Bas van Beek (Nijmegen, 1974) was trained at the Willem De Kooning Academie 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.
Oog in Oog met Klimt
Als derde presentatie in de reeks Oog in oog worden bezoekers nu, na de oude meesters Rembrandt en Hals, geconfronteerd met werken van de modernere meester Gustav Klimt (1862-1918, Wenen). Eigentijdse kunstenaar/ontwerper Bas van Beek (1974, Nijmegen) tovert de projectzaal van het Van Abbemuseum om in een totaalervaring waarin hij het werk van Klimt combineert met meubels en reusachtige tegels van zijn hand.