Posted on Leave a comment

Bas Fontein (1978)

At first glance, the work of Bas Fontein seems pleasing, but once you look closer, it is actually disruptive. Fontein plays with conventions and public perceptions in the art world. What can you say or do? What not? Which criteria do we use to form our judgment? What do we actually see? Fontein shows that the perception of art is random. Therefore, he questions the viewer, or as Oscar Wilde wrote: “It is the spectator, and not life, that art really mirrors.”

Bas Fontein (Amersfoort, 1978) graduated from the University of Arts Utrecht (Fine Art) and Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam (Language & Image). As an artist, he works with photography and text, and he publishes his work under his own label, BASBOEK. He might be best described as an all-round-creative with an enterprising spirit. In addition to his diverse art, Fontein is co-founder of Dutch Independent Art Book Publishers (DIABP) and the Museum voor KOR (Museum for Art in Public Space). Furthermore, he works on a range of different cultural and art projects as a creative director, copywriter, editor, curator, museum guide and also as a teacher Fine Art at the University of Arts Utrecht.

His publication, WHAT TO DO (2012), won two international prizes for best artist book. Yearly, BASBOEKs are presented at international art book fairs in locations like London, Berlin, Paris, L.A. and Tokyo. They are purchased by major museums, such as MoMA in New York, and distributed by Printed Matter, Walther König and Idea Books. Therefore, his publications can be found in museum stores and book shops all over the world.

www.ftn-books.com has several of the Basboek artist books now available.

Leave a Reply