Bas Zoontjens

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We Are The Wreckage, 4 x 8 m Acrylics on wall
2007

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Contemporary art has been marked with the synthesis of various forms of art. Especially, the combination of film, sound, digital art, acrylic, oil and collage have resulted in an almost new form of art. However, it sometimes is also possible to replicate profound synthesis by just using the canvas and paint. The canvas can be used to project ideas that do not belong to the present, the past or the future, but to project thoughts that are not bound by the confinements of time and space.

Bas Zoontjens is one such artist who creates spectacular effects on the canvas without using a lot of technology. The simplicity of his techniques is contrasted with the images and ideas that go with his painting. A look at his paintings takes the viewer on a journey through space, time and a dimension that humans still have to learn of. Bas is a Dutch artist who shuttles between Rotterdam and Berlin. After having graduated from the Royal Academy of Art & Design and the Grafic Lyceum Eindhoven, he received several stipends and grants from many Dutch institutions.

He has exhibited his works on several occasions. Some of them include at Cokkie Snoei Galery, Rotterdam and “Planet of the Planets” Kunstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin in 2007. Apart from these solo exhibitions, he has taken part in several group exhibitions internationally.

In a pensive mood, one can see an image of an alien invasion, or an intergalactic war taking place. Most of the paintings seem to be connected with each other, bringing a sort of synthesis in a state of defragmentation. Bas uses bright colours in order to set the differences between time, space and the unknown third. Like in a science fiction movie, the paintings seem to reveal the story of mankind which is caught in an eternal conflict between the destroyer and the destroyed. If one continues to ponder upon the paintings even more deeply, there really isn’t much in the paintings for the human race.

Surprisingly many of his paintings hide a malevolence and raw energy in an unreal representation of images. Perhaps this malevolence is something unimaginable to the human mind, and indicates an uncertain future for the human race. The fate of humankind is almost impossible to know, and one of the possibilities is the extinction of species due to an unimaginable catastrophe from the outer space.

Bas’ art almost takes the viewer to a different universe and a different reality, where one’s own world and subjective reality may seem unreal and out of place. Exploring unearthly geometric shapes, Bas seems to experiment between the coherent and the incoherent, while playfully constructing shapes and deconstructing them at the same time, which for the viewer may be as confusing as an intergalactic equation.

Jaiyant Cavale

Bas Zoontjens

1970 born in Goirle, Netherlands

Lives and works in The Hague, Netherlands

Education

1994 -1998 royal academy art & design
‘s- Hertogenbosch
1988 -1992 Grafic Lyceum Eindhoven

Grants

2007 stipend from the netherlands foundation for visual arts,design and architecture
2007 grant cbk, residency Kunstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin
2002 stipend from the netherlands foundation for visual arts,design and architecture
2000 Royal prize for painting
1997 stipend foundation BKVB
1996 Buning Brongers Prize

Solo Exhibitions

2012 "Off Grid" Cokkie snoei galery, Rotterdam
2007 "Planet of the Planets" Kunstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin
2007 "Hello from the enemy airship" Cokkie Snoei galery, Rotterdam
2004 “5.28 m2” Kunstfabrik Berlijn
2002 “Tranceformation” Noname Galery, Rotterdam
2001 Art 88 galery, nuenen

Group Exhibitions

2012 "The Experience" E.P.O, Rijswijk
2012 "Walls Included" Nest, Den Haag, Nederland
2011 "Volta" Artfair, Bazel, Zwitserland
2011 "Art Amsterdam" Artfair, Amsterdam, Nederland
2010/2011 "You are here" The Dutch Cultural Pop-Up Space, London, Engeland(Curator Ken Pratt)
2010 "Peng" Transponder Projekts, Leipzig, Duitsland
2010 "Wolvecamp Prijs" genomineerd met Tjebbe Beekman en Helen Verhoeven, Hengelo, Nederland
2010 "Hybrid Territories" Kamchatka Galerie, Paris
2010 "Cabin Fever" Co-Prosperity Sphere, Chicago, U.S.A
2009 "Reliquaries Of Empires Dust" Berenitzky galerie, Berlin, Germany
2009 "das ist einfach Schwierig" Kunst in Kreuzberg e.V, Berlin, Germany
2009 "Weltraum als Fluchtlinie"Kunstverein Wolfsburg, Germany
2008 "Constructing in Reverse" galerie Cokkie Snoei, Rotterdam
2008 "It's All in the Game" Avecom, Arnhem
2008 "Tease" Rheintriaden, Cologne, Germany
2007 "Mooi van ver" TENT. Rotterdam
2006 art cologne, cologne Cokkie Snoei Gallery
2006 “Art primeur revisited” pictura Dordrecht
2006 “a sleeping beauty” mural painting, Rotterdam
2005 “Made in Rotterdam” Cokkie snoei galery
2005 “my satellite mind” CBK Rotterdam
2005 “Steigende spannung” Cokkie Snoei Galery, Rotterdam
2005"happy garden" Amsterdam
2004 Parklaan 14, groupshow, Rotterdam
2002 “Per Saldo” Noord Brabants Museum ‘s-Hertogenbosch
2000 Palace at the Dam ( royal prize for painting ), Amsterdam
2000 “Whats Fresh” Artis, ‘s-Hertogenbosch
2000 de Nederlandche Cacaofabriek, Helmond ( solo )
1999 “uitgelicht” Kunstrai, Amsterdam
1999 PMMK Museum moderne Kunsten, Oostende Belgie
1998 Van Bommel van Dam Museum, Venlo

Collections

ABN-amro Bank
private collections

Bibliography

2007 "Space in Between" Catalogue
2003 Book “ vrije Schilderkunst” ( incl Bas Meerman, Michael Raedecker, Carla Klein )
2001 Catalogue collection ABN-AMRO Bank
2000 Catalogue Royal Prize for painting

Links

www.cokkiesnoei.com

Bas Zoontjens

bas.zoontjens@gmail.com
0031(0)633164702

0031104129274
0031104129274
info@cokkiesnoei.com
www.cokkiesnoei.com

Cokkie Snoei galery
Mauritsweg 55
3012 JX Rotterdam

bas.zoontjens@gmail.com