Tjebbe Beekman: Tetris
GRIMM Gallery, New York
Through 12 November 2022
TJEBBE BEEKMAN
Massacre of the Innocents, 2022
© Tjebbe Beekman, courtesy GRIMM
TJEBBE BEEKMAN
Massacre of the Innocents, 2022 - Detail
© Tjebbe Beekman, courtesy GRIMM
GRIMM presents Tetris a new solo exhibition by TJEBBE BEEKMAN. This is the artist’s second solo presentation in New York and the first in the gallery’s new Tribeca location.
Increasingly fragmented, polarized, and ever chaotic, Tjebbe Beekman’s new body of work is a personal reflection of contemporary society and a method of coping with the existential events of today through his contemporaries of the past. Titled after the 1980’s arcade game, his new paintings mimic the navigating tasks of the 'Tetris' exercise and are structured with imagery referencing art history as their anchoring subject matter. Each work consists of various levels of material - thick impasto with collaged elements, rope, and sand, combined with the use of acrylic paint -resulting in this new series referencing past artists' contributions to the painterly medium. Far from cynical, Tjebbe Beekman pays homage to the continuum of artistic and technical development which the medium of painting provides: balancing composition, color, depth, and perspective through the lenses of those who have preceded him.
Just as the various elements in the game of 'Tetris' connect, so do Tjebbe Beekman’s textured references, interlocking visual, historic, and structural information in an abundance of composition. In the game, as the speed increases in the stacking of blocks, gaps form where holes between concrete information are left at a loss, similarly to the ways in which we glean information from various media sources at a rapid and disjointed rate today. The viewer may need time to digest each work, as it evokes the un-ending stream of media and information we sift through on a daily basis.
Tjebbe Beekman’s previous work has aimed to focus on the dismantling of contemporary society through a psychoanalytic lens into his own fascination with the genres of history, architecture, and dystopia, as well as his own mediation with the world’s current existential events. With this new body of work referencing both old and modern masters, Beekman develops environments through the embodiment of those who have served as pillars of the artistic field before him. Nodding to historic iconographic painting, like in Massacre of the Innocents, 2022, Beekman continues to break the mold of what is expected of the medium to create new innovation and celebrate the act of creating in its entirety.
TJEBBE BEEKMAN
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). Tjebbe Beekman’s recent exhibitions include: Mondrian Moves, Kunstmuseum, The Hague (NL); The Roaring Twenties, Museum Kranenburgh, Bergen (NL); Symbiosis: Virtues, GRIMM, Amsterdam (NL); Reflections beyond the Surface, Akzo Nobel Art Foundation, Amsterdam (NL); Symbiosis, GRIMM, New York, NY (US); Listen to your eyes, Museum Voorlinden, Wassenaar (NL); Collected, Capital C, Amsterdam (NL); Where is the Madness You Promised Me, Hudson Valley Museum of Modern Art, Peekskill, NY (US); Discover the Modern, Kunstmuseum, The Hague (NL); Top Floor, Kunstmuseum, The Hague (NL); Van Cobra tot Boorolie, Stedelijk Museum, Schiedam (NL); Out of office, Singer Museum, Laren (NL); Freedom – The Fifty Key Dutch Artworks Since 1968, curated by Hans den Hartog Jager, Museum De Fundatie, Zwolle (NL); and De meest eigentijdse schilderijen tentoonstelling, Dordrechts Museum, Dordrecht (NL).
Tjebbe 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); Akzo Nobel 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) and Stedelijk Museum, Schiedam (NL).
GRIMM
54 White Street, New York, NY 10013
