Bas van Beek

video , sculpture , Design , crossover

Bas van Beek (Nijmegen, 1974) was trained at the Willem De Kooning Academy in Rotterdam. His work provides a criticism of market mechanisms, branding, poor conceptualism and uncritical designer cults. He studies archive material, restores, adjusts and digitizes designs that are often either not produced or published. He was the head of the designLAB department at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam (2009-2013) and currently teaches at the Masters Industrial Design Department of the the Royal Academy in The Hague. Early 2019 he was awarded the Stokroos Stipend for Ceramics.

He has served on numerous juries and committees, including the jury for the Cor Unum Ceramics design competition, the Municipal Art Acquisitions Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, and as committee member for the Creative Industries Fund. His work is in the collection of Museum Boijmans van Beuningen in Rotterdam, Zeeuws Museum Middelburg, Van Abbe Museum Eindhoven and Stedelijk Museum 's-Hertogenbosch.

**Collectie op Zuid** - Van der Steur Depot Christmas ball

**Collectie op Zuid** - Kippenberger Untitled

**Van Thonet tot Dutch Design** - The Bazel rug

**Shameless** - Solo exhibition at the Wolfosnian FIU

**MODERN** - Cup and Paste Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam

**Golden Boy** - Van Gogh Museum Amsterdam

protrusion — **Protrusion**- Bas van Beek Protrusion 'Study the ancients so that you will remember and gain the strength to begin again.' If there is one thing that is particularly applicable to the work of designer/artist Bas van Beek (Nijmegen 1974), it is this striking quote from the architect Pierre Cuypers (1827-1921), in one of the rooms of his Rijksmuseum. He draws inspiration from the history of art and design through archival research more than anyone else. He picks what he likes and combines seemingly incongruous things with vision and flair, according to the principles of Copy and Paste and Mix and Match. Without any shame, he puts his sources of inspiration in the spotlight. He doesn't care what others think about it. He doesn't want to be everyone's friend. Does Bas van Beek infringe copyright, for example, as countless critics and colleagues indignantly claim? Not at all. It is much more of a trans-historical approach according to Ingeborg de Roode (curator of design at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam). This concept states that every work of art, whenever created, is contemporary. With this unique, self-chosen position, Bas van Beek has attracted the attention of visual arts institutes, which is unique. This confirms his conviction that he is on the right track. In the exhibition Protrusion, Bas van Beek presents two projects. Very recent are seven candlesticks and a tulip tower, which were made this spring during a work period at the European Ceramic Work Centre in Oisterwijk and the multi-year Gymseum project. A candlestick in the form of a walking lion with two candle bearers on its back is based on Van Beek's study of Viennese arts and crafts from the first quarter of the previous century. Ladies of standing such as Gudrun Baudisch, Susi Singer, Vally Wieselthier and Kitty Rix took ceramics lessons from Prof. In response to the devastation of the First World War, Josef Hoffmann at the Kunstgewerbeschule in Vienna created a saccharine, folkloric world of galanterie: 'figurines' that serve as vases, vide-poche, or candlesticks, for example. Three other candlesticks have a very bizarre origin. They are based on monster dildos, for whom big and realistic isn't enough. In addition, an AI generated and hand-edited 3-D model was created based on an engraving of an early rococo candlestick by Juste Aurèle Meissonnier. The four together form an ensemble with asymmetrical lobe ornaments as a connecting factor. The showpieces from Oisterwijk are tulip towers made of extruded clay tubes that have been compressed into stackable blocks in a plaster mold. They stem from Van Beek's long-standing fascination with banal Disney merchandise (in this case Sleeping Beauty) and the tulip towers of Jan van der Vaart from the second half of the previous century. He came up with the idea after experimenting with the childishly simple Play-doh Extruders Set DIY Squeeze Making Tool. The decorations also come from the toy box: He made printing molds for flowers and leaves from parts from the LEGO Botanicals. The Gymseum project is grand and captivating, and continues to grow. Bas van Beek combines the completely different typologies of the gym and the museum into a unique, liberal, and future-proof world. The purely utilitarian design of fitness equipment and attributes is given a new, much more sculptural and colorful look, based on art and design classics, giving them a super-aesthetic quality. Meet Robert Indiana, Soll Lewitt, Wim Crouwel, and even a Celtic shield while you work on yourself, whether for rehabilitation or for an emphatically masculine body development on steroids, in an environment of beauty and historical awareness. The Gymseum is a place suitable for culture haters, culture ignorants and culture optimists alike.

Oog in Oog met Klimt

Date: 05-06-2021 t/m 13-06-2021

Location: Van Abbemuseum

In association with: Van Abbemuseum

As the third presentation in the Eye in Eye series, visitors are now confronted, after the old masters Rembrandt and Hals, with works by the more modern master Gustav Klimt (1862-1918, Vienna). Contemporary artist/designer Bas van Beek (1974, Nijmegen) transforms the project room of the Van Abbemuseum into a total experience in which he combines Klimt's work with furniture and giant tiles of his hand.

https://vanabbemuseum.nl/programma/online/virtuele-tour-gustav-klimt/

Bas van Beek

Oog in Oog met Klimt

Bas van Beek EKWC werkperiode

Bas van Beek Inter-Cross-Hybrid-Collab