Works
  • Tjebbe Beekman, Charon, 2023
    Tjebbe Beekman
    Charon, 2023
    Acrylic, acrylic emulsions and grit on canvas mounted to wood panel, framed
    203 x 140 cm | 79 7/8 x 55 1/8 in
    Sold
  • Tjebbe Beekman, Tetris, 2022
    Tjebbe Beekman
    Tetris, 2022
    Acrylic, acrylic emulsions, yarn, tape, sand and grit on canvas mounted to wood panel, framed
    202.5 x 152.5 x 6.5 cm | 79 3/4 x 60 x 2 1/2 in
    Sold
  • A mixed media image depicting various multicoloured and multi-textured objects standing alongside one another.
    Tjebbe Beekman
    Symbiosis XII, 2022
    Acrylic, acrylic emulsions, sand and grit on canvas mounted to wood panel, framed (triptych)
    Each: 202.5 x 102 x 6.6 cm | 79 3/4 x 40 1/8 x 2 5/8 in
    Total: 202.5 x 329 x 6.6 cm | 79 3/4 x 129 1/2 x 2 5/8 in
    Sold
  • an abstracted painted image depicting various layered shapes and textures. the main hues are gray, green, brown, and white.
    Tjebbe Beekman
    Ortis solis, 2022
    Acrylic and acrylic emulsions on canvas mounted to wood panel, framed
    42.5 x 32.5 x 6.5 cm | 16 3/4 x 12 3/4 x 2 1/2 in
    Sold
  • Tjebbe Beekman, Matrimonium, 2022
    Tjebbe Beekman
    Matrimonium, 2022
    Acrylic, acrylic emulsions, gold leaf and grit on canvas mounted to wood panel, framed
    42.5 x 32.5 x 6.5 cm | 16 3/4 x 12 3/4 x 2 1/2 in
    Sold
  • Tjebbe Beekman, To admonish the sinner, 2022
    Tjebbe Beekman
    To admonish the sinner, 2022
    Acrylic and acrylic emulsions on canvas mounted to wood panel, framed
    82.5 x 62.5 x 6.5 cm | 32 1/2 x 24 5/8 x 2 1/2 in
    Sold
  • Tjebbe Beekman, The Miraculous Draught, 2022
    Tjebbe Beekman
    The Miraculous Draught, 2022
    Acrylic, acrylic emulsions, sand and grit on canvas mounted to wood panel, framed
    135.5 x 102.5 x 6.5 cm. | 53 3/8 x 40 3/8 x 2 1/2 in
    Sold
  • Tjebbe Beekman, To bear wrongs patiently, 2022
    Tjebbe Beekman
    To bear wrongs patiently, 2022
    Acrylic, acrylic emulsions and grit on canvas mounted to wood panel, framed
    82.5 x 62.5 x 6.5 cm | 32 1/2 x 24 5/8 x 2 1/2 in
    Sold
  • an expressionistic image that is abstractly contained within a black-tiled space. the central figure is made of layered shapes but looks vaguely human. the main hues of the image are red, black, blue, and white.
    Tjebbe Beekman
    And I don't want to live with somebody's depression, 2022
    Acrylic, acrylic emulsions, sand and grit on canvas mounted to wood panel, framed
    152.5 x 109.5 x 6.5 cm | 60 x 43 1/8 x 2 1/2 in
    Sold
Page
 2 
of 6
Biography

Tjebbe Beekman’s canvases are simultaneously abstract and expressive, disorienting the viewer’s sense of space. Layering increasingly fragmented and polarised images, Beekman’s work is a personal reflection of contemporary society and his method of adapting to the existential events of today through creating a dialogue with his contemporaries of the past.

Beekman’s work embraces and pays tribute to a breadth of influences from Sandro Botticelli to Otobong Nkanga - balancing composition, color and perspective through the lens of art history while incorporating the nuance of socially and environmentally engaged contemporary work into his narrative. Beekman’s voracious palette of influences and ideas evokes the endless stream of media and information we sift through daily.

Nodding to historic iconographic painting, Beekman challenges what is expected of the medium to innovate and celebrate the act of creating in its entirety. Beekman uses digital tools to capture the glitches and internal references in his early motifs, before building them out using paint, sand and plaster which he layers onto the canvas with a brush, palette knife or his fingers, to later be scraped away or built up into relief. The layered surfaces of Beekman’s paintings underline the meaning of his work, and follow the artist’s interest in architectural space.

Between 2003 and 2013, Beekman lived in Berlin and created a series of paintings titled The Capsular Society (De Capsulaire Beschaving), a term derived from the Belgian philosopher Lieven de Cauter (1959). This is a reflection on the Western condition - moving between offices, shopping malls, airports and train stations and occupying disconnected bubbles which create a lack of interaction and ultimately cause us to retreat further into the perceived safety of solitude. Beekman painted panoramic scenes of stock exchanges, supermarkets and other architectural spaces, without depicting people. 

Beekman’s series titled Symbiosis is about the painters who have inspired him most: influences ranging from Jasper Johns to Max Beckmann, Pablo Picasso and Max Ernst. He incorporates elements of these artists’ oeuvres into his own new bold and colorful paintings, overflowing with both material and visual content. While previous works dealt with themes of a dystopian society in Beekman’s visions of fragmented architectonical structures, this new body of work is part of an ongoing series depicting whole and complete environments celebrating the act of painting itself.

Today, Western society and culture sit in a difficult and unpredictable place, with politics that seem unable to formulate adequate answers to economical, geopolitical, and ecological problems. Beekman feels the urgency to emphasise these ideas now, seeking an antidote to today’s conservative and radical tendencies that threaten treasured cultural achievements.

Tjebbe Beekman (b. 1972 in Leiden, NL) attended the KABK: Royal Academy of Art in The Hague (NL) from 1993 to 1997, followed by the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam (NL) from 2003 to 2004. Awards and nominations include the Theo Wolvecamp Prize (NL), Buning Brongers Prize (NL), and the Royal Painting Prize (NL).

Recent exhibitions include: Glitch, GRIMM, Amsterdam (NL); My World, Singer Museum, Laren (NL); Mondrian Moves, Kunstmuseum, The Hague (NL); Drift, GRIMM, London (UK); Tetris, GRIMM, New York, NY (US); Symbiosis: Virtues, GRIMM, Amsterdam (NL); Reflections beyond the Surface, AkzoNobel Art Foundation, Amsterdam (NL) and Symbiosis, GRIMM, New York, NY (US).

Beekman’s work can be found in various public, private and institutional collections including Aedes Art Collection, Amsterdam (NL); ABN Amro Art Collection, Amsterdam (NL); AkzoNobel Art Foundation, Amsterdam (NL); De Nederlandsche Bank, Amsterdam (NL); THE EKARD COLLECTION; Collection De Heus-Zomer, Barneveld (NL); The Hort Family Collection, New York, NY (US); ING Art Collection, Amsterdam (NL); Kunstmuseum, The Hague (NL); Museum Voorlinden, Wassenaar (NL); Sanders Collection (NL); Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (NL); Stedelijk Museum, Schiedam (NL); Straus Family Collection, Peerskill, NY (US).

Press
Video