Beezy Bailey (born 21 July 1962 in Johannesburg, South Africa) is a South African artist who works in various media, including painting, sculpture, drawing, printmaking and ceramics. He has worked full-time as an artist for 30 years, with over 20 one-man shows in London, Johannesburg and Cape Town as well as group shows around the world.
He received a fine arts degree from Byam Shaw School of Art in United Kingdom (London) in 1986, after studying two years of life drawing and then a third in printmaking, painting, and sculpture.
Bailey has worked with musicians, including David Bowie,[1] Brian Eno, Dave Matthews and Arno Carstens, and with photographer Zwelethu Mthethwa.
His work has often been political and attracted controversy.[2]
Bailey's work is represented in several art collections, including the David Bowie Art Collection.
Frustrated with "increasingly prevalent affirmative action", in 1991 Bailey submitted two artworks to an exhibition.[3] One was with the traditional Beezy Bailey signature (rejected), the other signed Joyce Ntobe.[4] The latter is now in the South African National Gallery as part of its permanent collection. When the curator of the Gallery was writing a paper about three black women artists, Joyce Ntobe being one, Bailey revealed the truth.[5] He has since exhibited work under the name Joyce Ntobe.[3]
Bailey is married with two children and lives in Cape Town[6] and London.