enchant Cape Town audiences again with her latest solo exhibition, Helios, at Salon Ninety One this month.

Full Sun, 2019. Oil on board. 925 x 1225mm

Neon and Nips, 2019, Oil on paper, 150x200mm. Opposite Page: Pink Sphinx, 2019. Oil on paper. 200x150mm

Beets is humble about her success in Sydney this September. She says she saw the new market as a challenge and is delighted her tidal pool swimmers and sun worshippers found appeal there. In preparation for the fair she focused on the shared realities of Cape Town and Sydney, deciding that a common Southern Hemisphere sun was key. Her work is characterised by minimalistic flat planes of colour that host photorealistic figures bathing, playing ball games, snorkelling and other outdoor leisure activities. Among these figures at rest is a taciturn threat: a snake among the sunbathers or a shark in the tidal pool waters. Beets’ fresh and contemporary commentary in colour, form and content describes living along

the Tropic of Capricorn with universal appeal such that her collectors at SCAF ranged from across Australia, to London and even the USA.

Her forthcoming solo exhibition, Helios, is set to open at Salon Ninety One in Cape Town on the 30 th of October 2019. The show builds on the theme of sun worshipping with a focus on works that explore scale and texture a little further. Some of the new works enlarge the figures of tiny bathers and snorkelers seen in her previous canvasses and explore textured marks and loosely rendered scenery juxtaposed with photorealistic elements. While the works for Sydney make particular comment on spaces of leisure, Helios promises a more

“The show builds on the theme of sun worshipping with a focus on works that explore scale and texture”

Goldfish, 2019, Oil, acrylic on board, 325 x 325mm

Lucky 13, 2019, Oil, acrylic on board. 325 x 325mm

Sphinx, 2019, Oil, acrylic on board. 325 x 325mm

“Beets has always been interested in the tension between wild and tame natures in both humanity and its environments.”

diverse range of subjects that sees Beets revisiting themes from previous exhibitions with a more nuanced mythological element emerging in her conception.

Beets has always been interested in the tension between wild and tame natures in both humanity and its environments. Helios carries this idea further in a metaphorical placement of objects and figures within her signature compositions. Among the manicured spaces of the suburban garden roam tigers and

leopards. Between the sun bathers and holiday makers a crime is committed. Helios explores the mythology of a sun-soaked Eden replete with the serpant in the garden.

It promises to be a hot summer for Kirsten Beets fans with an exciting range of works on offer for all audiences. For more information, please contact the gallery at enquiries@ salon91.co.za or call +27 21 424 6930.