image: Jan Willem Kaldenbach | @ all rights reserved
On the conceptual paintings of Tjebbe Beekman.
There are painters for whom their profession is not enough. They emphasise that there is a difference between art and painting and place themselves on the side of art. Tjebbe Beekman is one such painter for whom it is important to be an artist even though he has never worked with any materials other than paint and canvas and has no intention of departing from this medium.
So what is behind this scepticism with regard to one’s own profession? What is the underlying problem causing the painter to distance himself from painting? Lovers of painting may well find the entire issue dubious, but these are questions which Beekman’s work deliberately provokes.
CURRICULUM VITAE
b. 1972 in Leiden (NL)
Lives and works in Amsterdam (NL)
EDUCATION
2004 Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten, Amsterdam (NL)
1997 KABK Royal Academy of Art, The Hague (NL)
FELLOWSHIPS
2004 Koninklijke Ahrend, Amsterdam (NL)
AWARDS AND NOMINATIONS
2010 Wolvecamp Prize (NL)
2004 Buning Brongers Prize (NL)
2003 Royal Painting Prize (NL)
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2021 Symbiosis: Virtues, GRIMM, Amsterdam (NL)
2020 Symbiosis, GRIMM, New York, NY (US)
2017 …wait hold that thought, Stigter/van Doesburg, Amsterdam (NL)
2015 Solo, Stigter/van Doesburg, Amsterdam (NL)
2012 Oblivion, Galerie Diana Stigter, Amsterdam (NL)
2009 Galerie Diana Stigter, Amsterdam (NL)
2008 De Capsulaire Beschaving / The Capsular Civilization, GEM Museum for Contemporary Art, The Hague (NL)
2006 Galerie Diana Stigter, Amsterdam (NL)
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2021 Reflections beyond the Surface, AkzoNobel Art Foundation, Amsterdam (NL) Inaugural exhibition, GRIMM, New York, NY (US)
2020 Listen to your eyes, Museum Voorlinden, Wassenaar (NL) Diepgeworteld, Bomen in de Nederlandse schilderkunst, Dordrechts Museum, Dordrecht (NL)
2019 Amsterdam: 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, curated by Philip Akkerman, Tjebbe Beekman, Berlinde de Bruyckere, Marcel
van Eeden, Erik Kessels, Jan Taminiau and Jennifer Tee, 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)
2018 De meest eigentijdse schilderijen tentoonstelling, Dordrechts Museum, Dordrecht (NL)
2017 Rumoer in de stad, Kunstmuseum, The Hague (NL) All paintings are uneven, ABN Amro Art Collection, Amsterdam (NL) Apocalyps, Art Chapel, Amsterdam (NL)
2016 Engage, Exchange, De Nederlandsche Bank, Amsterdam (NL) Silence out loud, curated by Joost Zwagerman, Museum Kranenburgh, Bergen (NL)
2015 “It’s not your paintings I like, it’s your painting”, Galerie Stigter Van Doesburg, Amsterdam (NL) Uit de verf, Villa Mondriaan, Amersfoort (NL) In the picture, Kunstmuseum, The Hague (NL)
2014 Bad Thoughts, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (NL)
2013 Landschappen, Buitenplaats Beeckestijn (NL) Kanaalwerken, Gemeente Museum, Helmond (NL) Galerie Jochen Hempel, Leipzig (DE) The Desire for Freedom. Art in Europe since 1945, Palazzo Reale, Milan (IT) Cobra tot Dumas: de collectie de HeusZomer, Singer Museum, Laren (NL)
2012 The Desire for Freedom. Art in Europe since 1945, Deutsches Historisches Museum, Berlin (DE) Just Paint, GEM, Museum for Contemporary Art, The Hague (NL) OH CRISIS! #3 life beyond the crisis, Frankendael foundation, Amsterdam (NL)
2011 What’s Up! De jongste schilderkunst in Nederland, Dordrechts Museum, Dordrecht (NL) I promise to love you – Caldic Collectie, Kunsthal, Rotterdam (NL) On Paper, GEM Museum of Contemporary Art, The Hague (NL)
2010 Blick Ohne Ende, Autocenter Berlin (DE) Wolvecamp Prijs, Hengelo (NL)
2008 Quo Vadis, Autocenter, Berlin (DE) Canary in a Coalmine, SMBA, Amsterdam (NL) Eyes Wide Open, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (NL)
2007 Xtra Large, Hudson Valley Museum of Modern Art, Peekskill, NY (US)
2006 Vincent van Gogh and Expressionism, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (NL) Nederland / Duitsland Malerei, GEM Museum for Contemporary Art, The Hague (NL) Replacing Mashkov, Kunstmuseum, The Hague (NL)
2005 Le Peintre de la Vie Moderne, De Paviljoens, Almere (NL)
2004 Buning Brongers prijzen, Arti et Amicitiae, Amsterdam (NL) Koninklijke Prijs voor de Schilderkunst, Royal Palace, Amsterdam (NL) Elsewhere, Fa Projects, London (UK)
2003 Koninklijke Prijs voor de Schilderkunst, Royal Palace, Amsterdam (NL)
2002 Props, MX0, The Hague (NL)
2001 Stroom, The Hague (NL) DS Contemporary, The Hague (NL)
2000 New Dutch Artists in Taiwan, Cherng Piin Gallery, Taipei (TW) Galerie Vertrek & Verblijf, Amsterdam (NL)
1998 DS Contemporary, The Hague (NL)
SELECTED COLLECTIONS
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, Peekskill, NY (US)
RESIDENCIES
2003- 2004 Rijks Akademie van Beeldende Kunsten, Amsterdam
OTHER ACTIVITIES
2019 guest curator at Gemeente museum Den Haag for Top Floor
2019 writes essay for Kunstschrift
2010-2015 Jury member for the Royal Painter Price given by The Queen of the Netherlands
2010 Visiting Professor at St. Joost Academy for visual arts Den Bosch, NL
2011 Visiting Professor at Royal Academy for visual arts The Hague, NL
2012-2019 Board member “werkveld commissie” Royal Academy for visual arts The Hague, NL
REVIEWS AND BOOKS
2015 “Hier” collaboration with writer/poet Robert Anker, 99publishers
2014 Zoo Magazine
2012 R.E.L., television review
2012 Beekman ontdekt het licht, NRC Handelsblad, Hans den Hartog Jager
2011 I promise to love you, catalogue Rotterdam / Caldic Collection
2011 Dutch Masters, A documentary film by Ditteke Mensink
2011 Verf!, studio interviews by Hans de Hartog Jager
2011 `Zo werken wij’, essay´s by Sacha Bronwasser
2011 Architecture magazine De Blauwe Kamer, interview about art and city scaping.
2011 Jaarboek KennisSamenleving 2010 philosphy dep. UVA University Amsterdam,
Image essay and cover by Tjebbe Beekman.
2009 `Wonen tussen de anderen’, Jurriaan Benschop
2009 4Art, television review
2009 De avonden, VPRO radio interview
2009 `Beekman gooit nu alle trossen los’ , Volkskrant, Marina de Vries
2009 Ìk schilder om niet te ontploffen’ , NRC Handelsblad,Lien Heyting
2008 `The image of the capsular Society’ , Catalogue Gem, Den Haag
2008 `Schurende Schoonheid`,Het Financieel Dagblad,Edo Dijksterhuis
2006 ‘Weg met de leegte’, NRC Handelsblad, Hans den Hartog Jager
2006 ‘Beklemmend’, Financieel Dagblad, Peter Kattenberg
2006 ‘Speelse mengvorm van kunst en kitsch’, De Telegraaf, Paola van de Velde
2004 Interview, NRC Handelsblad
2003 ‘We Have Seen the Future’ Art Review, selected by Diana Stigter
2003 ‘Veel Behaaglijk Werk op de Rijks Akademie’, Het Parool, Arjan Reinders
2003 ‘In Nederland is geen plaats voor rare snuiters’, Het Parool, Jhim Lamoree