Hans van Bentem (born in 1965 in the Netherlands) has often created grand monumental works, demonstrating a preference for installation art. This form allows for the integration of multiple materials and objects, resulting in an even more complex interplay. Within this interplay, a seemingly random game is played, utilizing associations and attributes with both loaded and unburdened connotations. In addition, the artist does not shy away from incorporating elements of comic culture and ethnography into a single piece, seamlessly blending aspects of high and low cultures from various time periods and geographical areas. As a result, his work takes on the appearance of a bizarre synthesis.
THE GROTESQUE
Due to strict travel restrictions during the pandemic, Van Bentem has been unable to return to his beloved studio in China, where a series of porcelain works still await completion. Instead, during the lockdowns, he has turned to local opportunities and worked at Trapman’s studio on a new series of ceramic sculptures, first showcased at MPV Gallery in Oisterwijk. In these pieces, Van Bentem plays with the notions of attraction and repulsion, eroticism and ridicule, beauty and banality, brute force and delicate strings, all presented in exquisitely crafted glazed earthenware and blown glass, resting on elegant veneered wooden pedestals.
www.ftn-books.com has several van Bentem pubpications now available.
