Tjebbe Beekman
GRIMM is pleased to present a new exhibition by Tjebbe Beekman opening in Amsterdam on 17 January and on view until 8 March 2025. This will mark the artist's fifth solo presentation with the gallery.
Tjebbe 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.
Composed over the course of several months, each work is made up of multiple visual and textural cues. Thick swathes of acrylic and emulsion, often combined with grit or sand, are heavily applied to each surface, giving sculptural weight to his figures, landscapes and interiors. Replete with art historical allusions, Beekman compounds imagery culled from various generations of his peers and artistic progenitors, paying homage to the wide-ranging traditions of his medium.
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).
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); Straus Family Collection, New York, NY (US); 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).
